As far as I can recall, I don’t think I had ever even visited a true rehabilitation hospital in my life. I had no idea what it would be like or what to expect…but I would soon find out!
“Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (GNT)
It was late in the evening as a team of 5 or 6 nurses and aides were getting me admitted and adjusted to my nice private room. I found out that just like other hospitals, this hospital has doctors, takes x-rays etc., had a lab and of course gives meds. But as they started telling me what to expect tomorrow, I knew this was going to be much different from any “hospital” I’d ever heard of or visited! There was a “white board” on the wall in my room for a schedule and times of activities, such as: PT 8:30-10:00 am, PT 1:30-3:00 pm…(PT-Physical Therapy for 3 hours and I can’t even move my legs?) What’s this all about?
The next morning right on time, my therapist arrived to get me-with a wheelchair! As my nurse and the therapist were helping me into the wheelchair he said: “This is actually something we will start you on today, how to transfer from bed to wheelchair and back!” When I did get to the PT department, it was a huge room with lots of equipment, and it was full of therapists working with patients. My therapist gave me some exercises focusing on upper body strength, it felt good to be sitting up and at least be doing “something”.
When the therapist wheeled me back to my room, he had a thin smooth board with him and he called it a “transfer board”. He said, “Now you get your first lesson transferring from the wheelchair to the bed.” He then showed how you make the bed lower than the wheelchair and put the board between the two, then with someone holding my legs up, I can slide right into the bed! I needed a little help at first and we just reversed things-bed higher-going back to the wheelchair, but this was pretty amazing to me. I was learning new things and felt like I was in control of something!
Of course, Ruth stayed with me at that hospital as well, but she wasn’t allowed into the big PT room. Lots of times while I was in PT she would talk with spouses of other patients or have a good time walking outside if the weather was nice. One thing that made it nice there, was that we were only about 30 mins. from home, so if we needed something it wasn’t a big trip.
On the day that I was sent to this rehab hospital, our daughter-in-law from Boston started sending bible verses to my phone. I thought that was a wonderful thing for her to do and thanked her for those verses that I could read over and over again. On about the third day of her sending those verses, I “clicked” on one and realized I could get that entire bible app on my phone. (Okay, I’ll admit I was a little slow on that one, never thinking I needed it.) But that was-and is-the greatest blessing I received in the hospital! You get a “verse of the day” in the morning-every day, and what a blessing it was to be able to think of something and look it up with just the tip of my finger! I know many if not most Christ followers now have a bible app on their phone. But if you were one putting it off like I was, don’t wait any longer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll use it everyday!
As the days went by, I told people this was a “working hospital”-you didn’t go there to rest! Just when you think you might be making enough progress to relax a little-they would add more exercises to you! But it was fun meeting more of the physical therapist and hearing some of their “stories”!
“Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future.” 1 Timothy 4:8 (GNT)
As I was getting close to being released from that hospital to finally go HOME, one thing I hadn’t given any thought to was “How am I going to get into the car with two broken legs?” Well, one of my last “exercises” at the hospital was getting in and out of the “car” that they had in the PT room! It was actually like the front portion of a car, with doors-the driver’s side had a steering wheel and both sides had limited leg room just like a real car! Once again, they showed me how I would either have to use the transfer board to slide down or up, depending on the height of our vehicle. They showed me all kinds of different things to help out when you can’t move your legs and exactly how someone else should help. After a couple of days I was ready to be discharged to go HOME…FINALLY!
To be continued…..
Til Next Time…..
Leave a Reply to John GardnerCancel reply