Empathy- The act of imagining yourself in another person's shoes in a
specific time and place while opening your mind to feel the same experiences is
to have empathy. Knowing and understanding what a person is going through
because you have been in a similar situation yourself.
From my perspective - to a new patient
I was a patient in a hospital just like you. I laid bed ridden on the neurosurgery floor for a month. It was a time of swollen pain without the ability to move without the help of others. After that month came to a close, my rehabilitation therapy started which included 8 hours of intensive therapy each day for three months. It was a school of one exhausting therapy after the next: Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapies all rolled into one intensive day synchronized for maximum results: to help me reach independence again.
I wouldn't have worked as a caregiver if this hadn't happened to me. My experience became my drive to work in a rehabilitation hospital setting. I know exactly what it's like being a patient and have regularly used my experience to empathize and empower patients.
No matter what the injury, whether a brain injury suffered by a stroke, a car accident, spinal fusion, or a double knee replacement, I knew how to relate in some way to every one of my patients under my care. I knew how frustrating it is to be confined to a hospital room without the ability to move without setting off a bed alarm. I was that same stubborn patient that wanted to do things by myself and save the hospital staff the time to take care of me. I lost my pride. I had nothing to hide anymore. After all, safety trumps privacy in a healthcare setting.
I am familiar with the darkness that is infused within healing. The terror knowing that night is almost near as anticipating all the “fun things” that come with silence, darkness, and isolation. Your mind begins to throw itself into overdrive with no chance of relaxation because you are trapped in silent darkness wondering what each unfamiliar sound is. You will finally succumb to the fact that there is nothing you can do and no way of finding out what each source of your fears stem from. It's another state of anxiety.
Only when you can trust that you are being watched over, in good hands, and in good company, will the precise moment occur: the comfort to let your guard down and let your body regain its much needed rest for your mind and body. A sleep that will never match any that you were used to before this stressful intervention. The slumber is what the body and brain has been agonizing for. The sleep-state is so life like it's as if you go into another realm where anything is possible. Anywhere, anytime, doing whatever your mind and conscious wants to do. In my deepest slumber I flew over everyone's conscious line of sight. I was floating in the highest vaulted ceilings with pure freedom in any direction.
Upon waking I remember coming back to the confines of my body. One side of my body understood what I willed, the other side responded as stubbornly as an immovable stone. This was the result of my brain injury; it gave me the same neurological response as someone who suffered a stroke in the cerebellum.
I understand that everyone you are close to is deeply concerned about everything you go through. I would never change anything that I ever had to go through in my healing process. Anyone perceives my experience as a negative for any other person to go through. While others can't even fathom the despair they put themselves through, just trying to place themselves in my shoes, I wouldn't ask for a chance to escape my trial. This event in my life has transformed me. It imbued me with understanding, compassion, patience, humbleness, and empathy for others.
~LMc
No comments:
Post a Comment