The ever-changing weather of the east coast sends a shock to my system each morning. The past two weeks have been unforgivingly cold and now it was comfortable enough to leave the house without a jacket. This time of year the weather always delivers whiplash, not knowing if in the morning we'd need a snowsuit and at night a bathing suit.
Today it was closer to shorts with a warmish fifty-five degrees.
I had gotten back from Boston last night around dinner time, walking into Marie and my Dad at the table. It seems like they're good again, the both of them even laughing at something they were talking about. I still didn't fully trust my dad and his back-and-forth behavior, but for Marie, I was glad he at least was treating his wife with basic respect.
I thank my uber driver before stepping out to the front of the Hospital. Today was the day my sling would be taken off and I was restless since the sound of my alarm at eight am this morning. I was itching to get rid of it completely, impatient to get my stiff shoulder and elbow extended.
I knew the routine by now—the floor to find and the waiting room to mindlessly spend thirty minutes waiting in. I shot both Darius and Shawn a text about the appointment.
Shawn: Selfie with your arm free or it didn't HAPPEN!
I roll my eyes at his reply and close my phone.
I couldn't believe that it had already been a little over a month since the initial injury. Sometimes, in my dreams, I still felt the phantom pain of the opposing player crashing into me. The shock of hitting the ground and knowing something was wrong. It all felt like a messed up dream, one I was tired of living in.
"Mason." A nurse calls me to the back, Linda, who's been the nurse to bring me back each time. She's got gray hair and stress lines littering her face but she's always got the warmest smile. Young and refreshing each visit.
I'm normally impatient with these visits but today is worse. Dr. Karr enters the room, going over the usual initial pain assessment and prognosis updates. I answer all her questions routinely, and extra quickly. By the end of the visit, I smile at the release of the sling's snap and the weight of it being gone both physically and metaphorically is uplifting.
Dr. Karr rattles off the rules and how to keep my arm safe through recovery. She smiles throughout it, clearly feeding off of my own happiness. I still am very restricted with my movements and need to wear the sling whenever I feel pain or am going to be doing strenuous activity.
Seems easy enough to me.
I flex the fingers of my right hand, stepping out of the hospital. The stitches where my surgical incision was are healing up nicely, and the feeling of extending and flexing my arm slowly is victorious.
I can't explain it, but it sends a shrill down my spine like I can picture the grip of a football in my aching fingers.
"Well, well, well." I turn to the voice to my left. "If he isn't home free." Delilah smiles and points to my sling-free arm. I scan her body, unconsciously taking in the emerald green scrubs she wears and how it fit with her red hair so well. Her hips flare out and I force myself to look up at her face.
She smiles.
"I mean what can I say," I laugh and pull up my arm to pretend to flex. I still don't have much range of motion and there is a trail of pain with the curling movement, but I don't care.
"Careful now, they'll send you right back into that sling." Her laughter is clear through the unusually warm air. Like myself, she ditched the heavy winter coat today, wearing a light gray jacket over her scrubs.
YOU ARE READING
I Wish You The Best
Romance"Forever was a simple promise before it became a difficult task" Your first love is always the hardest to let go of, which is why Delilah and Mason had promised each other that after college they'd make it work. Unfortunately for them both, their fo...
