Getting well is more difficult than not

Change is always a challenge. When someone close to you is taken ill, the shock of the resultant change on your life can in turn make you ill: I lost nine pounds when Viv first went into hospital.

But, once things settle down, you get into a routine; routines are comfortable thinsg, and you get to cope Until, that is, things change again.

Slow recovery from an illness (Viv has been fourteen months to date, perhaps another ten to go) involves a succession of small, yet significant, changes; one day the patient can't do something, the next they can, but you end up trying to help them do it anyway and get in a tangle. In fact, you actually face almost constant change throughout the recovery period.

I'm really pleased that Viv is recovering - she can walk with a stick now, having been off her legs completely twelve months ago - but there have been times when changes have been difficult to cope with for both of us - perhaps letting her get up and go to the loo on her own was one of the biggest.

This challenge of facing up to change is perhaps why many people fight shy of their rehab, and just settle into life in a wheelchair, or whatever. Maybe better support from the authorities (both carrot and stick) might help to improve their eventual recovery status, and wean a few people off their culture of care dependency?