Weavers Story Bank

My little notebook to the rescue

My husband Bob suffered a stroke when he was 49. It took 5 months of rehabilitation to get him to relearn everything without the use of his left side of the body, including walking and talking.

I was getting frustrated by doctors and practice nurses who often dismissed and didn’t listen to worries and concerns I had about Bob’s day to day behaviour. I wrote down notes and practiced what I was going to say before I went to see the Nurse or Doctor.

I made a nice little notebook for myself – and carried it with me at all times.

I wrote down specific examples of what was changing with Bob, things I noticed that were different. By doing this I was able to ask the doctor or nurse to tell me specific ways I could learn to support Bob better through these. I recorded the time of day I made the observation – and what medications Bob had taken. I also directly asked the GP what support they could provide in response to these changes.

Asking what else to expect in the future, what should I be wary of, when should I hit the panic button, all helped me to better deal with the unpredictable nature of the situation. I found that I was able to get more specific and relevant information from doctor’s and practice nurses, and they didn’t dismiss things as easily, especially when I was firm and flagged an issue as a re-occurring theme.