Fic #10, chapter 1
Based on American QAF
That is how you find out. Not with a grand announcement or a glorified monologue, just a talk. Two or three people in a room sitting around a low table, or worse, across from each other at a desk. That's how Brian found out. Looking back on it later, much much later, he felt cheated. There should have been a moment of epiphany, lights blinking on, glitter falling from the sky, maybe a triumphant piece of music, but there was none of that. There was the sound of breathing.
After that there was a long period of detached organizational thinking. Questions like, "Is this forever?", "How will this change us?", "Where do we begin?" all filled his head along with countless others. His business persona took over, he had plans to make and people to call. There would be endless appointments to schedule to meet firm deadlines. Other professionals, with skills outside his expertise would need to be brought on board. He would need to create a good flow of information so others could successfully carry out their tasks when the complete game plan was clear. Who should he contact first? Brian concluded within the first ten minutes of the meeting that only he could be trusted with these most important first steps. All the usual suspects could be called upon at a later date.
Again his focus shifted, from organizer, to listener. It is difficult to get uninterrupted time with this group of people, their time is important and rarely do so many gather for a meeting like this. He needed to stay focused.
He jotted several things down on the legal pad he brought for this very purpose. Then he sat back to listen. Many of the terms being tossed back and forth by the group were unfamiliar to him. He felt like he was back in college. A time when his world opened up and he realized how little his relatively sheltered youth prepared him for it. That is exactly how he felt now. But just as he had before, he would conquer this new huge unknown before him. He left college with a master's degree and a bank of knowledge, he had over 15 years experience in his chosen field, and he was not done learning, mastering, or conquering any of it yet. This was just more of what Brian was good at. To gain more, learn more, understand and fix more was what he was all about. As he grew older he realized all of it was to have more of the important things in life, more knowledge, more compassion, more drive, more money, and even he had to admit now, more love.
Sitting in this meeting, being ignorant to so much of the information that was being shared he began to focus on what he did know. Justin. He knew Justin. He sat next to Jennifer looking and listening to all five experts tell him what had happened, what was happening right now, and what needed to happen in the future to ensure positive results. He knew Justin. So when things like, "...bone crushing injury..." or "...C5 possible C6 spinal injury..." were mentioned - he knew those. Other things he did not know or understand. He knew Justin, and he knew they had a hell of a learning curve in front of them. Many years ago they had tackled unknowns like this. They had done it in classical dysfunctional style, but not anymore. This one, or rather all of these unknowns, they would tackle together.
When the meeting was over, Brian and Jennifer stood to shake hands and thank all the participants. His head was spinning. He looked at Jennifer and could tell by her expression she was overwhelmed. It was good to have a meeting like this, everyone on the same page it really does benefit the client Brian thought. There would be less overlapping of care, less holes made by mixed or lost messages, more direct goals and in the end, better care for Justin. Better care for Justin. The more he thought about it, the more it was overwhelming to him too. But seeing as how Jennifer was already overwhelmed, it would not do anyone any good to have him overwhelmed and incapacitated. Luckily, he had his own notes, and a written "game plan" from the team of doctors and therapists. It was now time to get back to the reason for all of this.
He spoke briefly with Jennifer as they gathered their things from the meeting room. She came out of her "information overload" quickly and Brian could tell she wanted to move forward. Sadly for her, that involved going home. There were many domestic items to attend to, she had been out of her loop at home for several days, and needed to touch base with the people there. They agreed she would call Deb and Mikey who would in turn, call everyone else in the family. Brian thanked her for taking on that duty. It may seem like just two phone calls, but it would be emotionally draining and they were both so tired. His job at the moment was the one he preferred. He was going back to Justin. There was a lot of talking to do.