Therapeutic...

Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of physical therapy. I will always take the PT option when given. It's also the piece of advice I give anyone who is having surgery, or has a broken bone, DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY EXERCISES. I am a believer and an evangelist.

Which is why my file at the PT office I use is thick. Years and years of PT with this company (not to mention the times I've used other therapists for specialty work). But they can pull up my whole file with them and there I am smiling in my photo with my cute pixie and swoosh looking 15 years younger than I do right now. Because well...I was.

But all of that aside man PT can be a drag. Not just the fact that it's hard. And it's hard in ways that make you feel kind of stupid. Like you are rehabbing an injury of some sort but still when they say, "I want you to put this band around your feet and make windshield wiper movements, can you do that?" and you think to yourself, "Well yeah, I mean that's awfully silly" and then by rep number 10 you are thinking "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE! IT'S TOO HARD!"

But it's a different sort of drag if you are frequent flyer like I am.

See if you would ask me (not today but on a normal day) if I'm healthy or not I'd tell you I'm pretty healthy. I'm in decent shape. I'd like to be fitter, but for 56 I'm pretty fit. I lift weights, I do a good amount of cardio, I do some balance work and some flexibility work. Overall I'm in good shape.

But then in physical therapy it's very different. You have the weakness inherent in trying to rehab an injury sure but you also have your history and the long term ramifications of that. Oh yeah, I can't really do body weight calf raises because my big toe has this damage, and my arm does not move that way because I have a defect in my labrum in my shoulder, oh and my hip joints are hypermobile so, and both knees have arthritis, and also my hands, and... But other than that I'm really very healthy.

Listing out a litany of injuries and what is permanent damage is not an exercise I'd recommend.

But I did catch myself doing some positive reframing today and I made myself laugh. As she was asking about what the MRI showed in the foot I was telling her all of the things in there and said, "But it's a 56 year old foot that has taken me on some great adventures so having some souvenirs is okay." I could have gone with "chicks dig scars" but didn't want her to think I was flirting.

But it's true. Not just that chicks dig scars, but that my body had gone on some amazing adventures. And sometimes I've gotten injured while having those adventures. And I've got some unique physical things as well. It's all part of me. And I've adjusted and compensated and found ways to make it work. For 56 years. And now I'm in PT to see how many more years I can eke out of that ankle. And if it all works out maybe the next few will be with less pain.

Even if it's just adding a whole new batch of notes to my file.