Discharge Date (Thurs., 4/3/12) from MAGEE....

Well, today I was officially given a discharge date of Thursday, May 3rd.  At that point, I will have spent exactly 4 weeks here.  My pain has come down somewhat but I am certainly not pain-free and I still have a long way to go in order to live the life I want and need to live which includes less pain, more smiling and alot more time playing with my children (3 and 5 yrs old)!  In my time here at Magee, I've made the most beautiful floral creations in horticultural therapy (now I just have to work on keeping them alive!!)  I've used water colors, wax, chalk, paints, sketch pencils etc in Art Therapy to make things that remind me of home: a heart with the names of my family members in it as well as a Millar Family Crest that i'm still working on - now that was a biting off a bit more than I could chew but what the heck.  We'll see how it turns out.  I've worked my butt off in therapies and I've had times where I just had to sit in the silence of my room and cry because that's what my mind and body needed to do.  I have a private room, for which I am soooooo incredibly grateful - and I have a view of the city of Philadelphia that would just make anyone say "Wow!" (I'll post some pictures when I get home).

I am learning alot about myself being here, not only as an inpatient - but as an Occupational Therapist who not only WORKS in a rehabilitation myself, but it now a patient in on.  I can tell you, it is VERY different being "on the other side."  I do believe that I'm being a very good patient (I try not to whine and complain too much - haha!) - I think it helps me, in a way, being a patient as well as a therapist, because I can use the same language the therapist uses and when I look at them and say "I can only do one more," they know I mean it.  I'm pushing myself as hard as I would push my patients, so in a way, I'm getting a taste of my own medicine...which i don't mind as long as it gets me out of here leaving better than when i came in!!  I'm learning about perspective in a way no one could ever teach me or explain to me, too.  My perspective has changed from that of a therapist, encouraging and often times requiring more of my patients, to now that of a patient, who is (or maybe isn't) always able to give it all I've got at times due to pain, fatigue or plain old motivation.  I KNOW HOW IT FEELS NOW.  I also know i'm not here forever - and the time I'm here I need to work as hard as possible - "encouraging and requiring" more of myself (the patient) because I know my time here is limited.  The rewards in the end should (no, they WILL) outweigh the trials, tears and the "I can't do it's".  All over Magee, you see "BELIEVE." on a wall in their gym hangs a poster.  It reads (in part) "BELIEVE.....in the art of inspiration. In the craft of creating hope and shared vision for recovery and return...our passion for what's possible makes each and every day a new opportunity to inspire. And when we succeed we receive our inspiration.  This is the art of MAGEE Rehabilitation Hospital."  And this couldn't be more true.  As a therapist, I can truly see and honestly appreciate how what we do as therapists (speaking as an OT now) is truly a "craft of creating new possibilities" because the dawn of each new day creates opportunities for inspiration and hope for both me the "patient" (as is the case right now) and me the "therapist."  It is truly a work of art to get your patients to believe in not only themselves but their own abilitlies and more importantly, their endless possibilities.  Every day, we (speaking as an OT) paint on the canvas of our patients - and every day they paint on it as well...but together as patient and therapist, wecreate our own craft of "hope and shared vision for recovery and return."  BELIEVE...not only in yourself and your own possibilities but believe that you are capable of great and life changing opportunities despite the challenges that have been placed before you...if ever a word to say it all, B-E-L-I-E-V-E.