The broader view...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/22/letter-to-husbands-physiotherapist?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

'A letter to … my husband's physiotherapist

The letter you always wanted to write

 

The Guardian, Saturday 22 December 2012

 

Perhaps you are just doing your job. You're putting your many years of training and experience into practice and earning a good living. But your nine o'clock client happens to be my husband of 17 years. A man I've watched change from cocky, bronzed watersports instructor to someone who now has a blue badge for his car and needs two sticks to walk. My husband, who used to be so adventurous and spontaneous, who now wants to phone ahead, to check if there's a ramp, a handrail, a lift …

I know you haven't approached my husband as your run-of-the-mill tennis elbow or RSI case. You've taken him on as a bit of a project and a challenge for yourself. He's offering you a chance to see someone improve over a longer period of time than usual. You've read up on his condition and thought hard about how best to approach it and, as I've seen the improvements in him, I've been so grateful to you.

Over the years since my husband was diagnosed, the consultants have only seemed to him to be interested in the academic side of his condition. The painful quadriceps biopsy was meant to provide an accurate diagnosis by the identification of a specific gene. But it didn't. They were left with a puzzle – my husband had muscular dystrophy but which type? He became an interesting case for the doctors to report to their medical journals – someone to be poked and prodded, photographed, filmed and talked about.

It's been so good for my husband to have someone believe that his body's not totally beyond hope. There's been no one until he came to you that has shown him that some of his muscles can be improved. You've made him work hard on his core muscles and have given him much needed stability. As someone for whom falling over was a painful "occupational hazard" of everyday life this has made a huge difference. He hasn't fallen over now for more than six months. It's not just this newfound confidence that this gives him that I'm grateful for, you've given him back a little bit of the pride in his body that he used to have. For the first time in years, he's thinking of improvements not deterioration.

You've not offered him a miracle cure. Ramps, handrails and lifts are still the norm for us. But for the confidence and pride you've returned to him, I'm very thankful.
Keep up the good work.

A happier wife '