My wife,
Youko Yamaguchi, was traveling with her friends 17 years ago. While chattering
at night club after dinner she got subarachnoid hemorrhage at the age of 53. The hotel manager called
ambulance car, and she was carried to an emergence hospital.
Could you access
hospital?
A phone
call at 11 pm asked me to come to the hospital soon. I drove about 440 km all
night, and arrived there at 7 am. After
approval sign, the operation took place.
The shrinkage of blood
vessels occurred 7 days after the operation and my wife suffered aphasia and
became right side hemiplegic.
What expectations did
you have for treatment, rehabilitation, recovery?
We didn’t
know anything about aphasia, so we couldn’t imagine anything about treatment,
rehabilitation and recovery. She murmured “I am sorry, sorry, I made a serious thing!”
”How should I manage many tasks to be done”
She couldn’t recognize that she couldn’t continue these tasks. Without any special rehabilitation, she left the hospital one month later.
What was your
experience of treatment and/or rehabilitation?
2 days
later after we returned home, my wife was admitted to a rehabilitation hospital
cerebrovascular center. Here physical therapy, occupational therapy
and speech therapy began. She was
positive about the physical therapy because it was carried out in a large gym
and she could interact with other patients.
But, occupational and speech therapy took place in small private room,
and therapists sat down side by side without noticing the appearance of my
wife. They only executed the curriculum
without any guidance from their superiors.
During 3 months stay, her communication didn’t improve clearly. But, she could stand up and walk by herself
and use a spoon and knife with her right hand.
What has helped in the
recovery?
3 months
later she moved to another rehabilitation center in Yokohama for 2 months, which
mainly focused on language rehabilitation.
The speech therapist sat face to face with my wife, greeted and talked about
easy topics. Then, the language rehabilitation curriculum started.
This speech therapist advised us to make a Japanese syllabary table. Each Hiragana was combined with each Chinese
character which was easier to remember than Hiragana for my wife. Using this table, rehabilitation was carried
on. The speech therapist also advised my
wife to join the calligraphy circle which was open next door to the hospital.
After my
wife left the hospital, we visited once every week for language rehabilitation for
two and half years. The speech
therapist advised us to install a specific software to our PC, and advised us to
write and send a short mail to her about any topics. A few days later the return mail came back
without fail. Video conversation through IPad facetime with daughters and
grandchildren was also a great help for her rehabilitation.
What have been/are
your fears?
When my wife has
to live alone, how she can manage to live daily life without my support. This is most serious matter to us.
How did your family
and friends feel and respond?
