Christy's Accident

We were horrified when we learned that Christy had had an accident. Just after the Spring break, she had gone dirt biking with her boyfriend, Scott and he had lost control of the bike, causing it to topple on Christy. Although Christy survived with a head injury, bruises, cuts, and several broken bones, Scott died at the scene when he was thrown off the bike and hit his head against a boulder. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

What’s more, was that Christy didn’t regain her consciousness after the accident, we were informed by the hospital. We were devastated by the news. Mom and Dad caught the first available flight to the town where she was hospitalized, which was a good four hundred miles south, along with Scott’s family who went to claim his body. Christy and Scott were sweethearts from their high school days, back when Scott was a star football player and Christy was a cheerleader, the parents of the two families have had a close relationship going back for years.

Mom and Dad remain with Christy, staying at a motel close to the hospital as she did not gain full consciousness for several days. Even after she gained some level of consciousness, doctors decided against transferring her to a hospital closer to home due to the condition that she was in. When they finally approved the transfer, it was a good three weeks after the accident.

We were ecstatic when the doctors at the local hospital informed us that she was recovering from physical injuries that she sustained from the accident faster than expected. While Christy’s broken ribs, fractures in her left leg, and other injuries were healing, her mental condition remained somewhat of a mystery. Although she was aware of her surroundings and the presents of others, doctors diagnosed her with dissociative identity disorder. At one moment, she could be normal and behave as such. Then without a warning, she would float from being able to recognize people and talk to them normally to not being able to recognize them or figures of her imagination.

When Christy wasn’t hallucinating in her blackouts, she was normal, but she had no recollection of what she did or said when she was hallucinating, sometimes just moments earlier.

About six weeks after she was transferred to the hospital in our hometown, she was discharged and sent to a care home for recovery. After three weeks at the care facility, doctors thought that her trauma was related to her mental condition was well enough to her to go home, although, she still went from being normal to someone who didn’t quite recognize others including the family members, and still had some difficulty moving around. Nevertheless, she was aware of her needs and was self-sufficient to some extent. For instance, she knew when she was hungry and knew when she had to use the bathroom, even when she couldn’t remember her name or the names of others. Once the food was served, she was able to help herself to it, likewise, once she was guided to the bathroom, she could do her business there, even if, mom gave her a tub bath every evening and one of us helped her to the bathroom for other businesses.

My summer vacation had just begun at the time, and I was home having graduated from high school, eagerly waiting for the start of my university life when Christy was brought home. Mom took another week off to care for my sister, while still looking for a caregiver for a reasonable sum that they could afford. During this, I spent quite a bit of time with Christy, whether she acted normal or not, helping Mom with all that I could. Christy had a standing doctor’s appointment once a week and her nurse came three times a week. On the same days that the nurse came, the physical therapist also came to visit her, and she typically took Christy into the spa on the back porch for aquatic therapy, as we were still looking for a caregiver and mom was home without pay. The spa was a new addition to the house that the parents installed, trying to do the utmost that they could to get their daughter back to being normal. They vowed to do so to their sweet girl who was the state’s miss teen, high school homecoming queen, head cheerleader, and above all, the girl one day wanted to be a chemist.

Meanwhile, as Mom and Dad had taken too much time off from work, they used much of their savings to take Christy to the care center a few days a week and Mom still took no pay leave on other days to attend to her.

One day, when the physical therapist left, Christy was as normal as she could be. She wrapped herself in a beach towel and sat in the warm sun, chatting with us. And then instantly she changed her personality, going into a traumatic blackout.

She mumbled a few words, looked in the direction of the spa, and swiftly tried to limp towards it, dragging Mom behind her. Then she insisted on going into it right away. Mom was not dressed to go into it with her and she struggled to talk Christy out of it every way she knew how, but Christy didn’t want no for an answer. Since Christy was so insistent, I took her hand, helped her sit on a patio chair, removed her shoes, and walked her to the spa and up the stairs. Then went into the water and took her in and let her sit. She laughed hysterically like a little girl.

After five minutes or so, when I took her hand to help her out, she didn’t fuss. I carried her a couple of steps down, not wanting her to fall and when I sat her down, she immediately leaned against me and kissed my lips in a swift move, and said, “Thank you, Scott. I know you still love me” I was shocked, and I saw Mom’s face and she appeared to be in shock as well. It wasn’t the kiss that shocked us both. It was Christy still remembering Scott and mistaking me for Scott. Furthermore, it was the first time that any one of us had heard her mention her passed away lover boy’s name.

That weekend, I spent quite a bit of time with my sister, whether she was acting like herself and normal or not, chatting when she was responsive, watching TV, and helping her get around the house. Seemingly, she enjoyed hanging around with me, which didn’t surprise anyone, since we always had a close relationship. What surprised Mom and Dad was, how responsive she became to me.

Dad brought up the topic first after Sunday’s dinner and mom was hesitant at first, but she decided to give it a try leaving Christy with me on weekdays. With insurance benefits rapidly depleting and caregivers and the care facility wanting an arm and a leg, I wasn’t shocked, but under the circumstances, I had agreed to give it a go, knowing it would relieve my parents of a huge financial burden.

When they discussed their decision with Christy’s doctor, he liked the idea of keeping Christy around the home surroundings and said that could even speed up her trauma-related mental condition. Although doctors were still trying to determine if there was a relationship between her mental condition and physical condition that affected her mobility, keeping her in-home environment came highly recommended. Arrangements were soon made to have a nurse and a physical therapist visit Christy at home three times a week. In addition, we had a nurse line to call when needed and mom’s work was only a 30-minute drive from home.

The first couple of days that I tended to Christy; Mom worked short days to ensure that all went well. After that, she started getting up early to get Christy ready before going to work and my only tasks were to stay with her, serve her lunch and help her to the bathroom or wherever she wanted to go inside the house. I was asked to keep all visitors, except for caregivers, out and keep all doors and windows locked, to prevent Christy from escaping to wander around alone.

The first day alone with Christy was uneventful. She was her normal self in the morning. We chatted just as we used to do, but never talked about her accident or Scott, even though she was fully aware that something had happened to limit her motion. Perhaps, she knew how she got injured and didn’t talk about it. Then after lunch, while we were watching TV together, her eyes went unfocused from the screen and she kept staring at the wall, almost like a statue. I helped her up from the couch and guided her to the bedroom. As she lay in bed, she looked very carefully at me, caressed my face, smiled like a child, and asked; “Do you still love me, Scott?” I was dumbfounded. I struggled to look at her face and finally said “Yes” before I handed her medicine and water.

By the following week, I knew enough to know that she could turn on and off her personality just like a light switch, especially when she was alone with me. I also knew that as she switched back and forth, she just couldn’t remember anything that happened at all, as her memories were isolated into two different worlds. But when she was in a blackout, hallucinating, it normally took hours before she slowly became herself again.

Given that mom applied ointment on her knee and surrounding areas every morning and evening, mom asked me to do the same at least once during the day, I didn’t refuse, but I felt it to be degrading for a brother to do for his sister. But given her condition, I began to apply the stuff daily after our lunch while we sat to watch TV.

The very first-time smearing oil over her leg and rubbing felt somewhat weird, especially when I noticed her inner thighs between the opening of her skirt. Then I also noticed how nice my sister’s legs were, even though I have seen them thousands of times before when they were on my lap while smearing oil and massaging them looked different. She had very nice legs. When I said very nice, I meant every inch of her legs, her calves, thighs, ankle, feet, and even toes looked flawless if not for the scar around one knee. Her upper legs were in really great shape, and I could see toning on the outer quads and the inner and upper parts of the legs. Up until then, her legs were just her legs and I never saw anything extraordinary about them.