Rehabilitation

rehabilitation. It has helped me regain some of my energy and stamina following surgery. I have to admit, exercise is not something that comes naturally to me. Since running track and cross country in high school, it has seemed more of a task than a pleasure. I remember one of our track coach’s favorite practice activities. We would run around White Rock Lake in Dallas while he was following behind us in his blue VW (Volkswagen) bug. He would honk and we would jog; then honk again and we would sprint. This would continue for several miles. We spent much of our time devising plans for what might happen to the VW and its driver when we hit a particularly deserted stretch of the road. My son Jared also ran cross country in high school and had a shirt that read, “My sport is your sport’s punishment.” I agree with that sentiment. Running on a treadmill is just a little too close to the activity a gerbil does on one of those rotating wheels in their cage.

However, I would have to admit my cardio-rehab class was very helpful and I plan to keep going with the exercise. One day during my rehab class, I met Dave, a former heart surgery patient and volunteer with the hospital. His job was to distract us from the gerbil activity and make our exercise time go a little faster. During one of our conversations Dave said, “My life really started when I was fifty.” I asked if that was when he had his surgery. He said, “No, but it was when my life changed.” He went on to tell me the story. He was an unhappy person who hated his job, was having difficulties in his marriage which would eventually result in a divorce and viewed life strictly through negativity.

One day he was riding in a car with a friend (he paused to note he wasn’t sure why this person was his friend, because he was pretty miserable to be around in those days.). He was complaining about life in general and specifically about some physical problems he was experiencing. His friend said he knew a doctor that could help him with his problem and he thought he could get him in to see him if he wanted. Dave said he did and, to his surprise, the man stopped the car at a nearby pay phone, called the doctor and made an appointment for him in an hour.

They drove to Children’s Medical Center. Dave asked how a doctor at a children’s hospital was the answer to his problems, but his friend just said, “Trust me, you’ll see.” They went inside and entered the office of a doctor of oncology. Dave said, he had never heard of the doctor and didn’t know what oncology was. He got right in to see the doctor and was invited to describe his problems to him. Dave said he was delighted to have the opportunity to complain a little more. After listening intently for quite a while, the doctor said, “I think I can help you. I want you to come to a camp I run every summer for children with cancer and be a counselor. I guarantee you it will help you.” Dave said he was so taken back by the doctor’s prescription that he said, “Ok.” Dave spent the next several weeks trying to get out of his commitment, but his friend wouldn’t let him. He spent two weeks at the camp that summer…and then for the next twenty summers. Dave said, “I just needed someone to help and when I found those kids I started to live again.”

My guess is we are all like Dave in that when we find someone to help we come alive again. Stonebridge UMC is full of opportunities to help people. Let us help you help others, so that you can start living again. Yes, rehabilitation comes in a myriad of fashions.