Chapter 6
AN: I know that there have been a lot of hits on this story. But could someone please review it, and give some suggestions? Thank you for your consideration.
The days seemed to fly by. Jeremy had been home almost a week now, and his progress was slow, but some marked improvements have been made. Jeremy was at least beginning some physical therapy for his knee, but he did not have the stamina for much. The doctors were still cautious about removing the bandages around his eyes, as they were hoping that the longer they waited less swelling would be there. Frank and Denise took turns at staying with Jeremy. Of course, friends would stop by, and Amanda stopped by to visit with Jeremy at least daily. Unfortunately, with all this attention was not helping Jeremy's disposition. He was depressed and scared, and everyone knew it, but they were all trying very hard to help, and Jeremy knew it, but it still did not help much.
In Jeremy's mind, he was a nineteen year old war veteran that was now blind, and would always walk with a limp. The limp really did not bother him much, it was the blindness. He never knew where he was, and someone almost always had to lead him around. He did not see a lot of hope of that changing any time soon either. He often felt the same kind of anger and hostility bubble up inside of him that used to cause the violence he used to display against his mother. He knew now that he had to control that anger, and use that energy for something else.
Finally the day came that everyone was waiting for… the day that the bandages came off. Frank and Denise came into the room about 0900 hours and the doctor was waiting for them.
"Good morning, Frank and Denise. Jeremy and I were just talking about you. But enough about that lets get these bandages off. Jeremy, I am going to cut the bandages off, and I would like you to shield your eyes with your hands, as the eyes may have some light sensitivity." The doctor was being very optimistic about Jeremy's vision. He had seen many of these cases, and quite often the reality of the situation outweighed any and all optimism.
The doctor carefully cut the white gauze bandage away from Jeremy's head, which revealed two rather thick pads which were taped to Jeremy's forehead.
"Jeremy, I am going to try and take it easy on getting this tape off."
"Doctor, with as much pain as I have been in for the last month, you tearing the bandages off is not going to be that big of deal. So please lets get this over with." Jeremy said matter of factly.
"Ok, Jeremy if that is what you want." So that is what the doctor did, he ripped the tape off, which still left the gauge pads on.
"Ouch, that really did hurt, but let's keep going." Frank and Denise just stood near the bed and watched.
"Jeremy, I am going to need for you to keep your eyes shut after I take the pads off, ok?"
"Yeah, ok." The agitation in Jeremy's voice was very evident. The doctor slowly removed the pads, and then reached for the small basin of warm water with a towel to clean the skin around the eyes. After the doctor was done he said,
"Jeremy, cover your eyes and slowly open them and then move your hands away." The moment was agony for Jeremy's parents. Jeremy slowly removed his hands and opened his eyes.
"Jeremy, son, what do you see?" Frank asked quickly.
At this point in time, Jeremy's anger and hostility was high. And he did not care what was about to come out of his mouth, "What do you think I see? I see nothing but darkness, it is black. I see nothing. NOTHING AT ALL. I cannot see, I am 'f'ing blind!'" At this point, the doctor tried to examine Jeremy's eyes with the small flash light in his hand. The look on the doctor's face was of disappointment.
"Jeremy, I am very sorry, I see absolutely no reaction to light in either eye. I am confirming your reaction, you are blind. Honestly I am not sure that it is temporary or permanent." The doctor confirmed.
"Dr. Steinbach is there nothing that more than can be done? There has got to be a surgery, or other treatments we can try." Frank questioned rather solemnly.
"Look the only thing we can do right now is wait and see. And Jeremy will need to learn how to cope with this. Jeremy, I will be sending in someone from the psych department for you to talk to."
"I do not need to talk to anyone, I just need to be left alone. So could you all just get out? Mom, please stay. Dad and Dr. Steinbach just get out, now!" Jeremy was very upset, and the only person he wanted around was his mother
"Jeremy, please we all want to help." Denise stated, and wanting to reassure him that he had the support.
Jeremy reiterated loudly, "EVERYONE BUT MOM GET OUT OF HERE." Frank and Dr. Steinbach walked out into the hallway, and shut the door behind them.
After a brief pause, Denise, walked over to Jeremy and touched his arm. She did not need to say anything, she sat on the side of the bed and hugged her son. Jeremy finally broke the silence.
"Mom, I am so sorry for everything that I have put you through. I am sorry that I enlisted. I am sorry that I got hurt. And I am sorry that I did not make you proud of me." Jeremy tears started to run down his face.
Denise replied, "I am proud of you. You are my son, no matter what you do, or did nothing changes the fact that you are my son. I have forgiven you along time ago. And please know that I and your father will be here to support you, and will help you in what ever way we can. I promise you that."
Jeremy and Denise just sat together on the bed for awhile. Denise just held her son, she knew that Jeremy was going to be ok, but it was going to be a long hard road. But they would travel the road as a family.