Finally Home

37. Tyler

Samantha was determined. She wanted to heal and get out of the hospital as soon as possible. She was going to need a lot of physio for her ankle and now to get back up and walking.  She would lie in bed after physio and work out her legs. Her right leg, she would raise up and down. The cast wasn't ready to come off just yet. Her left, she would bend and stretch as well as lift.

Two weeks after arriving back in Columbus, they took the cast off her leg, took some images and declared both her ankle and leg healed. Because she'd been off it for so long, they started to get her up to use crutches. As soon as she was strong enough for that, they'd let her go home. She was pushing hard for that.

It took another week, but she was manoeuvring herself around on crutches without a problem. Her stamina needed work and that would come with time but the doctors agreed she could move to outpatient rehab. The smile on her face was one I'll never forget.

We packed up everything that had managed to find its way into her hospital room and with Josh's help, got our daughter home for the first time in a month and a half.

The first thing she wanted to do was shower and then take a nap in her own bed. We were happy to leave her to it.

"SaSa! I nap wif you?" Rosie asked as Samantha finished in her shower and had changed into pyjamas.

"Sure, RosieRo. Come snuggle!"

Rosie ran into Sam's room and climbed up on her bed.

"You leg is all better?"

"Well, it's better, but I still have to be careful. It's almost all better."

"Good," Rosie smiled and kissed Sam.

"Alright," I said, having come to check Sam was okay. "Have a nice nap you two."

I closed Samantha's door and went downstairs where Jenna was planning a welcome home feast.

"Let's just order Chinese," I said. "It's basically been our celebratory meal anyway."

Jenna looked at me as if to say 'but that's not special' then smiled and agreed. Josh and Debby were coming over to celebrate with us that Sam was finally home.

Jenna and I picked the dishes we knew everyone liked and put the order aside for later. We then went into the TV room and watched Netflix for a little while.

A while later, an alarm buzzed on my phone. Sam's glucose monitor showed her levels were dropping.

I went upstairs to check Sam was okay. Rosie met me at Sam's door.

"SaSa's phone is loud!" She said, her hands over her little ears.

I went into Sam's room and pulled out a juice box and her glucose tabs.

"Sam, wake up honey. Your sugar is low."

She groaned and rolled over, her back to me.

"Come on kiddo, let's get that treated before it becomes an emergency," I said, gently.

"Leeme 'lone. Tired." She mumbled.

"I know baby. But we have to treat this low and then you can go back to sleep, okay?" I implored her.

It took a couple more minutes but she finally woke up and realized why I was there. She took the glucose tabs and drank down the juice. Rosie snuggled into her while I waited to check her levels went back to normal.

They did and I left the girls to either continue their nap or just relax.

Around five, I decided it was time for the girls to get up. Sam had had enough of lying in bed over the past six weeks, though I'm sure being in her own bed was what was keeping her there.

I went upstairs and gently knocked on Samantha's door. I heard giggling, so figured they were awake and I could go in. Sure enough, my girls were indeed awake, lying on Samantha's bed and watching YouTube videos of either our 'behind the scenes' videos or our actual videos.

"Dada funny," Rosie said.

"I'm not that funny, am I?" I asked. Both girls turned and looked at me.

"You are that funny," Sam said. I smiled at them and went into Sam's room, picked Rosie up and said:

"I'll show you funny!" and raspberried her stomach. Rosie erupted in squeals and giggles.

Samantha stood up and had her hands on her hips.

"What?" I said to her.

"That is my sister you're raspberrying," she said, in false disdain. "And I won't have it. That's my job!"

And she took Rosie and raspberried her.

"SaSa and Dada are mean!" she said, and ran out of the room when Samantha put her down. I smiled at Samantha who smiled back at me.

"Uncle Josh and Aunt Debby are coming over for dinner to celebrate you being home. Staying in your jammies or do you want to get dressed?" I asked her.

She looked down at her 'pyjamas'.

"I'm in sweats and a t-shirt. What difference does it make?"

"Smartass," I smiled at her, wrapped my arm around her shoulders and handed her her crutches. She was allowed to put weight on her right leg, but she had to be careful. So she was basically using the crutches as support, so she didn't have to put all her weight on her injured leg.

We went downstairs and Jenna looked over at us while holding Rosie in her lap.

"What did you two do to Rosie?" she asked.

"Nothing," Sam said.

"Yeah, nothing," I said.

"She came down here telling me you two are mean."

"Dey wasbewwied me!" Rosie said.

"Oh, like this?" Jenna asked, and raspberried Rosie's stomach.

We all laughed.

"No Mama!" Rosie laughed.

Just then the door opened, because Josh being Josh, has a key and lets himself in.

"Hello Joseph Family, all four and a half of you," he said, as he and Debby walked in.

"Hello, Duns," I said.

"Sam, how does it feel to be home?" Debby asked.

"Oh my god. I'm so glad to be home. I took a shower in my own bathroom and took a nap in my own bed. It was heavenly."

"You do look better rested," Debby observed.

"We thought we'd order in Chinese," Jenna said. "What does everyone think?"

"YES!" Samantha said.

"I guess that means we're all in agreement," I laughed.

We called in the order and waited for the food while sitting in the living room and talking. It was nice and relaxing just to be home, our family, whole again.