Kim walked through the nearly vacant halls as she headed toward her sister-in-law's room. With it being Christmas Eve, all patients who could be had been sent home. In addition, the hospital was working on a bare minimum staffing for the holidays. When Kim walked into the hospital room she saw that Kira was awake.
"Morning, Kira. I hope you don't mind but I've got you set up for some tests later on but I need to set up a baseline so we know just what we are dealing with, okay?" Kim saw Kira blink and pause before she opened her eyes back up. Kim turned and used tape to put two pieces of paper up on either side of her on the wall. "Now the first thing we are going to do until we are able to work on your speech is to help create a way to communicate. Now I have this green card on my right with the word yes on it. When I ask you a question and the answer is yes look to it to let me know. And conversely, on my left we have this red card with no on it. Understand?"
Kira looked to the green card before looking back to her sister-in-law. She tried to reply vocally but was frustrated when she heard only a groan instead of her voice.
"I know this is frustrating, Kira. But it will get better. Now, let's see," Kim looked down at her paper where she'd written down some baseline questions. "First, we'll check for any deficits in your memory. We can't do the usual questions so I've had to come up with some different ones. Can you tell me if you can remember the boys' eighth birthday?"
Kira looked over at the card over Kim's right shoulder.
"Good. Now how about the end of their school year?"
Again Kira looked to the green card on the wall.
"Very good. Now what about the fourth of July? Do you remember Mikey twisting his ankle when he and some of his friends jumped off of old man Cary's barn?"
Kira eyed the card on the other woman's right once more and Kim swore that she saw a look of displeasure at the memory of her oldest son's misadventure.
"Don't worry, I don't think he plans to do that again any time soon. Alright, the next big event would have been the race the last weekend of July. Do you remember that race? Do you remember Jebb's accident?"
Kim watched as Kira looked up toward the ceiling and paused as if trying to will the memory. After a moment Kira reluctantly looked to Kim's left at the red card.
"It's alright. That gives us a narrower view of where your memory has left off." Kim put her papers and clipboard aside for a moment. "But now I know that you don't remember how you ended up in here. With the fact that Jebb had the kids in here with him yesterday, would it be safe to say that he didn't go into a lot of detail about that with you?" Kim saw Kira glance to indicate that Jebb didn't tell her about how she ended up in the hospital. To be fair, Kira wasn't awake for long after the rest of the small family realized that she was no longer in her coma.
"Okay. Well, the basics are that Shawn Kyle was released from prison in October. On Halloween he abducted you and beat you pretty severely. He cracked your skull, broke some ribs, and gave you quite a few internal injuries. Your bones and internal injuries have healed but you've been in a coma since." Kim paused to give Kira time to process what she'd just been told. She thought about asking if she'd been told about the house being set on fire but decided that it could wait. Kira would have a trying day as it was without the added bad news.
"I have some tests that we need to run now that you are awake to see how much damage was done to your brain during the attack. I've also got a speech therapist scheduled to come in and try to assess you in a little while so we can try to get you talking again. Hopefully you're just still experiencing some of the affects of not using your voice for so long. But in any case, the sooner you start to work with a speech therapist the better. After that, your physical therapist will be in to work on your muscles in your arms and legs. We've been trying to keep them loosened up while you were under. That should help a little. We'll let you have tomorrow off for Christmas and then I'll have you set up with an occupational therapist to work in tandem with the physical therapist to get you back to being able to do some basic self-care activities. I'm not going to lie to you, none of this will be easy. You are going to want to give up some days. It will be frustrating and you will hurt from the strain. But you will get through this."
Kim gave Kira a smile to try to encourage her. "In the meantime, why don't you try to reach out to Bo? I know that he's been worried about you and at least with him, you'll be less frustrated since you two have a very special way of communicating."
Kim did her best to make sure that Kira was as comfortable as she could before she left with the promise to check on her again in a few hours. She then headed to her office to get everything started for the day. The tests need to be set up but she wanted to make sure that everything was spread out far enough to allow her sister-in-law time to rest between each session.
Bo stopped off to see his wife and to join her at the hospital for his mid-day meal. Hospital food was never his favorite but it gave him a chance to see his sister. After eating a barely edible meal Bo let Kim get back to work and went to see his sister in her room. From what Kim had told him, he'd be seeing Kira a little while before her physical therapist was to see her to help her work her muscles. Bo walked into the room and did his best to act as carefree as possible while carrying a bag. It was the day before Christmas, after all.
"Hey, Sis. Boy am I glad to see you awake." Bo plopped down in the chair next to Kira as he spoke. "How are you feeling?"
Kira took a moment, first trying to use her speech like the therapist from earlier in the day had told her to try, then decided to fall back on her and Bo's special connection. The thing was, though, it felt different, too. Almost like trying to walk through knee-deep mud. "Tired...Frus...ated."
"I understand. It will take time to get back to normal. But the best news that the whole family has gotten this week for Christmas is that you are awake. You know, I thought you woke up back on Thanksgiving. Your eyes opened up and I got all excited," Bo smiled as he remembered that day before a grimace replaced it. "It took a while to understand that having your eyes open and you actually being awake were two different things."
"Op...en?"
"Yes. Kim said that it wasn't unusual for someone in a coma to have their eyes open." Bo tried to ignore the brokenness of the conversation to phase him. He hadn't thought that Kira's ability to speak without actually use her physical words would be impaired but it was clear that even this form of communication was difficult. He wondered if that meant anything. "Do you remember anything while you were in a coma?"
Kira thought a moment before she replied, "No."
"It's just as well. Staying in the hospital is always boring in the best of circumstances." Bo picked up the bag and started to pull its contents out as he spoke, "Speaking of which, I got you something that might help now that you are awake to keep you from going out of your mind. Well, completely, at least. I got this tape player and found some books on tape. Figured that it would help with passing the time. I'll ask the nurses to help when the tapes need to be flipped or changed out. I know you like history and such so I found some historic fiction at the library. And our local library has already asked for some more to be sent from Atlanta for when you finish this book."
Bo looked around the room for a good place to set the tape player up in the room and started to plug the player in when he looked up to the sound of a knock on the door. In the doorway stood a professional looking woman in a hospital uniform that looked differently than those of the nursing staff.
"Excuse me. I'm supposed to come in to work with Mrs. Duke. I'm the Physical Therapist, call me Donna."
"Well, Donna, I'm Bo. I'm Kira's brother." Bo barely gave the woman a glance as he finished plugging the player up and slipped a tape in but didn't press play since it was clear that the story would have to wait. "I'll go ahead and leave you to do your job. I'll go talk to the nursing staff about the books on tape and see if they'll help out with it."
Bo went back to his wife's office to discuss his visit with her.
"I didn't think that she'd have as much time talking when she wasn't actually having to talk, Kim. Her speech was very broken. Like she had a hard time piecing her words together. How is that possible? It should be as easy as just thinking about what she wanted to say."
"Bo, I don't have any answers for you. There's no real explanation of why you two, or Jay and Mikey, or your father and uncle, have all been able to have this unique ability. Much less why Kira may have a difficult time using it now." Kim shook her head not being able to explain away Kira's current issues. "She did sustain a lot of head trauma. So much so that I'm surprised that she only has lost a few months of memories, to be honest. That may have something to do with it. Or it could be she's out of practice just like with using her actual words. It may be a matter of just using that part of her mind again just like having to work back up to speaking or relearning how to walk. Only time will tell us how much she'll have to deal with in the long run."
Bo ran a hand through his hair as he thought about how much pain his sister had in store for her. He knew that for the most part, the rest of the family won't be able to do anything to make the coming weeks, likely months, any easier for his sister. "So what do we do now?"
Kim got up and took her husband in a hug. "What this family does best. Just be there for her. Be there and love her."
Jesse slipped through the halls of the hospital later in the evening to see his niece to ring in the holiday. He wanted to make sure that she wasn't alone for it. He also planned to bring a little joy to the lives of the children who had been forced to stay in the hospital tonight. He'd had Kim set it up. The nurses in the children's ward had let the parents in on the night's special surprise.
Jesse was dressed as Santa Claus and was carrying a bag over his shoulders. But instead of toys he had his clothes that he'd leave wearing in it. The toys for the children to open up in the morning had been dropped off earlier when Bo came to the hospital. Jesse roamed the halls and smiled when he heard excited whispers from the children letting him know that they'd seen him through the cracked doors that the parents had left open. He'd tip-toe down the hall as if trying to avoid being seen to add to his ruse.
After he knew that each child had caught sight of him he then made his way toward where his niece's room was. When he walked in he was mildly surprised to see Kira wide-awake since he figured that she would have been exhausted from the day's events. He'd been prepared to sit in the room while the woman slept.
"Well, Merry Christmas, Baby Girl. I have to say I've missed seeing you awake."
Kira gave a crooked smile, her left side not as willing to move as her right. She took in Jesse's outfit and said after some difficulty, "S...ant?... Wh?"
Jesse looked down and grinned. "I took a stroll through the children's ward before I came here."
Kira nodded that she understood as she also looked to the green card on the wall from earlier in the day. Working with the therapist had helped get her to work her voice and muscles needed for speech but it was incredibly aggravating to not be able to say a whole word, much less a sentence.
"I'm glad to hear you talkin'. The way I heard it, you might not be able to. Looks like you have already made headway." Jesse saw the look of frustration on his niece's face and added, "I know it is frustrating but it is the truth. This time just over twenty-four hours ago we didn't know if you'd ever be able to wake up. So yes, everything is hard right now, but you have already done more today then any of us had hope that you'd be able to do this week. In my mind, it is nothing less than a Christmas miracle. Just a couple of days early."
Kira closed her eyes briefly as she thought over what her uncle had just said. For her it had only been a matter of hours and she was ready to go out of her mind. Yet for the rest of the family it had been months since this whole ordeal had begun. Finally she opened her eyes back up and gave a slight nod.
"Now, I thought that I'd spend a little time with you. Maybe help catch you up on every thing that's been going on in recent months." Jesse figured that he'd start with some positives. The negatives can wait until after Christmas. Today would only be about all the things this family can be thankful for. "I know you can't remember but Jay had his first real Moto-cross race. I think he did pretty well considering it was his first race. I do believe he's inherited yours and Jebb's talent on those infernal bikes."
Jesse was pleased to see a smile creep across Kira's face as the pride of her son shone. He then shared more tidbits about the family. From news on the kids, Jo's selling of several paintings, and even shared of Daisy's recent dating of Enos in earnest and Jesse's speculation of if those two would finally do something other than circle one another. By the time he'd finished he saw that Kira was starting to doze in and out. He got up and adjusted the bed so that she'd be more comfortable before he headed into the adjacent bathroom to change out of his Santa suit. The rest of the family would be in and out tomorrow to make sure that Kira could enjoy as much of Christmas as she could. For the moment, he was just glad that Kira was no longer in a coma.