Her patience was fleeting. Why was her father so darn proud?
“Frankie. There isn’t any point. Like I said, it’s just me—”
Her eye twitched as the door opened. Her father stopped speaking. A petite woman of Indian descent entered, wearing a white lab coat.
“Hello, Mr. Tomlinson. Miss Tomlinson. It’s nice to see you two again.” They all shook hands. “So tell me, how have you been doing lately? How are you finding your physical therapy?” Dr. Kaur logged on to the computer in the corner of the room as she spoke.
Her dad grinned. “Everything’s wonderful! I’ve been doing my PT every day and have also been working on my crossword books.”
Dr. Kaur typed a few notes. “Excellent. Let me just skim a few things on your file and load your most recent set of X-rays.”
Frankie felt a tension headache coming on. She rubbed her temples and resisted the urge to answer for her dad. The doctor asked a few more questions, and he answered that everything was “perfect” and “normal.”
Dr. Kaur nodded and swiveled the computer screen so it faced them. It contained an image of his hip with its hardware. “You’re about sixteen weeks post-op, and as you can see from this most recent image, the fracture is nearly all the way healed, just as we had hoped.”
Frankie relaxed, and she felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders. She placed a hand on his arm.
“That’s reassuring.” He patted his hip. “I thought I’d bounce back after twelve weeks, like when I had my knee replaced.”
“Every patient is an individual and heals on their own timeline. The older we get, the longer it takes. Remember, it’s not a race.”
The doctor changed the screen. “Glancing over the notes from the PT, I can see that we haven’t quite reached the targeted range of motion and increase of muscle strength we’d aimed for. Is there anything you feel might be contributing to this?”
Frankie’s father nodded. His cheeks colored a rosy red. “That, ah . . . may be my folly. I might have missed a day or two of exercises. Everything has felt stiff.”
The doctor shot him a look of sympathy. “How would you rate the pain on a scale of one to ten? Ten being the worst discomfort.”
He puffed his cheeks out. “A two?”
“When it comes to the exercises, experiencing a little soreness is normal. You’re building muscles back up that haven’t been in use. The goal is to be consistent. Perhaps you can try doing shorter sets? I can have the physical therapist contact you to discuss some other modifications that could be made to your routine.”
Frankie squeezed his hand. “And I’ll make sure he keeps doing them on a schedule. Now that I’m home for good, there are no more excuses.”
“Do you have any other questions for me?” Dr. Kaur asked.
“No, I think you’ve covered everything,” her dad said.
Dr. Kaur nodded. “Excellent. Mr. Tomlinson, I’ll have Becky, my assistant, set your next video appointment and take your BP one more time. I’m just going to borrow your daughter.”
“Go right ahead,” he said.
Frankie followed the doctor. Out of earshot of the exam room, Dr. Kaur gently touched Frankie’s shoulder. “I know how stressful caring for an elderly parent can be. It’s just you, isn’t it?”
Her stomach muscles clenched. “Yeah. There isn’t anyone else. I’m an only child.”
She didn’t want to disclose more than that. It wasn’t really anyone’s business that a single dad had adopted and raised her. She hated the sympathetic looks she received when people found out she’d never had a mother. Why should it matter? She had the world’s greatest dad. A man who would do absolutely anything for her.
“We have a support group I can email you information about. There may come a time when you find it helpful to speak to others in the same situation as yourself.”
Frankie’s throat grew dry. “Thanks.” She let out a gravelly sound.
“Did you have any questions that you’d rather ask privately?”
She rubbed her shoulder. “Should I be worried about his balance? Do you think this fall was just a one-off, or is there a chance he has an underlying condition that caused it?”
“Your father is in overall good health for his age. All the tests we’ve run came back clear. I suspect at the time of the fall, he may have experienced some vertigo from an ear infection. The balance will improve over time, but there is a possibility that he will have to rely on a cane for the rest of his life. It depends on how his physical therapy goes.”
They really had to work the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and muscles supporting the hip. Frankie needed to be more vigilant with Dad’s at-home exercise program.
