Was your husband started on any kind of physical therapy while in the
hospital? Was he also unmotivated in the hospital, or has he just been that
way since he got home? Could the sleepiness be a side effect of medication he
is on? I don't know how long it takes to recover from meningitis -- could he
still be wiped out from that and not have regained his strength yet or built
it back up? I was very wiped out and sleeping a lot for two weeks after TM.
What was he told about expectations for improvement? Whatever he was told, let
him know that improvement can very well happen and there is no limit as to a
time frame for that. But as others have said so well, it takes work, effort,
hope, and faith. Some do not experience any recovery after TM, but most do
experience some degree, some great degrees of recovery. I would talk to him
and his doctors about starting (if he hasn't already) some type of physical
therapy. If he doesn't think it would do any good -- there are scores of
people on this list who would say otherwise!
Having something like this happen is a blow and will take some mental and
emotional adjustment. It would not be unusual to experience some degree of
depression. Talk to him and try to find out the root of his lack of motivation
and then you'll have some idea how to encourage him. He may just need a little
time to adjust to the whole thing mentally. There may be some grieving over
what has been lost and the changes in lifestyle; that's normal and fine and
probably even healthy -- as long as we don't get stuck there. One of the
biggest battles I had to face, mentally, was getting through the idea that I
just plain old did not WANT to deal this this, did not want to have it happen.
But, of course, that didn't matter. :-) So the sooner I accepted it and then
did what I could to improve, praying all the way for help and strength and
healing beyond what I could do, the sooner things would improve.
Keep in touch and let us know if there is any way we can help. Feel free to
ask any questions -- usually someone on the list here will have an answer or a
similar experience.
Best wishes,
Barbara H.
In a message dated 12/31/98 11:31:57 PM EST, qureshi2(AT)sprint.ca writes:
> My husband has TM and is a T10 parapegic. He is home after being in hospital
> for 6 months. He had mininigitis and TB.
>
> He just wants to sleep and drink tea!
>
> Any hints on motivation would be most welcomed!!
>
> Wendy Q.
>