Page 108 of The Legend
“We willcontinue to monitor the healing.”
“How longwill he be here for?” Tommy asked.
“Itdepends how responsive he is to recovering. He will need to start physicaltherapy when he’s ready and then we can give you a better idea.”
“You can’tgive us an estimate?” Mom asked.
“At leasttwo months.” He finally said. “His ribcage was almost completely crushed. It’sgoing to hurt him just to breath let alone speak. Jameson has a long recoveryahead of him. He needs specialized care and to be monitored carefully.”
“How longwill the confusion last?” I asked.
“It’s hardto say. He took one heck of a knock. Then you add the coma, it’s...a waiting game. The CT scans show no signs ofbrain damage so it’s hopeful he can make a full recovery from this. But it’s notgoing to happen overnight. He’s going to be confused, there’s times when he’snot going to remember and he may react to situations completely different thanhe has before. With a traumatic brain injury to the temporal lobe, and with theseverity that Jameson received, his speech will be affected, memory loss canhappen and hearing changes. He might have difficulty recognizing people andputting their name with their face for a while and sometimes patients showincreased aggressive behavior. We have to wait.”
“Great,you mean his temper could be worse than before?” Mom asked.
Dr. Howelaughed lightly. “You never know with these things.”
There wasno response from dad as he was now staring out the window watching the snow.
Momnoticed. “Are you tired?”
He blinkedat the sound of her voice, as though she brought him out of the trance he wasin, and turned his head toward her. His body jerked at the onset of pain fromthe movement and he grunted.
“I’msorry,” Mom’s eyes were wide with alarm. “I’ll get up.”
She triedto get up but his hand rose to grasp hers. “D...on’t,” fellslowly from his lips.
Their eyesmet, the empty look swayed behind the cold eyes and I saw a glimpse of him inthere when he looked at her; just a glimpse.
“I’ll letyou rest man.” Tommy said to dad. “I’ll come see you after nationals.”
Dadblinked and looked the direction of Tommy’s voice but other than that, didn’tgive a response.
Tommy leftafter that and Casten came in. I had yet to come within dad’s eyesight, Iwasn’t sure what I would say to him or if he would ever recognize me?
Memoryloss was a concern but so far, he hadn’t said too much for us to test hismemory.
“He’sawake?” Casten asked softly leaning into my side.
“Yeah,” Ianswered back still standing near the door with Casten. The doctor wasexplaining the last set of scans they did this morning as dad stared out thewindow.
After amoment, the doctor left leaving the four of us alone. Arie would have been herebut she left with Emma and Alley to get clothing and necessities fromMooresville. They were set to be back tonight before me and the sprint car guysleft.
Justin andTyler had missed the Outlaw Speedweeks as did I. No one wanted to leave. Butnow, we had no choice but to be in Eldora and then Florida. Sponsors paid forexposure and we weren’t much exposure if we were holed up in a hospital.
Castenmoved to stand next to the bed when the doctor left.
“Hey dad,”he whispered softly coming into his view.
Dad’s eyesshifted toward his voice but he didn’t move his head. He seemed drowsy but itwas probably the medication.
He didn’trespond to Casten but he did look at him and that seemed to be an improvement.
A fewminutes passed and we were about to leave them alone again when dad spoke, weboth turned back to him looking at us. “Don’t...”Grimacing, he swallowed as those speaking hurt. “...please...stay?”
I lookedover at mom who then turned back to dad with tears in her eyes. “Baby, Axel hasto leave for Eldora. Casten and I can stay with you though.”
Heswallowed again grimacing in pain as he tried to speak. “W-h-h-here...dad?” his eyes drifted to me for the firsttime leaning against the door.
