Paralyzed

Chapter 16 : Scared of tomorrow

Chapter 16

The next day...   

Avery POV

Riker was like a completely different person now. He was so happy and smiley.

"Riker, what are you thinking for dinner?" I called from the kitchen.

"What if we did breakfast for dinner?" Riker asked.

"Sure. Whatever you want."

"Can I help?"

"Make dinner?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

I was kind of surprised he wanted to help with dinner, but I'm glad he's starting to try to figure out how to do things again, even if he can't walk.

I put Riker in charge of making the pancakes. He just sat at the stove with the batter while I set the table and got us some drinks. I made us both chocolate milk.

"Ok, the pancakes are ready," Riker said.

I put them on the table and brought Riker over.

"You seem like you're in a really good mood today," I said, sitting down across the table from him.

"I am," he said, smiling.

"Ok, then does that mean we can work on some more stuff in the pool later and maybe stretch your legs and make sure you're not losing your range of motion?"

"Sure."

Not only did Riker seem a lot happier now, but he ate a ton of pancakes. And I was glad because his appetite hasn't been great lately. But I was assuming that was just because of all the meds he's on.

"Ok, I'm going to go get changed," Riker said, finishing his chocolate milk.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"No, I've got it."

He pushed himself away from the table and used the wall to push himself out of the kitchen. I was impressed with how much he was doing for himself today.

I cleaned up from dinner and then got changed into my swimsuit. I gave Riker his medicine to take, and then we headed outside. Riker got right in the pool.

"So what do you want me to do today?" He asked.

"Maybe just warm up, do a couple laps. I think you're stronger than you think you are."

Riker started swimming. I held onto the ladder, watching him until he finished and swam over to me. He held onto the ladder too.

"I think we should measure today and see if I have any more feeling," Riker said.

"Sure. I want to ask you something though."

"What is it?"

"You have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. How are you feeling about that?"

"Um... I don't know. I don't really know what they're going to do."

"Well they'll probably take the cast off your leg so we don't have to keep wrapping it in plastic every time you go in the pool or the bath. They'll probably check to make sure it healed properly and look at your ankle too. And then probably look at your back and maybe do some tests to see how much feeling you have."

"I mean... I guess I'm nervous about what they're going to say. Like what if they say something like, it looks like nothing is healing in my back and I'll be paralyzed for the rest of my life?"

"They're not going to be able to determine something like that just at a follow up doctor's appointment."

"Are they going to ask me stuff?"

"Yeah. But if you need help answering them, I'll be there with you if you want me to."

"Definitely."

"Well then you should be fine. It's just an appointment to check in and see how you're doing."

"I know, but I'm nervous. I just don't want them to say anything like, well if I haven't made any progress then that means I never will."

"They're not going to, Riker."

Riker sighed, still clinging to the ladder. I put my hand on his cheek.

"You'll be fine. I promise," I said.

Riker moved closer and kissed me gently.

"I don't know how I would get through this without you. What am I going to do when the summer is over and my family comes back?"

"They'll help you and take care of you."

"But they're not doctors."

"I'm not a doctor either. I'm still a college nursing student."

"Ok, well that's basically a doctor."

"You might be able to walk by then. We won't know until the end of the summer."

"Ok, well if I can't, promise me you'll still help me with stuff and visit me all the time."

"I promise, Riker. As a college nursing student, I find all of this extremely interesting. I'm going back to college in the fall, but I'll definitely visit and keep up with what's going on with you. We actually have a big paper to write before graduation. It can kind of be about anything medical related, and I was already sort of thinking I would write about you and just like my experience of helping you and stuff."

"Really? I get to be the topic of your paper? That's so cool!"

I laughed.

"I'm glad you think so," I said.

"Well I'm glad you find me interesting because I don't think many other people would. I mean to me, it's like... I'm paralyzed. There's not much interesting about that to me. It just kind of sucks, you know?"

"Yeah, but from my perspective, there's a lot more that goes into it. Like the mental side of things. That's a big part of it. Like how your brother made you promise to try to be positive? It's more important than you think."

"Well I'm really glad you're here because I don't think my siblings would be doing this good of a job at taking care of me and knowing what I should and shouldn't be doing."

"We can check your progress tonight. Why don't we work on some exercises?"

"Sounds good," he said, smiling.