Tuesday – my first day at St. Vincents hospital to kick start my third lot of 5 week physio prac stints for the year. The day started well – I managed to jump out of bed at 6am without having to snooze more than once to go for a lovely bike ride on the quiet beach roads and watch the sun rise. Feeling all invigorated, I made myself an omelet for breakfast, showered, and put on my semi respectable uniform ready to be at work for an 8:15am start.
I hopped on a bus with other working professionals that would take me to Taylor Square. I was listening to my ipod and trying not to ogle at all the young good looking males but it’s kind of hard when they’re wearing a suit!! The bus was trudging along up Anzac Parade and I was keenly awaiting my designated stop, but it just went right through the ED tunnel. Oh crap!!
After finally arriving at the other end of the city (damn stupid express buses!!) I was slightly in a panic – I had 5 minutes to get to work and of course being my first day I did not want to be late as we all know that first impressions last*. I hailed a taxi (I was feeling like a real professional now), and asked the kind taxi driver if he could take me to St. Vincents Hospital but the Sacred Heart section. He starts driving along and asks ‘why do you want to go to the place where people go to die??!”
A little bit taken aback, I assured him that I was in fact going to the rehab section as a student physio to help people get better. Nonetheless, the kind taxi driver continued to rattle off how growing old was no fun and that he wants to die at home not in the hospice etc. Palliative care is not my specialty and I can’t really comment on what it is like, but I can correct the common misconception that Sacred Heart is a place where you go to die. My patients in the rehab ward would tell you the opposite.
You could ask Wayne** the 20 year old male who is severely de-conditioned as he has been bed-ridden since October last year due to urgent need of a heart transplant. Although gramps in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can jump out of bed and sing and dance after many months of being bed-ridden, he was an extraordinary exception to the rule!! Bill is recovering quite well after his heart transplant and although he has many problems such as total body weakness, stiffness in his joints, decreased balance and unable to walk unaided, he is well on his way to returning home after 7 months of being hospitalized.
Or there’s Garth** who has had a stroke affecting his left side of the body but who is now speeding along the corridors. Bartholomew ** is a 60 year old male who has Parkinson’s disease for 20 years and has not really walked for the last 10 years because he didn’t know he could. But guess what? He is certainly able to walk around now with minimal assistance if on the right medication.
Working in palliative care would certainly be challenging and emotional and it may very well be the place people go to die. But rehab is an amazing place where people go to get better and you really can see the difference. These people go home!! These people are able to return somewhat to their old routines.
And this is why I love being a physio!!
* in case you were wondering, I did make it to work in time and (I hope) made a good first impression!
**names changed for confidentiality purposes. But that would be really funny if I had 2 patients at the same time called Wayne and Garth