[ SHOWGSD-L ] COACH (long)
- From: Barbara Galasso <uwish@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:12:06 -0500
I'm resending this because people are writing me saying they can't pull
it up as an attachment, so I'm sending it in it's regular format.
COACH
BY
BARBARA J. GALASSO
The hallways are alive with activity as the doctors and nurses rush to
do their duties. People come and go to pay their respects to the ill.
Announcements are made over the intercom calling Dr. Dunmore to come to
floor 3. Patients are pushed in wheel chairs to their next CAT scan
appointment. And so the day resumes as all the days before at the North
side City Hospital.
The sun tries to sneak its head through the cloudy grey morning sky with
not too much success. The quiet peace of morning is interrupted by the
shrieking sounds of the ambulance rushing down the street to the back
entrance leading to the emergency room. People who live in this
neighborhood are all too familiar with this unnerving sound of doom as
they peek out their windows more from habit than curiosity. They've
seen enough to satisfy their curiosity in the past, but today they bring
a young boy in.
"Doctor, our son, how is our son?" the father anxiously asks as his wife
clings to him for support. The doctor looks tired as he comes out of
the operating room. "Well the good news is that your son made it
through the operation just fine", he tells the grieving, but relieved
parents. The mother almost collapses from exhaustion. "Yes, do sit
down", the doctor tells them. "You've been through a great deal of
stress." "It seems when your son, was hit by that car on his way to
football practice, it threw him and he landed on his back. He has
extensive damage to his vertebrae, severed nerves in his legs, a broken
collar bone and a dislocated hip. The mother lets out a gasp and begins
to cry.
"What's the prognosis, Dr. James?" the father asks. "Well I'll tell you
Mr. & Mrs. Cromie, Johnny's not going to be able to play football for a
very long time, if at all." He's going to need extensive physical
therapy." "Oh no," Mr. Cromie says. "Football is his life." Mrs.
Cromie breathes a sigh of relief just happy that her son is alive.
The first few days pass and Johnny is heavily sedated because of the
pain he sustained from the accident. When he wakes, it's decided that
the father will be the one to tell Johnny about the seriousness of his
injuries. The mother sits quietly by his bedside and the doctor stands
in the far corner of the room over by the window. Dr. James is rather
thankful for the noise that the radiator is making today as it drowns
out some of the words that are spoken between father and son. But it's
not nearly loud enough when the father tells his son, "Johnny, you may
never be able to play football again." A loud hysterical shriek can be
heard coming from Room 56. Dr. James then decides he needs to step in.
He tells Johnny there is a 50/50 change he can resume his life with
physical therapy. "And what are my chances of every playing football
again?" he cries. "That my son, I can't guarantee you. Johnny yells
at all of them to get out of the room and leave him alone. He decides
to suffer his grief by himself as only a 15 year old boy can do. He
sobs aloud, and even with his door shut, his broken heart is shared by
those who walk past his room.
For the next few days, Johnny refuses all food and is forced to be fed
by IV again. He pulls the needle out from his already very black and
blue hand. The nurses keep reporting his uncooperative behavior to the
doctor. They send a physical therapist in by the name of Mr. Hardy to
talk to him. He tells him that in another two weeks, they will begin
their work. "What's the use?" Johnny screams. "I'm a cripple". "Don't
play with me". You know I don't stand a chance in hell." He rips off
his blankets and says, "Just look at these legs." "Where the hell do
you think I'm going with these?" He tries to reassure the boy that it's
his attitude that needs fixing, not his legs. "You want to get well,"
he asks him? Then change your attitude. I'm not here to tell you son
that you're ever going to play football again, but if you have a
defeatist attitude, that's exactly where you will remain.....defeated!"
The next day as Johnny lays staring at the TV screen, a small knock is
heard tapping at his door. "Might as well come in," he shouts out.
Everyone else does." Just then the door is pushed open and a young girl
Johnny's age comes in led by a big German Shepherd Dog carrying a
magazine in his mouth. "Hey," he screams. "What's that dog doing in my
room, and who are you?" he demands. "Hi Johnny, my name is Cindy and
this here is Spike," she tells him. "He's a therapy dog and he just
loves to pay visits to see all the people in the hospital," she tells him.
Spike with his tail wagging and a glisten in his eye, goes over to the
bed where Johnny is watching him with a scroll on his face. The dog
gently places the magazine on the bed and looks Johnny straight in the
face and lets out a friendly bark. "Get that beast out of here," he
sarcastically tells her. "I don't need a flea bitten dog in my room.
Can't you see I have enough problems already? Now take him and yourself
and get out of here."
As the last sentence comes out of his mouth, the physical therapist
comes back into the room. "Remember what I told you about your attitude
son?" he reminds him. "It's all in your head, it's all in your head,"
he repeats himself. You want to get better? Then change that head of
yours." "This dog will be part of your rehabilitation. He will be
helping you to walk again. That's if you decide that you want to walk
again. Or you can lay there and feel sorry for yourself and never walk
again. It's your choose. 50/50 chance? How about putting the odds in
your favor son?" With that, Spike comes over and nudges Johnny's hand
looking for a pat on the head. Johnny's first inclination is to pull
his hand away, but he catches the eye of Mr. Hardy, and thinks better of
it, and gingerly pats the dog on the head instead.
The next day a wheel chair delivers Johnny to the physical therapy
room. Mr. Hardy is waiting for him. "Good morning Johnny'" he says to
him. "Glad to have you with us today. Let me tell you son, this is
going to be tedious, repetitious, and painful work, day in and day out.
There will be only one day of rest in between and that will be Sunday,
and that's the day you pray for relief from me. I'm here to drive you
and to push you, and I push hard," he tells the boy. "I want you to
think of me as your coach just like you had a coach for your football
workouts. Well this is going to be your physical therapy workouts."
Johnny interrupts him. "Where's that big dog Spike fit into all of
this?" he asks him. He tells him, "He's going to be your legs, your
brain, and your direction. He will wear a harness that you will hold
onto and he will lead you until we feel that you're strong enough to
stand and walk on your own." We already know you're up for the
challenge because you showed up here today for your first try out.
Football practice is in session son. So let's get to work shall we?"
The days and weeks pass by slowly with set backs and failures. Johnny
gets more and more discouraged. But Mr. Hardy pushes him even harder.
They put him in the water therapy tank and then take him out and massage
his legs. They stand him up and have him hold onto the walking bars on
the side of the mat. "Come on boy, move those legs," Mr. Hardy shouts
out to him. His legs never budge.
Mr. & Mrs. Cromie feel Mr. Hardy is driving their son too hard and
complain about it to Dr. Dunmore. Dr. Dunmore has a talk with him about
it. Mr. Hardy tells him, "Sir, this boy's got a physical problem. We
all know that. But I need to re-train his thinking again. I must get
him out of this "I can't do it anymore attitude. I know what I'm doing
here sir." Dr. Dunmore say's "alright Mr. Hardy. I trust you. You're
the best in the business. If this boy is to walk again, you're the man
for the job." Mr. Hardy corrects him and says, "Sorry to disagree with
you Dr. Dunmore, I won't be the reason Johnny walks again. It's all up
to him. It's in his hands. He has to have the will to want to walk
again. I can only give him the tools to do it with."
One day Spike is lying on the floor when Johnny comes in for his
physical therapy session. Something is different today. Normally
soothing, relaxing music is playing. Today is different. Today Johnny
hears an old rock and roll song blaring over the speakers. It's music
from his parent's generation but he recognizes it because it used to
play in the locker rooms before a football game. He hears the familiar
pulsating beat of CCR singing but for some reason, he can't quite
remember the words today. Spike decides to get up from his resting
place and goes and pushes the boy in the behind. "Hey, watch it before
you make me fall, he yells at the dog. Mr. Hardy watches silently from
a distance. Spike nudges him again and this time, takes a little nip at
him. "What's the matter with this crazy dog, Mr. Hardy?" He asks him.
Mr. Hardy just shrugs his shoulders as if to say, "I don't know." Spike
goes behind a chair and Johnny sees he's picking something up and when
he turns around, he sees he has a football in his mouth. "Hey, be
careful with that, or you'll puncture it with your big teeth, Johnny
says angrily.
Spike drops the ball about two feet in front of Johnny and starts to
bark at him. Then the dog goes to the boy and starts to pull on his
pajamas. "Hey, Mr. Hardy this dumb dog is going to make me fall," he
protests. Mr. Hardy says, "Looks to me like he wants you to play with
him," he says and continues to do his paper work. Spike barks at Johnny
again and pulls at his pajamas even harder this time. "If I could only
get my hands on you," Johnny says. He can feel his face flush with
anger. Spike picks up the ball again and stands there looking Johnny
straight in the face with that never ending wag of a tail of his
challenging him to try to take the ball from him.
Johnny tries with all his might and feels himself start to fall.
Naturally his physical therapy aides are there with him through this
whole ordeal. He shrugs off their help, and he concentrates with all
his might as the dog continues to stare at him with that confounded
football in his mouth. Johnny is mumbling something to himself now.
Again he tries to move his legs. The aides are watching as they witness
a small half of an inch movement of his legs pushing him forward. They
look over to Mr. Hardy, and he stops them from saying anything by
raising is hand in the air and the other he brings to his lips
indicating for them not to say a word. Johnny pays no attention to them
as he focuses on Spike with the ball in his mouth. Another half inch
he propels his body forward. And then another half inch. And then
another. He is now one foot away from the dog. The dog walks up to him
and drops the ball at his feet. As Johnny starts to collapse, his aides
catch him. With that he turns to look at Mr. Hardy who gives him a
wink and a "high five" as he hears the final lyric to the song he was
trying to identify earlier..............."Put me in coach, I'm ready to
play........today."
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