Why I Wanted to Become a Physical Therapist

Katarzyna Bia?asiewicz/123RF.com

Discovering my vocation

It’s a common question asked to kids – “What do you want to be when you grow up?” No one in my family was in the healthcare field; in fact, they actively avoid going to the doctor. For some reason, though, I always knew that healthcare would be for me – I just needed to figure out which profession.

In grade school, I wanted to be a vet. Our poor guinea pigs were the only patients available. Then came the year my brother gave me the most amazing homemade Christmas present ever. He made a paper maché patient, put it on a ‘gurney,’ and created little illness scenarios on notecards. I was sold on the human side of medicine. I became a little obsessed with reading books by Lurlene McDaniel about kids who were dealing with chronic and terminal illnesses. I religiously watched ER with my mom and got sucked into all the patient stories. For a big project in 8^th grade, I decided to study the different types of cancer in children and decided what it would be: I would be a pediatric oncologist. Soon after, my 4-year-old cousin was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL). Our family was devastated, but she finished treatment and was in remission. My plan was still set.

When I entered high school, I started to volunteer as a student athletic trainer. I learned about ice baths and hot packs, taping anything and everything, rehabbing sprained ankles, and the rancid smell of football pads. Despite that last thing, I loved every minute of it. The career of physical therapy started to creep up on the list.

Then I learned that my little cousin was going to face an even bigger challenge. Several years after her cancer treatment, she suffered from a ruptured aneurysm on her brainstem. Seizures, stroke, and a prolonged coma followed several emergency surgeries. She survived, beyond the doctors’ expectations. What I realized then was how survival was just the beginning of the very long and unknown road of rehabilitation. Amy and her family lived out of state, so we kept up with her progress through videos that my uncle would send. Her physical therapy sessions were brutal. She would cry and yell and work so hard. Sure enough, after months and months of rehabilitation, the girl who was not supposed to survive, thrived. The girl who was not supposed to walk again climbed up the stairs at her home while sending the visitors up the newly constructed elevator. If I thought I loved the idea of a career as a PT after my introduction to athletic training, after the introduction to inpatient rehabilitation, I was sold. I wanted to help kids learn to move again. I wanted to spend hours and hours to help them become as independent they could be.

My summer job during college really cemented my desire to become a PT. I was fortunate to work with kids and adults with disabilities at a summer camp, where I got to witness firsthand the challenges and humor of daily life when one has a disability. I learned there, too, how PT can be more than just helping someone walk again.

Fast forward to five years after graduating – I got a job working as a PT in an inpatient rehabilitation unit for children. It was the job I had dreamed of all those years before. What an incredible honor it was to help patients and families at one of the most difficult time in their lives, when they went from the survival mode of the intensive care unit to this brand new world of the unknowns of rehabilitation and recovery. I quickly realized rehabilitation is one of the most heartbreaking and awe-inspiring places one can work. There are definitely hard days working in rehabilitation, but when a previous patient comes to visit, it makes all the stress and challenges worth it! All of those life experiences got me here and made me so happy that I chose PT, and it chose me!

If you are interested in becoming a physical therapist, or if you already are one, take a few minutes and check out some of these excellent new physical therapy jobs: https://www.hospitalrecruiting.com/jobs/Physical-Therapist-Jobs/.