PT: Good for You and Good for Me

On the second day of being at the clinic I was told to go into PT where I met several of the most abrasive and wonderful people around.

After years of being very lax with my health--I say lax because I was not unfit, but the amount of fitness that I was capable of was unclear.

I had had a brain injury and I had basically been unable to walk for a month--now I was beginning a long and arduous project of rebuilding those neural pathways and to be honest just rebuilding the will to walk again.

So the first day of physical therapy I began each day with a PT therapist who started talking to me about what I had not done, really--work out.

My therapists name was K--- and I began by doing bridges. They were not hard but by the end of the week I done so many bridges, and I was already stronger.

While I was doing bridges (which to be honest were not very hard) I began to notice there were a lot of people who were improving and working on their own problems--and  every patient around me was doing what it took to be better.

That was when I met Bruce and Gerald.  These two molten sex gods were the bright stars of the PT gym, and I came to respect them and laugh with them.

Bruce, another therapist in PT.

When I use the term "molten sex gods" I do so with the deepest respect I can muster.  These men were very, very in shape and they made the rest of us aspire to be in the kind of shape most men dream about--and by their very presence they inspired us to be better and made us better.

Every day we met in PT to do bridges first, and I watched as they worked with patients to move their bodies, slowly at first, but slowly and steadily I watched them walk and use their extremities--pushing the limits of themselves until eventually repairing what their brain injuries took from them.

Even I was changed by PT and although I heard some patients refer to it as "Physical Torture."

I remember the day I first walked down the stairs with help.  I walked twice around the center and I cried.  

After meeting my wife at the door I kissed her long and hard and told her I would walk around the house without walker, and I still remember wanting to get rid of that walker forever.  But first things first--baby steps.

The amount of humor I have tried to use in this blog is a serious part of my recovery--perhaps because I have tried to celebrate my recovery.  

Gerald: One of the dream team of physical therapists at CNS.

It is important to realize the healing power each of the patients and therapists go through every day.

On a day by day basis I would laugh and do exercises with Bruce and Gerald, and when they made me laugh they made it easier to do the excercises I needed to do to heal myself after my brain injury. 

And truthfully I'm thankful for all those two did for me.  Once I fell on the map and both of them were quick to ask if I was alright.  

I told them I was fine but in no uncertain terms they needed to "Stop making me laugh so much," with a large amount of fake anger and a even larger smile on my face.

I have a lot of funny stories to tell about these two amazing men, and I only hope my blog does them honor.  

But for now I'll finish by saying that laughter was and will always be the best medicine.

The truth is we must laugh--we have to laugh or else we would cry--still there are very funny and hopeful things to experience each and every day.

The funniest part of my day will always be PT, and two of the therapists that make it worth my time are Bruce and Gerald--each and every one of the therapists as well help us work through the pain and humorous truth and parts of our recovery.