Ch 2 Prognosis
As Mark finished the last exercise, he stared at John, the Physical Therapist."I need to ask you a question John," he said before the man could turn away.
"What is it?"
"When can I get back to work?"
John paused. He'd been asked this before and had always hedged a bit. The truth was that it was hard to say exactly, and he knew his patient wanted an exact answer. Truth be told though, this was the first week that Mark had seemed well enough to listen to the reality of his condition. Most of his energy up until now had been spent just getting through each day, and thankful for each small bit of progress.
"Well, you've made a lot of progress since my last evaluation a month ago," John began. He paused, "I know you want me to say you'll be fine by next week, but it's gonna take a little longer than that. The plan is to keep things the way they are, therapy 3 times a week, and keep doing the exercises on your own in between times."
Mark's face fell. "For how long John?"
"I don't know, it depends on..."
"I want you to tell me!" Mark raised his voice. "Tell me something! Give me an estimate!"
"It depends on what you want to do Mark," the therapist said quietly.
Silence.
"How long until I can run, dodge bullets, tackle somebody and beat em in a fair fistfight!"
John's jaw dropped, "it'll be quite a while before you can do that," he answered.
"Define 'quite a while.' "
"Three months, probably."
"How long before I can clean gutters, mow the lawn, trim hedges and spread mulch?" McCormick's tone continued to be intense.
"Probably 2 months, 6 weeks maybe," the therapist adjusted his estimate based on Mark's hostile glare.
McCormick had been leaning forward as he spoke. Suddenly, he sat back and winced. There was silence.
"Listen Mark, you really are making good progress, it's just that a body can only heal so fast. I mean, if you wanted to go back to work at a desk job part time, you could shave a month off that, maybe more."
Mark sighed sadly. "I know, it's not your fault.