It Only Took A Minute
Chapter Four
Amnesia.
The term used to describe the partial or complete loss of memory.
Traumatic amnesia.
Brain damage caused by a severe non-penetrative blow to the head.
And as if things couldn’t get any worse.
Incomplete spinal cord injury.
Injury resulting in sensory and/or motor impairment- affecting the spinal cord’s ability to send and receive messages from the brain. Results in a loss of feeling and movement in the lower part of the body. As swelling of the spinal cord goes down the nerves may begin to work again…but there is no guarantee.
Justin stared at Dr. Sanders in disbelief.
“So will she ever remember anything?”
“It’s most likely that she will regain her memory.” Dr. Sanders said optimistically. “It takes some patients days, but it may take others years. The best thing you can do for her is try to help her remember with pictures and stories. She may get upset easily if she can’t remember, but don’t treat her any differently, she’s still Allison.”
“What about the paralysis?” Marie, Allison’s mother, asked.
“Next week Allison will start physical therapy. Allison is basically starting over from scratch. She’ll have to relearn how to walk entirely. Her spinal cord is badly bruised and perhaps once the swelling goes down she’ll regain feeling in her nerves, but as I have told you there is no guarantee.” He explained.
“Thank you doctor.” Peter, Allison’s father, said standing up.
The three left the room in silence.
“Peter and I will go sit with her for awhile. Why don’t you tell the others what’s going on.” Marie suggested.
Justin nodded. “Okay, I’ll be back in a little bit.”
As Justin entered the waiting room everyone looked at him.
“How is she?” Josh asked.
Justin sat down next to Chris and put his head in his hands.
“She’s lost all feeling in the lower half of her body which may or may not come back. And she has no idea who she is or anyone else.” Justin said.
“She lost her memory?” Krista asked.
“Yeah, it’s called traumatic amnesia or something.” Justin said.
“So is she going to get her memory back? Will she be okay?” Joey asked.
“The doctor said her memory will eventually come back, but there is no guarantee when. As for the paralysis she’ll have to learn how to walk all over again.” He said.
Nicki sat on Justin’s other side and hugged him as tears began to fall down his face.
“She’s a tough girl and we’ll all be here to help her. It’s going to be okay.” Nicki said.
“I don’t understand. Everything was going so great. We were going to get married next month. Now she doesn’t even know who I am.” Justin said angrily.
“Justin?” Marie asked stepping out into the hall. “Are you ready?”
Justin wiped the tears off his face with the back of his hand and nodded. Slowly he stood up and made his way into Allison’s room.
“We’ll be right outside.” Marie said squeezing Justin’s shoulder.
“Hello.” Allison said.
“Hi.” He said quietly as he sat down next to her.
“So how do I know you?” she asked.
Justin almost couldn’t answer…he felt sick to his stomach.
“Are we friends?” Allison asked.
“A little more than that.” He said.
“Are you my boyfriend?” she asked.
“More.” Justin said.
“Please don’t tell me we’re married.” Allison cried.
Justin chuckled.
“Are you trying to tell me that you wouldn’t want to be married to me?”
Allison smiled.
“That’s not what I meant. I just meant that this whole ordeal would probably be ten times worse if you and I were married.”
“No, we’re not married. But we’re supposed to be in less than a month.” He told her.
“So you’re my fiancé.” She said.
“That’s right.” He said.
“And your name is?” Allison asked.
“Justin.” He replied.
“So Justin…can you tell me something about me?” she asked shyly.
“Sure. Well, you live with me and work at the Orlando Dance Conservatory.” He said.
“I do? Am I teacher?” she asked.
Justin nodded.
“Yep. You teach little kids ballet and pre-teens jazz and modern. I always asked to choreograph for us but you insist you’d never work with someone over three feet tall.”
“Choreograph for you?” she asked feeling confused.
“I’m in a pop musical group called *NSYNC.” He explained.
“I’m going to marry a pop star.” Allison muttered. “Wow. So tell me how we met.”
“About two years ago in New York, that’s where you’re from, I saw you at a club. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. So I finally got up the nerve to talk to you and it was love at first sight. We dated for a year and recently you moved here to Orlando.” Justin said.
She nodded.
“What else do you want to know Allie?” he asked.
"Did you just call me Allie?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s my nickname for you. You always told me that when you were a kid and people called you Allie you hated it, but somehow coming from my mouth it sounded nice.” He said.
Tears began to glisten in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Justin asked.
“I’m alright. I’m just sad that I can’t remember.” She said.
“Don’t worry. Your parents, and myself, and a whole gang of your friends who are in the waiting room are here to help you.” Justin reassured her.
“Wow. I can’t believe I’m so popular.” She commented.
“There’s about a million things I could tell you about yourself that you probably wouldn’t believe.” Justin said.
“We’ll see about that. Start at the beginning.” She said.
Chapter 5