Page 80 of Game Changer

“I know,” he sighed. “I feel like a friggin’ baby though. It’s so frustrating. I’d love to go for a run and clear the cobwebs.”

You can barely stand up. A run would probably do you in once and for all.

“Not today, sunshine,” she warned playfully.

You’re not the boss of me, lady,he thought, amused at her over protectiveness.Though had the roles been reversed, if you’d just woken up from a coma, I probably wouldn’t ever let you leave the bedroom again.

“I know. If I can’t even control when I pee right now, putting one foot in front of the other seems a stretch.”

“Have you heard from Britt?” Lisa sounded nervous asking the question.

“A little, yeah. She’s offered to come by a few times and she called this morning to see how I was. She’s just giving us space, I guess. I have my suspicions that my Mom may have given her a piece of her mind so she’s staying the hell away, but neither of them will admit to it.”

Jeremy burst in. He was running late, but he was also holding a cooler bag. “Dude. Ice cream?”

“For real? I’m so sick of that crap they call food here. Hospital food really does suck. Hand it over!”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see this,” joked the doctor no one had noticed coming in. “Though there’s really no reason you can’t have some ice cream. There are no restrictions on your diet. You’ve been eating well and you’ve clearly got an appetite. Welcome back, AJ. I’ve been out at meetings for a while, so I haven’t been around. We need to do some scans and draw some blood, but everything looks like it’s improving. I’m sure everyone is very relieved you have finally opened your eyes.”

I certainly am. Do you know how horrific it was being trapped inside my own mind?

“Doctor? Now that he’s not catheterized, is he allowed out of bed more?” Lisa’s voice shook him out of his darkening thoughts.

“Not unsupervised, not yet. Physical therapy and occupational therapy will be a couple times a day for a few days, just until he’s strong enough to walk unaided. His body is still adjusting for now and we don’t want him taking any more falls.”

“So, he’s not allowed to go for a run?”

She knows I was just kidding, yet she’s still making a point of asking him. She’s quite a protective piece of work,he smiled.

The doctor eyed her skeptically, “No ma’am. We’re definitely not there yet.”

“Thank you, just checking. He said he felt like a run – just making sure we get doctor’s orders on the record.”

The doctor laughed. “Any other questions?”

“I’m good. AJ?”

“Realized I’m still here, did ya?” AJ laughed “I don’t have any questions, thanks, Doc.”

Traumatized mind? Sure. Questions? None that I want Lisa to hear. Hey doc, will my penis ever work right again? Will I ever get beyond these white-waiting-room nightmares? Will I ever stop pissing the bed and have full control of my entire mind and body again? Will this headache ever fuck the fuck off? Will I ever skate again?

Oh, I absolutely have questions for you doc. Just none I’m comfortable voicing out loud to anyone.

***

Progress was slow, frustratingly slow. More often than not AJ spent his time relearning things that should have been second nature to him as an adult. It irritated him and every day for the next week, he found himself consistently angry and impatient at his own limitations.

I learned how to walk when I was a year old. It shouldn’t be so much work to put one foot in front of the other as a grown-up. I just want to skate. On fresh ice. By myself. I want some goddamn privacy to figure all this shit out, alone. I’m not a goddamn performing monkey!

Things are coming back to me, my body is slowly starting to respond how and when I want it to, and I’m getting stronger, too. Just let me go home to heal all by my big-boy self.

He stared across the room to where his mother was sitting chatting quietly with Lisa. He assumed they thought he was still sleeping. His mom had seemingly found something in a home décor magazine that she was considering trying out back at home, and was asking for Lisa’s opinion. He hadn’t introduced his parents to many of his girlfriends over the years, and, at first, he hadn’t planned to with Lisa, either. He lay quietly, watching their animated interaction, knowing that they didn’t meet under the best of circumstances in this high-stress environment. They certainly appeared to be getting along together and his parents had only great things to say about Lisa.

His mom had told him that Lisa had been the one to call and tell her that he’d had an accident. Ana had fallen to pieces and couldn’t compose herself enough to tell their parents what had happened, so Lisa stepped up to the plate. She’d told him that since AJ was taken off the ice, to the point he’d woken up from his hellish nap, Lisa had been assertive and strong. She’d had her ‘wobbly moments’ as Lisa had called them, but Cindy was impressed by how she held herself in the face of adversity. He’d never heard his mother be so positive about a girl in his life that way before, not even Britt.

His dad was equally as approving of Lisa – not that he needed his parents’ approval for dating someone – but it always made life exponentially easier if the girlfriend and the mother, especially, got along. His parents knew of his marriage and terms of commitment to Britt – though they weren’t particularly happy that either she’d laid such a huge burden at AJ’s feet, or that he accepted it. They also knew of his relationship with Lisa and seemed much more approving of her, in all regards. He knew that his mother was secretly praying for grandkids – and soon.

His dad recalled Lisa’s overwhelming kindness since they’d met. He said she was kind to everyone she’d encountered around the hospital, to his friends and family. Hearing them talk about her had helped him piece together some of his disjointed memory and reminded him of all of the reasons he loved her.

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