Finally, I was out of the hospital and back at home, with orders to take it easy for a few days. I was spending most of my time in bed, either reading a book, watching TV or YouTube, or drawing.
I woke up one morning to my alarm clock blaring and I sat up, yawning. When I sat up, a shooting pain went through my left arm.
"Ow!" I said to myself, rubbing my shoulder. I looked over at my arm and it was swelled up and a different color compared to the rest of my arm. Something was definitely wrong, I just wasn't sure what. I just knew one thing, I didn't want to go back to the hospital again. I had been there more than enough.
"Penney? You awake?" I heard Dana call from the hallway outside my bedroom. I took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, just waking myself up." I heard the door creak open and Dana came in my room. She noticed the pained expression on my face and said, "Penney, honey, are you okay?"
I weakly smiled and said, "I'm fine, I must've just slept on my arm funny. It's really sore for some reason." What Dana didn't know was that my arm was more than sore. It was a throbbing, burning pain in my left arm.
"Your arm looks really weird, Penney. Do you mind if I touch it?" I shrugged and Dana gently put her hand on my arm." I cringed a little from the sensitivity and the pain and Dana said, "Penney, I know this is the last thing you want me to say, but I think we need to take you to the doctors."
"N-not the hospital, right?" I said, my voice shaking as much as my body as I tried to stand up.
"Well, it depends on what the doctor says." Dana said. I blinked back my tears and managed to get up, ignoring the shooting pains in my arm and the after-surgery pains in my legs.
_______
So, I have a chronic pain disorder.
And that was the last diagnosis I ever expected to receive. It was pretty shocking to me and took a bit to wrap my mind around, but I got medicine and the doctors said I could live a pretty normal life, I just had to be careful.
I was looking out the window of Dana's car as we drove to the Winter Garden after my doctor's appointment. I sighed and slipped in my headphones, not wanting to look at the brace that was now on my left arm.
"Hey Penney?"
"Yeah?"
"We're here." Dana said with a smile on her face. I took a deep breath and looked at the theater, I haven't been there since my accident a few weeks ago. I walked in the door and Presley immediately attacked me in a hug.
"You're alive!" Presley squealed. I chuckled and said, "Yeah, alive with a chronic pain disorder."
"Is that Penney Steingold?"
"ALEX!" I yelled. Alex picked me up and spun me around and then said, "I missed you, kid. I would've come to visit you in the hospital but I was just so busy."
"It's fine. I'm glad I'm home now. And before you ask, the brace is from CRPS. Chronic pain disorder. Fun." I said.
I looked around at my surroundings, and I felt a weird feeling I haven't felt before in a while.
I felt like I was home.