“See, I don’t think she does. She’s sixteen. And I’ll be honest, I don’t think the PT the doctor prescribed for her is enough. He’s basically got her going in so her muscles don’t atrophy. I think he should have done everything he could to see how mobile she can be. He didn’t do a lot of testing.”
“He knew how mobile she could be.” Which was not much at all. He’d been sick when he’d realized there was nothing he could do to help his daughter.
“I don’t think so.”
He sat up because it looked like their sweet time together was over. “Why don’t you think so?”
“Because of where her injury is,” Lila explained. “It’s very low on her spine and it’s incomplete. She has some feeling. I’ve even seen her move her hips a bit. I think with time and patience, she could potentially walk with braces.”
“That’s not what the doctor said.”
“It is what the specialist said.”
He’d been over this a thousand times. “The specialist we saw said it was very unlikely.”
“He said without proper PT she wouldn’t be able to do it,” she argued.
He shook his head. “He told us it would be difficult and painful and likely wouldn’t help.”
“And what did your second opinion doctor say? Armie, I know this makes you uncomfortable, but it’s important. I looked into the specialist Dr. Hamet sent you to. He was an old friend. Old being the operative word, and he worked in a small hospital.”
“Are you saying we don’t have good doctors?” He should have known she would come up with that argument.
“I’m saying there’s a reason for the old phrase ‘Hire an old lawyer and a young doctor.’ Younger doctors keep up with new research. I’m not saying older doctors can’t be great, but if this specialist was anything like Dr. Hamet, he thought the old ways were best. I’m shocked at some of the meds Hamet still has people on. There are better medications out there now with less side effects. He has no protocols for talking about nutrition and how it can affect diabetics. He simply gave them meds and told them to deal with it. I think that’s what happened with Noelle. He took the lazy way out.”
The old guilt was rising inside him, and he definitely didn’t like the word lazy. “I did everything they told me to do. Noelle didn’t like physical therapy. It hurt and it wasn’t going to work anyway. Do you know what it’s like to watch your child in pain? It’s not like she’s skipping therapy. She works out. She has good upper-body strength.”
“And that’s great, but I think I’m going to prescribe some new therapies for her. There’s a lot more we can do to help her now.”
He sighed, wanting to end this conversation. She was the expert here. If she thought she could help, he wasn’t going to stop her. “All right. I think we’re willing to try, but I don’t want to give her false hope.”
“If you were in her place, wouldn’t you rather try and fail than not try at all?”
She looked so earnest it made his heart break a little. He leaned over and kissed her. “All right. I’ll talk to her and you figure out what you think is best. I’ll make sure she goes to all her appointments.”
“Thank you. It’s been worrying me.” She laid back down.
He followed, happy that was over. It might be good for Noelle to get out more. He would talk to her about the colleges. She obviously couldn’t actually attend a college since she couldn’t live on her own, but he could talk to her about community college. There was one an hour away. It would be hard, but he might be able to find a way to get her to and from school.
“Have you thought about having other kids?” Lila asked.
The hits kept on coming. “Not really. I’m forty.”
“That’s not old. A lot of people are starting families at forty these days.”
“A lot of people don’t have a disabled kid to deal with.”
“She’s not a kid, though, is she?” Lila mused. “She’s a young woman, and she won’t always be at home.”
He supposed Noelle might find a husband. Probably would since she was lovely. God, he couldn’t think of a single teen in town he would trust with his daughter. He rolled onto his side. “Why are you asking?”
Her eyes were on him, soft and luminous in the low light from the lamp on the nightstand. “I don’t know. I’m curious, I guess.”
This was getting serious. He knew it, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for this conversation. “I hadn’t thought about it at all. Monica had a rough time when she was pregnant with Noelle. She didn’t want to try again. I suppose I got used to the idea of having one kid. Then we got divorced and the accident happened and I haven’t thought about remarrying or even dating at all until I met you. I kind of thought you wouldn’t want kids.”