A different angel 5

At the hospital Christopher sat in the chair next to his youngest sons bed, the day had been a long one filled with tests. The doctors had been surprised that Helen had not returned as they usually were dealing with the mothers in cases like this. The reason he was here was the fact that his boss had called him first thing after they had heard what happened and had told him to be with Richard. There was a glimmer of hope Richard had said that he could feel the blankets on his legs, that led to the doctors hoping that his spine was just bruised and tissues around the spinal cord had just swollen and had started to ease.
Now we continue....

Helen nearly fell to the floor when she heard what David had said. There was the wonder where it had come from and where it would lead. The family wasn't naive but Helen had never come into contact with any one who was transgender. There was a brief flash of anger as she incorrectly thought that David was doing this for attention after what had happened to Richard. David saw the brief flash of anger and flinched and that made Helen get control of her emotions. She could see the fear and confusion on her sons face and she without a seconds hesitation embraced the young adult again.

Richard could feel an itch in his toes and he wondered if it was real or maybe a phantom sensation. Then to his surprise he could feel his big toe moving against the sheet on the hospital bed. He also felt uncomfortable around his middle and he took a mental inventory. Christopher saw the coverings on the bed move and he was a little shocked, and then he heard Richard start to laugh a little bit and that lifted his spirits. The sound brought in a nurse and Richards doctor on morning rounds and he raised an eyebrow at the display in front of him.

“Don't worry doc, I ain't mad just I can feel the sheet on my toes and they are moving.” Richard could not keep the joy out of his voice.

The doctor nodded and also smiled and made a few notes on his PDA, the nurse waited for the doctor to give instructions but when he said nothing left to continue with her duties.

“Richard I'm glad to hear that some sensations are returning, I will be honest it's only a night so we will need to continue testing and medications” The doctor kept his tone easy and light.
Richard and Christopher talked for a while after the doctor had finished before the porter came to take the young man and his bed down to medical imaging for further tests. There was still the underlying ache and stiffness in his back and being motionless on the bed was a major contributor. They had done their best in the hospital by using an air mattress and Christopher was intrigued by it's design. Working with his hands and machines was always a passion and he always found he was drawn to trying to come up with ways to improve things.

Down in the imaging suite Richard was put through another barrage of MRI's and CAT scans, he was glad of the hard bench of the machines as he felt them stretching the kinks out of his back unintentionally. The tech was keeping up a stream of banter in the headphones he was wearing and constantly reminded him to keep still. This started to get irksome and as a typical teenager Richard started to get a little annoyed and he started to intentionally smile and frown as he was fed into the various machines. This delayed the work of the tech a few times but she had the patience of a saint. In fact she was used to kids and teens with the machines and really very rarely got annoyed with them as she was working.

The imaging work took an hour and Richard was starting to get even more restless, thankfully after that hour they started to wheel him to another department and his father joined him. Now the doctors knew there was no breaks in the spine or spinal column they had decided that physiotherapy was needed but no walking or out of the bed yet for young Richard. The therapist was surprisingly a young woman who appeared to be in her early 20's and to further grate against Richards annoyance after the scans was too bubbly. In his head she appeared to his mental imaging like an American cheerleader. This caused him to lose the anger and he started to laugh again, it also started to lift his depression on the thought of him being a cripple.

“Well Richard I'm Mandy, do I call you Richard or what do you like to be called?” Mandy started as an introduction.

“Just call me Rich, Mandy and how are you going to torture me?” Richard managed to smile.

Mandy explained all she was going to be doing today was to start moving and massaging his legs, not with the full range of motions it was more of a case of keeping some definition in his leg muscles and to gauge daily the levels of sensation he was getting back. Both Richard and Christopher were taken aback by how open Mandy was about the treatment and goals she would be carrying out. She then set to work after pulling the covers up off Richards leg and started to flex his right leg in small bends. As she touched his leg Richard turned away as he was starting to blush as would any red blooded male at the touch of a pretty young woman on their body. Mandy didn't react as he thought she would by teasing him but kept her voice bubbly but proffesional, that broke his internal fantasies and he inhaled sharply. He could feel the warmth of her hands and each finger on his right calf as she massaged it.

“I can feel your hands Mandy!” Richard crowed............