I’ve regained my balance! I can walk again! I’m so relieved, but I have to make sure to keep this recorded just in case. We still don’t know what caused me to lose my balance in the first place, or why or how it’s returned. Dr. Laurie still wants to get an MRI of my brain in case something can be found. He managed to get an MRI scheduled for tomorrow, which might have been fine if I still didn’t have my balance, but with my balance having returned he’s worried that whatever had been wrong might not be found now. Of course, with how suddenly it returned, it’s possible it could just as suddenly go away. So having the scan would be good. I’m not looking forward to it, but at least it means I don’t have to stay here much longer, I’m starting to miss my own bed.
I suppose I should explain what happened. One of the more embarrassing issues regarding my inability to walk, has been basic bodily functions. When I need to go to the bathroom, I need help. Now, obviously once I’m in there I can manage on my own, but it’s quite a production just to get me that far, and then I’ve got Mom sitting outside the door in case anything happens. Normally I wouldn’t bring this up, except for this morning when I woke up and needed to pee. Yesterday morning I had to wake Mom up to get help. This morning I just got out of bed like I would any other day and made my way to the bathroom without even thinking that I might fall down.
Maybe I was still tired and just not thinking, I don’t know. All I know is that flushing the toilet woke Mom, and while I was taking care of the usual business, she had time to look around, realize I wasn’t in bed, and start to freak out. I emerged from the bathroom to find Mom in a panic, which was quickly replaced once she realized I was standing in the doorway all on my own. When she finally calmed down enough to explain herself, it dawned on me what it was I was doing and I quickly grabbed the door frame and brought my other hand up to my nose worried I might smash it again.
I suddenly realize why I’m so tired, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. Mom had already paged the nurses station, and a nurse dutifully showed up right about the same time I was preparing to fall over. She didn’t immediately understand what the issue was, but she understood well enough that we wanted to let Dr. Laurie know.
So yea, a lot of the early part of my day was meeting with him, and getting a late breakfast, and more talking and testing and planning and all of that stuff. Dr. Laurie still wanted me to go to physical therapy while I’m here, just in case there are any complications. He did assure us that the therapist from yesterday said I did very well, but further work would be good. While I was doing that today the therapist showed me some exercises that he wants me doing at home to test the limits of my balance and strengthen it, and tomorrow we’ll go over them again just to make sure I know how to do them right.
After therapy and lunch, Mom headed home to take care of some things and to get me some clean clothes. So I took advantage of her absence and my returned mobility to wander the halls. Laying in that bed was getting really old and I was feeling antsy.
By chance I ran across that lady’s room from yesterday. The one who fell over trying to chew out her therapist. Her door was wide open, and I just looked in as I passed by. She was laying on her bed with the remote pointed at the TV, and waving the remote at it as if it were a wand out of the Harry Potter stories. I think the movement is what caught my attention, and then while I was trying to figure out what she was doing I realized I was staring. I don’t think I’d realized who she was until she looked over and saw me. Embarrassed, I turned back to the hallway and started on my way again, but was stopped by her calling for help. So I looked back in, and sure enough she was directing her call to me.
It was the sound of her voice that reminded me of yesterday, and with her image in mind I quickly looked about for the musclebound companion who had carried her away. He was nowhere to be seen, and she called again for help, so I shambled my way into her room to see what was wrong.
I think I need to explain a few things that I learned today before I can do her any justice. We got to talking and I let my curiosity get the best of me, and asked why she was here. It turns out she’s one of the survivors from the plane crash the same day I had blacked out. Getting to see her up close I could finally see that she was in terrible shape. As beautiful as she is, and she is gorgeous, she’s got scratches and bruises all over. Her broken ankle is the worst of the physical injuries. The thing is, she’s got amnesia. She can’t remember anything before waking here after the crash.
I relate that now because when I first came into the room she explained that she had watched a show on the TV yesterday and wanted to see it again, but she couldn’t figure out how to change the channel or anything. The actual explanation took quite a bit longer than that, she didn’t seem to have the words to say it so directly and spent more than a few minutes explaining. I’m still not sure what show she’d seen, but it sounded like a daytime soap.
Anyway, as we worked out what she was looking for and how to operate the remote, that was when I asked why she was here. I wasn’t sure what to say after learning about her amnesia, what do you say to that? “So, how old are you?, Where ya from?, Where do you work?” The answer to any question is simple, “I don’t know.” Given a few days in here and the doctor’s affinity for poking at wounds, I’m sure she’s used that answer many times and is probably as frustrated in using it as I am answering the question, “does it hurt?” when people learn about my tumor.
So at first I went back to explaining the remote, and how to work the TV, and which channel the directory could be found on. After a while I forgot myself and asked who the big guy was who had carried her away yesterday. At first she gave me a suspicious look, but then it’s like a light came on and she remembered me, and then I was answering her questions. Why I was working at the parallel bars but wasn’t in any cast, why I couldn’t walk, what a tumor was, and the inevitable, “Does it hurt?”
Honestly it was a little charming, she was like an innocent kid learning about the world, and keeping in mind her amnesia, it wasn’t as frustrating. Going over yesterday though brought us back to my question, who the big guy was. And that’s when he walked in.
His shoulders really do take up the door frame, he almost had to step in one arm at a time. And with me standing now, I got a much better impression of his height and thereby his size. He was, no, he is intimidating. Especially walking into the room to find a stranger, me, there talking to her. He quickly demanded to know who I was, and his body language told me this was no time to be smart. I tried explaining that I was just passing by, my words caught in my throat as I eyed his calloused, grasping hands.
It was the girl who came to my rescue, laying in her bed behind me, her slim form looking so delicate. She was dismissive toward him, and I recognize now that he was just being protective, she said I was a friend who she invited over and then asked him to move the dresser to the storage room. He scowled, but took a calming breath and then started again, in a much more welcoming tone he asked my name. I introduced myself, and he offered his hand introducing himself as Sam, and asked how long I had known Candace. I laughed off his earlier attitude, mostly to help calm myself because when I took his massive hand I felt I could disappear within it, and finally explained that I had just happened by when she asked for help.
That seemed to calm him, and then his attitude became positively sweet, thanking me for helping her out and being there for her. He apologized for coming on so strong and explained that with her amnesia he was worried people might take advantage of her. He thanked me again and said I’d be welcome if I came by another time, but that his parents were coming and wanted to see Candace.
It seemed strange, I still didn’t have any indication of how the two were connected, and so I asked “Your parents?” with the emphasis on “your.” He said that Candace was his sister-in-law, and that her husband, his brother, had died in the same plane crash that had taken her memory.
I expressed my sympathies and excused myself saying I had probably been away too long anyway. As I was leaving an older couple walked passed speaking very loudly. I didn’t make the connection that they were his parents until I saw them turn into her room and greet Sam warmly. They looked as opposite him as they could, his skin and hair were almost as dark as Candace’s, theirs were both light, and as big as he is they were barely taller than me. As they were talking though, I got the impression that they hadn’t approved of the marriage, that it was recent and that they were suspicious of Candace’s motives for having married their son.
Thinking back on them I have to wonder how things were before the plane crash. Obviously it only made more trouble for them, but from the way they were talking it sounded like trouble was not new. I hope they can work out their differences, I hope Candace can get her memory back. I’ve opened my eyes in the hospital on a couple of occasions now, and while it is disorienting, I can’t imagine looking into my parents eyes and not recognizing them.
That makes me wonder though, if her husband's family was there, where was her family?
No comments:
Post a Comment