The Good Ol' Boys Club

I wore a certain T-shirt to cardiac rehab yesterday, not suspecting that it would change my rehab experience forever. The T-shirt was one that I got when I was in the hospital. That whole time was a blur, as you know, but I'm pretty sure that my mom got it for me. It says, "Repaired in Rochester: Home of the Mayo Clinic" and has little medical people and patients on it.

So yesterday Cezar was gone. I was without my one friend at rehab. I almost brought my iPod because I knew that he would not be there. But I didn't want to seem antisocial, so I didn't bring it. Dangit, those guys HAVE to talk to me sometime, I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I was on the bike, and this guy, Randy, nodded to my T-shirt and asked me, "Did you meet anyone famous while you were at Mayo?" I was shocked! A man who wasn't Cezar actually spoke to me! I told him that I hadn't met anyone famous during my stay, but I was there for a post-op check-up the day that Gerald Ford was admitted.

Randy then asked me about my surgery, and he told me about himself, and we had an actual conversation! A couple of other guys were listening in, including one who was just there because he couldn't make his morning rehab time. That guy smiled and nodded a lot. It was kind of freaky. Emma is back and has been coming to rehab now. She was listening too. She told me that I am doing really well for someone who has gone through so much.

While we were all cooling down and waiting to get our blood pressure checked, Randy was telling us all about a corn-on-the-cob-eating contest he had entered at a local fair. He brought his own low-fat spray butter for it and the rehab nurses were impressed. I got my blood pressure checked and it was time to go. I started walking out. And I received the biggest shock of the day.

At rehab there are two really crabby guys. Bob and Butch. They only talk to the other men, and have some inside jokes and stuff. They're all in the Good Ol' Boys Club, and you're automatically in if you've had a heart attack or a bypass, and are a man. I can't claim any of that.

I happened to be walking out just as Butch was leaving. I almost fell over from a heart attack (they would have surely let me in the club if that happened) when Butch waited for me to catch up with him and started talking to me as we walked out together. We talked about diet changes and how they suck. Kind of a mundane conversation, but Butch actually talked to me! And he was NICE!

Maybe Emma's comment about my having gone through a lot made these guys realize that to be in the club, members don't necessarily have to have heart attacks, bypasses, or penises. (And thank God for that!)

So I think I'm in! Thank you, T-shirt! And thank you, Mom, for buying me the T-shirt!

Oh- I got a pretty good workout too.