Page 128 of Share with Me

Chapter Forty-One

“You havea low tolerance for pain,” Vittorio the occupational therapist said to Ivan one hour after a chainsaw-toting nurse practitioner from Rao Family Physicians ripped off the cast from his left arm and sent him down the street to his next stop of the day. “Have a seat.”

Ivan sat across from him at the small table. He rubbed his swollen wrist gently, as if it were a puppy. That really, really hurt. Those exercises they did a minute ago—

Oh boy.

“Tolerate?” Ivan blurted, cringing at the lingering pain in his wrist. But this! This was so much more severe than his cracked ribs that had all but healed in the previous six weeks. “My wrist is swollen. When is this going to heal? I have to get back to work or someone else will take my job.”

“They’ll understand. It takes time.”

Time I don’t have.

Ivan stared at his wrist and willed it to turn. He couldn’t do it. The wrist was stiff.

“We’ll have to let the new bones get stronger, right?”

“Right away,” Ivan snapped. “I can’t believe this.”

“Let’s get an ice pack on that wrist. Get the swelling down. Then we’ll work on your mobility.” Vittorio waved to an orderly.

“Then? Like when?” Ivan was breathing heavily now. Have. To. Get. Back. To. Work.

“Tomorrow if you can come in. We’ll do it daily until—”

“Daily? For how long? This was supposed to be my big day. Got the cast removed.”

This was the last Wednesday in January he had been waiting for since the week before Christmas.

And now this?

Ivan had thanked God profusely on his drive to the doctor’s this morning. He had told Grandma not to wait for him at lunch because he would go from Dr. Rao’s office to the occupational therapy center for a few hours to get his mobility back.

One hour after the cast had been removed, Ivan wasn’t thanking God anymore.

Lord, why are You allowing this to happen to me?

Vittorio looked at Ivan calmly. “It’s normal for you to feel like you can’t do anything right now, but work with me, and we’ll get you back to functionality in no time.”

“Functionality? That’s not good enough. I need to get my wrist back to a hundred percent or my career is over.”

Vittorio didn’t reply. He seemed to be waiting for Ivan to calm down.

“I have to be able to play my violin again.”Whatever my violin is. The Strad is gone. The Vuillaume is also gone.

“This is my livelihood.” Ivan tried again. “How long will it be before I can have a full range of motion in my wrist?”

“You play in SISO?”

“Yeah. First violin. Concertmaster.”Was.

Vittorio didn’t seem impressed. “I think I’ve heard SISO play before sometime in the summer. Outdoor concert at Neptune Park?”

“Yeah, I was there.”

“You guys were pretty good.”

Pretty good? Put us up against ASO any day.“Thank you. Now, how long will it be?”

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