Graduating Supervised Aquatic Physical Therapy

Last Thursday was the day from hell in terms of what needed to get done.  In the chaos I unintentionally missed my re-evaluation with my land physical therapist, Debbie, and my aquatic physical therapy appointment.  The problem was this; I typically go to my aquatic PT the same time twice a week in the evenings.  However, due to my re-eval I was scheduled during the day and completely forgot.

I showed up at my usual time in the evening on Thursday for aquatic PT and the first thing they said to me was, “I knew you wouldn’t no-show.”

What? No-show? Then it was exlained to me the blunder I had made.  They, being the wonderful people they are, let me in the pool anyway.  I was doing my warm-up exercises, which in and of themselves are a workout, and my fabulous and sweet aquatic physical therapist, AnneMarie, came and sat on the edge of the pool.

She looked up my notes from the missed appointment with Debbie and explained that she and Debbie had spoken and I met all my goals!  I graduated the program and this was my last official appointment. 

Good thing I was in the pool because I would have fallen over!  She went through my goals, my new ones from the last re-eval, and I had surpassed them tremendously.

Wow.  She went over my starting abilities and my abilities now, and I have to say I was impressed.

Now, I will move onto a transitional program at the rehab, which allows me to continue to attend group aquatic PT twice a week.  My appointments have overlapped the group PT sessions since I began at the rehab, except for those damn daytime appointments I can’t seem to remember.  Basically, everyone is in the pool together but each individual is working his or her own individualized therapy program.  All the same staff will be there and available for questions or advice.

Having said that, I feel much the same way as I did graduating college, I need to grow up now and do it on my own.  This is indeed a mixed bag of feelings.  Pride of course, but also fear and apprehension about taking control of my PT program. 

The other fearful aspect involves self-motivation.  There will no longer be appointments, nor staff scheduled to work with me, nor tracking of data and progress, no one else to be accountable to for showing up to PT.  It is all on me now, I am only accountable to myself and my progress is now solely on my shoulders. 

I have little doubt that I will be able to continue to work hard and attend my sessions, because I have learned a valuable lesson in life that applies here.    Sometimes we struggle to believe in ourselves, but if we trust those we love and respect, their belief in us can carry us through.  I know that I have many people in my life who believe in me and in what I can accomplish, for now I will just have to trust in them.

I start the new program next Tuesday; I will push through my fear of “flying solo” by just showing up.  I have learned that just showing up in life is the first, and biggest, step you can take toward adapting to change.