We Have a Problem

Part 16

A month after Maya's latest hospital stay, she was sitting in the car with Carina going somewhere. She had spent the hour since they had gotten up trying to get out of Carina where they were going, but the Italian refused to tell her, only that it was a surprise for her hard work and something they were doing because Carina was so proud of her.

Since she had gotten out of the hospital with the blood clots, Maya had been working hard in physical therapy.

Her progress was incredibly slow which frustrated her to no end, but as of the beginning of this week, she was able to walk down to the end of their hall and back twice without getting dizzy or feeling out of breath. It was a small victory, but with the way Carina, Vic, and Travis all cheered for her, you would have thought she won the Olympics again. Maya felt a little bit silly, but she was also pretty proud of the accomplishment.

She was still struggling with chronic exhaustion and napped at least twice a day for around two hours on top of sleeping 12 hours at night, but the time she was awake, she was feeling more with it and less anxious. Her naps were also slowly decreasing which felt like a huge victory.

She would also spike random fevers from time to time which always left her feeling even more exhausted and icky than normal.

Her cough was still around and annoyed her a lot, but for the most part, it was manageable.

Her biggest struggle was still eating. She still had no sense of taste or smell, and her body struggled to take anything in without her feeling icky and nauseous.

Carina had been amazing, buying various types of nutrient dense shakes and bars in an attempt to find something that would help Maya get nutrition in her body so she could continue to heal.

About two weeks ago, Carina persistence paid off with a certain brand of protein shakes that to Maya's surprise didn't make her stomach hurt. The Italian had gone back to the store that day, buying as many of the shakes as she could, Travis making fun of her as he helped her carry them up from her car. However, he had seen how much weight his boss and friend had lost and knew that it was important for her recovery that Maya start getting proper nutrition again.

Carina knew that her girlfriend had always had issues with food stemming from childhood but those had all be psychological issues. Now, she was facing both psychological and actual physical issues. However, she was making small, but noticeable progress on that front too.

Now, most days, Maya would have a shake for breakfast, some kind of carb-dense lunch like pasta or toast, and then another shake and some kind of protein for dinner. There were still days when she could barely manage the two shakes, but those days were becoming fewer and farther between. All of it made Carina so happy for her girlfriend as she watched Maya work and push as hard as she could while still allowing her body to rest when it needed it.

Watching the way Maya continued having to fight to get her normal life back made Carina all the more happy to be first in line to get her vaccine when they became available to healthcare workers earlier that month, and the Italian was hoping that soon, they would be able to put the fears of this pandemic behind them.

Vic had gone back to working half shifts and Andy had started back to full shifts earlier that week and was co-captaining again with Jack until Maya got back on her feet. Maya dreamed of the day that she would make it back to work just for quarter shift on the desk. She knew it was probably still at least a month or more away. All she wanted was to be in the station again, not just because she wanted to work, but also because she missed her family.

"We're here Bambina," Carina said as she parked the car.

It was then that Maya realized they were at the one place she wanted to be more than anywhere else.