Discharge is not the finish line
The hospital handles the emergency. Rehab handles the recovery. What nobody quite covers is the rest of the day at home — the transfers, the shower, the meal that has to be a specific texture, the appointments three times a week that somebody has to drive to.
That gap is where recovery quietly stalls, and it is the part we take on.
Doing the exercises is most of the battle
Therapists set home programmes because repetition is what rebuilds function. Then life gets in the way, or the exercises are tiring and dispiriting, and they slide.
A caregiver who is already in the house at the right time, who knows the programme is meant to happen and makes room for it, changes the odds considerably. Not by instructing — by being present and expecting it.
We follow the plan; we do not write it
This is the boundary that matters most on this page. Swallowing precautions, exercise programmes and mobility restrictions are set by clinicians. We follow them precisely and we raise anything that looks like a change.
We are not therapists and we do not assess. If a caregiver thinks something has shifted — weaker on one side, more trouble with words, coughing at meals — the answer is a phone call to you and the care team, not a judgement call in the kitchen.