Chapter 4
RILEY
Knock knock, I turn my head to see Nurse Daisy enter the hospital room. “I need you to come back to your room for bit,” she says, “The doctor has arrived and is ready to see Aden. It won’t be too long. You should be able to come by late afternoon.”
I stand up and take one last look at him before I leave. “Goodbye Aden, I will be back in a few hours, I promise.” Then I take hold of the wheels on my chair and wheel out the door. Nurse Daisy doesn’t say much to me as she walks me back to my room. She must sense I am not in the mood for talking to her at the moment. She just walks next to me with her gaze fixed ahead.
“These tests won’t hurt him right?” I say, breaking the silence.
“Don’t worry Riley, he is in good hands. They won’t do anything to hurt Aden, only help,” She assures me.
We get to my room and she stops to help push the door open for me so I can wheel myself in.
“Thank you,” I say appreciatively to her. She is the one person in this hospital that I know I can always rely on. She is so kind and takes the time to help and listen to me. Everyone else always seems to be in such a hurry, they have no time look at me as a person, just another patient filling up another room. Since day one, Nurse Daisy has always taken the time to make sure I am comfortable. If I need to talk and let everything out, she always stays that extra minute just to listen. She also has given me some great advice and words of encouragement when I am feeling down. This whole experience is ten times better because of her.
“Do you need any help back onto your bed?” Nurse Daisy asks me.
“No, I think I can manage,” I say, “I am not going to have you around forever.” I wink at her and smile.
Nurse Daisy turns and gives me a smile before she walks out the door.
I wheel myself to the edge of the bed and take hold of the crutches to help myself up. It’s getting easier for me to do that now. I just lie there and stare blankly at the stony gray wall ahead of me. I think of what Aden would be saying to me right now if he was awake and with me. He would probably find something about this situation to joke about and lighten up the mood. He was good at that, making me laugh at the most serious of times. I think it was his way of dealing with tough situations. He would probably tell me that no matter what, at least we have each other and that is all that matters. He would still love me even with my scrapes and bruises, and broken leg. He would kiss the scar on my head with the gentlest touch of his lips and make it feel like it was never there. He would hold me close and make me feel safe. A tear comes rolling down my cheek as I think of all these things. The specialists are here today and I know they can help Aden. I just have to be patient and in no time Aden will be back to the normal, sweet, sensitive, funny, protective man I love. I close my eyes and feel myself drifting off to sleep when I hear the clap of high heels come running into my room.
“Riley!” Sam squeals as she runs up and wraps her arms tightly around me. “How are you doing? How’s Aden doing? Omygosh, living these past few days without you has been torture! I need you back Riley! I had to get Ethan to move in because I just couldn’t handle being alone.”
“Did someone say my name?” Ethan asks as he walks through the door dragging the biggest teddy bear in the world behind him. “This is for you. Sam picked him out. Oh, and these too.” He reaches into his bag and hands me a box of Lindor chocolates.
“Aw, thanks guys,” I say with a big smile. It is nice to have some familiar faces here. I haven’t seen anyone since the first day I got here. My mom and dad were here right away at the beginning of it all, but once they found out that I was okay and was going to live, they went back to their jobs and daily routines. I have only got a couple brief calls and text messages from them checking up on me since then.
My parents are very work orientated. I guess that is where I get it from. I promised myself that if I ever become a mother, I would be more involved in my child’s life. My mom and dad never came to my school’s science fair in 2nd grade, never came to my junior varsity volleyball championship, or anything else that most parents would drop everything and go to, just to see their kid succeed at something. They always made me work hard for everything. I love them and I am grateful for them pushing me to challenge myself. I wouldn’t be where I was today without that motivation, but I wish they were there for me more.
“I am doing better than before. My stitches are slowly healing up. They are a little sore. I’ve been managing to get around quite well in this wheelchair,” I point to it sitting next to my bed, “And even though it’s been only a few days in physio, I feel like I am improving.”
“How long until you get to ditch the wheels?” Sam asks. She walks over to my wheelchair and sits down and wheels herself around to the other side of the bed.
“The doctor says that it might take up to 4 months to fully recover. If I work hard, I may be able to reduce that time. Also my bones are very healthy so that will help in a quicker recovery,” I say, trying to sound hopeful.
“That’s my girl, never a quitter, always a fighter,” Sam says, giving me a wink.
“So how’s Aden?” Ethan asks as he looks out the window staring off at the skyline.
“I was able to see him this morning for the first time. He still is unconscious. The doctors can’t tell for sure yet if he can hear us,” I manage to say before getting choked up again. I take in a deep breath to try and calm myself down.
“The doctors are in today to run some tests to see what they can do to help,” I say after regaining control of my emotions.
“Oh honey, come here,” Sam says as she gives me another hug. We just stay there in silence for the next few minutes. It feels good to have her and Ethan here. I know it must be hard for her to know what to say to me. I know I wouldn’t if the roles were reversed. I know that she may not understand completely how I feel right now and she may never fully get it, but I do know that she is trying and that is all that matters to me.
Ethan just stands there awkwardly staring at us in this moment full of feeling and emotion. “I feel like I need to get in on this hugging action too,” he says, breaking up the silence. Then he comes up beside Sam and gives us both a gigantic hug and makes a grunting noise as if he were a bear. Both Sam and I laugh at him. “I think I need to get out of here before all this mushy girl stuff gets to my head,” Ethan says as he lets both of us go and laughs. “I’m going to grab something from the vending machine, either of you want something?”
“Surprise us,” Sam says. Then she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before he makes his way out of the room.
“You have got yourself a great guy,” I say to Sam, “By the way, how is life living with Ethan like? I bet Monday Bachelorette nights aren’t quite the same anymore.”
“Actually, things have been going pretty smoothly so far,” Sam says, “I mean, it’s not perfect, there were a few hiccups, but we worked them out. Most of them at least. One of them being who got the TV Monday evening,” She says with a laugh, “I won. My house, my rules. He actually got pretty into the Bachelorette. I am surprised! He was all like, nope, that one is a player can’t trust him and that guy is too into himself and that guy is overly sensitive. According to him, Brad will be the one Vanessa chooses in the end.”
“Oh wow! I don’t think I could ever get Aden to watch that,” I say laughing, trying to picture Aden giving up his TSN to watch it.
“Ya, he’s great, but don’t tell Aden. I am sworn to secrecy that I would tell no one of that night,” Sam says, “Ethan said that next week, if you are not home yet, he calls dibs on the TV, so you better be able to get out of here by then,” She says grinning, “Oh, and I PVR’d this week’s episode for you. Ethan figured out how to get all our recordings on the iPad through the TV provider’s app so I brought it with me.” She hands my iPad to me. “That way, if you get board of the same 2 stations they have playing here, you can have some good television to watch.”
“That
’s awesome, thanks!” I say, taking it from her and setting it on the night stand next to me.
“Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you,” Sam adds.
“That’s right you won’t,” I say, “But after I watch it, we will totally need to discuss it.”
“Ethan has some good points, but it’s not the same as watching it with you,” says Sam.
“I bet you and Ethan are enjoying all the alone time together.” I give Sam a wink.
“Actually that’s the one thing we both agree is the upside of all of this. We don’t have to worry about when you’re going to be home or how much noise we make or....”
I give her a nudge on the shoulder, “Hey! I am glad you two are enjoying each other’s company, but spare me the details please.”
“Okay, I’ve got Doritos, Skittle’s, a Cadbury bar, Lays, water and some juice,” Ethan says, walking into the room with his arms full of his vending machine finds. “There has to be something out of all of this that you will want.” He tosses the food onto my bed. Then he grabs himself a chair and pop’s a chip into his mouth. “So, what did I miss?” he says with his mouth full. Sam and I both look at each other and laugh. Ethan gives us a look of suspicion and then carries on eating.
“Riley, can I speak with you in the hallway?” Nurse Daisy says as she steps into my room.
Both Sam and I give each other the same look as if to say, what’s going on? “Um ya sure. Is everything okay?” I ask Nurse Daisy.
“Yes, everything is okay,” she says, “I would like to introduce you to Aden’s doctor.”
Sam helps me into my wheelchair and I meet the nurse in the hallway just outside my room. Standing beside her is a tall man with greying hair and blue eyes. He is wearing a long white lab coat with his name embroidered on the upper left side above a small pocket. Dr. Harley is what it reads. He looks at me as I approach and holds out his hand.
“Hello, you must be Riley,” he says, “I’m Dr. Harley. I will be working with Aden over the next few months.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say back giving him a firm handshake.
“I have some good news about Aden,” Dr. Harley starts off saying. His mouth curls up into a small smile.
“Really? What?” I ask, trying not to get too excited.
“Well, when my assistant and I arrived this morning, we found Aden awake in his bed,” he explains.
My eyes grow big with excitement, “Oh my gosh!” I exclaim as I cover my mouth in shock. “I was just there a few minutes before you showed up and he was still in a coma.”
“That’s what we think triggered him to wake up. Having someone familiar and someone who he feels comfortable around was enough to help spark something in him to wake,” he continues on.
“That’s terrific! When can I see him? Does this mean he should be well enough to leave here soon?” I ask. My mind is swirling with questions after hearing this news.
“Yes, it is terrific news, but there is a catch,” he says. He takes off his glasses and puts them in the pocket of his lab coat.
“What catch?” I ask. That feeling of thrill slowly vanishes. I knew that this news could be too good to be true. There always has to be a catch.
“Aden is awake and is aware of everything going on. He is also able to move and walk, but his speech seems to have been affected. He fully grasps what is being said to him and he knows what he would like to say, but nothing comes out that makes any sense. It’s what we call Expressive Aphasia. Right now, there is no known treatment for this condition, but Dr. Lang and I have been doing several experiments over the years and we may have found a treatment,” The doctor says to me.
I let out a sigh of relief. I thought he was going to tell me something ten times worse. I know Aden well enough to know that he will find a way to deal with his speech loss. It would be devastating to have that disability, but it could have been a lot worse.
“What Dr. Lang and I will be doing now is figuring out if this treatment we have found could be performed on Aden. Dr. Lang is an incredible neurosurgeon and will give 110% to help Aden regain his speech. I will be there every step of the way with Aden. I know we said you could visit Aden later today, but I think its best that he gets some rest. Tomorrow we have a lot to do with him,” he says to me then pats my shoulder and walks away, leaving Nurse Daisy and I alone in the empty hallway.
Nurse Daisy gives me a smile, “This is really good news Riley. From the track record Dr. Lang has, your man will be talking in no time.”
“I hope so,” I say, “I don’t want to get myself too hyped over it though, and find myself disappointed in the end.”