Chapter Twenty-two
When Nick finally woke up, the searing pain that
had been in his legs were replaced with pins and needles
type of pain. It was the same type a pain you felt when
your foot falls asleep.
He was glad to see that he was in
his room alone. He looked down at his feet and
concentraited on moving a foot. He was shocked when he
thought he saw his foot moving under the covers.
“Naw, I must be seeing things that aren’t here.”
Nick brushed it off.
Still he was thinking that maybe he
did see something move. He concentraited again and tried to
move his left foot. Nothing, just as I thought. Then he
decided to try and move his right foot. Very slowly, the
blankets wrinkled where his foot was. Nick was moving his
foot! He was so excited that he let out a a quiet yell.
“YEAH!” Nick’s mind was racing thinking of all of
the stuff he would be able to do. He glanced over at the
wheelchair that was next to the bed almost mocking his
achievements. I will be so glad to get rid of that thing.
Nick thought to himself.
Jessica, Brian and Kevin came back into the
room.
“Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling, Nicky?”
Jess went up to Nick and kissed him.
“Great. I mean, it still kinda hurts but wait
until you see this!” Nick couldn’t wait to show them how he
could move his right foot. He pulled the covers back to
expose his feet. He wanted to make sure that they saw his
foot move.
Brian, Jess and Kevin stood around the bed and
looked at Nick’s feet. Nick concentraited and was able to
move his right foot very slightly.
“Oh, god, Nick that is so good to see.” Jess was
happy for Nick. The movement was slightly noticible, but it
was movement.
Brian slapped Nick on the back. “I’m so glad to
see this. Maybe you’ll get out of here sooner.
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that! Hey, maybe
you’re right. That would be so cool.” Nick started
thinking about being able to go home and sleep in his own
bed, being in his own house.
“Hey, one thing at a time.” Kevin said. Leave it
to Kev, he was always the one in the group that usually
brought things down to the proper perspective.
“I know, but it’s so hard not to get psyched about
this.” Nick couldn’t control his happiness. Last week he
was looking at a lifetime of paralysis and now it looked
like he would be able to walk again.
Nick’s physical therapist, Tanya came into the
room. She looked shocked to see Brian and Kevin in the room
with Nick. She had been excited when she was told that she
would have the Nick Carter case. She liked the Backstreet
Boys but tried to play it down so that she would be assigned
to Nick. She tried to cover her nervousness.
“Hi Nick, how are you doing today?” Tanya looked
down at his chart as she walked towards Nick.
“Pretty damn good.” Nick was still high on being
able to move his right foot. It was such a big deal to him.
“You look pretty happy, why is that?” Tanya
asked.
“I just found out I can do something I haven’t
been able to do for a few weeks.” Nick said proudly.
“And what would that be?” The therapist asked as
she looked over at Jess.
“I can move my right foot. Look.” Nick looked at
his foot as he moved it.
“Hey, that’s great! I see they have you hooked
back up to an IV again.” Tanya was excited for Nick being
able to move his foot.
“Yeah, the nurse sneaked it in when I was sleeping
after they gave me some stuff. Why did they do that?” Nick
looked at Jess.
“Um, the nurse told me that with the pain in your
legs that Dr. Gaynor wanted you to get IV steroids, they
would work on you a lot faster than being injected every
four hours or so.” Jess answered.
“Well, Nick, I think we can go up to PT and do a
few things this afternoon, what do you think?” Tanya tried
to sound encouraging.
“I guess I’d be willing today.” Nick replied.
“Do you guys want to come along?”
“If it’s okay with her, we will.” Kevin looked at
the therapist. She looked up at Kevin and felt her knees
buckle. She was embarrassed when she went off balance and
fell against Nick’s bed.
“Whoops, sorry about that Nick.” Tanya tried to
regain her composure and cover up the fact that she nearly
fainted when she looked into Kevin’s eyes. “I guess that
would be okay with me if it’s ok with Nick. Nick, go ahead
and get into the chair.” Tanya moved the wheelchair closer
to the bed.
Nick started to move out of the bed but was
stopped quickly when he felt a tug on his hand reminding him
that his IV pole was on the opposite side of where he was
getting out of. He glanced over at the pole and then looked
at Brian who was standing next to it. No words were
exchanged and Brian dutifully moved the pole over by the
wheelchair. Once that was in place, Nick moved quickly into
the chair.
With the IV in his hand, Nick did not object to
having someone push the chair to the elevator. As they were
leaving the room, there was five young girls standing
outside of the door with the security guard. Nick lowered
his head and didn’t look at the girls.
“Awwwh. Oh gosh, look.”
The group heard the girls whispering back and
forth to one another about Nick and Brian and Kevin. The
guard kept them from following the group. Jess glanced back
before they got on the elevator. The girls had brought some
flowers and presents to give to Nick. She always felt sorry
for the girls that were turned away at the door. She heard
the guard tell the girls they had to go or be escorted from
the building. He also told them that they could leave their
gifts at the nurses station.