And joy returned...

I remember those early days at the rehabilitation center, sitting and waiting for my turn for physical therapy, I kept gazing out at Nguyen Khuyen Street – the street I used to stroll along in the afternoons.

Watching the stream of traffic go by on the road, then looking at my wrist (fractured from a fall) which, even a month after the cast was removed, I still couldn't turn it, wondering how I could possibly ride a motorbike like other people. Tears of self-pity welled up in my eyes.

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

From then until the day I was discharged from the hospital, every afternoon, Phan would give me and many other patients physical therapy. The rehabilitation room, less than 20 square meters, sometimes had nearly a dozen patients, and Phan's white lab coat moved back and forth like a shuttle. I saw Phan working on a patient with a knee injury; a few dozen minutes later, she was working on a patient with a stroke or scoliosis; and after a while, I saw her working on a patient with severe cervical spondylosis or rotator cuff tendinitis... No two patients were alike; each had both physical and mental ailments. Knowing this, Phan not only provided rehabilitation but also chatted with the patients openly and affectionately. I asked Phan, "Working on patients all day, aren't you very tired at night?" While stretching the neck of a seven-year-old child, Phan said, "Sometimes I feel very sore at night, and in the morning my fingers are even numb. But when I come to the hospital and see the patients who can't 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 center of Buon Ma Thuot General Hospital. Photo: Hoai Nam.

During my time at the therapy center, I felt a strange warmth, closeness, and affection because Phan seemed like a pillar of support for the patients, offering them hope for better things in the coming months.

Not only Phan, but also Dieu, Lanh, Tri, Hai, Nam, Thao... in the Department of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation are medical practitioners and technicians who diligently care for patients every day through massage, acupuncture, hydro-acupuncture, and rehabilitation exercises. Understanding the difficulties in daily life, homesickness, and feelings of seriously ill inpatients, from Dr. Uu - Head of the Department of Traditional Medicine and Rehabilitation, to doctors Giap, Lich, Duc, and the medical practitioners, technicians, and nurses, they always listen, care for, and look after them thoughtfully as if they were family.

As Phan said, "there will be a day when your wrist will definitely be able to turn," and today, that day has arrived. After 45 days of persistent training with the support of Phan and the doctors, I can now wash my hair, wash my face, and use chopsticks to eat... - extremely normal personal activities that I couldn't do before because of my painful wrist.

I'm being discharged from the hospital. Tomorrow I'll be able to stroll through the streets on my familiar motorbike. If I ever pass by Nguyen Khuyen Street and look through the window with its white bars peeking out from under the green trees of Buon Ma Thuot General Hospital, I'll remember the days I spent doing physiotherapy there, where compassionate doctors gave me and so many other patients the chance to return to a normal life.

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