Finally Home

38. Jenna

It was wonderful having Samantha back home. She was, however, pushing herself too hard in my opinion.

Sam was home in time for Thanksgiving, and we were grateful we weren't spending it in the hospital.

We invited Tyler's family and Erin and their family, and Sam and I worked on some of the dishes. Everyone offered to bring something so we were in charge of the turkey, stuffing and green bean casserole.

Sam had improved so much over the past couple of weeks. She was able to walk some without her crutches. The PT wanted her to keep walking with them with the aim to use them only when needed for stability.

Occasionally, she would just use one crutch.

"Dad?" She said to Tyler one night after Thanksgiving, just before she went to bed.

"Yup?" I heard him ask, poking his head in her doorway.

"Do you think I'm still going to be able to go to California at Christmas?"

That stumped us.

"I don't actually know. I don't know if we need to get clearance from your doctors. We're going to have to think and talk about it."

"Please let me go!  I've been working so hard so maybe you'd say yes," she pleaded.

"I haven't said no, either. Mom and I need to talk, and I want to check with the neurologist and your surgeon to make sure it would be safe for you."

Samantha huffed.

"Sam, it's not a no. It's a, 'let's be prudent'.  Okay?"

"I guess," she said resignedly.

We kissed her goodnight and went on to our room.

"What do you say?" I asked as we closed our bedroom door.

"I want her to go," Tyler said. "Brendon and Sarah will be careful. It's only a week and she'd be with her family."

"And we'd still have to worry about her not coming back," I smiled at him. The first time we'd taken Sam to California, she didn't want to leave and kept bugging us to move there. Now that Josh was living in Ohio, her pleas were less frequent, but not non-existent.

"I want her to go, too," I said. "She deserves it. So let's clear it with her doctors and hope they give us the all clear."

Tyler nodded and smiled.

"I'll call in the morning," I said.

Tyler and I settled into bed.

The night went by as nights do. When our alarm went off, Tyler got up to start breakfast and get Sam to school. I got Rosie up for her breakfast.

She was all caught up though we were noticing it took her a bit longer to finish her work and she seemed less certain about math.

"You all ready for today?" I asked Sam as she came downstairs.

"What's today?" Sam asked.

"Don't you have a math test?"

"Oh," Sam frowned. "I don't remember. Maybe."

"Did you study?" I asked her.

"Probably," she said.

I didn't like that. We knew memory problems could be a sign of brain damage from the accident. But I didn't know if this was actual memory loss or something more serious.

I watched Sam as she ate her breakfast. She checked her levels, bolused, and sat down to eat.

"Sam, check your calendar. Did you put the test in there?"

"I dunno," she said, pulling out her phone. "I don't see anything for today."

She showed me her phone but I didn't know if she forgot to put it in or there wasn't a test today.

"Maybe try to review some before math class. Just in case," I suggested. Sam shrugged. She didn't seem worried that she may have forgotten something.

"Mowning Sammy," Rosie said.

"Sammy? No more SaSa?" Sam smiled at Rosie.

"You Sammy," Rosie said. "SaSa is Sammy."

"Can you say 'Samantha'?" Sam asked Rosie.

"Samafa," Rosie tried.

Sam smiled, kissed her sister and said good bye to Tyler and Rosie. I drove her to school and let her off in front.

"Alright, 2:30," I said as I pulled up to the curb.

"2:30. See ya later, Mom!" She said, getting out of the car and grabbing her crutches. She walked into school with Jill, Blaine, Patricia, and Morgan.

Sam turned around and waved at me before the door closed behind her.

I drove back home and parked the car. We hadn't gotten a new truck yet.

"Tyler?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen, where he was feeding Rosie and having a coffee.

"Yeah?" He asked me.

"Have you noticed if Sam is more forgetful? I asked her if she was ready for her math test today and she didn't remember if she has a test."

"I haven't noticed anything. She is working slower and she's less confident about math. But otherwise, no. Her brain is still healing, Jenna. They warned us she might have some memory issues."

"I didn't expect them to appear. I thought she'd have issues right after the accident. I didn't expect that she'd develop issues."

"She may not have. It's one thing. She's still healing. Let's just keep an eye on things."

I still felt uneasy, and I felt like I was going to worry about every lapse of memory, every stumbled upon word, every hesitation. I couldn't allow myself to do that.

At the end if the day, I went and picked Sam up at school and brought her home.

"You were right," she said as she got in the car.

"About what?" I asked.

"The math test. I did have one today. Good thing you told me to review before class."

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"I think it went okay. I knew the answers, so..."

It still worried me that she'd forgotten about her math test.