Shane nodded. “Now give me a few minutes,” he said, as he worked away on the computer.
“What are you doing?” Ryatt asked.
“I’m bringing up the video when you first started here,” Shane replied, furiously clicking the keyboard. “I ran you through a bunch of tests, not necessarily these we did today in particular, but you should still recognize the difference when you compare the two.”
Ryatt wasn’t sure what Shane was talking about, but, all of a sudden, he had the screen up, split in two, each feeding in images. “Now watch this.” Shane hit Play in one of the screens.
And Ryatt watched the video taken early after his arrival here at Hathaway House, when he’d first got here. He winced as he saw the gait and the pain on his face and the little bit he could do. Not to mention the massive effort he had to put in to achieve those moves. “Wow, I really wasn’t doing very well, was I?”
“Nope.”
In fact, it looked painful just even watching. “Everything he does hurts,” he muttered.
“Yeah, and that’s what you were like, back then. Now watch this.” And now Shane had both screens playing.
Some of the exercises were the same, some were different. They were definitely more advanced. But even as Ryatt watched today’s workout on tape, he saw that he moved with a freer, more relaxed rhythm, that his body responded to the instructions with much less hesitation. Now every movement shifted and flowed in a smooth manner and with much less effort.
He muttered a curse word under his breath, frowning.
“That’s what I’m trying to show you,” Shane said. “There is progress, not as much as you would like to see, and I get that. We’re always impatient for progress, but, in this scenario, it’s definitely visible. It’s more visible now that I look at it again,” Shane added, as he studied the videos. “I’m glad we did this. I will have to remember to do this a little more often.”
“Do what?” Ryatt asked curiously.
“Show the now-and-then feedback, like this. It’s easy to get caught up in everything that needs to be done, and we don’t really think about the importance of the patient seeing improvement, as long as we, the medical personnel, see it. You guys need to see these milestones as they happen. There’s not always the same positive results for everybody, but, when they happen, it’s really important that you guys canseethat kind of progress and can feel it. You guys put in a ton of effort, a lot of hard work on a daily basis. And, if you don’t have that kind of feedback, I’m sure it must be difficult to keep going.”
“It is difficult to keep going,” Ryatt acknowledged, “because I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was honestly terrified that I would get kicked out.”
They talked a bit longer, and, when Ryatt was done questioning Shane, Ryatt had to admit he had a new lease on life. Even when he showed up at lunchtime in a wheelchair, he positively beamed. As he pushed up to the table and to a huge plate of food in front of him, he rubbed his hands together in joy.
Dennis came over and grinned. “Well, I’ve seen lots of happiness on your face, yet I’m not sure what’s going on now, but enjoy dinner.”
“I will. I haven’t had a good steak like this in a long time.”
“You must have missed our last steak night. That’s too bad.”
“That’s okay. I’ll make up for it now.”
Dennis burst out laughing. “You do that,” he said, as he walked back to the kitchen.
When Ryatt looked up again, Lana headed toward him, grinning.
“I’m not sure what put that smile on your face, but everybody is talking about it,” she said.
He chuckled. “What put it on my face is the fact that you were right.”
She stared at him. “Right about what?”
“About talking to Shane.”
“Ahhh.” She grinned. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad he was able to put your fears at ease.”
“Do you have to say,fears?” He wrinkled up his face. “Makes me sound like a two-year-old.”
She snickered. “Well, if the shoe fits.”
He groaned. “Okay, so it was definitely on the immature side. Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s a heck of a good lesson to learn now because I’m sure there’ll be a lot more issues over the next few months that you’re here, so I wouldn’t worry about it. At least you got to the bottom of it, and now you know where you stand. And, by the way,” she added, “where do you stand?”