Physical Therapy

Recovery is a funny thing.  Energy and stamina ebb and flow.  Exhaustion is ever present, lurking in the wings, ready to engulf you without warning.  Robert had a taste of this yesterday.

We have had a couple of really nice, low activity days at home.  Robert was released from inpatient physical therapy on Saturday morning, we came home, and he hasn't left since.  He had the choice between Home Health coming to us to do outpatient PT as part of his continuing recovery, or going to an outpatient facility.  Because he is motivated to get to a state that is better than pre-surgery, he chose to go to an outpatient facility.  Our first appointment was Monday afternoon.

He started out Monday pretty well rested.  Sleeping in your own bed without someone constantly coming in for labs or stats does wonders for your overall sense of well being.  Later in the morning, he had a visitor, a former co-worker, and he thoroughly enjoyed catching up with her.  After lunch, I suggested he catch a few winks, since we had to leave for his PT appointment about 2:00pm.  He agreed this was a good idea, and headed back to bed about 1:00pm.  In retrospect, I wish he could have had a couple of hours instead of just 45 minutes.  I woke him up at 1:45, and we started the process of moving towards the door.  It takes longer than you think when you are in recovery.

I could tell he wasn't as rested as he probably needed to be, and once we arrived at the facility, it took a hot minute to get to the waiting area.  It was an interesting place.  There were entry doors on opposite sides of the building with hallways that met in the middle and formed a makeshift waiting area.  Lining the entry hallways were socially distanced chairs spaced roughly six feet apart.  The waiting area separated the PT gym from a pool. Quite an interesting setup. I chose the north parking area, and we parked fairly close to the door.  However it still was a bit of a walk to get in.  Robert made it to the first chair in the hallway before he needed a rest.  I went and checked him in at the desk and got all the paperwork he needed to fill out.  They had asked us to be there 30 minutes early to do that, and we got there right on time.  I could tell Robert's internal clock was already starting to wind down.  After I collected paperwork, I went back to Robert and helped him move into the makeshift waiting area. He plopped down in the chair closest to the gym and closed his eyes.  I decided it would be better if I filled out the pages of paperwork, especially since his fine motor control is still a little shaky.  Once I finished, he had to sign in 4 places, and we still had 15 minutes to wait until our appointment time.  I had a minute of regret about following directions so closely and getting there the full 30 minutes ahead of time.  Just as I turned in the paperwork, a friend from church walked into the waiting area.  He was there for PT as well, and had just visited his physician whose office was upstairs. It was nice to chat with him while we waited, but I could tell it was sapping a little more of Robert's precious energy.

The friend got called in to the gym and we got called in a couple of minutes later.  Robert was shown to the room furthest away from the door for his evaluation (of course). First they took his stats - blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation. Then he was asked several questions about what he had done during inpatient PT, and what his goals were. Then he had to demonstrate balance and ability to transfer from sitting to standing while we were in the room. After that we moved out into the gym to a contraption that reminded me of a set of parallel bars used in gymnastics except that it had a full wooden base with non-slip strips. It had a very slight ramp up into it that Robert managed with no problem.  As Robert grabbed onto one of the bars, I asked him if he was going to do a "Gage Dyer" (this is an amazing college gymnast that we know), and he said maybe when he was better he would.  We had a laugh at that.  Enough laughing, back to work! He had to demonstrate more balance skills, including how well he maintained his balance with his eyes closed - yikes! Then there were a few more simple exercises, and after a while that put Robert over the edge.  He needed to sit down for a minute.  After catching his breathe, the therapist went over what he would need to do at home, had him practice a few of the moves, and then we were done.  We had been there an hour and he was exhausted.  I helped Robert out to the closest seat in the waiting area and had him rest while I scheduled his next few appointments.  He must have looked pretty bad, because one of the techs came out with a blood pressure machine and wanted to check him out.  His blood pressure was lower than it was when we came in, but not dangerously so.  The tech was still concerned, so stayed with us as we started down the hallway.  Robert was really woozy, and only made it to the next chair before needing to take another rest.  He didn't want to sit, because he said it was the standing part that really made his head swim.  But his knees looked like they were going to buckle.  We made him sit, and the tech went to get a wheelchair.  Robert had no intentions of getting into the wheelchair, but allowed her to walk behind him as we made our way out the door.  He decided that negotiating the curb was more than he could handle, so he took the long way around and walked down the handicap ramp and around the car to the passenger door.  Thank you so much Jana for recognizing that Robert needed a little extra help today!  It was very reassuring (to me at least) to have the wheelchair as an option if needed. 

Back in the car, Robert was happy to take the long way home.  He just wanted to look at something besides the 4 walls of a hospital room or the inside of our house.  I obliged, and we picked up a couple more prescriptions at the pharmacy before going back to the house.  Our driveway is huge, and since we a short one vehicle (Kelly's was totaled in the hail storm and has already been towed off ), I took advantage of the extra space in the driveway and parked almost horizontally so that Robert was as close to the door as he could get.  I helped him get out of the car, and I could tell he was toast.  In a very weak voice, he said, "Go get Kelly to help".  I ran into the house shouting for Kelly, who fortunately was watching TV with friends in the living room.  They all hustled outside, and we helped Robert get into a chair that was in the middle of the garage before all his energy evaporated.  He took a long rest, then decided he was ready to make it all the way into the house.  Our first try getting him out of the chair failed, his legs wouldn't hold him up.  That was a little scary.  So another short rest, then he was determined to get into the house.  I had the boys set another in the kitchen, about halfway between where he was and his recliner, which was his destination.  So great was his desire to make it to the recliner that he powered past the extra chair, and with Kelly's help, made it all the way to the recliner from the garage. I think her was surprised at how much energy the day's outing took.

Thirty minutes in the recliner and a protein snack of a few almonds worked wonders, but he was still really sapped.  About 4:30pm he decided to head back to bed.  Thank goodness, since I had to go to work that night!  I put Kelly on "Dad" duty, and had him send me regular updates and I headed off.  I came home about 8:30pm and Robert was up in the recliner, watching TV.  He had eaten an Arby's sandwich for dinner, and was looking pretty good.  I think he learned that he needs to conserve his energy when he knows he's going to be spending a lot of it!  It's a delicate balance.