Chapter 4: Rehabilitation

The first few days were extremely difficult for Sam. He needed to spend more and more time awake each day, doing things like eating solid food and moving the undamaged parts of his body. But as they diminished his dosages, the pain became harder and harder to tolerate. To eat safely, they would tilt up the bed, which meant his body weight was pushing down into his damaged lower spine and pelvis.

He was in the least pain lying flat, but studying the ceiling tile above his bed was not interesting. Mostly, he had long long days of being physically miserable, and emotionally distraught.

Those first days, they would wake him for their routines, taking his vital signs, making him eat, and so on. He would rouse from his exhausted sleep, woozy from the drugs, and struggle to understand, to remember, where he was, why everything hurt, and ... Lila was dead! He cried so long, and so hard, that his eyes hurt.

The nurses were sympathetic, and did what they could to ease his pain. But he was so obviously suffering, in every way. Busy as they were, a couple of the nurses spent extra time at his bedside, even to just hold Sam’s hand.

After fifteen days, the hospital discharged Sam to stay in a skilled nursing facility. He was still on the opioids, and would be for some time to come. It would be a slow process to wean him off those powerful drugs.

After they cut the plaster cast from his hip and leg, it became clear that he would have impaired mobility going forward, owing to damage to his pelvis and hip areas, including key nerves for his left leg.

In the fourth week following the accident, the CEO of Lila’s company, Edmund Wallace, came to visit Sam.

“Thanks for visiting me, Mr. Wallace, but it’s not really necessary.”

“Please, Sam, call me ‘Bud,’ and I’m so sorry for your loss. But we have a few things to discuss, if you’re feeling up for it.”

“Trust me, Bud, my days here are long and boring.”

“I want you to know how fond of Lila we all were. I’m here because we have important next steps going forward.

“First, I’m sure you already know that Lila’s health insurance is covering your medical bills, in coordination with the insurance you also have from Stilten College. We are paying to continue your coverage for one year, using a law called COBRA. After that, you have the option to pay for up to 24 more months of that plan.”

“The important thing is you can concentrate on healing and not be concerned about finances. Lila’s retirement accumulations are already transferred to you, of course.”

“I’ve learned a lot in the past weeks. It was Lila Hartman who documented all this information for us in our HR policy guides a few years ago. Our attorneys have verified everything she prepared.” Sam could see that Bud was getting upset. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. “She was amazing.”