***Three weeks before the wedding***
Jennifer had gotten so good at the hand poles that she hardly used her wheelchair anymore except when they went out. She was in better spirits these days, much better compared to the beginning.
She and Jonathan were spending a lazy day at home. She had just finished swimming some laps and Jonathan had just come back from seeing Susan.
She found him in the bedroom.
"Darling, when did you get home?"
He came over and kissed her.
"Hi. Just now".
She balanced on her hand poles as she kissed him a few times.
"I'm glad you're back".
She made her way into the bathroom.
"What did Susan say?"
"She cut my cast off and cleared me to start running again".
"Oh, lucky you. I miss running, so much".
Jonathan could have kicked himself for bringing up her favorite sport.
She came out of the bathroom in her robe and saw the look on his face.
"I'm sorry, darling".
"It's alright, darling. No worries".
The phone rang, and he walked over and answered it.
"Hello? Hi. Yes, she's right here."
"Darling, it's for you. It's your father".
"Oh good. I meant to call him this morning".
She took the phone from him and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Hello, Pa?"
"Hi sweetheart. How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"Good. Listen, there's a colleague of mine that mentioned a clinic to me that has been making great strides in nerve regeneration for people with paralysis. I was wondering if you would be willing to go check it out".
"Where is it?"
"Phoenix. I'll fly there and meet you there, and we can talk to them together. Jonathan can go with us if he'd like."
"How soon can they see us?"
"I have an appointment for day after tomorrow for a consult. If they determine that you qualify, they will schedule it this week".
"Sure, I'm willing."
"Wonderful!"
She wrote down the information he gave her and then they chatted a little longer and then hung up.
She filled Jonathan in.
"Want to go with us?"
"Yes, I do. But I'm afraid I cannot. I have a board meeting day after tomorrow that I can't miss. But, I'll talk to Jack and see if I can't fly out afterwards".
"Good."
She went and got her laptop and researched nerve regeneration and tried to figure out what to expect.
Jonathan was so happy to see her interested in something again.
***Two days later***
Jonathan drove Jennifer to the airport on his way to the office.
"Now darling, I arranged for a car service to take you to your hotel and also back and forth to the clinic. Here's the information and phone number in case you have to call them".
He handed her a business card.
"Thank you".
He pulled them up to the tarmac and parked and went and helped her out of the car. She still had some trouble with steep stairs, so he picked her up and carried her up the steps.
"Jonathan, you stole my job".
"Sorry Jack, she's all mine".
He helped her get settled into her seat and then kissed her goodbye.
"I'll see you tonight, baby. I love you".
"I love you too".
She kissed him a few more times and then he left.
"Jonathan, I'll have her in Phoenix in about 2 hours, and then I'll be back here 2 hours after that. We can leave again for Phoenix tonight anytime after 7".
"Wonderful. I'll keep you updated. Take care of her Jack".
"Sure thing".
"I'll be fine, darling".
"I hope so, I plan to marry you in a couple weeks".
They left right on time and landed in Phoenix with no problems. Her father was waiting for her at the hotel.
"Hi sweetheart".
"Hi Pa".
He was very impressed with her abilities on the hand poles.
"Did you bring your wheelchair too?"
"Yes, I did. What time is our appointment?"
"In 1 hour".
"Wonderful. Jonathan reserved us the car service, to take us back and forth. He's going to fly in tonight and join us".
"Great. It will be good to see him. I take it he's healing well?"
"He got both his casts off and to look at him, you'd never know he had been hit by a bus. He was incredibly fortunate that only part of the front of the bus hit him and not more. We both were".
"I agree."
They got settled in their rooms and then headed to the clinic. She decided to use the wheelchair and save her strength.
They had a lovely consultation with the doctor and Jennifer asked lots of questions. They drew some blood from her and her father and did full body x-rays of both of them with a special machine.
Jennifer and her father were in the exam room when the doctor came back in.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Martinez. I have been looking over your blood results and the x-rays. The x-rays we use, aren't traditional x-rays. These ones highlight the nerves in the body. This allows us to see which nerves would be best for placement and which ones aren't working and so on. Jennifer, you are an excellent candidate for a donor nerve surgery. But I'm sorry Mr. Edwards, you are not a candidate for donating the nerve. Your blood type and tissue type doesn't match Miss Edwards enough to make it possible".
Jennifer's heart sank.
"But we still have another option. We can do a nerve graft, where you donate part of a nerve to yourself and we take it apart and sort of piece it together with the broken nerve and regenerate it that way".
"What's the recovery time for that?"
"A few days to a week for most people. You will be required to take immunosuppressants for a while, but not forever".
"I see".
Jennifer agreed to do the nerve graft, and they scheduled it for the next morning.
"If this works, you will know within the next few weeks. You will gradually regain feeling in your legs. But I must warn you, take it easy. Just because you can feel your legs, that doesn't mean you can take off running on them and be fine".
"I understand".
"Have you been doing any physical exercise since your paralysis?"
"Yes, I swim laps for about 2 hours a day in my pool. Physical therapy comes to my home and stretches me, flexes me, all that. I have been using a TENS unit at night and I've been using an inversion table every night and a motorized stationary bicycle".
"Very well. You are more prepared for this than most of our patients".
They had her fill out some paperwork.
"Ok, so now, all that's left is for us to inject a dye into your lower back and watch it with a glow light."
"For what?"
"We need it to travel to the nerve that's not working so we know which one to operate on".
They took her to the operating room and got her prepped and then gave her the injection. It was very painful, but she got through it.
The whole thing took about 35 minutes and then she was allowed to go.
"Here are your pre-op instructions. We will see you tomorrow at 12".
"Thank you".
She and her father used the car service and headed back to the hotel.
It was almost 5 p.m.
"How about dinner in the hotel restaurant?"
"Sure. I'm famished".
They had the restaurant practically to themselves, and enjoyed every minute. As soon as they were done, she headed upstairs to her room.
She texted Jonathan after she got settled.
"Room 724. I'm exhausted, so I'm going to nap till you get here. I love you".
***A couple hours later***
Jonathan arrived in Phoenix around 9 and headed to the hotel.
Stephen was in the lobby having a drink.
"Jonathan, so glad to see you".
"Hello Mr. Edwards, good to see you too".
"Jennifer is up in her room. Today was long and hard on her, but they promised that they could help her".
"Good. I'm glad she's willing to give it a shot".
"I never got a chance to tell her, but I'm in room 512 if she needs me."
"I'll pass it along. What time is everything tomorrow?"
"I think they said be there at 10, and it starts at 12. She can't have anything after midnight tonight".
"Wonderful. Well, I'm beat, so I'm going to head up to the room. We will see you tomorrow".
"See you tomorrow son".
Jonathan got an extra key from the front desk and then headed up to the room.
She was sleeping peacefully.
He turned on the bathroom light and then turned on the lamp next to the bed.
He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
"Wake up sunshine".
She stretched and rolled over towards him.
"Hi. When did you get here?"
"About 20 minutes ago. I was downstairs talking to your dad".
"How was your meeting?"
"Long. Boring. All I could think about was you".
"How sweet".
"There's just one problem. I have to fly out for next week's meeting on Friday. We added another plant and a warehouse in Louisiana. But, this is my last work trip till after our honeymoon".
"Which we still haven't booked or planned".
"We will, we will".
She sat up and adjusted the pillows.
"I brought you a salad, did you eat yet?"
"Yeah, earlier. What time is it? I cannot eat after 12".
"It's 10:30".
He changed into his pajamas and then sat down and unwrapped their dinner. He had eaten on the plane, but saved ½ of it to eat with her.
"So, tell me what the clinic said".
"Well, they said that you can do this thing where you donate a nerve to someone else. So they took blood from me and Pa but we weren't a match. So, then they said that I could donate part of a nerve to myself and they would piece it together with the broken nerve. And then they said they wanted me to get an injection, so they could see which nerves were broken and which one to fix. And I did".
"And?"
"And it hurt like hell, darling. It was the absolute, most painful injection I think I've ever had".
"Where did they inject it at?"
"The center of my back".
"Did they tell you what the recovery time was?"
"No, they didn't. I didn't see any patient rooms, though. Maybe it's all outpatient".
She scarfed down her salad and then he went and took the trash to the chute at the end of the hall.
She was in bed when he got back, and he climbed in and joined her.
She snuggled up to his chest.
"I love you. I hope that I can be the best wife to you, even with my limitations".
"You will be. I love you even more with your limitations".
"Darling, what if this doesn't work?"
"Then we will go home and count our blessings and keep working hard to find something that will work".
She was quiet for a minute, which he knew meant that she was anxious.
"Darling, Marcia called this afternoon. She has had several offers to run your story about your day with Susan."
"Good, maybe people will learn how to treat people with limitations".
He held her till she fell asleep, and both of them slept really well for the first time in a long time.
***The next day***
Jonathan woke up when the alarm went off, and snuggled Jennifer a little tighter.
A few minutes later, they were both awake and getting ready.
She put on some loose, comfortable clothing, and put her hair in a ponytail.
They met her dad downstairs in the lobby at 9:30 and arrived at the place by 10.
She got all checked in and they were taken to her room.
The dr. came in to speak with them.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Martinez".
"HI Dr. This is Jonathan, my fiance".
They shook hands.
Dr. Martinez briefly explained the procedure to them.
"We are going to take a nerve from between her ribs as the donor nerve. Procedure should only take about 2 or 3 hours but could go longer if it needs too. Afterwards, she will be taken to recovery and given a medicine to bring her out of the sedation. Once that happens, she will be discharged. You will need to stay in the area for the next 48 hours just in case there are any complications. After the 48 hours passes, you can return home".
He gave her several sheets on aftercare instructions.
"How soon can I eat or drink something?"
"Tonight. A milkshake will be your best friend after this is over with".
"How soon will Jennifer be able to tell if this was successful?"
"Well every patient is different, but if the preliminary testing is good, typically in about 2 weeks".
He handed her the script for the immunosuppressants and then told her the nurse would be in to prep her.
Jonathan came over and climbed into the bed with her.
She leaned back against him and he kissed her head a few times.
She turned to look at her father.
"Are you going to be able to make it to our wedding?"
"Yes, I am. I booked my room and everything. I'll arrive on Thursday, and I'll fly back out on Sunday".
"Wonderful. We want you to come to the house and have dinner with us Thursday night".
"I would love that. Your aunts and uncles will be with me".
"Yay! I can't wait to see them".
"They can't wait to see you either, you are their pride and joy".
The nurse came in to prep her for surgery.
Jonathan kissed her and then climbed out of the bed.
She slipped her ring off and handed it to him.
"For safekeeping".
He sat by her and held her hand and then the nurse came to take her to the operating room.
Stephen came over and kissed her goodbye.
"I love you, Pa".
"I love you too".
She teared up.
Jonathan leaned down and kissed her a few times.
"I love you and I'll be right here when you get back".
"I love you too".
"Pa, don't talk Jonathan's ear off about politics".
"We'll be fine, Jennifer".
They took her to surgery. Jonathan and Stephen decided to head to the cafeteria.
"Son, I just want you to know that I appreciate you looking after my Jennifer and loving her like you do. It's clear that you two were made for each other."
"Thank you, I feel the same way. I can't imagine my life without her".
"Jennifer told me you bought her a house".
"I did. It's absolutely beautiful. But I'm afraid if this doesn't work and she doesn't regain the use of her legs, we will have to sell it and that's going to devastate her".
"Son, the trick with Jennifer is getting her to accept it. She shies from accepting things at times, but once she does, she tends to buckle down and make the best of it. If you give her an alternative, that usually helps as well".
"Her stubbornness is one of the things I love most about her".
"She gets it honestly, I assure you".
They took their food back to her room and found a baseball game on the television.
About 3 hours later, the nurse came in.
"Miss Edwards is in recovery and she will be brought back here in about an hour".