Usually I like my job. Like most people there are days when I dread going into work, hearing patients complain about their various maladies (especially the "black holes" that suck all the life from the room), trying to be empathetic and patient without losing my mind. But then there are days when I love my job.


I work in Cardiac Rehabilitation and we recently started a new group of patients. There's always a little chaos trying to match a face with a name and diagnosis. But this particular group has a woman in it that has recently had a heart transplant. That in itself is not unusual.....neither is the fact that she is fairly young (early 40's). The unusual part is her medical history which I can't share here for privacy reasons. But let's just say she's been through quite a bit with her heart health for someone her age. She went through a couple years where she couldn't do much activity at all because of her health and this is after spending years as an active exerciser and weight lifter.

Anyway, she came in like most heart transplant patients do....with a mask on. They have to take so many anti-rejection drugs that catching a cold is serious business. I handled her first day of exercise and began by explaining the 12 minute walk test we were going to do to get a measure of her current fitness status. When I told her I'd be putting her on a treadmill she reacted like a kid being told they're going to Disneyland! She was SO excited!! She started crying happy tears and hugged me multiple times!! It was so cute and sweet!

Once we got started on the treadmill, she just couldn't get over the fact that she was actually exercising. She walked for about 20 minutes and I wasn't sure if I should put her on a bike or not - I didn't want to tire her too much. But she was gung ho for the next event! Having patients excited to exercise is something we almost NEVER see! It was great to see her excitement about the whole program and she is continuing to progress wonderfully!!

Sometimes I LOVE my job!