put him through his paces.

He was so exhausted after the first few days, he said, that he began making a sandwich in the morning, knowing that he wouldn’t have the strength to make it when he got home from therapy.

He went from carrying a small section of hose and taking off and putting on his gear to climbing a ladder and pounding a tire to simulate the challenge of chopping a hole in a burning roof. Lifting a gurney with a boxing heavy bag on it allowed Parsons to re-create the act of putting a patient and cot into an ambulance.

Parsons returned to work on Aug. 28, 2017. He said he probably was in better shape than when he had left. His left arm sometimes aches in coldweather, but he is reluctant to attribute it to his torn biceps. It could be arthritis that he would have gotten anyway, he figures.

Parsons said he gained a new perspective on injuries knowing how little it took for his to occur. As for his rehab, he said patients get out of PT what they put into it. But he’s also thankful for the assist he received from his therapists.

The week that he marked one year back on the job, he treated the Arlington Physical Therapy staff to a six-foot sub for lunch. He had spent so much time at the clinic for his therapy that he felt like part of the staff, even changing the bottle on the water cooler.