//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 - Strategies for Healing // Story: Married to Her Job, Single in Her Heart // by Revenant Wings //------------------------------// 30. Early that same evening, Redheart returned with two suitcases and her saddlebags full of things she would need for staying at Twilight’s library. She set up a miniature table in the guest bedroom and set about organizing her medical things on it before utilizing the closet for her clothes and personal items. When Redheart went in to give a quick check-up on Twilight’s condition, the purple mare was smirking. “I thought you said you weren’t going to stay,” Twilight said. “I said my apartment was close by,” Redheart replied. “Stretch your hoof out for me, please, I’m going to see what your blood pressure is. Now,” Redheart continued as she slipped the black cuff of a sphygmomanometer over Twilight’s hoof, “I figured it would be better if I stayed. I’d be close by if you needed anything and would be able to come immediately to your aid.” Redheart turned on the sphygmomanometer and air began pumping into the cuff through a little black cord. “I have talked this over with Doctor Stable and he said it was perfectly fine.” “Well, I certainly know I’d feel safer,” Twilight said as the cuff filled with air until it was tightly inflated around her arm. “Given how out of energy I was just with a simple walk up the stairs, I definitely won’t be doing much lately.” “That doesn’t mean you’ll be lying around in bed all day,” Redheart said as she watched the screen of the device until it beeped. “One twenty over eighty. Blood pressure normal.” Redheart tapped the device and it began releasing air out of the cuff. “Doctor Stable has said a day of bed rest, but that each day I am to try and take you walking for a little bit. We’ll start simple by walking around the upper floors. Then, it’ll be down the stairs and back up. Eventually, with exercise and a proper diet, your muscles will strengthen and you’ll be able to walk on your own again.” “Brilliant,” Twilight said playfully. “I have to learn to walk again.” “You already learned how,” Redheart said, quite seriously and without a smile on her face as she took off the cuff from Twilight’s hoof. “It’s now a matter of control and stamina.” Twilight crossed her hooves over her chest. “You need to lighten up a little,” she said. “I was only making a joke. I know we went over how to walk already and that I was able to walk around the hospital by myself. I also know I’ve been unconscious for eleven weeks and I need to re-strengthen my muscles. I’m just trying to make light of the situation.” Redheart was taken aback. Of all the things she had expected, it had not been for Twilight to be energetic enough to lecture her shortly after waking up from a coma. Moreso, it was something Redheart had never considered. “How about I go make us some soup for dinner?” Twilight’s hooves remained crossed. “Redheart…” she started. “That’s Nurse Redheart, Miss Sparkle,” Redheart half-scolded. “I might be living with you in your home, but it is as your nurse and caretaker. Formalities must be taken into consideration.” “Okay, Nurse Redheart,” Twilight mocked, “you might be attending to the physical parts of your duty. But what about the mental aspects? Isn’t it stated somewhere in your own books on nursing or in any one of your notes from classes or even in your employee’s handbook of rules that a calm, patient, friendly demeanor is required when working with patients?” “Are you saying I’m incompetent?” Redheart challenged. “No,” Twilight said gently. “You’re over-competent. You work admirably well, but you’ve shut out emotion. You can cure anyone quickly and with precision once the diagnosis is made. But where is the Redheart that talked with me when I was just beginning to regain consciousness?” she asked in such a way that Redheart felt her eyes begin to itch and water. “Where is the Redheart that poured out her story to me? You were vulnerable then, sure, but you were you, not just some employee at work. You were the employee who loved her work and yet was willing to make the emotional connection with the patient to heal them.” “I… I’m sorry but… can you explain?” “Healing is not always a physical process, Redheart. Sometimes, the act of healing is an emotional one as well. Let us take my coma, for example. When I woke up from my coma, physically I was healed of the unconscious state. But I was scared. Hardly anypony was familiar to me. My surroundings weren’t familiar to me. Imagine me going from being in the park on a sunny spring day to being in a brightly-lit hospital in the dark early hours of the morning. How do you think I would feel?” “Terrified,” Redheart answered. “Lost, perhaps. Alone. Maybe even stressed out.” Twilight nodded. “I didn’t know what happened to me. It took me a few days before realizing what had happened. Until then, the fact that you and Doctor Stable were caring for me was vital to my mental health. You were familiar faces. You were those who were working to make me feel better. At a time when everything just seemed so off and strange to me, it was a source of stability and of peace knowing I was being watched for and being taken care of. That helped heal me physically as well as emotionally.” Redheart had by now sat on the ground and was taking in Twilight’s words and filing them away in a part of her brain for later use. “I won’t bore you with more details, but I’ll bring up one more question before you go. Did you know that some hospitals in Equestria don’t release their patients until they are as cured mentally as they are physically, and that studies found those patients are freer from disease and injury later on?” Redheart didn’t know that, but she didn’t say so to Twilight. Instead, she got up and walked off to the kitchen to prepare a vegetable soup for dinner. As she cooked, she occasionally looked down the hall at Twilight sitting in bed reading. The book from earlier had been changed out and replaced with a new one, another copy of the little red book that Redheart had first borrowed so long ago. Redheart wondered if she had anything to do with Twilight’s choice of reading. When the soup was done, Redheart put a bowl on a serving tray with a spoon and a glass of milk and brought it to Twilight. She set the tray in front of Twilight. “Thank you so much,” Twilight said. “It smells delicious. What spices are in it?” “A little salt, a little pepper, and hints of parsnip and mint,” Redheart replied. “It’s a recipe I often use at home.” Twilight took the spoon and took a bite of the soup. She chewed it for a while before her eyes lightened up and she smiled with delight. “You know, I’ve always loved experimenting in the kitchen, but it never occurred to me to try this. It’s delicious!” “Thank you,” Redheart said. She took a seat next to Twilight, who stared at her curiously. “Look, I want to apologize for being so… stubborn, for lack of a better term.” “It’s alright,” Twilight said. “Being a nurse isn’t exactly the easiest job there is.” “It’s not just that,” Redheart said. “Yes, there’s stress from my work, but I have stress from other portions of my life as well.” “Like what?” Twilight’s voice was curious, eager… willing to listen. Redheart shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll get a bowl of soup for myself and be right back.” “It’s not ‘nothing’ if it’s bothering you,” Twilight said. “Come on, you can tell me.” Redheart sighed. “I don’t even know you,” she said. “We’ve met before and talked before, but for all those times I know nothing about you, and you know nothing about me.” Twilight shrugged. “It sounds like I have time to find out if you’re staying here as my caretaker.” Redheart thought about it. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll let you know on one major condition. Before we exercise, I will tell you one thing about me. We will exercise, then you will tell me one thing about you. After we’ve started to know each other, I’ll tell you the whole story.” Twilight smiled. “Deal.”