Finding the Words

Title page-3

As Ryan reached the door to the room, he looked back one more time. The man had apparently fallen back to sleep: chest rising and falling regularly, the heart monitor beeping steadily.

The nurse he had spoken with earlier appeared at his side.

“How’s he doing?” she asked.

“It’s hard to tell just yet. Have to let things play out. He’s asleep now, I think.”

“I’ll take his vitals,” the nurse said and entered the room.

Ryan watched a minute more as the nurse carried out the procedure, and then walked down the hall to the family lounge. As he entered the room, the Thompsons stood and walked toward him. Since there were other families in the room, Ryan led them to a small conference area.

“Well?” the former Mrs. Thompson demanded, “Will he get over this?”

“I’m pleased to say he’s alert and responsive,” Ryan said with a smile that hid his dislike for the woman.

“Thank God,” one of the young men said.

“He should show some improvement over the next day or two, but right now he appears to have some expressive aphasia as well as apraxia.”

Knowing from past experience that relatives rarely understood such terms, he went on to explain. “Aphasia is the loss of language function. In Mr. Thompson’s case it is mainly expressive as far as I can determine at this time. He appears to understand, but has trouble when asked to respond with speech.”

“What is the other thing you mentioned all about?” Mrs. Thompson asked.

“Apraxia?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a condition in which you know what you want to do, and are able to do it, but can’t make the connection to do it voluntarily.”

Seeing they were puzzled, Ryan explained further.

“Say you wanted to unlock a door. You know what you want to do, but even though you are holding the key in your hand, you can’t make the connection between holding it and inserting it into the lock.

“In your husband’s…uh…Mr. Thompson’s case it’s oral apraxia. When I asked him to make certain sounds, he moves his tongue and lips, but he can’t make the proper connections to produce them. However, I know he has the motor ability, because he can swallow and lick his lips involuntarily.”

“Will he get over these things?” the shorter of the two sons asked.

“I can’t say for sure, but there is every reason to believe that he will recover all or, at least part of his language function.”

After explaining to the Thompsons that Mr. Thompson would have further evaluations, and would begin both speech and physical therapies, he left to return to the rehab wing. The family returned to the patient’s side.

As Ryan was waiting for the elevator, a tall, handsome young man walked up and stood beside him.

“Hi, Ry,” he said. You up here to do an eval?”

“Yeah, Mr. Thompson, 346.”

“Oh yeah, I helped with the prep for surgery. He’s a pretty hot guy for an old man.”

Ryan ignored the remark, but admitted to himself he agreed with the young man’s assessment.

The elevator door’s opened. The two men got in. They were alone. The young man pressed five and then two. “See, I remember where you live,” he said with a smile.

Ryan returned the smile.

“Uh…I hear you and Jeff aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

Ryan visibly stiffened.

“Hey, sorry, man,” his elevator partner said.

“It’s okay, Ben. No, we’re not seeing each other anymore.”

The elevator stopped at five, and the door opened.

Ben held the door as Ryan got off.

“Could I maybe give you a call sometime?”

Ryan half turned. “I don’t think I’m ready yet, but thanks.”

“Well, okay, maybe in a couple weeks?”

Ryan just smiled as the doors slid closed. It’ll take more than a couple of weeks, try a couple of millennia, Ryan thought sarcastically.

Ben was sweet, handsome and young. He had shown an interest in Ryan ever since he had started work at U Hospital as a nursing assistant a year earlier. Then Ryan had let him know that he had a boyfriend. Maybe he should have been more direct and let Ben know that even if Jeff hadn’t been in the picture, he wasn’t interested in guys that much younger than he was. In fact Jeff was a bit of a stretch as he was nearly ten years younger than Ryan at 25. But Jeff’s energetic charismatic nature and good looks had overcome his resistance, and he let him into his life and heart.

He wished now he had stuck to his convictions.

He continued on his way to his office to make notes on the Thompson evaluation, before joining the O.T. to work with Mrs. Welty.