I grabbed onto his hand tight whilst Mark grabbed the other. Jack swung his legs out of the hospital bed with a little bit of a struggle. His legs had now healed and he was ready to walk again: he just had to learn how.
There was one nurse and one doctor in the room, watching. They would be doing observations. And hopefully, they would also be allowing Jack to leave the hospital on that day.
Jack was sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor, breathing heavily. I understood that he was scared. He hadn't walked or really engaged in any physical activity in nearly a year.
"It's ok. Just take your time." The nurse reassured him every now and again. I gave his hand a tight squeeze to let him know it was ok.
"Do you wanna try standing up babe? Don't worry, me and Mark will help you keep your balance so you don't fall." He nodded slowly, not seeming all too sure about his answer. Me and Mark began to help pull Jack up onto his feet. Jack also put in effort and tried his hardest, but me and Mark had to put in the most work.
After a few attempts, Jack eventually stood up. Me and Mark were obviously holding onto him and helping him
keep his balance. We had to have a tight grip on him. He was struggling to stand properly. After holding onto him for about two minutes so he could get used to the feeling of not being stuck lying down in a hospital bed, I squeezed his hand again.
"Do you wanna see if you can stand on your own?" I asked, trying not to sound too demanding. He looked at me with concern in his eyes.
"I'm kinda scared...not gonna lie."
"I understand that it's scary. But I'm here. And so is Mark."
"We're gonna be here for you through all of this. If no one else is going to be, we will." Mark spoke for the first time in a while on that day. Jack looked down at the floor again before nodding.
"Ok. Mark, if you let go of his hand.." Mark did as I said. Jack wobbled a little, nearly falling back onto the bed. But he managed to regain his balance which was a good sign. It was a start. I let him get used to the feeling of having to practically stand on his own on that side of his body.
"Ok. I'm going to let go of you now. If you feel like you're going to fall just grab me or sit back down on the bed, ok?" Jack gulped, seeming fearful.
"Ok." Slowly, I began to let go of him. After about 10 seconds I removed my hand from his grasp completely.Once I had, he managed to stand for about two seconds before falling and landing on the hospital bed. He put his hands on his face, he seemed embarrassed. I sat next to him and helped him sit up again. Once he was sat up he put his head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around him.
"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll keep trying. Don't be upset, you're going to be ok." He seemed close to tears. I understood that this was quite scary and possibly traumatising for him. I rubbed his back soothingly in an attempt to make him feel a bit better.
"Wanna try again?" Mark asked. To my surprise Jack nodded and from that point we did the same thing over and over again. We repeated the same process for over an hour. By the time we stopped, he couldn't stand for a great amount of time, but he had improved. The longest he stood for on his own was nearly 10 seconds.
By this point, the two doctors had made a lot of observations and written down a lot of notes. The male spoke to us about arrangements.
"We've decided that it would be best if we don't release Jack today." My heart sank. I was really hoping he would be able to leave.
"Usually it takes about 2 months for a person's legs to recover from an incident involving cars. However, because Jack's legs got injured extremely badly, it will probably take a month longer."
"So 3 months?" Mark asked. The doctor nodded and then proceeded to give us more information.
"Unless he shows significant improvement within the next couple of weeks, we will keep him in hospital for 1 month."
"1 month?!" I asked, completely bewildered. I didn't think they would keep him in for that long.
"Yes, but thats only if his legs don't improve. If we see improvement within a couple of weeks he can leave and we can lend out a wheelchair for him to travel in whilst his legs are finishing recovering."
"Ok...well, what do you call improvement?" I asked, so I could make sure I encourage Jack to do it.
"Ideally he'd need to able to stand on his own for about a minute and at least walk from his bed to this wall on his own." The doctor pointed at the wall behind him. The expression on Jack's face continued to change. One moment he was scared, another he looked upset.
"Both of those things in two weeks?" I asked, knowing there was a high chance Jack simply wouldn't be able to improve to that point in that short amount of time. The doctor nodded.
"If you come here every day and help him try to stand and walk for at least an hour, I'm certain he'll be able to improve to that point in even less than two weeks. I recommend helping him learn to stand on his own first though. Walking will be the harder challenge." I nod and look over at him. I rub his back again, knowing that on the inside he was probably freaking the fuck out, having all of this information and stress just thrown at him all at once.
"So he's definitely gotta stay here for two weeks?" Mark asked. The nurse and the doctor nodded.
"I can't do it." Jack whispered. I kissed him on the cheek.
"You can do it. Don't worry. Me and Mark will help you. We'll come to visit you every single day and we will help you get better. Believe me: I want you out of here as soon as possible too you know." I smiled at him and he gave me a weak one back. I can't imagine all the stress and pain he must have been going through, knowing that if he didn't accomplish all that in two weeks, he'd end up spending another tedious month in the hospital. And that wouldn't be nice for anyone, especially him.