12 Days after Surgery

I don't have any trouble getting to my first appointment at Riverside Physical Therapy.  After calling my social worker, the visiting nurse service and Dr. Ranawat's office, I have decided to forgo completely the home nursing visit and physical therapy visits.  I have chosen Riverside even though they don't accept GHI because of its proximity to my apartment.

Chitra evaluates me by asking several questions, some of which I ask her to repeat because of her heavy Indian accent.  She also tests the resistance of my leg with her hands and teaches me a bridging exercise.  I lift my butt off the table with my knees arched. Chitra tells me to repeat this 10 times twice a day before sending in an attendant with a bag of ice and some kind of electronic device I quickly dub the tingle machine.

Physical therapy doesn't impress me much, especially at $100 a pop out of my own pocket.  Over Christmas, Tom, who has been in physical therapy for different reasons, tells me that he just handed a $6,000 check from his insurance company over to his provider.  "I feel better, but not that much better," he said.