6 pulled muscles in my torso.
“I’m kinda impressed you’re still standing upright and walking,” the doctor said after checking me over. “You have to have a really high pain tolerance.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” I wheezed.
“Yeah, that wasn’t a compliment, Swift,” he said. “You need to rest, and you’re going on ‘light duty’ at work for a week when you report in on Monday.”
“What are my restrictions?” I asked. I’ve seen a few postmen reporting in while on ‘light duty’. One of them had so many restrictions, in fact, that he was shunted into a small office and told to check over all ‘postage due’ reports and gas receipts. That wouldn’t be something for me, though.
“When you get back,” the doctor was saying, “you’re to not push, pull, carry, or lift anything over 10lb, nor can you do any repetitive movements from side-to-side, such as twisting.”
That’s how I move when taking mail from the lap desk to the mailbox.
“So,” I drawled, considering, “the majority of my job is off-limits?”
“Basically,” he said, “for at least a week. At home, it’s more like two weeks. You’ll be home this weekend, so you’re to rest and not do what all of us know you’ll want to do.”
I eyed the doctor and raised a waiting eyebrow. Small towns can make for relationships like this between professionals and their clients: while there’s still the emotional distance required to maintain the authority of the professional, there are moments when the walls are dropped and both parties can be ‘people’.
“Swift,” the doctor sighed, “no, you can’t mow your land, or cut down that row of trees you’ve complained about, or any of the other things you think you need to do.” He looked at me frankly and raised his hands imploringly. “You have to remember to look after yourself, not just the rest of your world.”
I didn’t have a good rebuttal to that, but I do have a remarkable scowl. I used this scowl, but the doctor had the best defense: he was correct.
With that, I took the reports and paperwork I’d need for the office, dropped those off, and went back home, reminding myself along the way that for once, I was going to actually rest.
-Stay safe out there, folks.
-JB Swift
Swift's Corner 