ForbesOnTech

Holiday Stroke Patient Gifts-- Surviving a Stroke and Laughing

It being the Holiday season, my blog is getting a lot of traffic from Internet searches by people looking for “gift ideas for stroke patients?”

            In pasts posts on this topic I’ve emphasized that one of the most appreciated gifts you can give a stroke patient is a simple visit or perhaps  a shared shopping trip, lunch, or  a going with them to see a first run or recently released movie.

            But there are many other things that stroke patients with limited or restricted mobility really appreciate including clothing such as:

            Athletic shoes with Velcro fasteners

            Sweat suits

            Pants or shorts with elastic waste bands

            A handcrafted tie-dyed T-Shirt. (I have 12 now)

            Fleece lined moccasins for wearing around the house

            Sandals that are easily put on and taken off

            Many stroke patients experience feelings of diminished self-esteem and feel they people may not accept them because of the physical effects of  strokes. Gifts that can counter such feelings and help a person to begin socializing again include:

            Spa gift certificates.

            Gift certificates for a hair stylist manicure or pedicure.

            Public transit passes (including instructions on how the patient can summon and use point-to-point public transportation designed for the handicapped)

            Gym membership

            Registration in an adaptive PE class at a local community college.

            Gift certificate for  “healthy cooking” classes

Adult education classes.

            Enrollment in hobby related classes

            There are all kinds of mobility aids. If your stroke patient needs a cane or a “scooter” consider the following:

            A genuine Shillelagh with a sturdy wooden knob on its top

            Custom pin striping or adhesive flame decals for a scooter  (the flames make them go faster and add much appreciated personalization

Stocking stuffers for stroke patients:

            Gift cards for Itunes, transit systems, coffee shops, down front concert tickets (you can’t imagine how happy I was to find out the band “Tower of Power” was not only still alive but that someone knew and understood that I was “Still a Young Man”. Fabulous gift. I’ve also managed to gimp my way to Allman Brothers and Doobie Brothers concerts since I had my stroke.

{n.b. retirement can be a lot of fun.  One of the little tawdry games I like to play is to go to the movies and hit “the Old Guy’s Discount Trifecta:

“Senior, Handicapped and Student” discounts on a first run movie. The trick here is to ask for all three discounts with a strsight face (kinda hard to do, since I have a smile that droops on the  left side)

Hey, I may have been disabled by my stroke, but I didn’t lose my sense of humor—Jim Forbes on 12/14/2007}

            

Serious Ideas for Gifts to Stroke Patients-- While They are in the Hospital

Gift Giving—A Stroke Patients’ BedSide’s Remembrances

If You Friend or Loved One is in the Hospital

Sveral times a day posts in my blog get served up when someone types the words “gifts for stroke patients” or “stroke blogs” into a search engine.

Having been so described, I thought I would take a few moments to talk specifically about gifts for stroke patients when they ‘re in the hospital and fter they’ve come home.

Recovering from a stroke is a lonely thing. I feel the most important gift anyone can give a stroke patient is “time and patience.” It’s the latter that can be taxing for friends of stroke patients. Learning to sit patiently with a stroke victim can be taxing. First, strokes often have a side effect of shortening someone’s attention span. I freely admit to having ADD and my stroke made it much worse.

Add to that the fact that I knew I wasn’t speaking clearly and you have someone who is confined to a ward and very frustrated.

I spent about four months in a good hospital with a first-class rehab ward and a great physiatrist (a doctor that specializes in rehabbing stroke patients). About the only socialization I had was communal dining with other patients, my rehab appointments, and interactions with the nursing staff.

Visitors were a gift from heaven. What I wanted most was news from the world beyond the fifth floor of the hospital. And most patients would prefer that personal news of their world be delivered in–person, by a friend.  Flowers may look nice, but seeing a friend does more to perk someone up, and the memory lasts a long time.

If you’re going to go calling here’s an idea for a gift that will be ravenously appreciated—a wholesome burger or other favorite comfort food. Good Lord, after three months on the rehab ward, I would have killed for chow from Taco Bell or InNOut. Of course, it’s wise to check with the nursing staff before bringing such food to your friend on a ward as the ability to swallow food is sometimes compromised by a stroke.

Assuming you feel comfortable taking food to a patient, why not make it a picnic out on a green hospital lawn?

My portable computer became my lifeline to the world while I was in the hospital. If you’re going to take a notebook computer to a stroke patient, make sure it has a dial-up ISP account on it. Very few hospitals have 802.11 WiFi so dialup is a must.

Using a computer while I was in rehab helped restore some of the fine motor skills in my  stroke-damaged left hand. Today, I still can’t write legibly, but I can and do type accurately.

            My notebook also opened up the world of Amazon.com to me while I was still in the hospital. Two of the most appreciated gifts I received in the hospital were Amazon gift certificates.

            I also received a nice set of Logitech stereo gamer headphones while I was in rehab. They really helped me to enjoy the music stored on my notebook.

            DVDs are another great gift. One of my friends on the rward received PBS’  Civil War Series on DVD.  Watching it became a nightly ward social event and fueled a lot of subsequent conversations over meals.

            To cut this post short, giving a stroke patient your time and learning to sit patiently may be one of the most important gifts you can give someone while they’re in the hospital.

            And remember, your friend only had a stroke, they weren’t diagnosed with leprosy or Q fever. Don’t be afraid of them, they’re still your friend or loved one.  Jim Forbes, five years after a stroke, happily retired, but still writing, on 09/08/2007 from rural San Diego County.