Bianca arrived at the hospital early next morning. Frankie had fitted in an appointment for her medical check-up before the trip.
"Morning." said Frankie as she stepped into the cubical. "How have you been?"
"I've been better." said Bianca, sitting on the edge of the bed. "But my leg is fine."
"I'm glad to hear it." said Frankie taking a seat beside her. "So why were you so keen to arrange an early appointment? I wasn't expecting you until Monday."
"We are planning to take the kids to Disneyland Paris, get them away from all this press outcry. I actually wanted to ask you about the documentation I need for a disability pass."
"Disneyland?" said Frankie. "Do you think you are up to that? You are only just out of hospital."
"I'm fine." said Bianca, determinedly.
"Let's see shall we." said Frankie getting up from his chair and indicating for Bianca to get ready for her exam.
Bianca nodded, well use to the routine, as she stripped to her underwear before sitting back on the bed.
Frankie started by examining her neck.
"The scars are healing nicely." said Frankie, examining the surgery site and feeling along the vertebrae of her neck. "Have you had any stiffness or discomfort?"
"The only problem with my neck is that it looks like I've been attacked by a clumsy vampire."
"But no discomfort?" said Frankie, in a professional tone.
Bianca sighed and settled on a serious answer.
"No discomfort, no pain, no tremors, no numbness of limbs. I feel one hundred per cent fine apart from my leg."
"I'm glad to hear it." said Frankie, giving her a small smile; he moved to flexing her left arm, checking her strength and movement.
Frankie next turned his attention to her spine, feeling down its length before pausing at the injection site.
"Any pain?" he said pressing at the base of her spine.
"No."
"Or here?"
"Nope." said Bianca, although it tickled a bit.
"Excellent… now lie back and we can look at your leg.
Bianca settled back onto the bed, pulling her numb leg into position.
Frankie felt around her hip.
"Any discomfort." he asked as he manipulated the joint.
"No." said Bianca. "No pain."
Frankie nodded.
"Good. You have good movement... And you have been doing your physio exercises with Marissa?"
"Every morning, weights and leg flexing. She won't let me forget."
"I'm glad she's looking out for you." said Frankie.
He began to feel his way down her thigh to the point where sensation ceased, and began adjusting her knee.
"How have you been finding the brace?" he asked as he began to examine and flex this next joint.
"It's comfortable, I haven't had any problem. Climbing stairs and so on, it's actually easier than the other supports."
"I'm glad to hear it."
He got down to her ankle,
"Movement seems a little restrictive." He said testing the joint. "We clearly need to do more for this joint or you may start to lose some mobility. I shall get you a worksheet with new excersises to try." He pulled off her sock, to examine her foot.
He paused.
"When did you catch your toe?" he asked.
"My toe?" Bianca looked at her left foot, there was blood on her big toe and the nail was split. "Oh god, I had no idea." she gasped. "I mean I stumbled on the step coming out this morning but not that hard!"
"I don't think it's broken." said Frankie examining it closely, when he pressed on the bleeding nail Bianca kept expecting it to hurt… but she felt nothing. "I'll glue and dress that for you and give you some antibiotics."
Frankie got to work binding Bianca's toe.
"Will I be alright for Disneyland?" Bianca asked, watching him.
"It looks worse than it is. But you will need to have the dressings changed daily, but you should be able to do that yourself, just make sure the dressing is well padded and not too tight." said Frankie. "And any sign of swelling or infection…"
"…Find a doctor." Finished Bianca.
"That's right." said Frankie, giving her a grin. He knew he was nagging, but Bianca was someone who seemed to focus all her attention on other people, her own health and welfare was much lower on her list of priorities than he would like.
"Thank you." said Bianca breathing a sigh of relief.
Frankie sat back.
"But we are going to have to talk about Disneyland."
"Why?" asked Bianca.
"You still need to take it easy. You are just out of hospital and at a place like that, you are going to be on your feet all day; which is not what you need right now." From the expression on Bianca's face, Frankie added, "I'm not saying you can't go and have fun with your kids... I'm not! But I want to suggest a compromise which I'm sure you are not going to like."
"Compromise?"
"While you are there you should consider using your wheelchair to get around."
"My wheelchair?" asked Bianca incredulously. She had been determined to get out of that infernal contraption as quickly as possible.
"Bianca you need to learn to take it easy and take your recovery slowly. Almost every set-back you have had is because you have been overdoing it or ignoring symptoms. I don't want to see you back here because you have been unable to accept that things have changed for you."
"I know that." said Bianca, uncomfortable about the frankness of Frankie's tone.
"Then listen to me for once. You are to have at least four hours rest every day and at the moment you really shouldn't be on your feet for any more than an hour at a time... which I know you are not sticking to!."
"So a wheelchair."
"A wheelchair." said Frankie, "I'm not saying you can't have fun. But you still need to rest, Bianca; take it slowly and stay healthy."
"I understand." said Bianca. "And I know I have limitations. I promise I'll try to take it easy."
…