pt honesty

One of my post op cardio pts was being quite difficult and refused to get out of bed and walking. On day one and two post op, after much encourgaement the pt agreed to come for a walk with me. The next few days the pt refused treatment because she was tired or in pain. As the pt was clearing her own secretions by coughing up moderate amounts of sputum without any PT intervention i didnt push the issue. According to the nursing notes the pt had managed to get themselves downstairs and outside to have a smoke. When I asked about this the pt assured me that they had walked themselves down there and because the pt was walking independently and the cough they had was normal for them I planned to D/C them from PT. However when I was walking home one day I saw the pt sitting out the front of the hospital in a W/C. I had just assumed from what id read in the nursing notes and from what the pt had told me that she had been walking downstairs. This shows that you can not always believe what a pt tells you and that you should always double check with the nursing staff