I quietly said hi to Liam and Niall who sat in a corner almost asleep, lying on each other before I approached the hospital bed Harry was lying in, his eyes closed probably sleeping a little bit.
It was a sight I didn't want to experience so soon again...or ever. Seeing him lying in a hospital bed would always hurt my heart, but here we were again.
I sat down on the edge of the side of his bed and gently ran my fingers through his curls, his brows furrowed as his tired eyes fluttered open.
„Hey my love." I said quietly, smiling a bit as I looked into his tired eyes.
„Hey...you're here." He grabbed my hand instantly and tried to sit up, starting to push himself up on his elbows.
„Hey, lay back down. No need to sit up just now, sunshine." With my hand gently placed on his chest, I guided him back down. „Yes I'm here lovie. I got here as fast as I could." I leaned over to hug him gently, but he flinched immediately.
„Oow ow ow!" He let out with a sharp inhale.
„I'm sorry, I'm sorry, baby." I let go of him instantly. „How are you feeling? The nurse said you're in quite some pain." I pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.
„It hurts so much, Y/n." He said quietly. „I'm sorry...It was too soon...I should have waited longer."
„Hey none of that, love. What even happened? What made you fall?" I soothingly continued to run my hand through his hair.
„I slipped on water a fan threw on stage." He said as I noticed his eyes getting teary and soon tears slid down his cheeks. „I'm sorry you had to leave your dinner."
„Oh love." I lightly kissed his lips. „You don't have to apologize for anything, Haz. And besides, I was about to leave just as you texted me. I just want you to be okay, that's all I care about. You're my priority, always."
„Thank you. I'm so glad you're here." He took my hand again. „I really needed you. All the memories came back, all the flashbacks from that night and the surgery...the pain, it brought back everything."
„Oh Haz, my love. I'm sorry, I understand. This here feels strangely familiar, as much as I don't want it to, huh?" I wiped the tears on his cheeks away before I kissed his forehead lightly.
„Mhm." Was the only thing he said.
„It's gonna be okay, lovie. You'll be okay." I whispered in his ear, trying to calm him more. „The nurse said she gave you something for the pain, do you feel any better?"
„A little, yeah. Do you know what's gonna happen now?" He asked me.
„They're gonna get you to take x-rays and an MRI of your spine in a bit." I told him just as the door opened and a woman that most probably was doctor Brown, came in.
„Hello everyone." She greeted everyone before she came closer to Harry's bed.
„Mister Styles, I'm doctor Brown and I'll be the one in charge of your medical needs. How are you feeling?" She asked Harry.
„My back is killing me. I can barely move."
„Okay, you've got some pain medicine, you'll feel some relief soon. Now, I've talked to doctor Russell about your medical history and got all your files here, so I know exactly what's been happening over the last few months." She explained. „I learned that mid November, you underwent a spinal fusion on your T11 and T12 vertebrae due to a compression fracture that was caused by a fall."
„Yeah, that's what happened." Harry nodded slowly.
„Alright, so doctor Russell said you were recovering very well until now. I got informed you slipped and fell on your back on stage tonight? Is that right?"
„Yes, that's right, I fell straight on it."
„Okay. We'll take some x-rays and an MRI of your spine now and see if something's wrong with the fusion or if you injured the vertebrae again." She explained.
„Is it possible that he fractured it again?" I asked her.
„Unfortunately it is, yes. The procedure is still very freshly done, so it could be possible." She nodded.
„What would happen if I did fracture it again or if the fusion broke?" Harry asked.
„We'd have to perform surgery again and fix it or even do the procedure all over again."
„Fuck, no..." Harry let out quietly, his grip on my hand tightening.
„I'm sorry I don't have better news for now, but we don't know anything yet and that would be the worst case. We'll make the tests now and then we'll see from there." She explained.
They then brought Harry to take the x-rays and make the MRI while me and the boys waited in his room. I nervously walked around, praying it wasn't as bad as doctor Brown said.
I didn't know how much time passed but eventually they brought Harry back to his room, saying doctor Brown would be here in a few minutes to discuss the results. I sat back down next to Harry, soothingly running my hand up and down his arm.
The boys all still sat around somewhere in the room as they wanted to wait and see if everything was okay before they'd just leave.
„Did you call my mum?" Harry asked me quietly.
He was incredibly tired from this whole night. The show obviously drained him, then this whole incident and the pain medicine just made it worse.
„No, I didn't yet, thought you'd want to wait or do it yourself." I told him, my hand moving from his arm back to his soft hair.
„I don't want to worry her, I wanna wait til I know what's up. She'll kill me if she knows." He chuckled lightly.
„She's your mother, she'll always worry. Especially when her son had spinal surgery not that long ago, you know?"
„Yeah, I guess." He nodded when doctor Brown entered the room again along with a nurse that went to take Harry's IV out of his arm and everyone sat up and started listening to what doctor Brown was about to say.
„Please tell me you've got good news." Harry said quietly.
„I got good and bad news." She said, sitting down in her chair as she took the x-ray of Harry's spine out of his files. „Good news first, this here is your spine and the fusion." She pointed to the clearly visible metal plates and rods around his vertebrae. „Luckily, the fusion didn't break and you didn't injure your vertebrae any more, so no other fracture or anything in particular." She told us and we all sighed deeply out of relief before she continued. „You've experienced quite a bit of strain on the ligaments surrounding the vertebrae back in november and it seems that the fall tonight strained it quite a bit again. That and the fact that your spinal fusion is only three months old and you fell right on it, is the reason you're in so much pain right now. I can't stress enough how lucky you are that you didn't injure your spine any more. You're only three months into recovery and you should be gradually getting away of being in so much pain. We need you to get better and fully recover, not get worse." She explained. „Your spine needs time to heal, you need to be extremely careful."
Harry nodded understandingly. „What does that mean now?"
„For the next three weeks, you're on strict bedrest again. There's not much you can do than rest and ice your back. I only say this for your best when I say, you need the time, you need to rest and you need to recover. Don't strain yourself, don't push yourself. A spinal fusion needs a lot of time to heal, you should take that time or you'll end up with a permanent back injury." She continues explaining. „You'll be in some pain for another while, probably some more days or longer. It will take a while until the pain starts to fade again. You need to take it extremely easy from now on and rest a lot. As I said, it will take a lot of time, but if you're patient enough, you'll soon be your normal you again without any limitations, but that means you need to take care of yourself and just rest as long as your body needs to." She explained. „I gotta be honest with you mister Styles, if you continue straining your spine, the fusion will break sooner or later."