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VAGraduateStudent
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

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Joined: 13 Apr 2012
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 340
Location: Virginia, USA

02 Dec 2013, 3:30 pm

A good friend of mine had a stroke a few months ago and is now in a "rehab" (nursing home). He was moved an hour away from his home because he kept leaving the home and trying to walk around town on his usual route. I'm not sure why they did this because it seems to be that resuming your regular activities is the best thing to do for a stroke. I haven't been able to visit him yet because I'm in the middle of a difficult pregnancy and had to be on bed rest for awhile. I just found out that he "probably won't" get out of the home.

My friend has limited verbal communication, meaning that he can talk just fine, but it's often in an unexpected way, so people don't understand him if they don't know him. He's a genius and a wonderful person, and I regard him as a mentor. I know that he spent many years in his childhood/youth involuntarily committed to a mental health facility. This was a traumatic event for him and it seems to have affected his self esteem quite a bit.

From what I've heard, he's not recovering from the stroke because he's having physical symptoms and doesn't seem to be able to communicate this properly so he's not getting the right attention. I'm very worried about his emotional and physical health being in a place like that. I'm not related to him so I can't step in. He isn't comfortable identifying as autistic so it's hard to advocate for him.

Has anyone else had an experience like what my friend is going through? Does anyone have any advice about how I can make his environment easier on him?