AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, the medical details and explanations are fiction, based somewhat in fact. Welcome to all you newbies!
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"Charlie," Uncle Sam said gently. I felt a hand on my cheek. "Charlie, you should wake up and have some lunch."
I opened my eyes- Uncle Sam was standing next to the bed and there was a tray on the table next to him. I could smell something hot.
I looked around. "Where's Daddy?" I asked.
"He's taking a shower," Uncle Sam told me. "Do you want me to feed you?"
"Oh, uh-" I felt myself blushing. "I'm- uh- I can wait for Daddy."
"If you're hungry now, I can do it," he said, raising the head of the bed. Just then my stomach growled. He smiled at me. "I think your stomach just answered for you."
"But—but-"
"What's the matter?" Uncle Sam had taken the top off of the tray and was looking at the food. He looked over at me.
"I'm...embarrassed." I said quietly.
"Honey, you don't have to be," he said. "It's all right, we're all here to help you, remember?"
"Okay," I agreed. "It's just—hard."
"I know it is," Uncle Sam sat down on the bed and pulled the tray over. "You'll get the hang of it though. Let's see, we've got mac and cheese today, a small salad, and sliced peaches." He picked up the fork and looked at me. "What do you want first?"
"Uh, mac and cheese," I said, still feeling embarrassed. I felt my face getting hot as he held the fork up to my mouth. I had gotten used to Daddy feeding me, and I felt comfortable with it, but I hadn't thought that anyone else would.
"I brought the workbooks that I got you before, if you want to do any of those today," Uncle Sam told me as he held up another forkful of noodles. "The home-schooling materials should be here by the end of the week."
"What if- what are we gonna do if I still can't walk or, or move my hands and arms?" I asked him.
Uncle Sam put the fork down and put his hands on his thighs. "Well, then I'll have to write down your answers," he said. "I could probably figure out something with the computer, there are programs that allow you to speak into a microphone and it writes out what you said on the computer. We could do that."
"Okay," I said, realizing that it was a possibility that I might be like this forever. "Do you- do you think I'm always going to be like this?" I asked him.
He looked at me for a long moment, and something in his face changed. "No, honey, I don't," he said. "I think you're going to make a full recovery and it will be like nothing ever happened."
Tears came to my eyes as I felt scared- I felt scared that that might not happen. "But what if—what if-" I stuttered.
"No, don't do what if," Uncle Sam soothed.
The bathroom door opened and Daddy came into the room with a towel around his neck. He looked at us, and said, "You making my girl cry, Sammy? Am I gonna have to take you outside and rough you up?"
Uncle Sam glanced at him. "No, Dean, we're just talking about the future," he said.
Daddy walked over to me and put his hand in my cheek. "Don't cry, baby," he smiled at me. "Everything's going to work out, I know it." He had shaved and Uncle Sam had brought him a change of clothes this morning. He looked more relaxed and like he felt better.
Uncle Sam's phone buzzed and he looked at it.
"You take over here, Dean, I've got to call Dad," he stood up, and went into the hallway. It was damp and rainy outside today, and Grandpa John had stayed at the hotel, because the weather made his arm hurt more than usual.
Daddy sat down and started to feed me. "What were you and Uncle Sammy talking about?" he asked.
"What will happen if I don't get better," I said, "If I'm always like this."
"You won't be," he said confidently, "I know it."
Uncle Sam came back into the room in a few minutes. "I asked him to look up apartments in the area, and he's done something to the laptop," he rolled his eyes. "and of course he can't tell me what he did. The man has a limited grasp of technology."
"It's not something he grew up with, you know how he always was. He understands how a car engine works and how to take apart a gun, but when it comes to electronics he has a blind spot," Daddy said with a chuckle.
There was a knock on the door and a young African-American woman came into the room. She had braids in her hair with beads in them that clicked against each other when she moved her head. "My name is Imani," she told us. "I'm a physical therapist, Dr. Skinner told me she wanted me to start working with you."
"Uhh...for what?" Daddy stood up.
"This is something we do with coma patients and paraplegics, you have to start exercising the muscles so that they don't lose muscle tone and blood flow. I'll teach you how to do the exercises too and you can do them at home," she explained.
"Does that mean that Dr. Miriam thinks that Charlie-" Daddy started.
"She just wants to cover all the bases," Imani said smoothly. "It won't do for Charlie if she gains her movement back but then she has trouble getting around because everything is weak from her just laying still in the bed for weeks."
"We'll do whatever she needs," Uncle Sam said with a smile at her.
Imani moved my arms and legs around to check for "range of motion" she said, and then started to rub my arm.
"She still has good range of motion and I'm not feeling any knots or tightness, which is good. We want to make sure she's still got good circulation in her limbs, and massage will help with that and prevent rigidity in the muscles as well. You all should learn how to do this too, so that you can do it every day for her," Imani told Daddy and Uncle Sam. She massaged one arm, and then showed Uncle Sam how to massage the other arm.
"You can press a little harder, she's not fragile," Imani said with a smile.
"I don't want to hurt her," Uncle Sam said.
"I can't feel it anyway, Uncle Sam," I told him.
Imani massaged my right leg, and then showed Daddy how to do the other leg.
"Good, you two are a quick study. Tomorrow I'll come back and we'll start with exercises, okay?" she smiled at me.
I felt tired at that point. "I'm tired," I said, "I want to sleep."
"All right," Daddy said. "You go ahead, I'll be right here," he sat down next to the bed.
As I woke up I could hear low talking.
"But doctor, I love you! I've always loved you!" a woman said, and then there was a swell of music. I opened my eyes. Daddy was leaning towards the t.v., watching with his elbows on his knees.
"Doctor Sexy, MD?" I asked, "I didn't know you liked that!"
Daddy sat up straight and glanced at me, his face getting red. "Oh, I, uh, was just checking to see what's on," he said, clearing his throat. "How do you know about Doctor Sexy?"
"Mommy had a crush on one of the actors, so she watched it a lot," I said. "It's okay if you like it, Daddy."
He cleared his throat again. "I don't really, uh, watch it on a regular basis, you know, I just..." he looked down and pressed the remote until he found a cooking show.
I realized what had woken me up. I looked down at my hand.
"Daddy," I said uncertainly, "I can feel something." I looked at him. "It feels like- like when your hand falls asleep, it's all prickly!"
Daddy stood up and walked over to me, and looked at my hand. "Well-" he started to say.
I looked down at my hand, and then suddenly, my fingers twitched! I looked up at him again. "Did you see that!" I cried out, and then burst into tears.
"Did you- did you mean to do that?" he asked. "Can you do it again?"
I looked down, and concentrated, and my fingers twitched again. I looked at him and he was smiling with tears in his eyes.
"Let me call the doctor," he said, pulling out his phone. "I'll be right back," he told me, and left the room.
He came back in a couple of minutes, still talking on the phone. "-see you soon." he said, and hung up. He smiled at me. "I let them know at the nurse's station, and they're going to page Dr. Miriam. I called Sammy too, he's going to come right over with Dad." He took my hand and squeezed it. "How are you feeling?"
"It still tingles a little bit, not as much," I told him. I made my fingers twitch in his hand, and he chuckled, and tears came to his eyes again. He leaned down and hugged me. "Charlie, this is great!" he said happily.
The next couple of hours were a flurry of activity as nurses came in to check my vitals, draw more blood, and then Dr. Miriam came in to run tests. She said that the prickly feeling could be my nerves "waking up" from the effect of the toxin, and that it should go away. I could also feel her touching the skin on the back of my hand when my eyes were closed. It was exciting!
The door opened and Uncle Sam came in quickly, followed by Grandpa John. Uncle Sam came right up to the bed. "So what's the news?" he asked, looking at Daddy and me.
"The doctor thinks that the nerves are "waking up" from the toxin and that's what the prickly feeling is," Daddy told him in an excited voice. He looked at me. "Go ahead, Charlie."
"Watch," I said to Uncle Sam, and I made my fingers twitch.
"Oh, honey, that's wonderful!" Uncle Sam said happily, and Grandpa John said, "Wow, Charlie, that's great!" in a rough voice. His eyes looked tired and the stubble on his face was getting thick.
"What's wrong, Grandpa John?" I asked.
"I'm just having a little more pain today than usual," he said casually.
Uncle Sam turned to him and gave him a dirty look. "And someone decided to drink while they're taking pain meds," he said in a hard voice.
"Uh oh, Dad, looks like you're on Sammy's shit list," Daddy said with a grin.
"I know how to handle myself," Grandpa John said with annoyance.
"Dad, you're not a young man any more, and you were just in the hospital for high blood pressure," Uncle Sam said. "You can't be slamming back the whiskey whenever you want, like you used to."
"Jesus, Sam, I wasn't 'slamming it back'," Grandpa John's voice was angry now. "I had a couple of fingers and I was nursing it while I was doing research, just like I've always done."
"While you're taking pain pills, which you're not supposed to do!" Uncle Sam exploded, frowning at Grandpa John.
"All right, all right, let's calm down," Daddy raised his hands. "Dad, can you agree not to drink any more right now? Until you're off the meds?"
"Dean, I know how to handle things," Grandpa John said stubbornly.
"Dad-" Daddy gave Grandpa John a look.
"All right, fine!" Grandpa John huffed. "If it will get both of you off my back-"
"Thank you," Uncle Sam said pointedly. "I'm going to hold you to that, too-"
"Okay, Sam, drop it now, huh?" Daddy asked. "Let's enjoy the good news here."
"I'm going to go out and get some ice cream, to celebrate," Uncle Sam said, getting out the keys. "I'll be back soon."
They brought dinner in at the same time that Uncle Sam came back. He had gotten little ice cream sundaes for all of us.
"That chicken looks good," he said to me, "The ice cream will keep."
"Nah, the hot fudge is going to make the ice cream melt too fast, she should eat that first," Daddy said.
"Dean, she should eat dinner-"
Daddy interrupted Uncle Sam. "Sam, this is a special occasion. A very special occasion, in fact, and I don't care if Charlie doesn't eat a bite of her dinner, I want her to celebrate!" He frowned as Uncle Sam started to protest again.
"Having ice cream for one meal isn't going to hurt her, Sam," Grandpa John said, putting his hand on Uncle Sam's shoulder.
Uncle Sam sighed. "Fine," he said, and picked up his sundae.
I could only eat a couple bites of my dinner after I was finished with the ice cream. Daddy ate the rest of my meal.
"Well, I guess you're good to go," Uncle Sam stood up. "Dad, do you want to go get dinner now, or wait?"
"I could eat," Grandpa John said.
"Me too, bring me back a burger, extra onions, with large fries," Daddy said to Uncle Sam.
"Dean, you just ate most of Charlie's dinner!"
"So? I'm still hungry! And bring me some pie, too, I'm in the mood for pie."
Uncle Sam rolled his eyes. "You and your pie," he muttered. "Come on, Dad, let's see what they have in the cafeteria."
I woke up in the middle of the night to both my hands prickling. It was uncomfortable.
"Daddy," I called out quietly. He was laying on the cot, facing the wall. "Daddy," I called louder.
"Hmm?" he rolled over and sat up. "What, Charlie? What's wrong?"
"My hands," I whimpered. "they both feel all prickly. It won't stop."
He got up and came over to me. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm sorry," he said when he saw my face. "I wish I could help you."
He sat on the bed next to me, and stroked my hair back off of my forehead, over and over. It relaxed me, but I couldn't fall asleep, because the prickling and buzzing in my hands was too uncomfortable. I finally did fall asleep, long after Daddy had fallen asleep next to me.
I had had some excitement in the morning when I woke up- I could wiggle the fingers of both hands now- but by mid-morning I was getting grumpy. The pins-and-needles feeling had spread to my arms, and it would come and go. I could feel my hands now too, and they didn't have the tingling sensation any more, but having the prickly feelings in my arms was uncomfortable. I was tired from not sleeping well, and I couldn't rest easily because of the feelings that came and went in my arms.
Uncle Sam and Grandpa John came in during a marathon of Doctor Sexy, MD that Daddy and I were watching. It seemed like the only thing that could distract me right now was watching t.v.
"Hey, Charlie, how are you doing?" Uncle Sam asked.
"She's got feeling in both hands now," Daddy told him. "And she can move her fingers too! Show them, Charlie!"
"Shh," I glanced at them. "In this episode we find out who the father of the triplets is!"
"Haven't you already seen it?" Daddy asked.
"Yeah, but it's good!" I told him.
"Charlie, some of the home-schooling textbooks came," Uncle Sam put a bag he was carrying down on the bed and pulled out a thick book. "Look at this, this is Language Arts!"
I glanced at him again and then looked back at the t.v. "SHH, Uncle Sam!" I said, frowning at him.
"She's a little grumpy, she didn't sleep well last night," I heard Daddy say.
"That's no excuse for her to talk that way-" Uncle Sam started to say, but Daddy interrupted him. "Give her a break, Sam, she's really uncomfortable. She's got that prickly feeling all up and down her arms and it comes and goes at random times."
"Oh, geez," Uncle Sam said.
"The t.v. is the only thing that distracts her," Daddy said.
A commercial came on and I turned my head to look at them. "Watch!" I said, and I moved my fingers all at the same time.
"That's great!" Grandpa John said, smiling at me, and Uncle Sam said, "Excellent!"
The door opened, and Imani walked into the room. "Good morning," she said, smiling at us. "How are we doing?"
"She can move both hands now, and has gotten feeling back in them," Daddy told her.
"Yes, I read the nurse's notes from this morning," Imani said.
"And you are-" Grandpa John questioned.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a physical therapist, my name is Imani. Are you also going to be caring for Charlie?"
"Yes," Grandpa John told her. "I'm her grandfather."
"Good, then I can show all three of you the exercises and massage techniques you'll need to do. It's important that you keep up with all this, especially now that we're seeing that she's getting function and feeling back," she said.
"Why don't we turn off the t.v. for now so that we can concentrate on this," Uncle Sam said.
"Aww, I don't want to, I'm watching!" I complained.
"Let's turn it off, baby," Daddy said to me. "Just for a little while."
"Nooooo," I whined.
Uncle Sam picked up the remote and turned off the t.v.
"Hey!" I yelled at him. "Turn that back on right now!" I frowned at him.
Uncle Sam frowned right back at me. "Young lady, you don't raise your voice to me like that," he said sternly.
"I don't want to do this right now!" I snapped.
"Charlie..." Daddy said uneasily. He looked uncomfortable.
"Go away!" I snapped, and I turned my head to the side, away from them.
"Don't be rude," Daddy said. I ignored him.
Imani led Daddy and Uncle Sam a couple of feet away from the bed and spoke to them quietly for a couple of minutes. Then they all walked over to the bed. She began to move my arms and legs and go through the exercises, and had each of them practice the movements, even Grandpa John, even though he could only do some of them since he could only use one hand. She did the leg exercises, and then started to do the massage.
"Oww," I whimpered.
"What's wrong, Charlie?" Daddy asked with concern.
"My arms are feeling prickly right now," I whined.
"Does this make it worse, or better, or no change?" Imani asked as she massaged me.
"It doesn't do anything," I told her. I wanted her to stop and just go away so I could keep watching my show!
She kept massaging my arm, and then Daddy did the other arm, and she showed him how to hold it and rub the muscles. Then she started to do my leg.
"Can you hurry?" I asked her.
"Charlie," Uncle Sam said. I looked at him, and he was giving me a look. He massaged my other leg, and Grandpa John watched. He couldn't do the massage one-handed.
Finally she was done. Daddy and Uncle Sam said thank you to her.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "Bye, Charlie."
"Say goodbye, Charlie," Daddy said.
"Yeah, bye," I said quickly. "Can you turn the t.v. back on now?"
"Geez, I think someone needs a nap today!" Uncle Sam said, looking at Daddy.
"Well it's not me!" I said stubbornly, "I want to watch the whole Doctor Sexy marathon until it's over!"
"Is that even an appropriate show for her, Dean?" Uncle Sam asked.
"She used to watch it with her mom, she knows all about it," Daddy told him with a shrug, "Not letting her watch it is like closing the barn door after the horse is gone."
Uncle Sam shook his head. "Let me show you the textbook-" he started to say to me.
"Uncle Saaaaamm, I can't concentrate on that," I whined. "Can't we look at that stuff when I'm not feeling all- all prickly?"
He sighed. "All right, fine. We'll look at it later. But I'm not going to put it off for too long, school starts in a couple of weeks and I want to be with their schedule as much as possible."
"Okayokay," I said. "T.v., please!"
Daddy turned the t.v. back on for me. He and Uncle Sam and Grandpa John walked over near the door and started to talk in low voices. Every once in a while, one of them would glance at me. I didn't care if they were talking about me, I just wanted to watch my show!