“For the most part. He said the surgery went well, though he is slightly worried that he might have nicked your optic nerve when he removed the tumor. Blurred vision is typical after the type of surgery you had, but complete blindness is rare.” Her voice was soft but confident.
“Oh no,” Mom gasped.
Birdie continued. “But he doesn’t think the blindness will last forever. The optic nerve needs time to heal, and he is pretty optimistic that your vision will return.”
“When?” Gambler asked.
Birdie cleared her throat. “Well, it very well could come back soon, like tomorrow, but it might also be six to twelve months.”
“Holy fuck,” I drawled. That was a hell of a range. I was going to go fucking crazy if I was blind for the next twelve months.
“Jesus,” Dad whispered.
“But it’s going to come back, right?” Mom asked.
“He’s very optimistic that it will, but only time will tell,” Birdie explained. “Resting and just letting his body heal is best right now.”
“And there are no results back on whether or not it was cancerous, right?” I asked.
Birdie shook her head. “Nothing yet. I wouldn’t expect results for another day or two. We are a smaller hospital, so it might take a bit to get results.”
“Great,” Dad grunted.
“Knock, knock!” Meg called. “Can I come in?”
“Come in,” Dad growled.
I listened to the door open, and more than one set of footsteps walked in.
“I brought Lo along to be my muscle.” Her steps faltered. “Oh, Birdie,” she gasped. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. Are you back to being his doc?”
“No, no,” Birdie called. “I’m just here to help Easy understand what is going on.”
“What is there to understand?” King asked.
I wished like hell I could see because no one talked, but I could feel the tension rise.
“Tell ‘em, Doc,” Dad drawled.
“Is it okay if I tell Meg and King, Easy?” Birdie asked.
I waved my hand. “Go for it.”
“The surgery went well, though Dr. Gus believes that the optic nerve was nicked when he removed the tumor,” Birdie explained. “Right now, Easy doesn’t have any vision. We’re hopeful that will return in time, though we don’t know how long that will be.”
“Could be a fucking year,” I growled. “Blind for a fucking year because of some fucking tumor. Should have left the damn thing in there.”
“Even if your tumor comes back as benign, we couldn’t have just left it in there. You were having symptoms from the tumor that, over time would have gotten worse as it grew. Removing the tumor was the best choice of action, even though this is a side-effect of it. I’m not as up to date on these kinds of things like Dr. Gus is, but I’m also confident your vision will return.”
“So what happens now?” Meg asked. “Physical therapy or something that can help?”
“Babe,” King chuckled. “You think there are eye exercises or something he can do?”
“Try really hard to see my hand in front of your face, Easy,” Dad laughed.
“Stop,” Mom hissed. “You’re both being dicks.”
“You see this container?” Meg asked. “Neither of you is getting any. Play dick games, win dick prizes.”
