Elise felt helpless. Other than having her appendix removed when she was 8, she had never been in the hospital for anything major. She didn't care for everyone having to do everything for her. She had become accustomed to taking care of herself over the years. It felt silly to call a nurse just to help her reposition herself in bed. Hell, even peeing wasn't up to her. Elise had been hooked up to a catheter from the time she arrived at the hospital the day before.
And the pain. Oh. My. God. The pain. Never so much had she experienced in her entire life. The sad part was that she was still hooked up to the pain meds when the evil medical henchmen made her get out of bed the morning after her surgery. And still her hip throbbed. No. More than that. The pain was searing, like her flesh was on fire and trying to rip itself apart from the inside out. She tried to give herself some credit. It wasn't as if hip surgery where anything to sneeze at, but she was young. She was in good shape. She thought she had a fairly high pain tolerance. It made her question these things about herself, which pissed Elise off even more.
She fought hard not to cry out when she first stood from bed, her voice catching in her throat as she sealed her lips shut tight. Tears immediately stung the corners of her eyes. She took a few deep breaths before proceeding with the walker they helped her with to take her first tentative steps since the accident.
The look on Danny's face about killed her too. The empathy, the sorrow of seeing her in such agonizing pain. The shimmer of water in his own eyes was not lost on her. He wished it were him instead of her trying to re-learn how to walk. It was written all over his face. He tried to put on a brave face, sure, but was failing miserably.
If standing up had been hard, taking steps felt impossible. Elise gingerly stepped forward after a minute. Her breath caught again, but not before a painful sounding "ha!" noise escaped her throat. She had a brief vision of ripping her leg off and clubbing everyone in the room with it who was forcing her to participate in this hell.
Elise was able to get around with her walker decently well when she left the hospital a few days later. She was happy to be able to pee on her own again. At this point, it was the little things in life that mattered.
Her mother was driving her insane, calling at least once, sometimes two or three times, a day just to see how she was doing, looking for updates, wanting to know if they knew when they were coming home, etc. Elise knew she meant well, but her healing hip was making her grouchy. She tried hard not to be irritable with Danny, though.
She knew it was hard on him too, or at least she figured it probably was, having to help her stand and sit at least once an hour on top of helping her use the restroom. That was the worst part, perhaps. Nothing to make you feel like an invalid like needing someone to help you use the bathroom. But he had done so much more than that already.
Danny managed to find an older retired couple looking to rent out one of the rooms in their house through Air BnB. They were actually asking a decent rate and the couple was very sweet, very accommodating, to their unique circumstances. Elise enjoyed talking to them when she happened to come out of their room for a change of scenery. Actually, she found herself spending more and more time in the living room with them, caught up in the stories of the wonderful life they had lived together. Elise found herself hoping she and Danny were still that happy together when they were their age.
He had taken care of things in the work department as well. Danny assured Joe he would be back to work as soon as they returned home in a few weeks. Their supervisor had been very understanding and hired a temporary girl to work for Elise in the interim. She couldn't help the small seed of worry that grew in the pit of her stomach, wondering if they would end up liking the new girl better than her and deciding to hire her full-time, kicking Elise to the curb, but Joe's understanding had brought tears to her eyes. Never, in a million years, would the sleaze bag from her former job have even considered doing the same. She had picked a good place to work after all.
Elise was released to fly two weeks later on the condition that she continued with her physical therapy at home and got up to stretch her legs as much as possible on the flight. It was an oddly bittersweet moment for Elise as she had grown quite fond of Joseph and Ruth, the couple who lent their room to them. She and Danny promised to stay in touch with them, and, amazingly, they did for years.
Elise had already graduated to a cane by the time she returned home, but still she struggled.
"Young and otherwise in shape" or not, she still posed a fall risk. Danny's mom, Lorraine, offered to stay with her during the day while he was at work. Elise was beyond grateful for the company, but she still broke down one afternoon not long after they had returned home. She had sat for too long, her joints growing stiff, and struggled to get out of the recliner she was occupying. There was no stopping the tears that poured down her cheeks. Weeks of pent up stress and emotion flowed out of her. Lorraine returned from the kitchen.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" God, she sounded so much like Danny. Her mother in-law rushed over to her and immediately began stroking her hair. He may look like his father, but Danny was truly his mother's child.
"I just, I can't get up," Elise sobbed.
"There, there," she smoothed the hair away from Elise's face.
"You don't need to be getting up on your own just yet anyway. That's why I'm here, remember?"
She cried harder, but nodded her head in agreement.
"Come on, now," Lorraine lifted her under the arms. "You're alright. You're going to be ok," she looked her in the eyes as Elise finally got her feet under her. "You're getting better all the time, Elise. You'll be back to normal in no time."
"I just feel so helpless," her shoulders shook she was crying so hard now. Elise wasn't sure if it was to steady her, comfort her, or both, but Lorraine suddenly embraced her.
"I know you're stubborn, and I hope you know I mean that lovingly, but we're all here to help, Elise."
"I feel like such a burden, though," she cried into Lorraine's shoulder.
"Well stop. We wouldn't be here if we didn't care about you and love you," her mother in-law said gently, but confidently.
"It shouldn't be like this, though," Elise argued. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Oh, honey, no one ever means for these things to happen. It's just part of life, I'm afraid. Just like Danny falling out of that tree in our front yard when he was 7 and breaking his arm. It sucks at the time, but everything goes back to normal eventually. It's all going to work out. Just think of it as a minor setback," Lorraine continued stroking her hair. It was making her sleepy.
"What if I still don't walk quite right after this? What if I can't go on backpacking trips any more?" Elise looked up at her.
"Is your relationship based around that alone?" Lorraine asked, waiting for an answer.
"No," she spoke quietly, shaking her head.
"Elise, Danny will love you no matter what. I can guarantee you that."
Elise simply nodded her head, looking down as she pulled away.
"Now, what are you trying to get up for, anyway?" Danny's mom changed gears, trying to get Elise's mind off of the things that had been bothering her.
"I've been sitting too long, which is why I had such a hard time getting up," she laugh-sniffled.
"Well, come on then," Lorraine held her elbow out to her. "Let's go for a walk."
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