What can I say about the therapists that I haven't already said? I liked them all, as much as I liked the therapy. They were all good friends by the time we left the Rehabilitation Center. I spent a lot of time with each of them, either in Meal Group or in regular therapy, sometimes in both. As with most things, I didn't have a favorite; they were all excellent and so was the therapy I received through them. But I didn't know what I had at first, so I didn't appreciate it.
Think of the therapists as a coach. That simplifies things a bit too much, I know, but without their help, Don and I would have been on our own, and we could hardly do that. They all had ideas we would never have thought of ourselves, and had me doing therapy that would help with other, more mundane, things. For example, I never thought I would need a walker, but I did need one. My own pride would have gotten in the way of my recovery if those people hadn't known so much and convinced me that, yes, I did need a walker to walk on my own, and what was wrong with that?
All the therapists were top notch, but I didn't think about this until one day when I happened to read Tori's name badge at the very end of Speech. Besides learning her last name, I learned that she was also the head Speech therapist. I don't remember the title now, but it got me wondering about all my other therapists. Were they good at what they did? Were they the best of the best? And why did I get them in the first place?
Don told me a lot of the answers to my questions, as he remembered meeting them and being initially told more about them to begin with. I seem to have been dreaming at the time, because I don't remember anything about meeting them all for the first time. They were simply 'there' at first, a part of rehab. that I didn't question. I've heard the story of Fred getting very excited when I curled my left toes around his fingers during our first therapy session, but I don't remember it. To me, it is just a story. Kind of weird, huh, knowing people, but not knowing them? That's what it was like with the therapists. I knew them all, more as teachers at first, and friends later, but I don't remember meeting them.
I got to know them all, and by 'all' I mean anybody who worked in the gym. By the time I left, I'd had most of those people for therapy, and could name almost anybody who worked there. I didn't mean to know everybody, I simply paid attention. By then, all of my regular therapists were friends, and I had no trouble remembering who was what. Yes, all the therapists were good at what they did, and yes, my personal therapists were the best of the best. And I was assigned to them because I needed therapists and they were the next ones to be assigned a patient. So it was just a matter of timing as to why I got who I got. But later, I had worked with everybody, including the student interns, and I liked everybody, though I liked working with my regular therapists the best.
Speaking of the best, I have to admit that I did like PT a lot. PT was what I needed in order to learn to walk again, I knew, but that didn't explain all the standing and rolling over I practiced. The thing was, besides liking to do all that stuff, I was good at doing it, and everybody likes to do the things they're good at. By the same token, I used to dread Speech because I couldn't talk. Once I was able to talk again, Speech got much better.
That's the way it was with all the therapies; I liked them because I was good at them. I don't know why I was so good at them, but I was, although there will always be something special about PT for me, even though it was often the hardest of the therapies. I frequently thought that those patients who cried out a lot in PT were just weenies who 'couldn't take it.' If they didn't want to walk, they were being sissies. I have since realized that they simply don't like pain, as I don't like it much as an outpatient, either, and that they just didn't want to participate that day. I misunderstood. That's all I can say, because I had a policy to try anything at least once, and if others didn't have that same policy, they were somehow less. Now, I know how ridiculous that idea is, and can only say that I didn't understand at the time. So it's a good thing that the closest I'll ever get to PT is maybe owning a PT Cruiser someday!
Don liked Occupational therapy as well as Speech therapy because it used creativity a lot, and he was naturally very creative. Every computer program he writes proves that. Ellie is very much like him. In fact, she liked Lyndsay best of all the therapists, and insists on seeing her when we visit, for whatever reason. And who can question a three-year-old? But Don and I talked about it while we were at the Center, and he decided he would best be suited as an OT, though the computer program he chose to write was for Speech therapy. Speech can get tedious, with all that repetition of word lists, and PT didn't use the creativity that OT seemed to, he felt. Personally, I liked Speech, but I liked the repetition, and I liked OT, though it caused some pain in my shoulders. But I liked PT the best because it helped me learn to walk again. Even Fred could not argue with that!
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