Outpatient Physiotherapy

I got there promptly at 12:55pm for my 1pm appointment.  I got there a little later than I would have liked, knowing that I’d have to fill out forms and such.  I went into the building for the first time and scanned my surroundings.  There was an unlabeled door to my left. I looked in front of me and saw a flight of stairs.  At the top of that flight of stairs, which led to another flight of stairs, was a sign that said “physiotherapy, sports injury, etc. 2nd Floor”. I was puzzled to see two flights of stairs leading up to the clinic…with no elevator.  Shouldn’t the clinic either be on the first floor or shouldn’t there be an elevator?  What if someone comes in and is seriously injured?  How are they supposed to get up there?

Anyhow, I slowly went up the stairs of the old-fashioned building.  This second floor had a series of doors.  The first one I saw said “physiotherapy”.  I went to open the door…but it was locked.  I looked at the door and there was a sign that stated that they were closed from 12pm-1pm for lunch.  Hmph.

I sat down on a nearby chair and waited.  After about 1 minute, someone who looked like a janitor asked if I needed help.  I told him that I was there for physiotherapy. He told me I was on the wrong floor. Just as I suspected…that unlabeled door is actually where I should have went.  So, I slowly limped my way back down the stairs.

When I arrived, I paid the assessment fee and filled out the appropriate forms.  I sat down and waited until about 1:25pm before being called in. Wasn’t my appointment supposed to be for 1pm?

Anyhow, an older gentleman (maybe in is 60s) was the physiotherapist.  He was very kind and asked me various questions.  As I expected, he declared that I was much too young to have to go through all of these things that I had methodically listed on the information form that I had filled out earlier.  I agreed.

I’m not gonna lie…this physiotherapist made me slightly uncomfortable.  I dunno, just the idea of having him touch my hip and stuff.  Nothing seemed inappropriate, as I know that I’d have no issues if it was a female (or even perhaps a younger man), but it was still weird for me.  Heck, a couple of weeks before my surgery I went for a full body massage given to me by a woman and I had zero issues with that!  But you know what I mean. I heard him communicating with the other patients and it seems that he’s just a really friendly guy.

He started of by testing the strength in my hip by having me sit down and push down on his hand with my foot and push up on his hand with my knee.  He said that my level of strength in my hip was good.  After that, I lied down on the exam table/bed while an assistant came in and put a tens unit and an ice pack on my hip.  That stayed on for 15 minutes.  After that, the physiotherapist (let’s call him Bill) came in and put some sort of oil or something on my hip.  I was then directed to do some strengthening exercises while still lying down.  After I did the first set, Bill asked me for the paper that showed the exercises that I had been doing since surgery was complete. After this, he put an ankle weight on my ankle and a rolled up towel under my left knee.  From there I straightened my leg, lifting the heel of my left foot off of the table/bed.  I have been doing this exercise at home, but not with the weight on my ankle.  This definitely upped the difficulty.

After this, I put my pants back on and went to sign for my therapy.  Bill told me to come back next week.  We would progressively increase the strength in my hip and eventually get to more difficult things.

After that, I waited for my cab and that was that.  

So I do look forward to getting my full mobility back.  I hope these physiotherapy sessions will up the strength soon.  

Next on my list…transplant.