And the joy returns...

I remember the first days I went to the rehabilitation room, while waiting for my turn for physical therapy, I kept looking out at Nguyen Khuyen street - the street that I often walked past in the afternoon.

Watching the stream of vehicles going back and forth on the street and then looking back at my wrist (broken from a fall) and still not being able to rotate it a month after the cast was removed, how could I control a motorbike like other normal people, suddenly tears of self-pity just flowed out.

I thought that only I knew about my private feelings, but Phan - a technician from the Department of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation understood everything. Right from the first practice session, Phan reassured me: "I know you have stiff shoulders, stiff elbows; you can't rotate your wrists. Don't worry too much, just be patient and practice every day, one day your joints will definitely become flexible again."

From then until the day I was discharged from the hospital, every afternoon, Phan practiced physical therapy for me and many other patients. The rehabilitation room was less than 20 square meters but at times there were nearly a dozen patients, Phan's white blouse moved around like a shuttle. I just saw Phan practicing for a patient with a knee injury; a few dozen minutes later, he was at the exercise table for a patient with a stroke or scoliosis; a long time later, I saw Phan practicing for a patient with severe cervical spondylosis, rotator cuff tendonitis... No one is the same, each patient has a different body and mind, knowing that, Phan not only practiced rehabilitation but also talked to the patients very openly and friendly. I asked Phan: "Do you get tired when you practice for patients all day long at night?" Phan said while stretching the neck of a seven-year-old child: "At night, my fingers are often sore and numb, but when I go to the hospital and see them not being able to walk like normal people, I feel sorry for them and try my best, because I know the importance of early rehabilitation for patients."

A physical therapy session for patients at the rehabilitation room of Buon Ma Thuot General Hospital. Photo: Hoai Nam

During the days at the gym, I felt a strange sense of warmth, closeness, and familiarity because Phan was like a support for the sick to hold on to, hoping for better things in the coming days.

Not only Phan, in the Department of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation, there are also Dieu, Lanh, Tri, Hai, Nam, Thao... who are doctors and technicians who are still dedicated to taking care of patients every day through massage, acupuncture, hydroacupuncture, rehabilitation exercises... Understanding the difficulties in daily life, homesickness, and the thoughts of seriously ill inpatients, from Doctor Uu - Head of the Department of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation, doctors Giap, Lich, Duc to doctors, technicians, and nurses always listen, care, and take care of them as attentively as family.

As Phan said, "there will come a day when my wrist will definitely be able to rotate" and today, that day has come. After 45 days of persistent training with the support of Phan and the doctors, I was able to wash my hair, wash my face, hold chopsticks to eat... - very normal personal activities that I could not do before with my painful wrist.

I was discharged from the hospital. Tomorrow I would be able to roam around the streets on my familiar motorbike. If I ever pass by Nguyen Khuyen Street, looking at the window with the white bars faintly visible under the green canopy of Buon Ma Thuot General Hospital, I will remember the days of physical therapy here, where there are "doctors like mothers" who have given me and many other patients the opportunity to return to a normal life.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202509/va-niem-vui-tro-lai-ef412e0/