The Old Time Train

     Jerry arranged a day trip for Sally, Susie, and me go go to Romney, West Virginia to ride on an old time train, The American Eagle. He reserved our tickets.  This train chugs through the mountains and runs alongside the South Branch of the Potomac River, a great Eagle habitat.

     Susie and I arrived early at Sally's. We hurried and loaded up Jerry's car with our carry on picnic lunch.     I hunkered down in the back seat of Jerry's car, tightened my seat belt and got ready for the ride of my life.  Jerry's a real good driver, only he's a real FAST DRIVER.    We arrived in Romney a little after nine.

     We picked up our tickets at the ticket counter and waited on the platform.  The sound of the idling train engine had a calming and an exciting effect on us.   Finally the conductor came out and shouted, "ALL ABOARD!"

     All of the passengers hurried through the door, some going to the left and others going to the right.  We turned right and went through the concession car and the souvenir car and 2 more cars until we decided on a window seat.  Sally and Jerry turned their seat around so they were facing Susie and me.

     If we had turned left, we would have gone into the dining car and been served a full course meal.  Not today, we chose to picnic.

     We heard the friendly sound of the train whistle blow,  woo, woo.  The train slowly moved out of the station into the West Virginia countryside. 

     We passed by a historical barn, over 200 years old.  It looked like a big puff of wind could blow it over.  I'm sure there has been many big puffs of wind and the old barn is still standing.

     We meandered through the mountains, then came to the South Branch of the Potomac.  There the train followed the river.

     An announcement came over the train p/a system, "The trail will be coming to a stop, everyone that want to go to the open gondola car may do so now.  That was an open car with seats along the walls, with seats in the middle of the car so the passengers could take good pictures of the eagles.

     Sally,  Susie, and I jumped up, cameras in hand and left Jerry sitting there.  He said he would keep our seats.

     What a sight, it was October, the trees all orange and reds and the sky blue and clear.  We took seats along the outside wall and got our cameras ready and waiting for that perfect shot.  The train started moving slowly again.

     We saw some eagles but they were just too high.  The ones we saw close enough to take a picture were partially hidden by the tree leaves and branches.  We just couldn't get a good picture.

    The train came to a stop again. It was time for all the passengers to return to  their original seats.  This was a safety precaution. Along this section of train tracks there was a hazard of falling rocks or branches from the tall trees onto the open gondola car.  We returned to our seats and finished off our picnic.

     When the train returned to the station we had a nice surprise.  Patrick had ridden his motor cycle down from Keyser, his home, to see us and visit a while.

     Susie decided she wanted to become a biker, and hopped on the back of his bike and was raring to go.

     Patrick said his goodbyes to us and rode off into the sunset.  We got into Jerry's car for our trip home. 

     It was a very good day.

AND THEN PHYSICAL THERAPY!

I started physical therapy 3 weeks after I fell under the fig tree. Sally and Susie took turns driving me there.  After each time we would go to lunch. There was a co-pay of $30.00 for each session.

I was warned the secessions could get quite intense. That was an understatement. I've always been sort of a tough person but those physical therapists beat me half to death.  They made me raise my arm over my head and do all sorts of strange exercises. I thought my shoulder hurt when I fell, was I wrong. Worst of all, I mean worst of all the doctor prescribed some pain medication called perkaset(I know I didn't spell it right). They worked except nobody,  nobody, told me to take a laxative or stool softeners when taking them. After 2 times of therapy and 4 pills I was constipated. The constipation was unbearable, that hurt worse than my shoulder. After I got that under control, I didn't take any more pain pills.

I managed therapy 4 more times. I have never endured so much pain. The saying no pain, no gain, that's a lot of bunk! My wrist was still in the short heavy cast. Finally the doctor removed it. I had trouble holding onto things. I was getting worse. The last time I went to therapy I drove myself, and I cried all the way home. I decided that was enough. I wasn't going to therapy any more.

I went back to the doctor for my checkup.  I told him I had to quit the therapy. He told me I wouldn't ever be right if I didn't go back.

I asked him about water therapy, like swimming, perhaps!

He said I could try it and see what would happen.  He was very skeptical about my decision.

Well, I went to "therapizin'" myself. Yep, I went to the indoor pool at our local high school. It was open to seniors, public pool parties, lap swimmers, and just fun stuff. It cost all of $4.00 a time. I wasn't sure I could do it, but after my first time, I knew that was my only hope of getting back my range of motion. I walked down into the five feet deep section so only my head was sticking out of the water.  Then I walked across the pool back and forth, moving my arms like I was swimming but I didn't swim, just the movement of swimming. The water being buoyant there was little stress on my old joints. My range of motion improved and I didn't use any pain pills.

I bought a 12 visit ticket for seniors (old people), cost $30.00. That sure beat a co-pay of $30.00 a day. I was into "therapizin'".

I went back to the doctor after going to the pool 3 times a week for 3 weeks. I had regained almost all my full range of motion. He was surprised and impressed. He said most people don't try, they just sit around and grow stiff. He told me to keep going to the pool.

I bet he was hot about losing my therapy co-pays. What a savings for me, plus I got well.

I stopped going by Christmas since the weather had turned very cold. My wet hair would freeze when I left the indoor pool and walked to my pickup truck, and that could create another problem, taking a chance of catching pneumonia. Winter set in and I was WELL!