It’s the day after the surgery and I have nurse in here checking on my leg. I have stitches going down my leg. “Sit up so you could take your medicine.” She says sweetly smiling at me. I sit up and take the pills out of the plastic cup and swallow it with the cup of water.
“How long is it going to hurt for?” I ask.
“Well you just took your medicine, so the meds should kick in soon, but overall you’ll feel the pain for the next day or two, depends how well the surgery went with your leg.” She tells me. My father walks in with a shopping bag in his hand and places it on the rolling desk and set it next to my lap.
“Eat up, your mom made your favorite.” He says taking the mansef out the bag.
“I’m not hungry.” I say putting my head on the pillow. “I just want to go home.” I say frustrated with being trapped in this bed.
“Sara, you heard the doctor, you won’t be able to go home for a week, so eat before you starve. I’m not going to take this from you.”
“I said I’m not hungry.” I say closing my eyes wanting to sleep for the whole week.
“Sara, I said eat.” My father yells at me.
“I said I’m not hungry. Just leave me the hell alone.” I yell back.
A few minutes of me ignoring him he finally walks out the room and I slide the table away from me and laying down. As I’m about to fall asleep someone opens the door. “Sara.” I hear Jihad’s voice.
“Leave me alone.” I say to through my tears. “Just go. Please.” I say desperately. When he doesn’t leave I turn to look at him and I’m surprise to see both Kevin and Troy standing there with him, both of them holding gift bags. “What?” I say wiping my tears.
“Why aren’t you eating?” He asks concerned. He sits on the chair closest to the bed and looks me in the eye. “I know you’re in pain and you don’t want to be here, but if you don’t eat, than the doctors will make you stay longer until you do eat, so just get it over with.” He says kindly.
“I can’t. I just can’t. Okay?” I say annoyed with him.
“Yes you can.” He says. “Just try to okay? Take it slowly. Nobody’s forcing it down your throat but you have to eat something, it’s five and you still didn’t eat anything yet.” He says.
“Yes I did, I did and I threw it up. I can’t eat anything. Don’t you get it?”
“You threw it up because you wanted to.”
“You really think I wanted to throw up? I can’t even believe you’re saying this to me. Just leave me the hell alone. Just go.” I lie back down and ignore whatever he’s saying and he gives up just like my father did.
I fall back asleep and a nurse comes in and takes my blood pressure and my temperature. I open my eyes slowly and realize it’s already night time. I see Jihad in one of the chairs sleeping, low snores coming out of his mouth. “I got you a late snack, your stomach will be able to handle it. I heard your stomach couldn’t handle the food your mom got.” She says handing me a little tub of Jell-O. I take it and take my time eating it. “I have to replace your IV since it’s empty.” She says and I hold out my arm and look away. I squeeze my eyes shut while she replaces it. I absolutely hate needles and if I look at them I’ll throw up. “All done.” She says a few seconds later and I open my eyes. My father walks in with a smile on his face.
“I’m sorry about earlier Sara.” He says sitting next to me. “I just want what’s best for you.” He says taking my hand in his. I nod my head not wanting to say anything and look down at my ankle, this time they wrapped it in a hot pink case which I’m guessing Tamara told them since she knows my favorite color. I see a few signatures on it and smile at them. I guess people came in while I was asleep and didn’t want to wake me up.
My father is wearing his doctor outfit so I guess he’ll be here for the night working, while mom and everyone else is in the house. “Why didn’t mama come?” I ask.
“She did while you were sleeping, she didn’t want to wake you up, but she sat here for hours watching you sleep.” He tells me with a small smile on his face. “We’re all worried about your health.”
“I know, but you don’t have to be, you see I’m eating.” I say showing him the tub of red Jell-O. He smiles at me and stands up.
“Good, maybe we should just order you Jell-O from now on until you get home.” He says jokingly. “Well duty calls, I’ll be back to check on you in a little. Okay?” I nod my head and finish eating the Jell-O.
Before I know it the sun is up and Jihad wakes up wiping at his tired eyes. “Good morning.” I say with a smile on my face.
“You’re already up?” He asks confused.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I say sitting up. “You going to school today?”
He looks at the time and jumps out the seat. “Shit I’m late.” He yells out. Before he runs out the door, he kisses my head and wishes me a good day. As if that’ll happen in here, I think to myself.
My mom walks into the room with a shopping bag and places it on the bed. “I got your laptop and phone to keep you entertained while you’re here. And I heard you’ll only eat Jell-O so I got you this as well.” She says taking out a huge box of every flavor Jell-O. I hug her and thank her. “I know you don’t want to be here right now, but it’ll go by in no time, especially with cute doctor you have. Who will be here every so often to check on you.” She says and as soon as she says this Dr. Kamel walks into the room with a clip board.
“How are you feeling today Sara?” He asks with a smile on his face.
“Better than yesterday.” I say smiling back.
“That’s great, do you feel any pain?” I shake my head stating I just took the medicine. “That’s even better, how would you feel about trying out walking on crutches?” He asks and I get excited. “You mean I could get out of bed?” I ask.
“Yes, come on.” He says taking my hand and handing me my crutches. I stand up on my good leg and he helps me get comfortable. “Walk around the room for a few minutes.” He says and I crutch to the window and back. “How does it feel when you crutch right now?”
“Like how I was before the surgery.” I say.
“Do you want to walk around out there to see how it is?” He asks. I nod my head eagerly and he smiles at me. “You have to make a promise to me though.” He says.
“Yeah, sure.” I say.
“If you feel uncomfortable, or you can’t walk anymore, you have to let me know.” He says and I nod my head shaking his head promising him.
“Why is this so serious?” I ask confused.
“Because sometimes after the procedure, your body isn’t used to it so some people can’t crutch around because their body is in too much shock, so they fall over.” He says and I get scared. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, you’re responding pretty well for the day after the surgery.” He says. We get outside of the room and I start to crutch around the hallway while Dr. Kamel follows me around keeping an eye out for me, but also giving me room to move where I want to go. I feel so much better now that I’m out of the bed but after a few minutes I start to get dizzy and hold my head in my hands dropping my crutches at the same time. Just as I black out I feel someone catch me before I fall down. I feel my body his the soft bed but I can’t open my eyes.
“Oh my God, Sara. What happened to her?” I hear my mother asks.
“She was in too much shock. Her body couldn’t handle it, it’s normal after someone undergoes a surgery. She’ll wake up soon enough though. Don’t worry, she’s fine.” I hear the doctor say just as someone starts to shake me awake.
“Sara, wake up. Come on Sara wake up.”
“What?” I ask snuggling into the blanket. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just let me sleep.” I open my eyes and jolt up. “What happened? I don’t remember walking back into here.” I say confused.
“Well you sort of fainted while you were walking.” Dr. Kamel says. “It happens a lot, nothing to be worried about you. You’re fine.” He says.
“Can I go out again?” I ask with hopeful eyes.
“Not today, we’ll go back tomorrow.” He says with a smile on his face. “Well, you should eat lunch now, I’ll leave you alone now.” He says walking out. “Oh, look at that, you have visitors.” He says turning to look at me with a smile. He steps aside and lets the five people through the door before stepping out, closing the door on his way out. I turn to see who’s at the door, it’s Jihad, Kevin, Troy, Tamara, and Dalia. Troy and Kevin are holding a few balloons each, and the girls are holding gift bags. “You guys didn’t have to get anything.” I say with a smile on my face.
“Well, it’s our way of saying, we hope you feel better.” Troy says tying the six balloons to the chair. The girls place the gift bags next to the other ones. I still didn’t have time to go through them.
“You guys got me something yesterday. You don’t have to get something every day. Shit happens. I’m fine.” I say raising my eyebrows at them.
“Well you should know that the whole school found out that it’s Brianna’s fault you’re here, everyone at school is worried about you.” Troy says smiling at me.
“Well that just reminded me that I have so much to catch up on.” I groan.
“No need to worry, I have it handled.” Tamara says taking something out of her back and hands me it. “The teachers were nice enough to make the work easier, they gave you a packet each, but you have all week to do it and you hand it in whenever it’s done.” She says placing a pen onto the bed. I place the pen on the table that’s next to bed, along with the packets. Someone knocks on the door and my father walks in with normal clothes on which tell us he’s not working today. He’s carrying Zeina and once she sees me in the bed with the cast she starts to cry.
“Sara, what happened?” She sniffles and I hold out my arms to grab her and she holds onto me. I lay her down on the bed next to me.
“I’m fine habibti. You don’t have to worry.” I tell her wiping at her tears.
“No you’re not. You’re in a hospital. You weren’t home yesterday.” She says.
“I’ll be home soon. I promise okay?” I say and she nods her head hiding her face in my chest. I play with her hair and I hear her sniffles. Troy is looking at us with a smile on his face and my father spots him looking at me.
“Who are you?” My father asks protectively.
“Jihad’s friend.” Troy responds knowing he can’t say we know each other. My father nods and says something to my mom.
“Okay, Zeina. Time to go, I’ll bring you back tomorrow.” My mom says with small smile on her face.
“No, I want to stay with Sara.” Zeina cries out holding onto my neck not wanting to let go.
“Zeina nobody is allowed to stay the night, say good night, you’ll see her tomorrow. I promise let’s go.” My mother says prying her arms from my neck.
“No.” Zeina screams out. “I want to stay with Sara.” She yells. The door is closed before I could say good night.
Troy, Kevin and Jihad leave a few minutes. Before Jihad walk out he sits down on the chair and looks at me. “If you get bored tonight and can’t sleep, I’ll come and keep you company. Okay?” He says and I nod my head. He walks out along with Dalia and Tamara. Tamara is probably going to stay at Dalia’s house for the day, and Jihad is probably going to drop them off.
“Sara, it’s getting pretty late. You should get some rest, we’ll redo the walking tomorrow, and we’ll do it every day until you’re ready to go home.” Dr. Kamel says to me. Everyone in my family left to let me sleep so I fluff out my pillow behind my head and lie my head down. Dr. Kamel gets two pillows from a closet and places them under my ankle elevating my leg. “I’ll check on you first thing in the morning.” He says shutting the lights and closing the door.