by: Marty Chrisman

Luke was laid up in bed for six days. Then he was finally allowed to get up again. Cindy started his therapy sessions again, concentrating on working with the muscles in his legs. If he regained the feeling below his waist, she wanted him to be in shape to start working on learning how to walk again. She had explained to him that he would have to learn how to keep his balance all over again because he had not been able to walk in almost three months but she was confident that he would relearn how to walk fairly quickly once they were able to start working on it. He had already accomplished all the goals she had set for him in his other therapy sessions. Secretly, she was pleased with his progress. He was one of her biggest success stories.

Two weeks after the surgery Luke woke up in the middle of the night, not sure at first what had awakened him. Then with a start, he realized that he had a cramp in his right leg and that was what had awakened him. He moaned softly and tried to straighten out his leg to work out the cramp but couldn’t quite manage it. Bo apparently heard him moan because suddenly he was awake and at Luke’s side.

“Luke, are you okay?” he asked anxiously

“Cramp…in my leg.” Luke told him through tightly clenched teeth

“Which one?” Bo asked without really realizing what Luke had just said

“The right one.” Luke told him

Bo gently began to massage the bunched up calf muscle in Luke’s leg trying to work out the cramp. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Luke with a surprised expression on his face. “You can feel that?” he asked in a startled voice

“Yes, I can I feel it and it hurts.” Luke told him with a soft laugh “Keep massaging it would ya?”

“Oh, sorry” Bo said, gently massaging the muscle again until it finally loosened up and relaxed. “There you go, cuz.” He grinned at Luke happily “You’re getting the feeling back….that’s fantastic!”

“Yeah….it is.” Luke admitted with a relieved sigh. He suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been taken off of his shoulders. Maybe he was going to be normal again after all. Unable to fall back to sleep, he stayed up the rest of the night talking with Bo. The next morning he told Cindy the good news as soon as she came in for their morning therapy session.

“Honey, that’s wonderful!” she cried, giving him a big hug. She blushed when she pulled back and said “Don’t tell anybody I did that.” She grinned and said “I’ll be right back.” She left the room for a few minutes and returned with a straight pin. “I’m gonna poke ya and I want you to tell me when you feel it and when you don’t.”

As she began to poke him with the pin, Luke told her that he could feel in on both sides from his feet up to his waist, although he didn’t feel it as well on his left side as he did his right. But Cindy wasn’t worried about that, she told him that was normal. Since he was right handed that was why he had more feeling on his that side since that was his dominant side. The left side would catch up it just might take a few days. She told him that she was going to let him rest for the day but that tomorrow they would start the process of helping him to learn to walk again.

Bo helped Luke get dressed and put him in the wheelchair, taking him out to the courtyard. They were both in good spirits, excited by the news that the surgery had been a success and that soon Luke would be walking on his own again. Daisy and Jesse were thrilled with the news too when they arrived later that morning and Luke told them what had happened during the night. The family spent the day together talking and enjoying each others company. Luke was his old self again, smiling and joking with his cousins and having fun.

When Bo and Daisy decided to go home, Luke encouraged Bo to go with them. For the first time since he’d come out of the coma, he didn’t mind the idea of spending the night alone. Bo argued at first but then reluctantly agreed. He knew that this day would come eventually but he was still going to miss being the one that Luke depended on instead of the other way around. But he was happy to have his oldest cousin back and finally on his way to a full recovery.

That night Luke even managed to do most his personal care by himself, only needing the aides help to change from his jeans into his sweatpants. He had already learned in therapy how to transfer himself from the wheelchair to the bed by himself. For the first time in weeks, he slept soundly throughout the night without any bad dreams or pain waking him up.

The next day Cindy started the sessions to help him learn how to walk again. Within two days, he was struggling to take a few faltering steps using the parallel bars. These sessions were more taxing and tiring than any of the others had been. Each one left him exhausted and ready for a nap. It also took longer for him to make any noticeable progress. The only good thing that happened in the first week of therapy was that he was finally able to get rid of the catheter since he could control his bladder on his own now. That alone was enough to make Luke feel confident about the outcome of the rest of his therapy sessions.

By end of the third week of therapy, he could walk with the aide of crutches since his balance was still a little off. It had never felt so good to be able to stand upright again and get from one place to another on his own. Best of all, Cindy told the family that they could take him out of the facility for the afternoon and into Atlanta. If he kept improving, she also told the family that he’d be ready to go home for good in another two weeks. Luke made himself a promise that he would reach that goal no matter what it took.

In Atlanta, they went to a Taco Bell for lunch and then decided to go to a nearby park for the afternoon. Luke was content to just sit on a bench and enjoy the feeling of being outside again and around other people. Several girls walking through the park stopped to smile at the two Duke boys, flirting outrageously. The boys flirted back enjoying themselves. As for Luke, it just felt good to be doing something normal again with his family. He was disappointed when it was time to go back to the facility. But he kept his spirits up by reminding himself that with any luck he’d be able to go home soon.

That night he had cramps in his legs again which Bo carefully massaged away for him. Cindy had told Luke that he would get cramps for awhile since his muscles were still adjusting to being used again. He understood all that but the cramps still hurt like hell. He was glad that Bo was there to help him because he could never have massaged them out by himself. Luke still got frustrated at times like this but not as much as he had in the beginning when he first came out of the coma. He knew that he had come a long way in the past few weeks but he also knew that he was lucky to be alive.

He could still remember the terror he’d felt after Bo left to find help and he was left alone on the plane by himself. As he got colder and colder and it got harder and harder to stay awake, he had resigned himself to the idea that he might die before Bo returned. When he woke up from the coma he was actually surprised to find out that he was still alive. And shocked to find out how long he had been in a coma. He tried not to think about those days as he got stronger and stronger but sometimes he couldn’t help it.