Driving Eval Questions

[OMG16]

My son had a driving eval today.  He has not driven since his surgery and stroke in 2005.  He had only been driving 2 weeks.  The last time he drove was to his pre op appt and while parking he hit one of the Drs cars.  We of course tease him...... that was one expensive appt.  He did really well with reaction times but not so well with vision and processing time.  Have any of you had to go through driver simulation after your surgery?  Can you tell me more about it if you or a family member has.  Do you know what we can do to increase his processing speed of the visual info?  His complex problem solving is also slow.  Any ideas on therapies to improve that as well?

The good news is he is still making great progress and last summer could not have passed any of the tests.  He did get all of the problems right except 2 and he corrected himself right away with the right answers.  I was very proud of him.  He is on his way to living an independant life.

He also had his Vocational Rehab through SSSI appointment and that went very well.  They recommended that he volunteer at the local hospital for awhile to figure out his stamina and what his limitations are with his left side.  We talked to the Rehab dept today and his old OT is willing to take him on and help him with this.  We are thrilled.  He feels like his life is no longer on hold and is very excited about all of this. 16

[ppearl214]

16! OMG! the pride ih your words!  I cannot answer your question... but boy oh boy do I hear the pride! Tell him congrats and continued wishes for wellness... it definately sounds like "hold mode" has been lifted...

...and btw, LOVE your sig line!


forehead kisses to you! (yeah, i stole it... whatcha gonna do about it?) 

Phyl

[OMG16]

Phyl our entire Family is so proud of him.  Not long ago he was telling one of his friend that he chooses to be happy not angry, bitter or depressed.  He told him it was not easy sometimes but it was in his control.  He also said that if he did not think about all that he has lost and just focus on the short term goals he has now that it was much easier.  I guess he has heard what we have been telling him for the last 3 years.  We told him that sometime life can be overwhelming and in those cases to just take 1 day at a time or even one minute at a time if he had to.  We also told him sometimes you need medicine to help for depression and to let us know if it was all to much for him.  I'm so thankful that we have always had open communication with him and told him that nothing was off limits.  This rule did make us uncomfortable sometimes but was well worth it.  Little did we know that we would need the open communication so much and so soon in his life.  I have learned so much from him as well as my sig line states.  I am a very blessed Mother!

There can never be to many of us offering forehead kisses and they really do help.  Thank you! 16

[Kaybo]

16~
That is so GREAT (I've been praying about this!) -- I hope they find something just right that he LOVES to do!
I had to do driving simulations - we can talk about it - you know I do better on the phone and my keyboard is acting up anyway!
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K

[OMG16]

That would be great K I'll talk to you soon. 16

[Kate B]

Phyl our entire Family is so proud of him.  Not long ago he was telling one of his friend that he chooses to be happy not angry, bitter or depressed.  He told him it was not easy sometimes but it was in his control.  He also said that if he did not think about all that he has lost and just focus on the short term goals he has now that it was much easier.  I guess he has heard what we have been telling him for the last 3 years.  We told him that sometime life can be overwhelming and in those cases to just take 1 day at a time or even one minute at a time if he had to.  We also told him sometimes you need medicine to help for depression and to let us know if it was all to much for him.  I'm so thankful that we have always had open communication with him and told him that nothing was off limits.  This rule did make us uncomfortable sometimes but was well worth it.  Little did we know that we would need the open communication so much and so soon in his life.  I have learned so much from him as well as my sig line states.  I am a very blessed Mother!

There can never be to many of us offering forehead kisses and they really do help.  Thank you! 16

16,
Your son sounds so mature. I love his "glass half full" attitude.  I couldn't help but note how lucky he is to have you as a parent! Truly, you are to be commended for keeping those lines of communication open.

All the best,
Kate

[Don]

16 dont let these people buffalo you ? The boy can drive, no problem and I get so sick of wankers at DMV's trying to diagnose you? Everyday I see large obese people behind the wheel who might stroke out but they dont grill them every time I renew my license here in this one horse town it is a drama as the first time I went in the troll at the counter noticed I use a cane and this started the ball rolling talk about discrimination? They never used to bother me when I went to the beach and tossed back a 12 pack and drove home? But now that I have one eye and one ear they want to jack me around? Dont take it, in my case I called the mayor and dropped a dime on these fools if my doctor says its okay for me to drive then give me my license last I knew the DMV aint authorized to practice medicine in my state?

[OMG16]

Kate thank you so much and his Father is just as great as I am at communicating with him.  Which I hear is not always the case with Fathers.    I think he has the greatest parents in the world of course.  I remind him of this often!

Don you crack me up.  Wankers is my newest fav word.  His Dr was the one that though it would be a good idea and we bypassed the DMV and are having all of his evals at the hospital in the OT dept.  He was and is quite disabled.  He lost 2/3 of the right side of his brain and has recovered more than any of us ever thought he would.  His brain was so swollen for about 6 weeks that he was on massive amounts of steroids and could not walk or ambulate in anyway on his own for about 7 weeks.  It has taken almost 3 years to get to where he is now.  He also only had 2 weeks of driving experience before all of this happened so we all just want to make sure he is safe himself and for all the other drivers out on the road.  It does not help with the Seattle traffic which is similar to LA.  I just really hope this is something that he will be able to do.  He really wants to be more independant.  As a Mother it is my job to help him acheive this goal and I will do whatever I need to.  However I think his Dad will have to practice with him as I just get to nervous and that makes him very nervous.  We need all the prayer the forum has to offer.  16

[sgerrard]

16,

First, what great news, I am glad to hear that he is taking the tests - who cares if he is passing them yet! If you compare your description of his disabilities in your reply to Don, with the description of his driving evaluation in your first post, you realize how remarkable it really is. I'm also glad to hear about the rehab appointment.

I am curious if he has any interest in computers. Some would even claim that playing Nintendo is good for the visual system and for developing quicker problem solving. 

Computers is a good skill to develop for many kinds of jobs. It is often not necessary to be particularly fast or clever; taking your time and doing things right is also very valuable. I tend to have my best ideas about 12 hours after hearing about a new problem - too late for some kinds of jobs, but just fine for a computer programmer.

Forehead kisses all around. 

Steve

[Don]

16 if its any consolation my brain was completely scrambled when I had my bleed they even had a tube coming out of my head with black and yellow blood in it for weeks and to this day i still have a VP shunt installed I reckon I had at least 30 years of drunk driving experience when I went down in 3 countries so even though they say the human brain is the same consistency as cottage cheese somehow mine has rebuilt its self and as soon as I could crawl back out to my truck I started driving again wouldnt recommend this in Seattle take him to a golf course and rent a cart so he can practice on the cart paths and terrorize golfers? Wankers is sumthing I picked up in Australia just be careful if your around Aussies.

[JeWeL41]

Do you know what 'wankers' means here in the UK? Suffice to say I was shocked when I saw it here.

[Don]

Yeah I suppose its the same as Oz but we Yanks dont know any better and besides the Aussies call us Septics? As if you know cockney slang Septic Tank rhymes with Yank, one mans language is another's profanity

[JeWeL41]

Yes your'e right, over here we still can't believe there was a kids film called 'Free Willy" !!!

[ppearl214]

Do you know what 'wankers' means here in the UK? Suffice to say I was shocked when I saw it here.

Are you gobsmacked to know that I know a wanker when I see one?



Let's keep this thread on track for original post.......thanks folks!

[Dan]

Its good to here your son is doing better.  Here in Germany there is a law that doesn't allow anyone to drive for at least 3 months after brain surgerry or until you have had a phsyciatric evaluation.  I had a Phsy. eval. in the rehab center, it involved alot of questions about how I feel now after surgery and a 20 min long reaction test.  The test was hooked up to a computer with blinking lights, colored squares, and different tones.  I thought I did terrible but the phsyciater said I was average and that I could drve again.  I guess that here it is a law because there are still streches of Autobahn where there is no speed limit.  I don't know of any thing special exercise or training you can do but if you ask a physical theripiest they could probably help. 

Dan in Germany