reputation

Going Home

June 14, 2018

Nineteen - Taylor

"You're doing so great, honey. Almost there," Taylor cheered as Emma hobbled towards the opposite end of the hospital hallway. Almost all of her weight was on the walker she was pushing, but for this only being her second time up and walking since her surgery, she was doing amazing. Two people walked with her, one two steps behind her with a wheelchair and one off to the side, watching her carefully.

Emma sped up slightly when she got close to the end of the hallway until she stopped just short of the wall. She reached out and touched it before turning her head towards Taylor with a big smile. "Four more?"

"Four more," Taylor agreed with a sigh. The surgeon had promised Emma she could go home today if she did five laps down the hallway, and Emma was dead set on getting them done as soon as possible. The only thing that worried Taylor is that she wasn't sure Emma would stop if it got to be too much.

"Did you bring the cats home with you? I want to see them."

"They're with my mom. They'll be there when you get home."

"Tell her we'll be home tonight," Emma insisted. She winced slightly as she put too much weight on one leg, and the man walking beside her took half a step towards her, but she shrugged him off and kept walking. By the middle of lap three, her arms were shaking slightly and she was struggling to hold herself up.

"Come on, Em, let's take a break for a second," Taylor begged softly, pointing at a bench situated against the wall that they could all sit on. Emma shook her head in refusal and pushed on towards the wall they were using to count laps. "Please?"

"No. I'm almost there."

The man pushing the wheelchair turned his head and gave her an understanding smile. The other man watched her carefully and shook his head for a moment before announcing to the group that they should pause for a second. "It's going to do you no good if you hurt yourself further. Sit down and rest for a bit and then we'll go again."

Emma did as she was told and sat down on the bench. Her eyes were screwed shut as she tried to even out her breathing, but the rapid, shallow breaths kept coming. Taylor rubbed up and down her back gently, trying to distract her. Though it seemed like it had been getting better over the past two days as her ribs had started to heal, breathing had been painful.

"You've got it, honey. You're doing so well. It's okay if you need to take a second."

Emma tilted her head back against the wall and nodded ever so slightly. "Can you tell your mom that we're bringing home dinner?"

Two laps later, they were back in the hospital room. The lack of decoration had been replaced with multiple bouquets of colorful flowers over the past few days, but even then Taylor knew all Emma wanted was to go home.

After lunch time, the surgeon came in and explained all the post-op instructions: schedule a follow up appointment in a month, no heavy lifting, no stairs, no strenuous activities, no work or driving for two weeks,  and about a million other things. After she went through her whole spiel, she provided Emma with a piece of paper that had all the instructions typed on it. "Alright, now I just want to check your incisions and redress them one more time and you should be good to go."

Emma motioned with her finger for Taylor to turn around just like she had done every time someone went to check her incisions. Taylor rolled her eyes and turned to face away from her while the surgeon looked at the scars. Over the past few days, someone had been in to make sure the surgical scars were healing how they should be multiple times a day, and each time Emma instructed Taylor to turn around.