Well this is a little overdue, but better late than never! I graduated PT on October 19th. Now the real ironic back story here is that I actually had my last appointment scheduled for October 16th. That happened to be my one year hipaversary from my LPAO. That appointment was scheduled a couple months in advance and basically went like this…
PT: “So let’s get the rest of your allotted sessions scheduled.”
Me: “Ok.”
PT: We schedule one more month of 2 sessions a week. “Now let’s go down to once a week for the remaining sessions.” Each week we decided on Tuesdays, randomly. The final session which was around the 16th, I think, happened to land on Tuesday October 16th.
Me: I put it into my schedule then realized HOLY SHIT that’s my one year anniversary! “Um….so that’s my one year post op date from my left hip. (I think I may have weld up a bit) What’re the odds of that?”
The rest of the conversation you can probably guess. But seriously, how ironic is that?!?! One year of physical therapy with breaks for more surgery and for travels. Going from twice a week to once a week. Some cancelled appointments and sometimes coming in last minute due to flare-ups. WHAT?!?! I’m sorry but that’s a God moment if I ever knew one. So for those of you asking, wait I thought you said you graduated on the 19th? I did. On the 15th, I had an opportunity for a job interview on the 16th and needed to reschedule my PT appointment. The irony is that we originally, randomly scheduled it for the one year date, then last minute had to reschedule it for the 19th. I just wanted to share the back story with ya’ll because it’s so cool!
I’ve added some awesome photos to this post. My fellow PAO buddy came to my last appointment to document the importance of what was happening. I am so thankful she was willing and able to do so. I cherish these pictures and videos more than anyone probably knows. She started with me walking in and finished with me busting through the front doors like I was being released from prison! Thank you Mikaela! You captured all the feels so well.
Most of the time I had a blast in PT. In the beginning it was all tears. At the end, all smiles and laughs! I really bonded with everyone, from the front desk staff who also cheered me on, to the aids and to my actual PTs. I can confidently say, I have new friends and definitely people I can count on to be cheering me on in my healing, health and life in general. That’s not typical for medical professionals. And it’s not lost on me that I’m so fortunate to have found this special family. I am beyond grateful and oh so fortunate that I found this group of professional experts in a field that knows about PAOs (rare) and neck fusions and more importantly will treat you like one of their own family members. I AM LUCKY. I am even more lucky to have bonded with a group of them and still have a relationship outside of the PT office to this day. That is what I cherish most. They are cheering me on no matter what and I love being a part of their personal lives as well. Kai. Summer. Jeff. YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOU ARE IMPORTANT. You will ALWAYS be a huge part of my journey. And I will be singing your praises until the day I am done.
Literally Hip 