Page 207 of Finding Us
He shakes his head. “Not at a competitive level, at least not this year. But if you follow the treatment plan this time, I think you might be able to compete next year.”
I sit back in my chair, relieved. I was holding Jade’s hand really tight, but I relax my hold and thread our fingers together.
“So what’s the treatment plan?”
The doctor opens up a folder and shows me a diagram of my shoulder and outlines the injured areas. The good news is that there isn’t any new damage. The problem is that the old damage never healed because I didn’t do what I was supposed to do to make it better.
“You’ll have physical therapy for at least six months and then we’ll reassess. I’m assigning you to a different physician and that’s who you’ll see going forward. He has ties to me but he’s not part of the clinic. He already knows about your case and he’ll be contacting you in the next week or so to check in. I’ll give you his information. If you have questions, you’ll need to call him, not me. He’ll also contact your swim coach and tell him the plan.”
“Does this plan involve any swimming?”
“Yes, you’ll be given exercises to do in the pool and the weight room. This will take some time and effort on your part if you really want to compete next year.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m just happy I don’t need surgery.”
“I wish I could speed up the healing but I’m not allowed to—you know, give you anything.”
He means he can’t give me the shot like I got last year. Whatever was in that shot speeds healing and it seemed to work, at least until I injured the tissue again with my aggressive workouts.
The shot isn’t available to the general public, which is what I’m part of now. I can no longer get the treatments offered by the clinic. I’m okay with that for myself, but I wish Jade could get their medical care. If she got sick someday, I’d want her to have the best possible care and the most innovative treatments, which is what she’d have if we still had access to the clinic. And if we had kids, I’d want them to have access, too. But it’s not possible. I just have to accept that.
We get all the information we need, then say goodbye to Cunningham and head home. I don’t talk much on the ride back but I feel a lot better than I did on the way to the hospital. At least now I have hope.
“So do you want to talk?” Jade asks when we get home. “I understand if you don’t, but I’d like you to.”
“We can talk.” I bring her in for a hug, kissing the top of her head. “You’ve been great through all this, Jade. It meant a lot to me that you let me deal with this on my own timeline. I wasn’t trying to shut you out, but I didn’t want to discuss it until I knew the outcome.”
“How do you feel about what he said?”
“Relieved. I thought for sure he’d say I could never compete again.” I pull her over to the couch to sit down. “I’m so damn stupid. If I’d just done what they told me to do last year I’d be competing this season.”
“You’re not stupid. I would’ve done the same thing. When I hurt my knee I kept trying to jog on it so I could get back to running. We’re both impatient when it comes to stuff like that.”
“We are, aren’t we?” I turn and face her on the couch. “Okay, so here’s the deal. Now that we know this about ourselves, we need to help each other out. When you get hurt or sick, I’ll make sure to keep you in line.”
“Keep me in line? What does that mean?”
“It’s a nice way of saying I’ll kick your ass if you don’t follow the doctor’s orders. And you do the same for me. Because if we don’t, we’ll both have useless, broken-down bodies by the time we’re 30.”
She laughs. “Okay, I can do that. I’ll even go to the pool with you when you do your workouts.” She moves closer and smiles. “I miss our pool time.”
“I do, too.” I kiss her.
She pushes me down on the couch and straddles me. “I was looking in your treatment plan and it said frequent sex is recommended for faster healing.”
I smile. “You said the same thing last year when you hurt your knee.”
“Then it must be a common treatment for injuries because it was definitely in your plan.”
“I didn’t even see that.”
“You didn’t read it close enough. But it’s in there. And since I have to force you to follow orders. . .” She leans down and kisses me as she undoes my belt.
I talk against her lips. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“I’m such a good wife.” She says it kiddingly, but it’s true.
She’s more than a good wife. She’s the best, in so many different ways. And today just proved that, once again. Jade knew how nervous and anxious I was. When we got those test results, my mind was all over the place. I could barely concentrate. At times I wasn’t even listening to the doctor. But Jade was fully absorbed in everything he had to say. When Cunningham went into detail about my treatment plan, she asked more questions than I did. She made the doctor explain everything and she even took notes. She wouldn’t let us leave there until she was sure we had all the information we needed. She could’ve just sat there, but instead she took over when I wasn’t able to. And I love her for that. It just shows how much she cares about me.
