Three months had passed and I couldn't have asked for anything better. It was the easiest relationship I had ever been in. Easy in the sense that everything seemed to just happen how I had always imagined. Dinner dates, long conversations, surprises, flowers, notes, and the occasional weekend home to get acquainted with Mom and Dad. But that was all put on hold when...
One evening as I was making dinner for the roommates and Nate, he called me on the way home from practice and said...Well I have good new and bad news. He then followed with..."I am on my way, but I have to get surgery on Thursday". What? What happened? He had dislocated his left knee cap for the third time and the training staff finally said enough is enough. So that following Thursday Heather (Nate's sister) and I waited while the doctors went to work. As they wheeled Nate out of surgery they warned both Heather and I that he would be groggy and a little out of it. That was an understatement. When Nate finally saw Heather and I, he rubbed his fists together, put them to his chest and yellled CLEAR as his body convulsed up and down, ready to be "revived". As one who has never seen someone come out of anesthesia, I was a little concerned to say the least. That is one of many stories that I experienced while Nate was under the influence. After a night's stay in the hospital, Nate was finally ready to come home. With his oxy cotton in hand to dull the pain he was ready for anything. That weekend was only the beginning of much to come. With very explicit instructions from the doctor, oxy cotton was to be taken every 4 to 6 ours and muscle relaxants every 2 to 3 hours and Aspirin everday. Only Heather and I kind of forgot the Aspirin part of it, so the recovery went from bad to worse. He had stopped taking his pain medications a few days after surgery but was experiencing worse pain in his calf than his knee. His calf looked like a snake when it swallows a mouse and you can follow the mouse down the snake's body as he slowly digests his good. We then looked at the sheet entitled "Signs of Blood Clots" and sure enough we rushed him to the ER, where ultra sounds were taken. The doctor was "98% positive" that he didn't have a blood clot, but come to find out he had two! Again, Nate was admitted to the hospital where he spent one night and was put on Cumadin. As the days went on his knee was refusing to go down in swelling and the pain increased. He decided to go see the doctor one last time (or so he thought) to make sure everything was alright. Come to find out his knee was swelling from the inside out with blood. The doctor proceeded to pull out six 120 CCs of blood. The pain was immediately gone and Nate couldn't have been happier. But after only 2 hours of returning from the doctor, the pain began to intensify. Back to the doctor we went, where 2 more viles were taken from his knee and admittance to the hospital was next. Nate remained in the hospital on morphine drip to subside the pain as they monitored his blood levels. After three days in the hospital, the original surgeon wanted to go back in and put a drain in his knee to stop it from swelling. This was finally the end of it. Nate was released 2 days later to make a full recovery at home.
But the best part of it all, is while Nate was on oxy cotton, morphine, muscle relaxants, and more he had finally told me that he loved me. Was it real or was it the drugs talking? We'll never know. As like turned into love, love quickly turned into talk of marriage. But before Nate was put on a morphine drip his uncle had warned, "Nate, be careful with what you say to Linley, because I have never been closer to my wife than on morphine." I guess he didn't listen too carefully. This was the best and worst two weeks of my life. The best because the boy that I was head or heels for was telling me that he wanted me to be his wife and worst because he was under the influence while expressing his undying love. Days followed, but the the talk of marriage did not. Dang drugs! Even though now the "M" word wasn't used, he continually reassured me of his love for me and how he was trying to figure things out. As Nate and I continually defined our relationship, we both grew frustrated with the situation as many do and decided to slow things down. I was ready to get married and he wasn't quite there. Surprise! As I packed my things to go home for the summer, I left Nate without knowing how things would turn out. I thought my whole world would end if I couldn't be with him. So I left Provo never thinking that I would see him again. Dramatic I know, but that's me...to be continued.
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