Physical Therapy

I ran by mom's yesterday afternoon and when I opened her door, she wasn't there, but her TV was on.  Her TV is always on, so nothing new there.  After I put away the things I'd brought her, I tried to figure out where she might be.  Visiting?  Maybe, but probably not.  Then I thought of Physical Therapy, so I walked down the hall to the PT department.  Sure enough, there she sat, with 3-4 other oldsters, and it took me a minute to adjust my eyes to the sight.  I guess I never expected to see my mom doing a PT class like that.  There she sat, with her hair all coiffed and her nails all manicured, but she was just.... old.   When did that happen?  And watching my mom when she doesn't know I'm there, is even more weird.

She had one of those bike pedal things in front of her that they use to strengthen their upper arms, and while all the PT she's been doing has helped her enormously, it still just shocked me.  And then I got tickled and could not stop laughing....you know what I'm talking about.....the laughing that comes over you at the most inappropriate times, like a funeral (and Fred makes a face at you), or when your boss is yelling.  Luckily, no one saw me (since I was out in the hall,) and I got myself together before going in to say hi.  I think what gassed me was, all the oldsters sitting there looked like little kids again.....just with less energy. It looked like grade school, in the gym.  No dodge ball... but you get the drift.

Come to think of it, I felt just as weird watching Brian in PT, while he was still in the hospital after his motorcycle crash.  I only peeked in twice but both times made me horribly uncomfortable. His PT was just so damn painful, I couldn't stand to watch it.  Even loaded on pain meds (him--not me), it was still awful.  You think you are a Big Girl until you face something like that.  Nope....not so much.

  In my opinion, Physical Therapist are the jewels of health care recovery and most people don't know much about them, until they need one.  I used to work with several who moonlighted in my department way back when, and they have my undying respect and admiration.  They are truly miracle workers.