My Dream Mile by Charlotte Hagen

Author:Charlotte Hagen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Book Guild
Published: 2018-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

20

Charlie Brown

Equilibrium was still my biggest challenge. One morning Dorte started our session saying: “Charlotte, you need to buy some more substantial footwear to give you a solid base and to keep your spastic big toe in the correct position! It will help you to keep your balance.”

I looked at her and gave her a big smile. “Sure, Dorte. It is just that substantial footwear is not very sexy.” Of course, I knew she was right.

The next day when my parents came to visit we drove to the shopping centre to try to find a pair of training shoes. I wanted to try the big sports shop there. They did have a lot of substantial footwear but as expected nothing was very feminine. The male shop assistant was very nice and found five different pairs for me to try. However, he did not have much empathy with me while I tried them on. It was very difficult for me to get my paralysed foot into the shoe but instead of asking if I needed help, he just grapped my foot and tried to push it into the shoe. It did not hurt at all but it made me feel like a small child unable to dress itself. I felt humiliated and embarrassed that the shop assistant did not get it! Finally, my more practical father got an idea. “Charlotte, let us try to remove the shoelaces and see if the shoe fits the length of your foot.” So we did and I picked a new white model with a clear blue logo, ‘Nike’. Back at the rehabilitation centre I showed the shoes to Dorte. She did not only approve of the shoes, she also knew a trick of how to put in the shoelaces again so I could manage to close them with one hand. I told her about the humiliating experience in the shop.

She looked at me and responded: “I am sure it was! Charlotte, you have to be prepared for a lot of humiliating experiences in the future. Try not to collect them!”

Later the same day my parents and I were sitting in my room having a coffee when there was a knock on the door and a man entered. He was no one that I recognised and thought that because of his casual way of dressing he must be a relative of another patient. He was wearing white jeans, white trainers and a loose stonewash pale turquoise pullover. I guessed that he must be about forty years of age. He had a round face topped by neatly cut brown hair, but most striking was the pair of intense grey-blue eyes. There was something about his appearance and manner that made me change my mind. He must be a new doctor.

“Hello, Charlotte. My name is Stig and I am the department’s neuropsychologist. My work here is to carry out some tests on your brain to see if you are suffering from any brain damage due to the internal bleeding or resulting from the surgery carried out on you afterwards.

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