All around good break

This shoulder fracture has proven to be good for a lot of people.  Amazon has received a lot more attention from me. The neighborhood is a safer place with Gladys Kravitz keeping an eye on things. The Leaver is convinced it is forcing me to take the break I never take – doing a whole lot of nothing is not usually on my calendar. The medical profession cannot get enough of me – I’m like crack (pun intended) to them.

I arrived at my first physical therapy appointment with Sleepless in tow. We entered the room and the physical therapist said, “Let me spray the mat down for you first.” Sleepless quipped, “That’s not the first time we’ve heard that.” She and I giggled while my new physical therapist and the intern remained silent. “She means that’s not the first time we’ve heard that today,” I said. Still, no response. As I’ve told Tree many times, “I have got to download a laugh track app.”

I shared the story about my fracture with my therapist and asked if he spoke with my surgeon prior to our meeting – something my surgeon was adamant about. “Yes.”  “Was he pretty excited when he explained it to you?” I asked. “He was pretty proud of his work, yes,” he replied and then shared my surgeon’s story using words that only those into ‘bone’ know.

We spoke for a minute then he asked me, “for modesty purposes,” to flip around on the mat so that my legs were toward the wall (I was wearing a dress). I did so while calling Sleepless, who was at the end of the mat, a pervert. She smiled. The doctor then approached me on the right (or, in this case, wrong) side of my body, started gently rubbing my shoulder and asked, “Is this sensitive to touch?” “No, it actually feels quite nice, but it is my left shoulder that was fractured,” I replied. “I always get turned around when I ask people to flip around,” he replied and moved to my left side while Sleepless and I, again, giggled.

At the end of the visit I was getting my ice and heat treatment and there were several other patients participating in therapy around me. One woman was getting a massage and her therapist had her change positions on the bed then, just as my therapist did, he started massaging the wrong side. “Oops,” he exclaimed. Instant giggling from the corner where they stuck Sleepless and I.

All in all, even though this fracture was a bit of an inconvenience, it has been an all around good, and as my surgeon said, “clean,” break. I’ve done a lot of nothing with a lot of people – some I’ve known forever, others I haven’t seen for a while, and many I’ve just met. Maybe The Leaver is right. Maybe, I needed a break.