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Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Run Don't Walk The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center Author:Adele Levine M*A*S*H meets Scrubs in a sharply observant, darkly funny, and totally unique debut memoir from physical therapist Adele Levine. — — In her six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Adele Levine rehabilitated soldiers admitted in worse and worse shape. As body armor and advanced surgical techniques helped save the lives—if not the limbs—of A... more »merican soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, Walter Reed quickly became the world leader in amputee rehabilitation. But no matter the injury, physical therapy began the moment the soldiers emerged from surgery.
Days at Walter Reed were intense, chaotic, consuming, and heartbreaking, but they were also filled with camaraderie and humor. Working in a glassed-in fishbowl gymnasium, Levine, her colleagues, and their combat-injured patients were on display at every moment to tour groups, politicians, and celebrities. Some would shudder openly at the sight—but inside the glass and out of earshot, the PTs and the patients cracked jokes, played pranks, and compared stumps.
With dazzling storytelling, Run, Don?t Walk introduces a motley array of oddball characters: Jim, a retired lieutenant colonel who enters a marathon with absolutely no training; Big Sexy, an awkward, grim prosthetist; Major Crazy, a physical therapist who worries about what to do should a 250-passenger plane take out a wing of the hospital—and Levine?s toughest patient, the wild, defiant Cosmo, who comes in with one leg amputated and the other shattered.
Entertaining, engrossing, and ultimately inspiring, Run Don?t Walk is a fascinating look into a hidden world.« less