Chapter 25
Andrea opened her eyes and allowed them to adjust to the bright light above her hospital bed, taking in her surroundings as she did so. She was not sure where she was exactly, but she knew it was some type of health care facility. She tried to sit up to get a better outlook on her environment but quickly learned that was a mistake.

“Oh, my head,” she moaned quietly trying to decipher what was causing her so much pain. She tried to bring her left arm up to her head only to find that it was restrained somehow. She shifted her eyes downward and saw her arm bandaged and attached to her body in an L shape with more bandages.

“What the hell happened?” she said, speaking louder than she had before. She was beginning to panic, unsure of where she was and why she was there. She struggled to find the call button attached to her bed to summon a nurse, making quite a bit of noise as she did so. Being unable to sit up and only having range of motion in one arm caused alarm and fear to rise in her mind and she began to cry.

“Help me, someone help me! I don’t know where I am! What’s happening?” she yelled out, not able to control her emotions or her apprehension. Three people came running into Andrea’s room at the sound of her terrified cries.

“It’s okay honey, no need to worry. You are okay; we are going to put a sedative called Valium into your IV to help you relax,” one of the nurses said. She pushed the hair out of Andrea’s face and continued to smooth it as the other nurse ran the drugs through the IV in Andrea’s right hand. It began to work instantaneously, as if it were magic. Andrea took a few deep breaths then looked at the other person that had entered the room with the nurses. Who is that? She thought to herself as she began to ask the nurses what happened and where she was.

“Well dear,” the nurse that was stroking her hair said, “you hit your head in two places and broke your arm. Do you remember how that happened?”

Andrea thought really hard for a few minutes, but to no avail. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She was afraid to talk because she knew she would start crying harder, so she just shook her head from side to side. She soon realized that was the wrong thing to do; her head began to pound again, just as it had done when she tried to sit up. The nurse, who introduced herself as Stacie, saw the pained look on Andrea’s face, then looked at her watch.

“It’s time for some more pain medicine,” she said, nodding to the other nurse who was manning the IV, whose name was Amanda. As Amanda was injecting more drugs into the clear plastic tube that ran into Andrea’s hand, Stacie began to recount the events that had taken place earlier. She told Andrea about the injuries to her arm and her head, the surgery she had undergone when she arrived at the hospital to fix the bone in her arm, and the tests and examinations that had been performed on her while she was unconscious.
As Stacie was talking Andrea looked over again at the man standing in her hospital room, still trying to figure out who he was and what he was doing there. Why is he just standing there staring at me? It was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable.

“Who is that?” Andrea whispered to Amanda as if the man was not in the room with them and not able to hear what she was saying.

“You don’t recognize him?” Amanda asked back, starting to become alarmed at Andrea’s reaction and apparent disarray she felt. The man walked a little closer to her bed, hoping that if she got a closer look at him, she would recognize him. Andrea’s face still gave no hint of recognizance for the stranger in her room.

The stranger turned away from Andrea, hiding from her the hurt and ache he felt. He noticed a few people looking through the windows that separated Andrea’s room from the hallway; they were waving at him and motioning for him to come out to meet them. “Excuse me,” the man said, without even looking back at Andrea. He walked out the door and into the hallway where his friends were standing.

“Nick, how is she?” AJ asked, noticing the distraught appearance Nick had. Tears welled up in his eyes as AJ asked him that question.

“She doesn’t know who I am,” he said quietly as he began to cry. “She doesn’t have any idea that I love her, or that we were going to be together, or that…” he had to stop talking because he was crying too much. AJ hugged his best friend, feeling very sad for himself as well. She’s not going to remember me either, he somberly thought as he comforted his troubled friend.

The door to Andrea’s room opened and the nurses stepped out, closing the door behind them. “She is resting now,” said Stacie. She understood the pain they all felt as they stood in that hallway wondering if Andrea would ever remember who they are. “I called the doctor and she is on her way up here to talk to you all and explain Andrea’s condition a little better.”

“Okay, thank you,” said AJ as he nodded his head toward the couch that was situated in the hallway. “Sit down Nick; let’s wait until we hear from the doctor before we get crazy about this.” Nick obediently sat down, thankful that AJ was there with him.

“Where is Annie?” Nick asked as he settled back into the soft couch.

“I’m right here,” Annie responded, walking towards them. “I was in the bathroom.” She shifted her eyes toward Andrea’s room. “How is she?” she timidly asked, still feeling absolutely horrible about what happened.

“She is experiencing some memory problems,” AJ said, choosing his words carefully. “The doctor is on her way up here to talk to us about it.” Annie sat down on the couch with Nick and AJ, knots forming in her stomach. She wrung her hands over and over, not even making an attempt to shield her nervousness and apprehension from the guys. AJ placed his hand over hers, trying to calm her down.

“I am so sorry,” she repeated again, for what was about the hundredth time. “I did not mean to hurt her, I didn’t even realize that I had pushed her,” she continued, trying more to convince herself than to convince Nick and AJ. AJ patted her hand, letting her know that he understood, but Nick just sat there, not moving a muscle. I know that she would never intentionally hurt anybody, he told himself, trying to make sense of what she did. But how can you push someone that hard and not know it? How could she even push her that hard, period?

“Nick?” Annie asked, upset that Nick had not responded to her apology yet. He looked over at her, annoyance and anger taking over his sad blue eyes.

“I know Annie, but it still happened, and Andrea is still not okay. I just can’t try and make you feel better right now, I have other priorities at the moment,” he said coldly. He didn’t mean for it to come out so harshly, but it was the truth. He could not deal with her right now.

Annie was about to fire back at him but she did not get the chance; the doctor walked up and interrupted them. “Hi, I am Dr. Yesenia ,” she said, extending her hand to the three of them, one at a time. “I understand that you were in the room with her and she didn’t recognize you?” Dr. Yesenia asked, pointing to Nick. “I am sure that scared you quite a bit, but what you need to know is that conditions like this are usually not permanent. A combination of the anesthetic used during surgery, the knocks that she took to the head, and coinciding with that the fact of her being unconscious for that long of a time period tends to damage ones cognitive abilities, usually for an abbreviated time though. The tests that we ran, including the CAT scan show no signs of permanent memory loss, which is a very positive and encouraging prognosis.” She paused to allow the three of them to process the information she had just shared and answer any questions they had.

“How long will it take for her to remember?” Annie asked, very glad to hear it wasn’t permanent.

“It varies from patient to patient, but in most cases I have found that if they see something that meant a lot to them, something they wouldn’t typically forget on their own, they regain it that much faster.” She stopped again, noticing how beautiful Nick’s eyes were. “Like your eyes, for instance,” she said smiling at him. “I would bet that before this happened if you would have left and she never saw you again, she would have never forgotten your eyes.”

“Do you actually think that will work though?” Nick asked kind of skeptical but very flattered at the same time.

“The only way to know is to try,” she responded frankly, making sure she did not falsely or prematurely raise their hopes. “She is also going to have an extended recovery time for her arm since the bone was so badly broken. We have to wait for the incision to heal from the surgical procedure, and then her arm needs to be cast for another six to eight weeks, with x-rays every week to ensure proper healing of the bone. Other than that, she should be good as new with some rest and TLC in a week or so. Do you have any other questions for me right now because if not, I have rounds to do?”

They all shook their head no, and after an exchange of thank you’s Dr. Yesenia walked away. AJ looked at Nick, hope lighting up his soulful brown eyes.

“Well, go put those baby blues to work and jog that girl’s memory,” he said jokingly, attempting to lighten the mood and encourage Nick. Nick smiled at his friend, and then he smiled at Annie.

“Here goes nothing,” he said as he left the hallway and entered Andrea’s hospital room. “I hope this works,” he whispered, shutting the door behind him.