We have had to take away my father's drivers licence. His strokes have severely interfered with his reaction time, his thought process, memory, and the function of his right leg (gas/break leg). The therapist originally told him not to drive for awhile until he could be tested, that was over 2 years ago. He was determined to get his ability to drive back. He insisted he would drive again, and at that point there was a chance he could have. Then he continued to have small strokes and his cognitive abilities continued to decline and his therapists pushed his ability to return to work and to drive further and further out. After a year had past he wanted to get a drivers manual, as his therapists told him that at this point in order to drive again he was going to have to take and pass a behind the wheel given by the hospitals occupational therapy department. He was never well enough to take this test, or even had enough focus to study the book.
The therapists agreed that the idea of driving should be put on hold until he showed some occupational improvements as he was having trouble focusing for very long. So for the next 6 months talk of the driving test was tabled and he was told he could not drive.
One day several months ago I came home to find the car gone, and my dad missing. He had taken the car to be washed. He had snuck out of the apartment with the keys and drove the car, he knew he wasn't supposed to. When I finally found him (and took the keys away from him) he knew he had snuck something he wasn't supposed to.
The next day my mom asked him whether he wanted the doctor to take away his licence or have the opportunity to give it up himself now, knowing that he could always earn it back. He decided that he would rather have an active roll and gave it up. All the while saying he could get it back when he wanted.
Then about a week ago he tried to drive again:( This time when I kicked him out of the car (caught him this time) all he had to say when i brought up the issue of his lack of a drivers license was that he could drive he just couldn't "legally drive". Yea! a new trick:(
Monday, October 5, 2009
On the Road Again
Posted by JoAnna at 6:45 AM
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