Back In The Days | Dean Ambrose

Chapter 39: Some Leg Work

The Next Morning....

Third Person:

The next morning went by pretty quickly. Jon worked on his speech and knew how to pronounce almost every word, however he couldn't quite understand how to put the words together. He would mispronounce most sentences and use the wrong tenses. 

Alex, the speech therapist, said that it was a normal thing to happen. The large majority of people who were in a coma for such a long time usually struggled to create sentences with the words they learnt. 

There was a chance that Jon would improve, but the largest outcome in this situation, involved people speaking like that for the rest of their lives. 

Zoe didn't mind though. She thought it was kinda cute that Jon spoke childishly in a way. Jon however, did not enjoy it. He got very frustrated when he mispronounced a sentence or got stuck on a word when speaking.

His speech wasn't anything to worry about at that moment though. The most important thing was the strength in Jon's legs. His physiotherapy started today and Jon was slightly nervous. He didn't want to be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. 

Joe and Colby helped Jon dress in some gym shorts and a t-shirt, to make him more comfortable. Jon's legs felt weird when Joe lifted them to dress him. They were slightly numb and felt stiff.

Mark, the physiotherapist introduced himself and talked Jon through what was going to happen. The first lesson involved exercising the leg muscles, but there would be no walking included yet as the legs wouldn't be ready to support his weight. 

"Alright, so Zoe, if you could stand on Jon's right side and I'll stand on the left. We'll start by placing one hand underneath his thigh and the other underneath his calf." Mark said, letting Zoe know how she could support Jon. 

"What I do now?" Jon asked, feeling awkward with the therapist touching his thigh and getting annoyed about his lack of sentence knowledge.

"Just relax your body and try to bend your left knee." Mark replied. 

"Okay." Jon sighed, taking a deep breath and relaxing his body. 

He really didn't want to do this. He was scared that the outcome would disappoint him. However, when he looked at Zoe's face, he instantly felt a wave of comfort. 

Jon closed his eyes and put all his strength into bending his knee. At first, nothing happened but after a few minutes of trying, his knee bent slightly. If someone had blinked, they would have missed it. 

"That's a good start Jon." Mark said smiling. "You definitely need a lot more practice but you're doing good so far. Do you think you could bend your right knee for me?" 

Jon already felt exhausted but he followed his orders and tried his best to bend his knee. Zoe could feel Jon tensing his muscles but his knee wouldn't move. His body wasn't ready yet. 

"I can't do it." Jon sighed, feeling bad for himself.

"No worries, you did good. I suggest you take a nap to relax your body and I'll be back tonight to finish off the session. We'll be doing the same thing we just did. Doing these exercises twice a day will help strengthen the muscles." Mark said. 

"Okay." Jon replied, wanting to sleep. "Thanks."

"No problem, see you in a few hours." Mark then left the room.

Zoe was smiling when she looked over at Jon's face. 

"I'm so proud of you." Zoe said. "You'll be walking in no time. I know it. "

"I hope so." Jon sighed, feeling defeated. He wasn't looking forward to the next session. He didn't want to be disappointed again.

"You should get some sleep. You look tired." Zoe said, stroking Jon's hair. 

"Yeah I am." Jon replied, his eyes drooping shut. 

"Love you." Zoe said. 

"Love you too." Jon said before falling into a deep sleep. Who knew bending your knee could be so tiring?

*********************

Jon awoke and ate some lunch, before starting his second session. It was similar to the first one. Jon could move his left leg slightly, but still couldn't move his right leg. 

Mark suggested doing extra exercises on Jon's right leg, since it seemed to be the weaker leg of the two. 

Jon was once again exhausted and had no problem falling asleep after therapy. When Hunter and Stephanie came to visit, Jon was asleep. Zoe told them everything that happened during the therapy lesson and everyone was really happy with the results.

***************

The next day arrived and Jon had another session with Mark. There was a big improvement in his movement. Jon was able to completely move his knee, with the support of Mark's hands and Zoe, who had brought his US title to the hospital to motivate him to keep trying. Jon was also able to move his right knee too.  

Mark suggested that Zoe gently moved Jon's leg and bend his knee for him, in hopes that his muscles would wake up more. 

Zoe did just that. Jon's legs once again felt like jelly, but he also felt a great amount of relief seeing his leg move. He tried to bend his right knee once again and this time, it moved slightly.

Mark said that the right side of his body was just a bit more delayed than the left side. It was a common thing to happen after not moving for so long. 

After having lunch, Jon took a nap only to be woken up an hour later by Zoe, who told him he had company. Jon sat up against the headboard and saw a lady with brown hair. 

"Hi Jon. My name's Lilly. It's nice to meet you." Lilly smiled, shaking Jon's hand.

"I wanted to introduce myself to you. I'll be your therapist for the next six weeks. Our sessions together will be a great chance to get things off your chest and talk about any problems you might be having." she said. 

"Um, okay." Jon said. 

"I know it's hard to talk about things that are bothering you, but it will help in the long run. I'll let you get back to sleep now. Our first session is tomorrow afternoon." Lilly said.

"Okay, thanks." Jon smiled. 

"See you tomorrow." she said, leaving the room. 

Zoe gave Jon a kiss on his forehead before Jon fell in a deep sleep.