Chapter 3
N elly watched Zander carefully over the next few days, and he certainly was eating. However, he just wasn’t putting on weight. She talked to Shane about it.
Shane nodded. “We see cases like this, where their body’s so stressed that it burns through everything that they consume.
So, we should see some progress, as soon as he gets a chance to calm down—but it might take a week or two or six,” he shared, noting her surprised look.
“Remember that the human body can only handle so much at one time, and, if we stress it more than that, he won’t do very well.
I’m starting his rehab program with very light exercises.
He fatigues very easily. So we need to constantly build him up with supplements and green drinks. ”
She nodded. “I’ve got down two a day with Zander so far.”
“Depending on how well he tolerates it, cut the water volume in half, make them much more intense, and probably give him three if not four a day,” Shane suggested.
She nodded. “We can try that starting tomorrow.”
“But build him up slowly with that green drink change,” Shane added. “Let’s keep that stomach solid.”
With that, she headed back down to the kitchen to talk with Dennis about it, as he made the shakes, at least the base of them.
He approved of the idea. “We’ve got several guys on three a day. Let’s try Zander with that.”
“He’s eating plenty though. He is just not yet showing any signs of weight gain.”
“It’s early days yet,” Dennis pointed out. “If we were talking three months down the road with no improvement, that would be a different story.”
She nodded. As she turned to leave, Dani walked in, looking harried. Nelly grinned at her. “Isn’t getting married fun?”
Dani rolled her eyes. “I still think we should have just got married a long time ago in a very small way.”
“Oh, but that wouldn’t have been fun for anybody,” Dennis protested.
“It’s my wedding,” Dani declared. “It’s supposed to be fun for me too.”
He nodded. “And it will be. You just need to get through all this prep work.”
“I get it.”
And that was the last Nelly heard as she headed down the hallway.
She mentally counted off the various patients she worked with.
Of all of them, Zander was the only one who was a cause for concern.
The others were showing progress, even one who had taken quite a while to show progress was now doing quite well.
And she realized Shane was correct. She was the one who was worried.
She came up to Zander’s door and knocked.
A half-hearted reply came from the inside.
She pushed open the door, frowning at the odd cry. She stuck her head around and winced.
Zander was half arched and half twisted in bed, not flat and yet not sitting up either.
“Good Lord,” she muttered, as she walked forward. “That looks painful.”
“I guess I cramped up, and I didn’t realize it,” he muttered, gasping. “Until my body froze, and now I can’t seem to move.”
“I’ve got Shane on speed dial.” And she quickly contacted Shane and told him what was up.
“I’ll be there right away,” he muttered. “I just finished with another patient.”
She looked over at Zander. “He’s coming.”
“Don’t want to bother him,” he said, still gasping.
“If you don’t think this is bad enough to bother people over, then we have a problem.” His grin was more of a grimace, but she accepted it. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Does that hurt?”
He shook his head. “No, just everything else.”
Then Shane walked in, took one look, and nodded. “Yep, that looks like fun.” He turned to Nelly. “You want to send a nurse with a muscle relaxant, please.”
“I can do that,” she agreed and took off.
*
Shane turned, looked down at his patient, unscrewed the lid to the jar of homeopathic ointment that he had in his hand, and said, “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” Zander muttered.
“ Go , as in, I’ll get to work on you.” And he gently rolled Zander over, so he was on his stomach and partially off the bed. And then he started to work on Zander’s back and side.
Zander laughed, but it came out as a groan. “That feels really good.”
“And it’ll calm down the muscles pretty fast, once we get a muscle relaxant down you as well.”
With that, Zander tried to relax, but he was always afraid about the pain that came with any movement.
“You’ll be fine, just let it go, let the muscles relax,” Shane stated, using long smooth strokes.
Finally Zander managed to stretch out a little bit more and to take off yet another layer of pain. “That helps.”
Just then a nurse walked in, smiled, and held out the medication. Shane allowed Zander to shift long enough to take it and to get it down. And then he added, “Now lie back down again.”
And, with that, Zander stretched out once more to let Shane do his work.
Nelly stood at the doorway and watched. “The muscle massages really make a difference, don’t they?” she muttered.
Shane looked over at her and smiled. “Sometimes it’s the only thing that does make a difference. Of course the hot tub’s good too.”
“The hot tub would be great,” Zander muttered.
At that, Shane chuckled. “Hey, you’re not the only one to think that,” he shared. “We do run cycles on it some days. It can get so popular.”
“And yet lots of time,” she murmured from the door, “it seems to be completely empty.”
At that, Shane nodded again. “Not everybody needs it all the time, but it’s funny how we do get runs on it. So generally we have people coming and going at a steady pace.”
“I would like to be one of the ones going into it,” Zander murmured.
“And I would sign you up, but we haven’t tested you enough yet to know how you’ll get in and out.”
“I’ll roll in,” Zander replied. “How’s that?”
“You really want to give it a shot?”
“I sure do,” he murmured.
“Fine. Do you think you can sit up?”
And, with his help, Zander sat up, switched his pants out for swim trunks, and together they helped get him into the wheelchair. He flushed as he looked up at her. “Wow, that was a really elegant entrance, wasn’t it?”
“Hey, I don’t care how it looks,” she said, the worry coloring her tone. “I think the hot tub sounds like a great idea.”
“Yeah, you coming in with me?” Zander teased.
She laughed. “The fact that I’m off work makes that an interesting invite,” she shared. “The fact that you’re screaming in pain, not so much.”
“I’ll be fine,” he grumbled, followed by a groan. At that, Shane moved him forward, and he groaned again. “Sitting like this doesn’t feel very good.”
“Yet most of time you’re doing pretty well,” Shane noted.
Zander shook his head. “I didn’t realize how much that nutritional lack would kick in over this.”
“It’s hardly just about that,” Shane explained. “When you think about it, you’ve come a long way.”
“I guess I have.”
“Though everything has to happen in balance,” Shane reminded him. “Otherwise we’re in danger of causing more trouble than helping.”
“If you say so,” he muttered, “but the hot tub still sounds good.”
“And we’re getting there. I promise you that we’re getting there.” Shane laughed.
They rolled into the elevator that Zander had yet to see and descended one floor. They rolled out and toward the hot tub, when he saw an animal jump in before he got there. Zander asked, “What was that?”
At that, a man came running out from the double doors. “Hey, sorry. That one’s mine.”
Zander looked down. It was a ferret of some kind—no, a weasel. “Is that an otter or a weasel?” he asked.
“It’s an otter. He came in for help, and I lost him out the door. Of course it headed right for the water.”
“But why warm water?” Zander asked, staring at it.
The animal rolled over and over, as if having a grand old time.
Nelly laughed. “Stan, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Hopefully I can catch him and can take him back inside again,” Stan noted, with a sigh. “Just when you think you’ll have a good day, everything blows up.”
“Oh, I hear you there,” Zander muttered, as he shifted from the wheelchair to the ground and slowly scooched closer to the hot tub and the otter.
The otter looked at him and made a weird clackering sound, then came closer to him.
“So, is he dangerous?” Zander asked.
“No, not at all. He’s a pet, and he was having some trouble with a back leg, but you wouldn’t know it from here.”
“I’m having lots of trouble with my legs, so maybe he can teach me a thing or two.” As Zander looked down, he smiled at the otter. “Sorry, buddy, but I have to get in there too.”
And, with that, Zander slid into the water, along with the otter.
Zander never expected to go swimming with an otter, but, hey, if that’s what the day brought, he was more than fine with it. As he watched the silky critter slunk over the edge and headed to the main pool for a longer swim under Stan’s watchful eye.
As Zander sank into the water, he shuddered with relief. “That feels so much better.” He moaned. “Just the heat helps.”
“And that would be the next thing I did in your room,” Shane murmured. “Put a hot blanket on your back.”
“Maybe when I return to my room,” Zander added, shuddering in joy. “I can’t believe how good this feels.”
“Even if it’s just psychological,” Shane began, “it’ll always be something that makes you feel better.”
“And anything that makes me feel better is a bonus, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I can’t leave you here unattended,” Shane explained, “so I’ll grab a chair and stay a while.”
At that, Zander opened his eyes and stared at him. “I didn’t even think of that. You’re off work.”
“Doesn’t matter if I am or not.” Shane gave him a smile. “Sometimes work doesn’t end just because the clock strikes 4:00 or 5:00 p.m.”
“I get it.” Zander looked over at Nelly. “You can go home though.”
“We both live here,” she pointed out. “So nobody feels like leaving you alone on your own right now.” When Zander frowned, she frowned right back and then laughed. “Every time you frown at me, I’ve decided I’ll frown right back but twice as long.”