17-20 October 2005
I feel quite guilty that I haven’t updated my diary for a few days. The truth is I have been extremely busy these days. Tim’s BASs and tax return are due pretty soon and I somehow have to fit in my physios, personal trainings, massage and grocery shopping as well. There is only so much time in a day and I hate to think what it would be like when I start working again.
I had three sessions of personal training this week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It all started quite well on Monday and as time went on, it started to go downhill again. I had doubt in my mind whether I should continue personal training last week and is quite keen to try out this other personal trainer recommended by Gavin. When I went to the gym on Monday, I wasn’t expecting much because I didn’t think the last few sessions I had with Mary were very good. To make the situation worse, I always feel I’ve been short changed in the session. One of the things I’ve picked up from many years of working in accounting firms is that I tend to notice how much time I spend in meetings so I know who to charge to when doing my time sheets. I noticed that my personal training sessions have been cut short lately. I always make sure I’m there on time but sometimes Mary arrived late so we started late but I found she always finished early so I didn’t actually get my 60 minutes workout. I know it makes me sound a bit petty but I just don’t like feeling that I’ve been taken for granted. Mary was away from last Wednesday night and she arranged for me to have a session with another trainer, Ann-Marie. I had a session with her in the past and I think sometimes it’s good to have a change and I was able to convey message to Mary from Ann-Marie. Basically, I told Ann-Marie the exercises Mary set me were too easy and I asked her if that’s what’s usually the case in personal training. I think She must have told Mary about this because sine then Mary has changed my program a bit to make them harder. When I had the session with Ann-Marie last week, I found that I had the full hour.
When I went there on Monday, Mary was in a really good mood. Maybe it’s because she just got back from her break. Over the months that I worked with her, I found her mood varied a lot. There were days that she was really enthusiastic but there were also days that she was a bit slack and just wanted to finish our session early. I know I should not compare her with Gavin because she is not meant to be a physio but I think Gavin is a lot more consistent and I don’t have to put up with his mood swings. I thought about how to tell Mary that this is just not working for me but when she was all nice and enthusiastic on Monday, I just couldn’t tell her. I had a pretty good session on Monday.
I had an appointment with my orthopaedics, Martin Richardson, on Monday afternoon. I know he has a habit of running late so I was taking my time in getting there (by taxi). While I was sitting there waiting, I picked up some trashy magazine and read something interesting (at least I thought its interesting). The heading is Jessica Simpson’s Daisy Duke workout. Apparently she had a personal trainer to work with her for two hours a day to get the figure. When I looked at her exercises, I was surprised to find that some of them are similar to the ones I used to do when I first started personal training such as squats against the wall and step back onto a step and down. I found it pretty hard to believe if that’s all she did because I found those exercises not intense enough for me after a while and I get better results by using gym equipments. I was surprised that Martin was pretty early today – I only had to wait for half an hour as opposed to the normal one hour. He checked my shoulder and again was happy with my progress. I told him that I still cannot do a full abduction with my left arm. Again, he said it’s to do with strength. I asked him if he was sure because I couldn’t do that in the pool where there is no gravity. He ordered some X-ray for my shoulder just to be sure. Apparently I could just do it downstairs and come back with the film later. About half an hour later, I came back with the film. Now I know why he is always running behind schedule – he has to fit in those patients who go for a scan or x-ray again. In a way, it’s like double booking some patients.
Martin looked at the films and told me that my shoulder is all fine. This is more reassuring than just telling me without looking at the films. He said I need to build more strength in my shoulder. I guess that means I need to work out more at the gym.
Tuesday was a busy day for me. I had personal training in the morning, physio in the afternoon and grocery shopping after that. In that personal training session, I worked mainly on the arm and the shoulder. In the afternoon, I went to Epworth for physio. I got there just before 1 pm and the physio treatment room was still closed so we all had to wait in the hallway. Megan, another patient of Gavin’s, was in her electric wheelchair waiting. I have seen her around before but haven’t actually spoken to her before. I started talking to her and found out that she’s only been here for four weeks. I didn’t ask her what happened to her because I know how annoying it is for me when someone asks me that. I thought she will also be treated by Ruth, another physio, but she told me she will see Sarah.
The physios came back from their lunch break around 1 p.m. so we could all get in the treatment room. I started with someone walking practice while I was waiting for Ruth. When Ruth turned up, she told me there has been some reallocation of cases and she won’t be treating me but instead, I’ll have Katie instead. She then introduced me to Katie. Katie seems nice but I wonder if she has enough experience. I haven’t seen her before and somehow she reminded me of Emily, the junior physio who treated me when I first got to MECRS. I think there must be some reallocation because Megan has Katie as well. I continued on with running practice on the mini trampoline but was a bit annoyed with all the change and started to wonder if there is any point for me to go to physio there at all. I wonder if I should just increase my personal trainings and skip physios until Gavin comes back I was thinking maybe I should just send Gavin an email and let him know that there is no point for me to waste my time while he is away and I can continue with physio when he returns. Just as I was thinking about this, Ruth came in and told me that she has just spoken to Gavin and he wanted her to continue working with me instead of allocating me to Katie. I felt more relieved. I noticed that the treatment room was a lot quieter when Gavin is away. When he is around, the treatment room is always crowded. I don’t know how he does it but he can actually treat a few patients at the same time. Maybe this is due to experience or perhaps he is just very efficient. I couldn’t help but thinking he is such a ‘cash cow’ (in marketing terms) for the Epworth Hospital. My accountant brain just couldn’t stop ticking. I don’t know how many hours he actually works there but say it’s a standard 8 hours day with one hour lunch break. If he sees two patients per session (a conservative estimate), that will be 14 patients a day. I think most of the patients there are covered by TAC, Workcover or private health insurance. He told me the hospital charges $50 per session if the patient is not covered by any insurance but more if the person is covered. Say if the average charge is $100 per session, then he would bring in $1,400 per day. Based on a 228 days working year (excludging public holidays and annual leaves), he would bring in $319,200 for the hospital. I don’t think I’d ever billed that much in one year in my years at accounting firms!
I spent the rest of the physio practising running on trampoline and on land. Ruth has given me a few tips on the sort of things I need to work on so I think I’ll practice them at home. One thing i have noticed about Ruth is that she is very gentle, almost like the physios at MECRS. She came up to me a few times while i was practising on the trampoline and asked me if I was tired or if I felt pain anywhere. I guess maybe it's because she doesn't know me and she is worried that I might work too hard and get too tired. I don't recall Gavin ever asked me if I was in pain. I know he often ask me if the exercise he gives me is hard enough and if I tell him no, he'd work me harder. Come to think of it, maybe he is the odd one out. I think all the other physios who treated me before are not as pushy.
I had personal training again on Wednesday morning. I was a bit annoyedd with Mary when I got in there about 10 minutes early. She said it’s good I got there early so we can finish early. She said her next client always turns up early so if she finishes early with him as well she can have more time to go to her boxing class. That’s fair enough except I was concerned that we’ll finish early at my expense. We spent most of the time on abs and then a little bit on the calf raises. I think my calf is a lot stronger now because she added more weight on while when I first started, I found it hard even when there was no weight. This time, I thought it was too easy when there was no weight on so Mary added 2.5 kg and then another 2.5kg. I think my concern was valid because we finished early again. I know I got there a bit earlier but we finished before my 60 minutes was up. I’m not sure how to tell her that I’m not happy with the way she operates but I thought this would give me a better excuse not to continue with her if I find the personal trainer recommended by Gavin better than her. Gavin said I can tell her that I found someone better but I think that’s a bit confronting and I don’t want to burn my bridges since she also works at the Melbourne Uni gym. Tim thinks I should just tell her that I’m unhappy with her and unless she can operate the way I want it to be, I’m not going to sign up more sessions. I have to think about this so I can handle it diplomatically.
I had massage with Judy this morning. She actually broght her photos to show me – when she was in the Army and the time she was a Qantas pilot. The earlier army photo was taken in 1971. I couldn’t believe that her uniform was a dress and she had to wear gloves. At first, I thought she looked like a flight attendant because the dress was quite short. I just didn’t think they would wear uniforms like that in the Army!
I told her about my appointment with the orthopaedics and that I had an X-ray and the orthopaedics said I need more strength in the shoulder. She was very upset. She said he should have ordered an ultra sound, not an X-ray. She said my problem would not be in the bones, but possibly in the ligments and an x-ray wouldn’t show that. I told her I didn’t know that as it’s not my area. She said this makes her so angry because those specialists can just say whatever and get away with it because patients usually wouldn’t know. She thinks I need to stretch out my ligments more first and then strengthen the muscles.
I had three sessions of personal training this week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It all started quite well on Monday and as time went on, it started to go downhill again. I had doubt in my mind whether I should continue personal training last week and is quite keen to try out this other personal trainer recommended by Gavin. When I went to the gym on Monday, I wasn’t expecting much because I didn’t think the last few sessions I had with Mary were very good. To make the situation worse, I always feel I’ve been short changed in the session. One of the things I’ve picked up from many years of working in accounting firms is that I tend to notice how much time I spend in meetings so I know who to charge to when doing my time sheets. I noticed that my personal training sessions have been cut short lately. I always make sure I’m there on time but sometimes Mary arrived late so we started late but I found she always finished early so I didn’t actually get my 60 minutes workout. I know it makes me sound a bit petty but I just don’t like feeling that I’ve been taken for granted. Mary was away from last Wednesday night and she arranged for me to have a session with another trainer, Ann-Marie. I had a session with her in the past and I think sometimes it’s good to have a change and I was able to convey message to Mary from Ann-Marie. Basically, I told Ann-Marie the exercises Mary set me were too easy and I asked her if that’s what’s usually the case in personal training. I think She must have told Mary about this because sine then Mary has changed my program a bit to make them harder. When I had the session with Ann-Marie last week, I found that I had the full hour.
When I went there on Monday, Mary was in a really good mood. Maybe it’s because she just got back from her break. Over the months that I worked with her, I found her mood varied a lot. There were days that she was really enthusiastic but there were also days that she was a bit slack and just wanted to finish our session early. I know I should not compare her with Gavin because she is not meant to be a physio but I think Gavin is a lot more consistent and I don’t have to put up with his mood swings. I thought about how to tell Mary that this is just not working for me but when she was all nice and enthusiastic on Monday, I just couldn’t tell her. I had a pretty good session on Monday.
I had an appointment with my orthopaedics, Martin Richardson, on Monday afternoon. I know he has a habit of running late so I was taking my time in getting there (by taxi). While I was sitting there waiting, I picked up some trashy magazine and read something interesting (at least I thought its interesting). The heading is Jessica Simpson’s Daisy Duke workout. Apparently she had a personal trainer to work with her for two hours a day to get the figure. When I looked at her exercises, I was surprised to find that some of them are similar to the ones I used to do when I first started personal training such as squats against the wall and step back onto a step and down. I found it pretty hard to believe if that’s all she did because I found those exercises not intense enough for me after a while and I get better results by using gym equipments. I was surprised that Martin was pretty early today – I only had to wait for half an hour as opposed to the normal one hour. He checked my shoulder and again was happy with my progress. I told him that I still cannot do a full abduction with my left arm. Again, he said it’s to do with strength. I asked him if he was sure because I couldn’t do that in the pool where there is no gravity. He ordered some X-ray for my shoulder just to be sure. Apparently I could just do it downstairs and come back with the film later. About half an hour later, I came back with the film. Now I know why he is always running behind schedule – he has to fit in those patients who go for a scan or x-ray again. In a way, it’s like double booking some patients.
Martin looked at the films and told me that my shoulder is all fine. This is more reassuring than just telling me without looking at the films. He said I need to build more strength in my shoulder. I guess that means I need to work out more at the gym.
Tuesday was a busy day for me. I had personal training in the morning, physio in the afternoon and grocery shopping after that. In that personal training session, I worked mainly on the arm and the shoulder. In the afternoon, I went to Epworth for physio. I got there just before 1 pm and the physio treatment room was still closed so we all had to wait in the hallway. Megan, another patient of Gavin’s, was in her electric wheelchair waiting. I have seen her around before but haven’t actually spoken to her before. I started talking to her and found out that she’s only been here for four weeks. I didn’t ask her what happened to her because I know how annoying it is for me when someone asks me that. I thought she will also be treated by Ruth, another physio, but she told me she will see Sarah.
The physios came back from their lunch break around 1 p.m. so we could all get in the treatment room. I started with someone walking practice while I was waiting for Ruth. When Ruth turned up, she told me there has been some reallocation of cases and she won’t be treating me but instead, I’ll have Katie instead. She then introduced me to Katie. Katie seems nice but I wonder if she has enough experience. I haven’t seen her before and somehow she reminded me of Emily, the junior physio who treated me when I first got to MECRS. I think there must be some reallocation because Megan has Katie as well. I continued on with running practice on the mini trampoline but was a bit annoyed with all the change and started to wonder if there is any point for me to go to physio there at all. I wonder if I should just increase my personal trainings and skip physios until Gavin comes back I was thinking maybe I should just send Gavin an email and let him know that there is no point for me to waste my time while he is away and I can continue with physio when he returns. Just as I was thinking about this, Ruth came in and told me that she has just spoken to Gavin and he wanted her to continue working with me instead of allocating me to Katie. I felt more relieved. I noticed that the treatment room was a lot quieter when Gavin is away. When he is around, the treatment room is always crowded. I don’t know how he does it but he can actually treat a few patients at the same time. Maybe this is due to experience or perhaps he is just very efficient. I couldn’t help but thinking he is such a ‘cash cow’ (in marketing terms) for the Epworth Hospital. My accountant brain just couldn’t stop ticking. I don’t know how many hours he actually works there but say it’s a standard 8 hours day with one hour lunch break. If he sees two patients per session (a conservative estimate), that will be 14 patients a day. I think most of the patients there are covered by TAC, Workcover or private health insurance. He told me the hospital charges $50 per session if the patient is not covered by any insurance but more if the person is covered. Say if the average charge is $100 per session, then he would bring in $1,400 per day. Based on a 228 days working year (excludging public holidays and annual leaves), he would bring in $319,200 for the hospital. I don’t think I’d ever billed that much in one year in my years at accounting firms!
I spent the rest of the physio practising running on trampoline and on land. Ruth has given me a few tips on the sort of things I need to work on so I think I’ll practice them at home. One thing i have noticed about Ruth is that she is very gentle, almost like the physios at MECRS. She came up to me a few times while i was practising on the trampoline and asked me if I was tired or if I felt pain anywhere. I guess maybe it's because she doesn't know me and she is worried that I might work too hard and get too tired. I don't recall Gavin ever asked me if I was in pain. I know he often ask me if the exercise he gives me is hard enough and if I tell him no, he'd work me harder. Come to think of it, maybe he is the odd one out. I think all the other physios who treated me before are not as pushy.
I had personal training again on Wednesday morning. I was a bit annoyedd with Mary when I got in there about 10 minutes early. She said it’s good I got there early so we can finish early. She said her next client always turns up early so if she finishes early with him as well she can have more time to go to her boxing class. That’s fair enough except I was concerned that we’ll finish early at my expense. We spent most of the time on abs and then a little bit on the calf raises. I think my calf is a lot stronger now because she added more weight on while when I first started, I found it hard even when there was no weight. This time, I thought it was too easy when there was no weight on so Mary added 2.5 kg and then another 2.5kg. I think my concern was valid because we finished early again. I know I got there a bit earlier but we finished before my 60 minutes was up. I’m not sure how to tell her that I’m not happy with the way she operates but I thought this would give me a better excuse not to continue with her if I find the personal trainer recommended by Gavin better than her. Gavin said I can tell her that I found someone better but I think that’s a bit confronting and I don’t want to burn my bridges since she also works at the Melbourne Uni gym. Tim thinks I should just tell her that I’m unhappy with her and unless she can operate the way I want it to be, I’m not going to sign up more sessions. I have to think about this so I can handle it diplomatically.
I had massage with Judy this morning. She actually broght her photos to show me – when she was in the Army and the time she was a Qantas pilot. The earlier army photo was taken in 1971. I couldn’t believe that her uniform was a dress and she had to wear gloves. At first, I thought she looked like a flight attendant because the dress was quite short. I just didn’t think they would wear uniforms like that in the Army!
I told her about my appointment with the orthopaedics and that I had an X-ray and the orthopaedics said I need more strength in the shoulder. She was very upset. She said he should have ordered an ultra sound, not an X-ray. She said my problem would not be in the bones, but possibly in the ligments and an x-ray wouldn’t show that. I told her I didn’t know that as it’s not my area. She said this makes her so angry because those specialists can just say whatever and get away with it because patients usually wouldn’t know. She thinks I need to stretch out my ligments more first and then strengthen the muscles.
posted by Teresa Liu at 11:30 PM
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