Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sunflower Seedlings & HealthSouth

Once upon a time there was an artist / photographer named Uncle Ron...Who...decided to grow some sunflowers to feed his birds...So he got the seeds and the little pots and some good soil and planted them...and of course he watered them...And lo and behold...they sprouted...So...one morning he decided to check on them and went out to the driveway where they were sitting in his metal trailer...The sun was shinning and the seeds were sprouting...Hooray! So he watered them and they thanked him by waving their little petals at him ...This made Uncle Ron very happy...so happy...he didn't see the trailer hitch grab the bottom of his PJ's...And he made a quick turn but his foot didn't move ...but the rest of him did..."KABOOM" ..down he went on the hard cement driveway...

End of story?

By no means...He immediately thought of that little old woman on TV who wailed,"I've fallen down and can't get up"...So he fumbled for his trusty cell phone and called his dearest friend, "Margie", who came immediately to his aide...She put a pad under his head and called 911...

Here comes the ambulance...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...and away they took him to the Lexington County Hospital Emergency Room...Once they got him there...they x-rayed his hip...And before the xrays were done a doctor on duty in the ER examined his hip and said he had torn a muscle in hi leg...The xrays provided him wrong...He had cracked his femur and needed a pin to help it heal...So...by 6:30 that evening he had 2 pins in his leg...

Now he had to recover in one of their rooms...3 days went by ...The staff were great but he will not comment on the food...

Then 2 wild guys in yellow jump suits showed up and took him to HealthSouth in their ambulance...

After settling him in room he went down for therapy...Boy!...was that room going ...like Grand Central Station...patients, therapists, aides going and coming ...back and forth...everyone doing something...

And then he met her..."S___________ "his personal therapist....She had a twinkle in her eye (which could mean several things)...He learned to do as she said regardless of what feelings he had at the time but she knew what she taught him was going to help him in the long run...And they had a lot of fun too!...He could not believe she had him mix up a batch of pancakes and fry them...(they were good too!)

S____________ was his occupational therapist...and R_____ was his physical therapist...R____was different from S__________ ...He worked on the lower half of his body...A lot of his exercises hurt but were very necessary for his hip to mend...Learning to just lift his foot off the floor was very hard ...but as was said...(in the long run)... it is going to help him get back to normal...R____taught him much about the different kinds of shoes (walking, running, etc.) He was very pleasant to work with...and it wasn't long before Uncle Ron could walk around the large room with his walker and feel confident that he wouldn't fall down...

The nurses and their aides who looked after him in his room were terrific...They helped him both day and night...He will always remember his sponge baths and showers...WOW!..."He was squeaky clean from head to foot"...

And he can't forget Dr. D______...who looked in on him every morning and always had a big smile...

He's going home tomorrow...and he will have to continue his therapy on his own and with Margie's help...If they work together it won't be long before he is caring for his sunflower seedlings...

Tomorrow is a new day!