Ordering my Most Nights ticket tomorrow holla
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Being home turned out to be more exciting than I remembered. I could sleep without hearing equipment making noise when I got really quiet. I could eat whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted to, and I could watch Friends for hours on end without being judged by passing nurses and doctors. One of the first things I noticed when I got home was how dead I looked. Despite the "balanced amount" of nutrients I had been given during my coma, I had definitely lost enough weight to make me look relatively sick. Along with that came an extreme paleness, more pale than my typical skin tone. Some remnants of the state of sadness I had been in prior to the coma remained, but surviving a substantial amount of internal trauma took some of that away. Andrew seemed to take note of it, not wanting to directly bring it up.
Instead, he told me about Rose. He seemed to have spent quite a good amount of time visiting before I woke up. She was an orphan, and Andrew seemed to be the only one to ever visit her. The first night home, Andrew told me absolutely everything he knew about her. I didn't want to be rude, but I really just wanted to sleep. Instead, I kept my focus on the conversation, smiling at how animated Andrew's explanations were.
The second morning home, I woke up at 8AM. I stepped into the living room to see Andrew sitting on the couch, working on some music.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, i'm fine"
"I know you might not like the place but I want to go to the hospital"
I cringed internally at the thought of returning.
"To visit Rose?"
"Yeah"
"Ok. I'll get ready"
Andrew smiled.
"Great"
An hour later, we walked into the neurology unit. There were a lot of people surrounding Rose's bed.
"What's going on?" Andrew asked one of the medical assistants.
"This is her last day. They can't hospitalize her anymore for free. The orphanage has to start paying or risk this girl's life. Now the orphanage says they had nothing to do with the girl and she is in the custody of no one."
"That's unacceptable. Who can I speak to?"
"The woman in purple over there"
Andrew put his hand on my shoulder and walked towards the woman in purple.
"Don't get involved" I begged.
"I have to"
"I know you love this little girl but-"
Andrew looked me dead in the eyes before he spoke.
"I made her a promise. I've never broken a promise. I'm not starting today."
He tapped the woman in purple on the shoulder.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes?"
"What will happen to Rose?"
"Her life support is going to be cut off"
"You what?" A little voice asked.
I tilted my head to look past the doctor to see little Rose emerging from a cocoon of blankets.
"Oh don't worry honey it's nothing bad-" The woman started, only to be cut off by Rose.
"I know what it means. I heard Andrew fight Casey's parents about pulling her plug"
"Shit" Andrew mumbled.
I froze.
"Wait what?"
"We'll talk about it later"
It didn't surprise me at all, honestly. I figured it had been my mom's decision, and my dad just went with it because he didn't want to argue. If I had let my own selfish needs autopilot me as they had been since I arrived at the hospital, I would have taken my phone out, called my mom, and told her to go drive herself off of a cliff. I would have told her that I sincerely hope someone finally has the sense to push her down a flight of steps, that I hoped that she would be put onto life support so I could rip the plug out of the wall myself. Instead, I decided I was not going to let Rose die. I would support Andrew by standing up for her, just like he had done for me.
"I'm sorry" The woman blankly said.
Andrew looked at me. He didn't say a word but I knew exactly what he would say next. I nodded.
"Is she up for adoption?"
"Not quite... who would want her?"
That woman reminded me so much of my mom.
"Me"
"You?"
"Yes"
Rose's face lit up.
"Well there would surely be a lot of papers regarding legal measures seeing as though she was never put in the orphanage, medical papers to sign stating that you know her conditions, medical bills still to pay to keep her in, not to mention, are you married?"
"Soon to be. But we can take care of her better than anyone else can" I said, looking over at Rose who was watching the conversation like a tennis match. I quickly remembered a thesis essay I had written for one of the neuro-psych classes I had taken regarding the parallels between the healing of brain injuries and attention from a positive form of affection. "Tell me doctors, has she gotten better in the past two months since Andrew came to visit?"
"I'm still not sure who Andrew is" A small Asian doctor in a white lab coat said.
Andrew raised his massive hand.
"Oh"
The first doctor Andrew had talked to flipped a page on her clipboard before she spoke.
"Actually she has. She has better brain activity now. Oh my gosh, it seems she's had a spike in brain activity in the past two months. Is that when Andrew has been visiting?"
I nodded before looking over at Rose who gave me a thumbs up. I smiled.
"That actually makes sense. In cases like these, happiness make you heal quicker. It's a bit cliché but actually scientifically proven."
Andrew and Rose were both smiling.
"Then I see no problem in her being adopted by...?"
"Andrew and Casey Dost" Andrew said.
Now it was my turn to smile.
"Okay. just come and do some paperwork"
The doctors all clapped. By the time they were gone, Rose, Andrew and I were all tearing up.
Andrew looked at me, smiling.
"What?" I laughed, wiping my eye with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.
He shook his head and put his arm around me, walking over to Rose's bedside.
"Hi mom. Hi dad"
"Hi daughter"
