“I know I know, I’m here that’s all that matters.”

“It’s true Al.”

It was Alice’s turn to smile.

“Well the doc is seeing me at 1 so we’ll see what he says then I’ll send her home for a proper rest, its chemo day tomorrow and she doesn’t sleep well before it.”

“Good luck sending her home Al.”

“I have my ways…” Alice laughed.

“Well Ms Piezecki I’m afraid I have no good or bad news.  As frustrating as this waiting game is, it will continue for a while yet.  The scan we did yesterday showed that your spinal column is still swollen and until that swelling has calmed we are unable to determine which spinal pathways remain intact.  At the moment we don’t know if there is just too much trauma in the area to let the pathways communicate or if there has been some sort of irreversible damage done as a result of the accident.”

Dana just nodded, upset that they had nothing more positive to go with but still grateful that Alice was here and awake.

Alice just stared at the doctor.

“So I just lie here till my spine decides to go back to normal and then we get to find out if I’ll walk again?”

The doctor smiled sympathetically.

“I’m afraid we’re not dealing with an exact science.  The scan is encouraging in the fact that there is the possibility of a relatively full recovery.  We are able to tilt the bed however so you can sit up a bit more now that we are not concerned with the pressure and damage in your brain.”

Dana gently stroked Alice’s hand in recognition of the last comment and she returned the action with a small squeeze.

“Ok that’s good.” Alice managed

“Alice, may I call you Alice?”

“Sure”

“I know you feel frustrated and things still feel a bit messed up but hopefully in a day or two we will have an answer. One way or another you will be able to deal and come to terms with what the next 6 months have in store for you in terms of a recovery process, whatever that entails.”