o_19m515s4j1asl13rsiok91e166nh.pdf

Your rehab will not stop when you leave
the hospital and go home which is why you
must learn to take control.
Edited & Illustrated by
Julian Verkaaik B Des
Back on Track provides basic information
which will help you take the bull by the
horns and take control of your future. A
spinal cord injury is not the end of the road.
It may mean hanging up your boots for good
and getting a new set of wheels but there is
no reason to sit on the roadside and watch
life pass you by.
This handbook is designed to help you do
just that - to help you get back into the real
world with a good base of knowledge that
will help keep you out of hospital later. It
is written in everyday language that will
compliment the information you will be
getting from your medical teams. The issues
that surround spinal cord impairment are
complicated but they can be understood
by anyone – it may take a bit of time but it
is worth it.
When you’ve fallen from grace and landed
in a spinal unit you need to begin learning,
right from day one. Rehabilitation is not a
medical process but a process of learning.
You are the most important stakeholder in
the outcome of your rehabilitation. Not the
doctors. Not the Hospital. You.
Nobody else can rehabilitate you
- you must do this for yourself.
In the early days of your recovery there will
be an enormous amount of medical activity
happening around you that you will not
have much control over. This will soon pass
and you will become much more involved
in the process of your rehabilitation.
All you need to do is take life one
day at a time and try to learn one
new thing every day.
Having a spinal cord impairment will not
stop you from having a happy and fulfillin
life. Yes, things have changed and life will
never be quite the same but change is the
only constant we have in life. Don’t fight it,
embrace it and work it to your advantage.
Above all else, keep believing
in yourself!!
Julian Verkaaik
© New Zealand Spinal Trust, 2014
4