Shane kept her back to Carmen and the nurse.  I’ll just keep my head turned so that nurse will leave me alone.  I’ve never had to have anyone bathe me before !    Carmen looked at the nurse with a sadness in her eyes because she didn’t know what to say or do.  In a small voice, Carmen decided to take a chance and speak up, not knowing if she had done something wrong or not.

“What’s wrong baby?  Do you hurt? Do you not feel good?” Carmen asked timidly.  Shane immediately felt a pang of guilt.  Now look what I’ve done !  I can’t do anything right she thought.  She knew she must look ridiculous.  Refusing to allow herself to be bathed and now, sitting here naked and pouting must look like she was throwing some school girl tantrum.  Slowly, Shane turned her head, at the same time reaching for the bed’s remote to incline the chair.  She looked at Carmen with an apologetic stare, and said, or tried to say she was sorry.  “Iii,sss” was all she could muster. So she reached for the mini board and wrote I’M SORRY. PLEASE CONTINUE and turned it to Carmen and the nurse.

Quietly, Carmen let out a small breath. She knew that this was delicate times for Shane. Shane had been fiercely independent practically all her life. And now here she was having to depend on people to do the simplest of tasks.  After they finished with the sponge off and put Shane on a fresh pair of hospital gear, the nurse announced she’d return within an hour to take Shane and Carmen to the speech lesson.  Carmen couldn’t maintain her excitement as she explained to Shane, “I’m gonna hold your hand the entire time Shane.” Stumbling a little in her words, she quickly tried to clean it up slightly- “That is, if you want me too” she said giving a small smile.

Shane looked to her and saw the anticipation in the Latina’s eyes. I’ve got to really try hard today. Yesterday was rough, but the harder I try, the faster I can tell her how I feel without having to write things down Shane thought..

The first therapy session …..