She says things like, "I love to cook. But it takes me three times as long now because it's nearly impossible to chop vegetables with one hand, so I don't cook." She says, "I love to read. But I can't hold the book and turn the pages, so I don't read any more." She says, "It's embarrassing when I eat in a restaurant. I have to ask someone else to cut my meat for me."
Simple fixes could address the obstacles that have robbed Sarah of much of her joy in life and disheartened her. A variety of special kitchen tools are available to make it much easier to cook one-handed. Book holders make it possible to enjoy reading. There are even products called rocker knives that enable people to cut meat one-handed.
A book called "One-Handed in a Two-Handed World," third edition by Tommye-Karen Mayer, provides hundreds of practical tips for people in Sarah's situation.
Sarah has been joined at the hip to the healthcare system for 18 months. How is it possible that she hadn't even heard of any of these solutions? It is possible it's because her doctors and other health care providers are focused almost exclusively on health measures such as how far she can bend her fingers.
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April 10, 2011
Be specific when explaining limitations, frustrations to your doctor
by Elizabeth L. Bewley
Is there any reason to let your doctor know what your priorities are? Yes, because sharing that information can increase your ability to do what you want - if your doctor acts on that insight. The story of a woman I'll call "Sarah" helps illustrate this point.
Sarah, 47, is a single mother with two children in college. She works for an advertising agency. She contracted necrotizing fasciitis - a fast-moving infection that is often fatal - a few days after she had surgery in 2009. Her doctors said that she was going to die. All of her family members flew in from around the country and took up a vigil at the hospital.
Miraculously, she survived. However, she lost almost all of the use of one arm - despite more than two dozen operations intended to save her life and preserve her arm. She has been in physical therapy for more than a year now. They routinely measure how far she can bend her fingers. That assessment helps everyone understand if physical therapy is helping.
However, when Sarah talks about her health and her arm, she doesn't say things like, "I wish my fingers could bend another 20 degrees."
