A Special Place in My Heart

Hey guys I am sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. I have been very busy with family events, therapy, and dealing with my grandma passing away. But I’m back now and excited to share more! This week I want to touch on the time I spent at Randall’s. Randall’s is an inpatient therapy center where I stayed for twelve weeks after I finally regained consciousness. While I was at Providence (this was the place I spent time getting more stable and the place I woke up at) a physiatrist, Dr. Steve (I know his name sounds ridiculous and made up but I swear that was really his name) from Randall’s came to evaluate me to see if I was ready for rehab at Randall’s. He had come to evaluate me twice before and I was told I was not ready yet. During his third visit, I was told that I was finally strong enough and approved to be moved to Randall’s for more extensive therapy. Another reason I was able to be moved to Randall’s was because he could see that I was able to listen to and try to follow the commands he gave. While he was there, he said that I was going to need a lot of patience during my recovery.

When I showed up to Randall’s, with my parents, the doctors and therapists talked to us about the things that I would be able to do later down the road and I remember thinking that I would never be able to accomplish those things in the time I was there. They talked about me being able to eat, speak, walk, gain strength, balance and mobility. This seemed impossible to me at this point, but I knew I was going to give it my all and try my best. Everything that they told me I was going to accomplish, I wanted to accomplish as fast as possible.

They began by evaluating me for every therapy that I was going to do. This included OT, PT, speech, school, and neurophysiology. The things that I did during those therapy sessions that I can remember included doing an IQ quiz, learning to walk which started off as learning how to sit, stand and then walk (just so you don’t get your hopes up, I still cannot walk on my own...still going through a ton of therapy for that), I did some bicep curls (so I can flex on all my haters), and I started learning how to move my mouth and tongue to different words.

The day finally came when I got a powered wheelchair to mess around on. Honestly it was really scary when I first started using it because I had zero to no control over it. I ran into wayyy too many walls and should’ve got the nickname Speedy from driving it. Overall, getting that chair and learning how to use it was a huge step for me in the right direction. It made me become more independent which is exactly what I wanted and needed. Going to Randall’s was my first time that I got out of a hospital. I started visiting my family at home and even made it to church one time. I was really happy that I was able to do this and it was because of my therapists that I was able to.

I just want to thank all the doctors, nurses, and therapists at Randall’s and Providence that helped me get to where I am today. Randall’s and Providence will always have a special place in my heart.

xoxo

Syd