Category: Fundamentals

Easin’ Along is enjoying our annual “cousins week” get-together. We’re having the best of times, but not enough time to fill everyone in completely, so this post will be short on words. Things are kinda wild and crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Uncle Collin getting Ipad lessons

 

Paddleboard fun!

With great-grandmother on her 90th birthday

Our family – We’re blessed!

 

Please come back next week.  We’ll be Easin’ Along the Blue Ridge Parkway and want everyone to join us.

 

Until recently, my only experience with physical therapy occurred in the late seventies after a nasty hand injury that required surgery.  The therapy consisted of soaking my hand in warm water somewhere in a basement below a doctor’s office, then having my hand stretched and pulled until I screamed or the scar tissue loosened. Therapy has come a long way since then.

Now, let’s move ahead about forty years to 2016. I was riding my bicycle on a trail near the University of Tennessee and, as I began to cross a railroad track, my front wheel became trapped between the track and the pavement.  I went down…hard! Fortunately, I wear a helmet because my head came within a millimeter of the road, but I had no other protective gear.  I learned later that this site is a common one for bike accidents in our city, but this lesson came too late to avoid a broken elbow. My doctor explained that there is little treatment for elbow breaks except for patience and therapy.

Before my doctor wrote the referral for elbow therapy, he asked if I had a preference for a treatment facility. At the time Helen (adorable wife) and several friends were receiving treatment at Prompt Physical Therapy, a center near our home so I asked him to refer me there.  I was given a referral for eight visits. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

The building that serves as the home of Prompt Physical Therapy was once a small country store. The name of the store, Dalton Groceries, remains on the outside of the building.  In my youth, my friends and I would ride our bicycles there to buy soft drinks or snacks.  The location also served as the end of the line for the city bus, and we often rode from the store to downtown for Saturday movies. The former store name and the memories are all that remains of the old building.

Steve, the owner of Prompt, has modernized the old building and equipped it with everything necessary to treat a variety of physical conditions. I have friends receiving treatment for problems with necks, arms, shoulders, backs, knees, feet, and in my case elbows, and now a hip. In addition to the equipment, Steve has staffed the Center with some very capable, very caring, and extremely professional therapists. I have had the privilege of receiving successful treatment for my elbow from Catherine (Cat); from Mary Katherine for my hip before surgery, and now I am in the hands of Katie who is working diligently to restore me to my former busy and active self. 

The therapy normally prescribed by my doctor for hip replacement is, simply put, walking. I knew, however, that more was necessary for me because walking bores me and, with no prescribed distance, I would probably baby this hip rather than push myself to a level necessary to strengthen it. Therefore, during the first office visit after surgery, I told the surgeon that I felt I would benefit greatly from a supervised program of exercise and therapeutic massage to get the kinks out.  He agreed and sent me to Prompt at my request.

Once there, I met Kara, a therapy technician who started me on a series of exercises using weights as prescribed by a physical therapist.  At once, I noted that the exercises were what I needed to stretch and strengthen some sore and stiff muscles.  Moving through them was a bit uncomfortable at first, but, once underway, it felt good to stretch those muscles out. I did, however, have to remind myself that I asked for this. Altogether, I completed three sets of fifteen repetitions for seven different exercises.

Next, the physical therapist assigned to make me well introduced herself.  Her name is Katie, and with her bright smile, I liked her immediately. Katie took a few minutes to ask me a few questions concerning my case and whether I was experiencing pain and how much. Once she completed the interview, the therapeutic massage portion of the program began. Katie very skillfully worked the area around my surgical incision to relieve the tightness in that area. It was at that point that I knew why I was there. The tightness began to melt away.

As of today, I have completed four sessions of therapy, and my new hip feels better after each session. Most of the soreness and stiffness has subsided and, for the first time, I feel that I am walking with a normal gait. The cane that has been my constant companion is thankfully retired.

It still amazes me that old joints are replaceable and that the pain they caused can disappear. Thankfully, there are people with the dedication, drive, and desire to make that happen. I extend a big thanks to the professionals at Prompt Physical Therapy. Helen and I will be Easin’ Along again soon.  Your skills have helped to make that happen.

Helen (adorable wife) and I are just a few weeks away from an extended road trip that will take us up the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina and Virginia to Gettysburg, PA, then return along the Maryland and Virginia coastline. We’re mending well from recent joint replacement surgeries and so very eager to return to the road less traveled. We have a lot of things happening between now and the departure date, however.  All of our children and grandchildren will arrive next week for “cousins week” as well as a large family reunion we organized to honor my mother for her 90^th birthday. It all should be a lot of fun…crazy, but fun. Then, we hit the road.

Helen and I talked about taking Gracey (travel trailer) to the northwest this fall, but with impending surgery for both of us, we thought it might be best to plan a trip near home at this time and head west later on. This decision prompted two thoughts; one, that health is critical to an active lifestyle and things can change overnight (like hip pain coming out of nowhere). Therefore, while we have the blessing of reasonably good health, we should take advantage of it at every opportunity.  We hope to continue our life on the open road as long as we are able. The second thought I had is that we don’t need to go far to observe the staggering beauty that America has to offer. I can give examples from personal experience.

After I hung up the work boots as a homebuilder, I took a part-time job performing housing inspections throughout East Tennessee–a job I found online. A company based in New Hampshire needed someone to travel the area and assess the condition of foreclosed properties. I never met the person who hired me, we only spoke by phone and an occasional email.  Soon, a new pickup truck and some supplies arrived at my home along with training materials. On my first day, I looked in my email and found a list of houses to inspect from Bristol in the northeast to Chattanooga in the south. Although I was a bit overwhelmed at first, I soon worked through the initial list as well as the addresses that followed. Once I settled into the job, I realized that this opportunity was the most fun I ever had while working.

The reasons for the fun were several. I loved the independence of being totally on my own with little or no supervision.  The work had enough variety and challenge to keep it interesting without being stressful or all-consuming.  Those reasons alone were enough to make the job fun, but the bonus that came with the position was the opportunity to travel through hundreds of small towns in one of the most scenic regions of America. Within days of starting work, I went into tiny towns with names like Chucky, Mosheim, Afton, Mountain City, Bluff City, Etowah, and the lovely town of Erwin.  Some of these places I had heard of previously, but most were new to me. Moreover, the roads to these little gems tracked within view of the mountains through the farms and fields and alongside the streams and lakes that define Eastern Tennessee. I had to pinch myself daily to make sure I wasn’t living a dream. On top of it all, I was being paid to do this.

This job gave rise to the notion that there is a wonderful world out there just waiting for all to see, and a lot of it lays within a days drive.  Helen and I have been fortunate to see a lot of the world, but it will take a lot of coaxing to get me on an airplane for an uncomfortable ride to another country without seeing all of my own before I do that. We will still travel the country, but Tennessee is a great place to start.

During my time of performing inspections, I always carried a camera and took many pictures of the countryside to bring home and share with Helen.  Now, I want to share a few of them with Easin’ Along readers. In addition to the pictures, some of which you see above, I have posted the state poem Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee, written by Navy Admiral William Lawrence while enduring a 60 day period of solitary confinement in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Lawrence spent a total of six years as a POW during the Vietnam War.  This poem describes the love and longing he felt for his beautiful home state.

I can only add that while Easin’ Along through his state and mine, I understand and share his love.

Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee
What Love and Pride I Feel for Thee.
You Proud Ole State, the Volunteer,
Your Proud Traditions I Hold Dear.

I Revere Your Heroes
Who Bravely Fought our Country’s Foes.
Renowned Statesmen, so Wise and Strong,
Who Served our Country Well and Long.

I Thrill at Thought of Mountains Grand;
Rolling Green Hills and Fertile Farm Land;

Earth Rich with Stone, Mineral, and Ore;
Forests Dense and Wild Flowers Galore;

Powerful Rivers that Bring us Light;
Deep Lakes with Fish and Fowl in Flight;
Thriving Cities and Industries;
Fine Schools and Universities;
Strong Folks of Pioneer Descent,
Simple, Honest, and Reverent.

Beauty and Hospitality
Are the Hallmarks of Tennessee.

And O’er the World as I May Roam,
No Place Exceeds my Boyhood Home.
And Oh How Much I Long to See
My Native Land, My Tennessee.