Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-two



When Nick finally woke up, the searing pain that had been in his legs were replaced with pins and needles type of pain. It was the same type a pain you felt when your foot falls asleep.

He was glad to see that he was in his room alone. He looked down at his feet and concentraited on moving a foot. He was shocked when he thought he saw his foot moving under the covers.

“Naw, I must be seeing things that aren’t here.” Nick brushed it off.

Still he was thinking that maybe he did see something move. He concentraited again and tried to move his left foot. Nothing, just as I thought. Then he decided to try and move his right foot. Very slowly, the blankets wrinkled where his foot was. Nick was moving his foot! He was so excited that he let out a a quiet yell.

“YEAH!” Nick’s mind was racing thinking of all of the stuff he would be able to do. He glanced over at the wheelchair that was next to the bed almost mocking his achievements. I will be so glad to get rid of that thing. Nick thought to himself.

Jessica, Brian and Kevin came back into the room.

“Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling, Nicky?” Jess went up to Nick and kissed him.

“Great. I mean, it still kinda hurts but wait until you see this!” Nick couldn’t wait to show them how he could move his right foot. He pulled the covers back to expose his feet. He wanted to make sure that they saw his foot move.

Brian, Jess and Kevin stood around the bed and looked at Nick’s feet. Nick concentraited and was able to move his right foot very slightly.

“Oh, god, Nick that is so good to see.” Jess was happy for Nick. The movement was slightly noticible, but it was movement.

Brian slapped Nick on the back. “I’m so glad to see this. Maybe you’ll get out of here sooner.

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that! Hey, maybe you’re right. That would be so cool.” Nick started thinking about being able to go home and sleep in his own bed, being in his own house.

“Hey, one thing at a time.” Kevin said. Leave it to Kev, he was always the one in the group that usually brought things down to the proper perspective.

“I know, but it’s so hard not to get psyched about this.” Nick couldn’t control his happiness. Last week he was looking at a lifetime of paralysis and now it looked like he would be able to walk again.

Nick’s physical therapist, Tanya came into the room. She looked shocked to see Brian and Kevin in the room with Nick. She had been excited when she was told that she would have the Nick Carter case. She liked the Backstreet Boys but tried to play it down so that she would be assigned to Nick. She tried to cover her nervousness.

“Hi Nick, how are you doing today?” Tanya looked down at his chart as she walked towards Nick.

“Pretty damn good.” Nick was still high on being able to move his right foot. It was such a big deal to him.

“You look pretty happy, why is that?” Tanya asked.

“I just found out I can do something I haven’t been able to do for a few weeks.” Nick said proudly.

“And what would that be?” The therapist asked as she looked over at Jess.

“I can move my right foot. Look.” Nick looked at his foot as he moved it.

“Hey, that’s great! I see they have you hooked back up to an IV again.” Tanya was excited for Nick being able to move his foot.

“Yeah, the nurse sneaked it in when I was sleeping after they gave me some stuff. Why did they do that?” Nick looked at Jess.

“Um, the nurse told me that with the pain in your legs that Dr. Gaynor wanted you to get IV steroids, they would work on you a lot faster than being injected every four hours or so.” Jess answered.

“Well, Nick, I think we can go up to PT and do a few things this afternoon, what do you think?” Tanya tried to sound encouraging.

“I guess I’d be willing today.” Nick replied. “Do you guys want to come along?”

“If it’s okay with her, we will.” Kevin looked at the therapist. She looked up at Kevin and felt her knees buckle. She was embarrassed when she went off balance and fell against Nick’s bed.

“Whoops, sorry about that Nick.” Tanya tried to regain her composure and cover up the fact that she nearly fainted when she looked into Kevin’s eyes. “I guess that would be okay with me if it’s ok with Nick. Nick, go ahead and get into the chair.” Tanya moved the wheelchair closer to the bed.

Nick started to move out of the bed but was stopped quickly when he felt a tug on his hand reminding him that his IV pole was on the opposite side of where he was getting out of. He glanced over at the pole and then looked at Brian who was standing next to it. No words were exchanged and Brian dutifully moved the pole over by the wheelchair. Once that was in place, Nick moved quickly into the chair.

With the IV in his hand, Nick did not object to having someone push the chair to the elevator. As they were leaving the room, there was five young girls standing outside of the door with the security guard. Nick lowered his head and didn’t look at the girls.

“Awwwh. Oh gosh, look.”

The group heard the girls whispering back and forth to one another about Nick and Brian and Kevin. The guard kept them from following the group. Jess glanced back before they got on the elevator. The girls had brought some flowers and presents to give to Nick. She always felt sorry for the girls that were turned away at the door. She heard the guard tell the girls they had to go or be escorted from the building. He also told them that they could leave their gifts at the nurses station.