{"id":7833,"date":"2010-06-15T19:31:22","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T23:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=7833"},"modified":"2014-02-08T00:35:06","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T05:35:06","slug":"therapy-thoughts-maxines-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/15\/therapy-thoughts-maxines-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Therapy Thoughts–Maxine’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day#6 post op<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday, I met a dear lady–correction: a\u00c2\u00a0dear lady met me, and everyone else, in the therapy gym.\u00c2\u00a0 I was flat on the bed\/platform with my brand new knee being bent to an almost excruciating degree by Susan,\u00c2\u00a0 my wicked and\u00c2\u00a0wonderful physical therapist.\u00c2\u00a0 Maxine’s \u00c2\u00a0motorized wheelchair came to a screeching halt, just short of knocking Susan off her stool.\u00c2\u00a0 Maxine’s unique costume\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0sunny dialogue instantly brought to mind Minnie Pearl, the American country comedienne of\u00c2\u00a0 The Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw fame.<\/p>\n

It was flag day and I certainly didn’t need to check the calendar to see that.\u00c2\u00a0From\u00c2\u00a0head to toe, 75 year old Maxine was the personification of the Senior American Patriot Welcome Wagon Caller.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0A tiered skirt in flag colors covered her ample bottom,\u00c2\u00a0red socks\u00c2\u00a0warmed\u00c2\u00a0her slippered feet and\u00c2\u00a0a white shirt\u00c2\u00a0displayed\u00c2\u00a0red, white\u00c2\u00a0and blue beads, a\u00c2\u00a0 few of which, she pointed out, were tiny\u00c2\u00a0flags.\u00c2\u00a0 The handknit white shawl wrapped over her shoulders\u00c2\u00a0was bedecked with no fewer than 15 patriotic pins featuring flags, eagles, USA, and more.<\/p>\n

Like the maraschino cherry on top of a mouth watering sundae, the silver bun perched on top of her head was covered by \u00c2\u00a0three knit headbands, red, white and blue, of course, carefully arranged in a stripe pattern.\u00c2\u00a0 Assembling and donning this ensemble obviously took some time, especially for a woman who is wheelchair bound.<\/p>\n

“God bless America!” was her greeting to\u00c2\u00a0us.\u00c2\u00a0 From there she proceeded in short order to get the basics of my physical condition,\u00c2\u00a0 to praise the country where such surgeries could be routinely performed, to thank\u00c2\u00a0 Susan for her rehabilitative efforts, and to make accurate assumptions on my state of grace.\u00c2\u00a0 Then she shifted her weight in anticipation of lift off and announced that every day she visits every patient in the facility and she still had two floors to cover.\u00c2\u00a0 With a quick, “I’ll be prayin’ for you!” she was off.<\/p>\n

After Susan escorted me back to my room, I asked her about Maxine.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is her story.<\/p>\n

Almost 3 years ago, Maxine was diagnosed with stomach cancer and then, as so often happens, a multitude of other serious medical conditions presented.\u00c2\u00a0 After a number of grueling treatments, Maxine took to her bed.\u00c2\u00a0 She had decided to die.\u00c2\u00a0Her family appealed to her from every imaginable angle, but Maxine refused to eat or get out of bed.\u00c2\u00a0 She was nothing but skin and bones.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, in desperation, she was brought to this nursing home\/rehab facility to spend her final days.<\/p>\n

Maxine’s \u00c2\u00a0decision was not well received by the facility.\u00c2\u00a0 Combative and protesting mightily, she was nonetheless taken to therapy.\u00c2\u00a0 At first she refused to cooperate, but still she was wheeled in, day after day.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, \u00c2\u00a0she realized that just a little participation would get her out of therapy and back to her room more quickly than all her curmudgeoning.<\/p>\n

The transformation had begun.\u00c2\u00a0 As soon as she started feeling a little better, she noticed other patients \u00c2\u00a0in far worse condition and far better spirits.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of those patients had no family to visit them.\u00c2\u00a0 Others, indeed, did have\u00c2\u00a0family but they made no visits.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In less than a year, Maxine was perfectly functional, had gained weight and was\u00c2\u00a0out\u00c2\u00a0and about in her wheelchair, visiting the unvisited.\u00c2\u00a0 Soon, she was visiting everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, she has made this her home of choice and made it her mission to visit every patient and every resident daily, delivering\u00c2\u00a0 a message of hope, happiness and the power of God’s love.<\/p>\n

I can’t speak for everyone at this facility, but I am happy\u00c2\u00a0to be on \u00c2\u00a0Maxine’s\u00c2\u00a0visitation route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day#6 post op Yesterday, I met a dear lady–correction: a\u00c2\u00a0dear lady met me, and everyone else, in the therapy gym.\u00c2\u00a0 I was flat on the bed\/platform with my brand new knee being bent to an almost excruciating degree by Susan,\u00c2\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7833"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7833"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29184,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7833\/revisions\/29184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}