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Don &RosellaKvernen

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Thank you

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Thank you• for the sacrifices you have made

to help people like us

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Today we want to:

• Tell you a patient and care partner’s view of rehab

• Tell you what you do that helps us• Encourage you – that you make a

huge impact in people’s lives• Questions or Comments

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Our FamilyDon, Rosella, Jon, and Josh

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Monday morning

March 18, 1991

Don had a TIA and another

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Tuesday morning

March 19, 1991

our lives changed forever

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Left Internal Carotid

Dissection

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Don’sMRI

November 2009

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Thank you

• For your skilled care that helps your patients survive

• For your kindness

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Thank you• For assuring families but not

forcing them to go home• For letting them decide

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Don &Rosella

before Don’s Stroke

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In one day, we left a good lifeand headed intoa huge unknown

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Rehab!

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Thank you• For not forcing your patients

and their families too quickly into the realization of what lies ahead

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HOPE

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Thank you• For creating a pleasant

environment for your patients to heal and to begin to hope

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Thank you• For crying with your patients• For showing compassion

alongside your professionalism

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Thank you

• For balancing humor with your compassion and knowledgeable care

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Thank you• For sensing your patients’ and

their families’ discouragement• For encouraging them about

their progress and their future

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Thank you• For treating your patients like

regular people, not just a certain patient diagnosis

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Thank you• For creating opportunities for

your patients and their families to interact with and encourage each other

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Tragedies happento families

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Thank you• For your medical expertise• For your wisdom to help

families pull together toward their loved ones’ recovery

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Thank you

• For letting spouses come to therapy sessions

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Thank you• For letting children come to

their parent’s therapy sessions

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Thank you• For showing – not just telling –

your aphasic patients what to do in therapy

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Thank you• For allowing your hospitals to

support chaplaincy programs

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Thank you• For easing your patients into

their new lives by arranging home visits

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The Orton-Gillingham teaching method uses learning elements that are:

• Visual • Auditory• Phonetic• Kinesthetic

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Visual Drills Auditory Drills

• Say name & sound (e.g. F & fff)• Feel mouth• Trace in rice• Repeat name & sound

See the letter Hear the letter

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Don with Kay Hawley,

his tutor from the Dyslexia Institute

(aka)

Reading Center of Rochester

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TouchMath

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Thank you• Speech Therapists• Kay Hawley, Don’s tutor • The Orton-Gillingham method• The TouchMath method• Don’s practice friends

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Thank you• For “taking it” when patients

say horrible things to you

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Thank you• For teaching your patients

to take responsibility for their own well-being

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Thank you• For training your patients how

to accomplish their ADLs • For helping them become

independent

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Thank you • For tending so diligently to

all of your patients’ complex health issues

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Thank you• For persisting until you find

anticonvulsants and other meds that work well for your patients

• For giving hope• For being kind

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Patients slough off your suggestions because of

• Denial• Pride• Embarrassment• Too much – too soon

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Thank you • For continuing to gently present

resources to your patients and their families

Keep on offering help

Perhaps on the “6th time” they will respond

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Don, enjoying his John Deere

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Don and a friend

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Thank you

• For helping patients navigate the myriad of issues involved in integration back into life

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We Needed Counseling

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Overcome by Recovery

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Thank you• For your wise counsel

• For directing your patients

and their families toward a

more healthy way of living

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Thank you

• For inviting patients to work with your PT students

• For letting survivors give back

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Don chose not to get bitter• He did not have to deny our pain • He just did not want to let our

losses fester and control our lives

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StrokeSurvivor-StoryofHope.com

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Chapter 9

Tackling Challenges

– Driving

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Don has driven safely for many years with adaptive devices

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What helped us cope and gave us hope

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What helped us cope and gave us hope:

• Medications have controlled Don’s seizures and other symptoms

• Don used a pool noodle with straps for swimming

• A pedal with strapped platform has allowed Don to ride a stationary recumbent exercise bike

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What helped us cope and gave us hope:

• We added cable TV to our exercise room• A test for driving readiness was available

through the OT department• We adapted our vehicles for Don with a

spinner knob, left foot accelerator, and convex rear-view mirrors

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What helped us cope and gave us hope:

• Specialized driving instruction was available for brain injury survivors

• A handicapped parking sticker and well maintained handicapped accommodations at businesses have made a big difference

• Shoe buttons have made dressing easier for Don

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What helped us cope and gave us hope:

• A wall-mounted shampoo dispenser has allowed Don to bathe independently

• We installed a higher toilet in our bathroom to help Don get up easier

• Don special ordered a left-handled recliner

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What helped us cope and gave us hope:

• Grab bars have provided safety• Don learned to back down staircases that have

no left railing• An answering machine or voicemail has

allowed us to receive accurate recorded phone messages

• Don has learned to defer to me at times for details

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Chapter 12

Lessons We Have Learned

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StrokeSurvivor-StoryofHope.com

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Our sons,Jon and Josh Right Left

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Jon and Svea

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Josh and Beth

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A lot of love for a new grandson

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Our grandchildren

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Wonderful times with friends

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Celebrating 40 years of marriage

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Thanks to a large group of rehab professionals,

Don survived, so we could enjoy these times together. We are extremely grateful!

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Gratitudeby Melody Beattie

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough,

and more.

It turns denial into acceptance,

chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

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It can turn a meal into a feast,

a house into a home,

a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Beattie, Melodie. (1990). The Language of Letting Go. Center City, MN: Hazelden Publishing. Used by permission.

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Rehab Professionals

You make a huge difference in broken people’s

lives.Thank you – to all of you!

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Questions or Comments