A/N:
Are you a re-reader? Then this chapter is for you!
Man, I don't miss persuasive writing in school.
This is a summary of the book that can be used if you want to re-read a certain scene/plot or start from a specific place. Or, you may want a quick reminder of OD's key events before reading something else in this universe, as I'm aware of how many twists and turns there are, as well as the fact that it is very long. Many of you can probably tell that this format is from Fandom, so I suppose this is what the page would look like if my world was real.
If you're here looking for the epilogue, I just posted that as a separate one-shot (Name).
Car accident
Not long after his return home, Derek was on his way to the airport for one last trip to D.C. when he witnessed a car crash on a remote road. He immediately leapt into action, saving four people from the wreckage before the emergency officials arrived to take the patients to Dillard Medical Centre. Derek returned to his car and was let out by the approaching semi, only for it to collide with his car a couple of seconds later [57/59/60]. He was transported to Grey Sloan Memorial hospital where Meredith was the sole receiver of his ambulance [1]. He was treated by his friends, who quickly concluded that he needed four separate emergency surgeries: an exploratory laparotomy, a craniotomy, two spinal fusions and an operative repair of his left leg [59] before realising that Amelia was the only neurosurgeon available with the ability to remove his subdural haematoma. [1] Meanwhile, the rest of his team fought over which surgeries they should perform. Callie argued that, if he was going to have a shot at walking again, she needed to perform both spinal fusions as quickly as possible but, due to the amount of internal bleeding in his brain and abdomen, the team elected to save his life over his mobility [2/59/100]. After the craniotomy and ex-lap, Derek was sent to the intensive care unit [3/4]. Meredith left the hospital after attempting a return to work and having a panic attack. She went home to sleep, and caught the ferry boat to listen to a voicemail from him [6-8]. Derek was in the ICU for four days before Callie took him back to the OR to repair the damage to his spine and change his legs' external supports to internal one's [9].
Nine days after the accident, his sedation was reduced and he finally regained some consciousness [10]. His mind was fully aware of what was occurring around him, but he couldn't make any response to external stimuli [10/11]. This almost lead Amelia and Dr Cohn to proclaim he was in a persistent vegetative state, but, after a loud fight between his wife and sister, he managed to start to communicate with them [11]. Although his friends and family were happy at first, he struggled with words and memories before having a seizure [12]. After coming back around and receiving an explanation from Meredith about what had just happened [13], he was informed that he had suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury with a neurological level of T8, making him paraplegic. He very quickly decided that he wouldn't walk again from his spine's and legs' scans [23] and the fact that he could barely move his toes [13], despite Callie's belief that he would. Meredith tried her best to give him hope, but he didn't listen and she instead reassured him that she would support him and love him no matter what happened [13].
Eventually, Meredith decided he was well enough for Zola and Bailey to pay him a short visit. Although the visit went well, it left him struggling with his identity as a father [15]. Only a few hours after panicking about his abilities as a dad with two children, Meredith informed him that she was pregnant after almost fainting at work [16]. Although he was glad at first, he had a panic attack after Meredith left [17]. Callie attempted to comfort him, but failed when their conversation turned into an argument about his recovery [18]. When she tried to leave, Derek seized again [19]. Callie paged Amelia, unaware that she was dealing with her mother who had just turned up in Seattle to visit them [18]. She followed her daughter to his room, and they had no choice but to confess what had happened to him [19/20]. Liz, who caught a plane to Seattle when she received a call from her mother and sisters about Derek's condition, arrived in his room, unaware that they were supposed to be letting him rest. She looked through his chart despite his protests, only to find the scans of his broken spine. He begged her not to tell anyone, and she regrettably obliged as she agreed that their mother could be too overbearing sometimes [23/25]. Derek was chided by Carolyn when she visited in the morning for not telling her about the accident sooner [15/25/27]. He later struggled to stay quiet when Kathleen and Nancy questioned him about when he would be fully recovered, but didn't crack [26]. His family eventually left, all except Liz unaware of his SCI.
After another panic attack and a nightmare [29], Callie broke protocol and let him out of the ICU to get some fresh air, hoping that a change in environment would help him feel better [29/30]. The plan failed when Derek ended up having an argument with Meredith about the fact that he wasn't the man she had signed up for when they married, and Meredith forced Derek to start seeing Dr Sears, a psychiatrist [33/34]. He started to improve thanks to the help and the fact that his injuries had healed enough for him to leave his room once a day [35]. However, his psychological health plummeted again when his son refused to go to the hospital to visit him on his birthday, too busy with his friends. Derek made the irrational decision to leave his room by himself for the first time because of his frustrations about being stuck in hospital, and ended up sat on a bench outside the main entrance, talking to a now-fellow paraplegic. He reassured Derek that things would get easier but he quickly left when it started raining. Derek stayed before Amelia located him and shouted at him for leaving by himself [36]. After making it extremely clear that he couldn't stay in hospital any longer, he was discharged [37].
He struggled with the feeling of being inside a car again, an anxiety that remained for a few weeks [37], but was met with a much worse wave of emotion when he returned home, only for his children to treat him like he was the same as he used to be [38-42]. After Zola asked him why he was wearing such a strange costume, which were actually splints for his broken bones [40], and Derek refused to get Bailey's ball from the bushes [42], he explained to them that things weren't going to be the same as they used to be [40/42]. Both children struggled with the concept, but tried their best to deal with the changes.
When Callie, Arizona, Bailey and Richard visited, Derek did his best to prove that his recovery was going well, even though he was extremely embarrassed that they had to watch him move about in his own home in a wheelchair [45].
At almost four months post-accident, he asked Richard if he could teach interns once a week in a lab because he felt so disconnected from that side of himself [46]. He agreed, and Derek started working, despite the fact that he was still in constant pain. He bonded with two interns, Dr Tilbury, and Dr Coe [47]. The latter accidently dug herself a hole about what it was like to have an SCI, do she explained that her brother was paralyzed [47/82].
Callie offered him hope about his injury, telling him that his spine was healing well, but he dismissed it and made her promise not to tell Meredith [47]. Even when he stood for the first time, he tried to cover it up, but his physiotherapist told him to show Meredith how much he had achieved [48/49]. Although he was happy that he was making progress, it wasn't enough for him to really believe that he would recover.
On Zola's sixth birthday, Derek realized the truth about what it was like to try and simply live a life in a chair when he was confronted by a woman who asked him intrusive questions about his disability at the Zoo [50]. He shook it off and continued, only to find himself forced into surgeon-mode when a little girl accidently stabbed her brother with a tooth from a fossil exhibit [50/51].
A few days after, Derek managed his first few steps, although they were greatly assisted with physio equipment [53/54]. He waited a few days to tell Meredith [53] and, although she was extremely proud of him, his progress quickly plateaued due to intense neuropathic pain in his legs and hips, from his spinal cord injury [53/54].
Due to the constant chronic pain in his left ankle from an open fracture and severe soft tissue damage, Callie offered Derek another surgery. Despite the fact that his court trial was just a few days later, he agreed and underwent the operation, which went well [55].
The trial
Derek admitted in court that he couldn't remember anything about the accident due to dissociative amnesia, so they instead focused on how much pain the accident had caused him. He answered a few questions before stopping. At first, it seemed that Derek had zoned out during the interrogation because he didn't want to answer the upsetting questions, then he abruptly left the stand and placed himself in front of Jason's desk [56]. Jason Ware was the driver of the semi-truck [34/78/84/105/107/108], and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for months due to survivor's guilt, as he only sustained a bruised rib. Derek questioned Jason's health, and eventually concluded that he had a brain tumour. No one believed him and he was told to give up and go home by Meredith, who thought the trial was all too much for him to begin with [56]. Derek fled to the bathroom, and Jason followed to ask him how he would confirm his diagnosis [78]. He received a head CT at Grey Sloan, and the scan showed an inoperable diffuse astrocytoma that had been there at least a few months before he hit Derek's car. Derek begged Amelia to attempt to remove it, but she refused because she thought the man who paralyzed her brother didn't deserve treatment, even if it wasn't his fault [57].
On the way home from the hospital, Derek told Meredith that he was right when he said that Jason had a tumour. Before she had a chance to respond, the van behind them failed to stop when they did, and rear-ended them. The car had extremely minimal damages and Zola, Meredith and Bailey were all completely unharmed, but the sound triggered Derek's memories about the accident. He experienced a long, severe panic attack before throwing up on the side of the road, unable to process it all at once [58].
The next morning, Meredith found him sat outside in the extremely cold Seattle weather, completely oblivious to the outside world. She pulled him back inside and sent him to bed [58/59]. At first, he didn't speak at all. He then started to argue with Meredith and still refused to get up or talk to anyone else. Meredith noticed that he started looking pale and had a cough, but he constantly refused the accusations that he was sick. He started to take high dosages of opioids to escape from his PTSD-induced flashbacks, which sparked a fight that pushed Meredith to give up on him completely [60].
Amelia found him on the bedroom floor, struggling to breathe, and called for Meredith's help [64/78]. She took him to hospital, where he started to cough up blood and was diagnosed with post-operative pneumonia [64]. Both of his lungs collapsed and he flatlined, but was resuscitated with no long-lasting affects [64/65]. Amelia and Meredith then fought over what Derek's intentions were when he purposefully lied about being sick. Meredith believed that he did it because he knew he was ill and he wanted to cause himself harm, but Amelia argued that he was far too traumatised by his memories to be blamed for his behaviours, separating the pair.
He spent most of his time in hospital with Amelia and his mother [67-72] after his relationship with Meredith fell apart [58-63/66]. He was forced to confess that it was very unlikely that he would ever walk again to his mom when she realized he was still using a chair [69/70].
New lease on life
At the end of his stay in hospital, he started to talk to Meredith again. She was both guilt-stricken that she left him, and angry with him because he refused that he was sick. She quickly realized that he had adopted a new, bright outlook on life after almost dying again as it forced him to realize that the accident was another chance that he completely squandered because of his insistent hatred of his disability [72]. He returned home with his mom, only to kick her out within the day because he could tell how hard it was for her to watch her own child in a chair [73]. Meredith was constantly terrified by his happy mood [74/75], but he eventually managed to convince her that it was genuine.
He met a police officer, who had been shot in the back, in physiotherapy when her session ran long, and she offered him a flyer for a support group for people with mobility-reducing disabilities. He agreed so he could make a deal with Meredith to force her to go to an antenatal class [76]. Him and Kate then became good friends, and he discovered that the group was ran by Robbie, the man who he performed his first ever inoperable tumour removal on who had since also relocated to Seattle [76/78/84/85/86/94]
Callie's prognosis
Derek was under the impression that he was heading to a physiotherapy session when he was led to a consult room by Emily. There, Emily and Callie inform Derek that, while it was probable that he would make more progress over the coming eighteen months, he would never make enough to stop using a wheelchair [78/79]. Over the next day, Meredith noticed that something was bothering him, and he told her that he wouldn't walk again [79]. She struggled to accept the prognosis [80/81/84/85/87/94]. Despite the fact that it was a difficult conversation to have with his wife, children and friends, Derek's belief about his SCI never changed, so he found accepting the prognosis very easy.
Going back to work
Derek asked Richard Webber if he was allowed to operate sat down only a day after telling Meredith about his prognosis. After a board meeting, he was approved and returned to surgery [81]. He was faced with a lot of adversity from patients and next-of-kins [82 onwards], including one man who kicked him in the shin after blaming his sister and wife's death on his apparent incompetency [83]. He continued despite this and pushed himself too far, causing a migraine. In his angry, temperamental prodrome phase [88-91], he shouted at Richard for not understanding what it was like to be a paraplegic [88], and then broke into his physiotherapy room [89], sick of not being able to walk and constantly being discriminated against. He fell, and almost dislocated his shoulder [89/90]. Meredith constantly poked him for answers about why he would do something so reckless, but he didn't know. Meredith realized that Derek wasn't lying about wanting to go home because he felt sick when he slurred his words before heading to the bathroom. Meredith was surprised as it wasn't often that a migraine gave him more than nausea. After lying about how he felt when he had pneumonia, Meredith didn't believe Derek when he said he hadn't hit his head when he fell in physio and took him to Seattle Presbyterian for a head CT, which was clean [90]. He stayed there overnight as he was sedated for the scan, then recovered at home for a few days before returning to work after Meredith convinced Richard to let him keep his job with the promise that he would follow strict rules to stop him from pushing himself too far [90/91]. After this, Derek surprised his wife with a romantic dinner before they had sex for the first time since the accident. Although it was successful, Derek was self-conscious about the effects that the accident had had on his performance and body [92/93]. Addison visited for work and he found that explaining that his life was still okay, despite his disability, helped him accept everything that had happened a little more [96-100]. After a multi-casualty building collapse, Derek was forced to stand in the OR to stem a bleed in his patient's abdomen with an intern's arms around his waist to hold him up, as no general surgeons were available [100/101]. He later found out that Meredith was the one who called for Bailey and pulled her out of his surgery, and they argued as he was extremely embarrassed about it. The next day, in the ER, Meredith heard of a seizing late 40s male on the same ferry boat that Derek caught to brood and believed it to be her husband [101]. She headed to the boat, only to find that the reason he wasn't answering her calls was because it was him who was helping the man [101/102]. Meredith had a therapy session with Sears, and it helped her to realize that she was repressing her lack of acceptance of Derek's disability by taking it out on his faults, mainly the fact that he kept leaving his chair to assist patients like Jay Stone [86/87] and Jonathon [101/102]. As a result of the conversation that they had about the last few days, Derek finally let Meredith call someone to install an elevator in their home as he wanted to do something to help her [103/104]. Another significant patient was Mattie Hems, who Derek saw as himself seven months prior (Meredith also connected with his partner Jennifer for the same reason), and constantly assisted as he tried to deal with being paralyzed, acting as the doctor he wished he had had at the time. [86/87/95/106]
Jason's tumour, Ellis' birth and Astor Kron
Jason came in for more scans of his tumour after months of radiation and chemotherapy. Derek, and his neurosurgeon colleagues, still deemed it inoperable, but Derek agreed to try anyway, considering his history of miracle surgeries. At first, Jason was extremely hesitant because he felt so bad about what he did to Derek, but he eventually agreed and the surgery was scheduled to be nine days later [105]. Two days before the surgery, Derek lost his first patient, and his confidence was shaken until Amelia talked through the surgery with him and he realized that the patient had come in too late to be saved [106]. He took a day off on the day before and went fishing for the first time since the accident with his friend David [107], who worked on the ferry boat he often went on [8/102]. On the morning of the surgery, Derek sat on the deck of his trailer with Meredith and they discussed how helping Jason would make everything feel complete [107]. Derek successfully removed the tumour with Amelia by his side, despite the fact that it was much more proliferated than the scans showed [107/108]. He argued with his sister when she told him to let her close, assuming she wanted some glory for herself, only for her to tell him that Meredith had left the gallery a few hours prior because she had gone into labour. He rushed out, and made it for the last part of Meredith's labour and the safe delivery of their at-the-time un-named daughter [108]. He left the room to collect Amelia and his other two children from the waiting room to find a man sat outside Meredith's room. Derek recognized him as Astor Kron, a famous German neurosurgeon, and he explained that he had flew to America to both watch his surgery, and offer him millions of dollars to complete a clinical trial that he did not have time to do himself. Still caught up in the other drama of the day, Derek was speechless so he offered his card and left. Derek met his kids and Amelia in the waiting room and explained that they now had a baby sister, and Amelia left them in Meredith's room to admire the new baby [109].
