Tackling The Weighty Issue

(My mom, grandma and I are at my grandmother’s doctor’s appointment about two months after her liver transplant. She is getting stronger, but still needs to live with us until she is completely ready to go home. To help her get her strength back, and prepare her to go home on her own, she helps us around the house and goes for walks around the block pushing a wheelchair for balance. Sometimes I sit in the chair to give her extra weight to push against to help her get her muscles built up faster.)

Doctor: *to grandma* “Are you getting exercise and other activity in every day?”

Grandma: “Oh, yes. I help with the laundry and dishes and I go out for a walk every day.”

Doctor: “Do you have something to hold onto when you’re walking? You’ve said that you’re still having some trouble with your balance at times.”

Grandma: “I have a wheelchair that I push along the sidewalk or in the store.”

Doctor: “Too bad you don’t have a dummy you can sit in the chair for a bit of extra weight!”

Mom: *puts hand on my shoulder* “That’s what you are, my dear!”