Learning to Love

Chapter 15

I don't know how long I was out but I could feel that the tube was missing from my tummy so that felt good, I didn't want that tube still in me. I could hear Abbie and Josh talking, "She'll be awake in a little bit, doctor said it all went smoothly" "I can't wait to get her home and settled and start getting her used to us." "She's not a dog Abbie, she's a human being and will take some time to trust us. Remember what you were like when we finally got out of that house?" "Yeah, I know, but I always wanted a younger sibling and now I've got one and I know we can love her to bits. And she's so small it'll be like having a baby in the house." I heard Josh sigh "Oh Abbie."

I started whimpering I was in some pain I wasn't quite sure what is from, I hadn't been beaten in I think about two weeks at this point. "Oh, she's waking, hi baby girl, can you open those pretty eyes for me?" I slowly squinted my eyes open and looked right into Josh's eyes, I immediately dropped my eyes down. "Hey, it's okay, can you look back up at me Cali?" I shook my head no "Please Cali?" I don't know what possessed me to look up, maybe it was the pleading tone he had used, but I slowly brought my eyes back up to look at him. "See it's not that bad, Hi Cali, how are you feeling?" Josh gave me a soft smile; I couldn't smile back though I was waiting for him to slap me across the face. I grimaced when I felt my stomach hurt, Josh immediately looked concerned, "What hurts baby?" I pointed to my stomach, "Your tummy?" I nodded "Abbie can you go see if you can find a nurse or Doctor?"

Abbie walked out of the room and Josh turned to look at me giving me a soft smile, I was still looking at him, and quickly dropped my eyes back and started playing with my fingers in my lap. "Hey Cali?" I stopped playing with my fingers and just stared at my lap. "We love you so much baby, we are going to get you all fixed up and out of here soon." Abbie walked back in with a nurse right behind, "Hi sweetie, I'm told you have some pain? What seems to be the problem?" I just looked at Josh, he smiled at me "Seems she's got some pain in her stomach" the nurse walked closer to me "Okay, do you mind if I take a look at it? Then I'll get you some pain medicine for the pain, okay?" I nodded shyly and closed my eyes. The nurse lifted up my gown, then started poking my stomach, I felt the tears building in my eyes and tried to blink them away, Abbie must have seen my eyes though because she quickly came around to the other side of the bed and crouched down, she ran her fingers under my eyes, "Shhhh Cali it's okay, she's just looking and making sure everything's okay down there, okay?"

The nurse finished, "She just has some swelling, but I'll give her some pain meds in her I.V. for now, I'll let the doctor on duty know she's awake." She lowered my dress back down and smiled at me, I didn't smile back but I watched her while she was adding something to the bag that was hanging on the I.V. pole. She looked up at Josh, "I'll go grab the doctor now." She turned around a walked back out of the room.

Angie and another doctor appeared in the doorway; Angie knocked on the door "Can we come in?" I smiled when I saw Angie. "Yeah, come on in Dr. Angie and Dr?" Angie laughed as she stepped into the room followed by the other doctor, "This is Dr. Smith; we got some results back from a couple of the tests and wanted to go over the results with you." Josh and Abbie both looked up at Angie, "Okay Dr. Angie and Dr. Smith, all good things I hope?" Angie gave me a small smile, but you could tell she looked sad as well. "Well, we've got some good news and some not as good news." Abbie smiled down at me and patted my hand.

"So, most of her tests came back and we ran them again just to make sure but seems Cali has a condition called Osteopenia, it's a condition where her bones just aren't that strong, she has more of a chance of broken bones then you or I do." Josh looked down at me and then back up at Angie, "what do we need to do?" Dr. Smith spoke up "We will get her started on some bone building meds, and we suggest getting her to have more calcium and vitamin D in her diet." Abbie reached over to me and gave me a big hug; I tensed then relaxed a little. "We will do whatever it takes Doctor." Josh said. "When can we take her home?" Abbie asked next. Dr. Smith looked at me then turned and looked at Angie, "We need to get Susanne here so you can sign the paperwork to become her guardian and then we should be able to discharge her tomorrow, we suggest not flying with her for at least a week though." Josh nodded and looked at me, "Very well, we can extend our hotel room for another week, do I need to call Susanne?" Dr. Smith shook his head "No I'll give her a call as soon as we head out of the room, hopefully she can stop by later today." 

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I actually had plans that got canceled, so you guys made out since I could write another chapter today. 

We are nearing the end of the Hospital stay guys! Then it will be about Cali bonding with her new siblings and their families.