Differences | Demi Lovato

6

Demi

It was agony, waiting for Wilmer's surgery to be over. I held Mia's sleeping body close, rocking her absentmindedly as I watched everyone else try not to look at me. Eventually the time reached eight hours, two hours over what they said he should be under for.

"I'm sure it'll be any minute now." My mom reassured me, smiling encouragingly.

I nodded, holding Mia closer and reaching over to hold Luca's hand.

Another forty-five minutes passed, and a doctor finally walked into the private waiting room. "Is Mr. Valderrama's wife here?"

"Me." I whispered, looking up.

"There was a minor complication with the position of the tumor, but we got 99% of it out. He will have to go through a few rounds of chemo to be positive, but I'm sure Mr. Valderrama will make a full physical recovery."

"Physical?" I asked, my voice cracking. "What was the complication?"

"There's a greater chance that his memory will be altered because of the way the tumor wrapped around the hippocampus. But, he's expected to wake up within the next hour. Until then, we won't know the extent to which his memory was damaged."

I glanced at Luca who's face was stark white. "I'll go see him first, alone, until he wakes up."

"Right this way."

I kissed Mia's forehead and gave her to my mom, then ran my hand over Luca's hair. "I'll come back and get you guys when we know what's going on, okay?"

"Okay."

I followed the doctor into the room, and felt my knees begin to buckle when I saw Wilmer lying on the bed, his skin pale and a bandage wrapped around his head.

"Oh my God." I whispered, sinking into the chair beside the bed. "Oh my God, Wilmer."

"His skin color should return soon, it's a side effect of the lengthened anesthetic." The doctor explained, no emotion in his voice at all.

"How long until he wakes up?"

"His vitals are strong, so within the hour, barring any unseen complications."

"Thank you." I murmured, wanting to be alone now.

Once the doctor walked out, I stood up and carefully perched on the side of the bed, lightly tracing his eyebrow with the tip of my finger.

"Please remember baby." I breathed. "Please remember."

It took about another half hour, but eventually Wilmer's hands began to twitch, and then his eyes fluttered open, a low groan leaving his mouth.

"Wilmer?" I whispered, knowing he would have a headache. "Baby?"

His eyes focused on me and for a moment my world crashed around me, then a slow easy smile spread across his face. "Hey stranger."

I let out a sob and leaned down, kissing him as gently as I could manage. "Thank God, oh thank God."

Wilmer smiled, then winced and reached up to touch the bandage. "Ow."

"I'll get the doctors." I hit the button on the side of the wall and within moments, a team of doctors walked in, poking and prodding at him and shining lights in his eyes while I held his hand.

"Alright, Mr. Valderrama. It looks like you're on the path to a full recovery. Let the nurse know if you feel any head pain, or if your vision begins to blur, or if you begin to have difficulties with your short or long term memory."