Three Girls From The Valley

Chapter 18

Paige holds Alana and leads her to the quiet sitting room that thank fully is empty,

"Shush Lans it's OK, it's OK." She says as she rubs Alana's back,

She gives Alana time to calm down before she speaks.

"What happened?" Paige asks,

"D. She. She couldn't. Say my. Name." Alana says between sniffs,

"Oh well she has just woken up after how many months?"Paige asks, "You have to give her a bit of time A."

"No she said Este's name but not mine." Alana says starting to cry again,

"Oh Lans look I'm sure if you give Danielle time she will say your name, but right now you need to just be thankful she's awake OK." Paige gently tells her.

Alana knows Paige is probably right but she still can't get past seeing Danielle struggling to say her name and it's scaring her, what if Danielle will never be able to say her name ever again.

"Come on let's go back and check on your sister." Paige suggests as Alana continues to sit there in silence.

They walk back down to Danielle's hospital room, Alana slows to a stop just outside, she feels Paige take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, she smiles and takes a deep breath before entering the room.

Este is sitting on the bed, her arm around Danielle's shoulders still talking to her. Alana notices Danielle's breathing is much calmer now,

"Hey squirt where did you get to?" Este asks when she sees the girls walk in,

Danielle looks at Alana with big sad eyes, she holds her left arm out towards Alana who doesn't hesitate to run to her and hug her. Este throws her arms around both her sisters.

"I'm sorry Yelly, I'm so sorry." Alana sobs as she takes comfort in the arms of her big sisters.

*******
Nurse Becky enters Danielle's room,

"Good morning Danielle I'm just going to take a set of obs, check your blood pressure and temperature." Becky explains, "And then I thought you might like a nice hot shower."

Danielle smiles and nods, Becky finishes checking Danielle's vitals and brings a wheelchair over to Danielle's bed,

"OK Danielle we will take this nice and slow since this is your first time getting out of bed," Becky explains.

She pulls the covers back and helps Danielle to swing her legs over the side of the bed and sit up,

"How does that feel? Any dizziness?" Becky asks,

"N...nnn...no." Danielle says,

"OK now I'll help you to stand and turn to sit in the wheelchair." Becky explains, "Ready?"

Danielle nods.

"OK good, so on three I'll help you stand up." Becky continues, "One, two, three."

Danielle slowly stands up, but falls against Becky as her right leg gives way, Becky quickly lowers her onto the wheelchair, Danielle looks at her with frightened eyes,

It's OK Danielle it's expected you would've lost some of your muscle strength from such a long time confined to the bed." Becky explains as she reassures her.

Once they are in the shower cubicle Becky turns the hot water on,

"So do you like hot or cold showers?" Becky asks,

Danielle struggles to try and say "hot."

"Would that be a cold shower?" Becky says,

Danielle quickly shakes her head,

"Ah then a hot shower." Becky smiles, "That I can organise, OK I'm just going to help you take this very fashionable hospital gown off now."

Danielle raises her left arm but needs some help from Becky to lift her right arm, suddenly she feels very vulnerable sitting naked on the shower chair,

"OK Danielle you let me know if this is too hot." Becky explains as she takes hold of the shower hose and lets the water run down Danielle's back, "Not too hot?"

Danielle shakes her head as she enjoys the warmth of the water. During the shower she can't stop herself and begins to cry because Becky has had to do almost everything for her including washing her, Becky seeing the young girl become upset continues to talk to her and give her plenty of reassurance,

"I'm so used to as part of my job assisting people of all ages with their showering that I tend to forget sometimes this is their first time being naked in front of a complete stranger, so I'm sorry Danielle this must feel very unnatural for you." Becky says, "It will get easier and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back to being able to shower yourself."

Danielle still crying gives her a small smile.

After her shower Becky dries Danielle's hair before wheeling her back to her room, where an orderly is waiting to take Danielle for more tests.

*******
That afternoon Donna and Moti are with Danielle to hear the results of Danielle's latest tests.

"Good afternoon Danielle, Mr and Mrs. Haim please come in, take a seat, we are just waiting on Ms. Moore the Speech Pathologist and then we can begin." Dr. Schneeweiss explains,

Donna smiles as she enters the room, Moti follows behind pushing Danielle in a wheelchair. Moti positions Danielle next to Donna who has already sat down on a chair, he makes sure the wheelchair's brakes are on before sitting on the other side of his daughter.

"So Danielle how are you feeling?" Dr. Schneeweiss asks,

"G...G...Good." Danielle replies,

"Good." He replies,

There's a knock at the door and Ms. Moore enters,

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, my last session ran overtime." She explains, "Hi you must be Danielle, it's very nice to meet you."

Once the introductions are finished Doctor Schneeweiss continues,

"You have what we call Aphasia Danielle, the damage you sustained has affected your speech which is why you are having trouble speaking right now, Ms. Moore here is going to work with you and show you how to speak again as well as work on other areas like your thought process and problem solving. There is however a high percentage that some of the damage will be irreversable and you may not get the full function back in terms of how well you will be able to speak or put full sentences together." He explains, "The tests also show a significant weakness to your right side again as a rest of your injuries so we have organised physical-therapy for you starting tomorrow afternoon."

"I've arranged for Logan one of the therapists to start some muscle building excersies for you in the hydrotherapy pool." The head of the Therapy Department explains. "And one of the occupational therapists will start working with you next week going over eye and hand co-ordination which will help with simple tasks like being able to feed yourself."

"And all this how long will it take?" Moti asks,

"Again Mr. Haim that's a question only time will be able to answer." Doctor Schneeweiss says, "I do know you have a long road ahead of you Danielle but we are all here to help you along the way."

Danielle finds the meeting very confronting and scary, she can feel her body start to tremble, Donna reaches across and holds her hand,

"It's going to be OK honey." She whispers to Danielle.

I hope you all enjoy the chapter, thanks for reading :)