Barbara's Story

This is a story about an old woman named Barbara, who currently lives at the nursing home Luther Manor. Barbara first lived at Luther Manor along with her husband, Franklin, but after 3 years, he passed away. She has, since then, spent the last 5 years living alone. Since the two of them never had any kids, she did not have anyone to come visit her at all. So most of her time was spent alone, with the occasional visits from the nurses. This story will portray Barbara's depression, and whether she can overcome it. [[Start Game]]

Ever since her husband passed away, Barbara has been slowly falling into depression. If possible, she would rather stay in her room and lay on her bed. She is often asked by the nurses whether or not she feels lonely, but Barbara would always respond, "No, I don't feel lonely because the voices from the television keep me company everyday." The nurses, everytime, not knowing what to say, would just leave the room. She no longer had any motivation to talk with the other people that also live in Luther Manor. For 5 years, this was how she spent most of her days, she didn't enjoy it but she preferred it this way. She lived this way until one day, she hurts herself after trying to get up from bed and falling immediately. Due to this incident, Luther Manor decides to have her moved to assissted living area, so that she is closer to the Therapy clinic for physical therapy to get her strength back. Ultimately though, it is Barbara's choice to attend therapy. So... does she attend therapy, or stays in her room? [[Attends therapy]] [[Stays in her room]]

Barbara, although very reluctant, decides to attend therapy, thinking she would rather see the therapist than stay hurt. Since she cannot walk that well by herself, she needs someone to go to her room to pick her up and take her to the therapy clinic in a wheelchair. A volunteer comes to her room to pick her up and takes her to the therapy clinic. The volunteer attempts to talk to her, but Barbara does not feel like talking to them, so she stays silent. As she enters the therapy clinic, she is told by the volunteer that her therapist will get to her as soon as they finish with their other patient. [[Waiting]]

Barbara tells the nurses that she does not want to attend therapy today. The nurses understand, but tells her that they will reschedule it for tomorrow and lets her stay in her room. Although Barbara can still feel the pain from her fall, she still prefers to make as little contact with people as possible. She spends the whole day in bed, listening to the voices coming from the television, except for when it was time to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This is all she does until she falls asleep [[Next day]]

While waiting, Barbara notices that there are 2 other therapists working with their patients also, and that the patients seem to be very happy with the therapists. She wonders if she will be happy like that with her therapist as well, and begins to feel nervous. She hasn't had a full conversation with someone or had someone be with her for more then 10 minutes in such a long time. While she ponders all of this, her therapist is done with her patient and begins walking towards Barabara. [[Appointment]]

The therapist greets Barbara with a warm smile, and introduces herself. Barbara gives a quiet hi, then proceeds to remain silent. The therapist goes over what exercises Barbara will be doing to help her get her legs back to good shape, so she can walk by herself again. The first exercise the therapist has Barbara do, is walk around the room with a walker for a few laps, but Barbara can only do one and a half laps until she can't do it any further. The therapist helps Barbara walk to a cushioned bench so that she can sit down. It was at this moment, Barbara started to realize how glad she was to have come down to therapy. She didn't realize how hurt she really was, and how outta shape her legs really were. Once the appointment ends, the volunteer that brought her there takes her back to her room. [[Back in room]]

Barbara is now back in the room, and she is back alone. She is feeling good that she went to therapy, but now that she is alone she is starting to feel just as she did before she left. She is, once more, laying on her bed and listening to the voices on the television. Her next physical therapy appointment isn't until tomorrow. [[The next day]]

The next day, Barbara is notified by a nurse that she has another appointment. She wonders if she should go, or if she should just stay in bed. She understands how much she needs the therapy, but at the same time she still feels anxious around other people. Does she go, or stay? [[Go to therapy]] [[Stays in bed]]

Barbara decides to go to therapy again, realizing how much it will help her legs. She tells the nurse, "Okay, I'll go again today." Nurse smiles, and tells her, "That's good to hear." The nurse then leaves the room. After a short while, a volunteer comes to take her to the therapy clinic. [[At therapy|2]]

Barbara decides to tell the nurse, "I don't feel like going to my therapy appointment toda. If you can tell them for me, that would be great. Thank you." The nurse lets out a sigh, and says, "Okay, Barbara, I'll let them know and reschedule another appointment for tomorrow." Barbara just nods to the nurse, and the nurse leaves. It seems today, Barbara, doesn't want to leave her room either. So, she eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner alone in her room. She spent her whole day just watching television, or working on a crossword puzzle from the newspaper. Eventually she falls asleep, until the next morning. [[The next morning|route3]]

The next morning, a nurse comes into Barbara's room to tell her that she has another appointment today. Barbara contemplates whether or not she wants to go to her physical therapy appointment today. She still doesn't feel ready to see new people, but she still feels hurt from the fall and knows she probably therapy. Does she go today, or stay in her bed again? [[Attends therapy]] [[Stays in her bed again]]

Although, she still feels the pain from being hurt, she still feels more anxious seeing new people. She tells the nurses today, "I don't feel like going to therapy again today, I would like to stay in bed." The nurses respond by telling her that is okay and will notify her therapist again. The therapist, worried about Barbara, goes to visit her in her room. The therapist tells Barbara, "If you don't start going to therapy soon, your legs will get weaker and that pain will get worse." Barbara just nods to the therapist, making sure the therapist knows that she understands. The therapist leaves and Barbara is left all alone again. She spends the rest of the day as usual, until she falls asleep. [[Day 3]]

The next day, Barbara wakes up a little bit earlier than usual, which was around 5 a.m., due to a weird pain in her leg, but shruggs it off as something not serious. Around 8 a.m., a nurse comes in to tell Barbara that her therapy appointment is today, again. Barbara just nods, and wonders if she should go today or stay in her room once more. She wonders if the pain in her leg will go away if she goes to therapy or continue to get worse if she doesn't get help. Should Barbara go to therapy, or stay in her room once again? [[Goes to therapy]] [[Stay in her room again]]

After thinking for awhile, she decides that she would like to go to therapy. She calls the nurse back in, and tells her, "I would like to go to therapy today, please let my therapist know." The nurse is quite happy that Barbara is finally going to her therapy appointment, and tells her that she will go let her therapist know right away. Barbara is feeling kind of glad that she is going to her therapy appointment finally. [[Therapy time]]

For the 3rd time, she decides to stay in her room again and skips therapy. Without going to therapy, her legs seem to have gotten a bit weaker, and with the pain not going away, it makes it worse. Barbara, seems too sad to care about it too much now. The nurse comes in with her breakfast, and leaves right after. Barbara is left alone to eat, while she watches the news on the television. Once she is done eating, she pages for a nurse to come and grab her tray and dishes. The nurse comes and takes it away and asks, "Would you like anything is, Barbara?" Barbara shakes her head, and continues to lie in bed. After an hour in bed, she needs to go to the bathroom and thinks she can go alone. As she gets out of bed, and gets on her feet, she notices her legs are exceptionally weaker now and the pain is worse. She doesn't try to think too much of it and begins to walk to the bathroom. As she gets closer to the bathroom door, her legs suddenly feel too weak and she falls forward, hitting her head on the doorknob. She gives out a scream before passing out from the pain, and a whole crew of nurses rush in to help her. They notice there is blood coming from her head and try to stop it. While one is doing that, the others get an ambulane ready to transport her to a hospital so that she can get better treatment. [[Hospital]]

Once at her therapy appointment, the therapist comes up to her and says, "I'm glad you finally decided to come Barbara! I was beginning to get even more worried about you!" Barbara was kind of shocked that there was actually someone else that thought about her, so she couldn't come up with a response except just a small smile. Barbara was still worried though, since she hasn't had any real contact with someone for more than 10 minutes in the last 5 years. The therapist then asks, "How is everything today? Are you feeling okay?" Barbara responds, "My legs still feel weak and hurt, and when I woke up today there was in odd pain in my left leg. I'm not sure what it could be." The therapist is even more concerned now, and suggests that they do some light stretches first before they do any exercise for the day. [[Stretching]]

The therapist begins to assist Barbara in doing some light stretches. Barbara seemed to be okay for the first couple of minutes, but afterwards started to complain of the pain getting worse, so the therapist decides to stop and let her rest for a bit. The therapist tells her, "We'll continue after a couple of minutes of rest. Your legs need to be stretched more often since you lay in bed a lot." Barbara mumbles in a quiet voice, "Okay." After a few minutes, the therapist tells her that it is time to continue and they proceed with the stretching again. Barbara finishes the stretching this time, and feels proud of herself. The therapist tells her that next is to do some light exercise, so that she can start getting some more strength back into her legs. [[Exercise]]

The therapist tells Barbara, "The exercise for today will be very simple. All I want you to do is walk around the room with your walker until you start to feel tired. We will try to do that a few times, and then, if you're up for it, we will walk around the room again without your walker." Barbara nods in agreement, because she believes that walking around the room will be easy. With the help of the therapist, she gets up to her walker and begins to walk around the room. The first lap around the room, was kind of easy but she found herself a bit more winded than she had thought. As she is halfway through her second lap around the room, the pain in her leg seemed to have flared up out of nowhere and so she exclaims to the therapist, "I have to stop! It hurts!" The therapist is behind her with a wheelchair and says, "Okay, I'm behind you with a wheelchair, reach behind you for the chair and sit down." Barbara does just that and sits down. She couldn't believe that her legs have gotten that bad, and that that was the limit of her body. Barbara, begins to cry, unsure if it was from the frustration by the limit of her body or the depression finally getting to her. [[Next|Crying moment]]

As she's crying, the therapist comes closer to her to ask, "What's wrong, Barbara? Why are you crying?" Barbara, hesitant to respond at first, but decides to anyways, says, "I'm not sure. I just feel so weak at the moment. The weakest I have probably felt in a long time. I'm just not sure what to do anymore..." The therapist responds back saying, "Its okay to feel weak Barbara, everyone does at some point in their life. You just have to make an effort to be strong again. And don't worry, I'll be there with you the rest of the way." Barbara has stopped her crying now, and am somewhat glad the therapist has said what she had said. The therapist asks Barbara, "Would you like to continue the rest of the exercise, or call it a day and go back to your room?" [[Finish exercise]] [[Go back to room]]

Barbara decides to attempt to finish the rest of the exercise. So the therapist tells her, "Do what you can, don't force yourself. If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can do right now." Barbara tells her, "Thank you. I will try to do that." The therapist helps Barbara off the wheelchair and back onto the walker. Barbara begins to start walking around the room again, feeling better this time. She starts off walking slower this time, to minimize the pain in her legs. Barbara finishes 3 more laps in the room, when the therapist tells her that, if she wants, she can try to walk around the room without the walker. Does she walk around the room without the walker? [[Walk around the room without walker]] [[Walk around the room with walker]]

Barbara tells the therapist, "I think I'm ready to call it a day today. I would like to go back to my room." The therapist nods, and has the volunteer take Barbara back to her room. On the way back, Barbara wonders if leaving was the right thing to do, but decides that it is too late now. She can't wait to get back into her room. [[Back to her room]]

Barbara believes that she is ready to walk around the room without the walker. She moves the walker to the side, with the therapist right next to her, making sure she doesn't fall. Barbara walks a lot slower than when she had the walker, which makes the therapist, and her, realize that not just her legs are weak but her balance is also somewhat bad. She only makes it around the room once, before telling the therapist, "Sorry, but this last lap has made made me more tired. I think I am ready to be done." The therapist agrees and tells her, "I agree, you did great today, Barbara! I will schedule another appointment with you for two days from now, I hope to see you then!" With being done with her appointment, she remains in the wheelchair, and one of the volunteers comes and takes her back to her room. [[Back to her room]]

She tells the therapist, "Sorry, I don't think I'm ready to walk around the room without my walker." The therapist says to her, "Its okay, take your time with this. We'll try it again when you think you are ready. For now, we'll just continue walking around the room with your walker." Barbara agrees, and begins to walk around the room with her walker. The pain in her leg is still there, but since she is walking slower, it doesn't hurt as much as it did earlier. She does a few more laps before the therapist tells her to take a seat back at the bench, and says that Barbara is done for the day. She also says, "You did great today. Now, I am going to set up another appoint for 2 days from now, I hope to see you then. Have a good day, Barbara." Barbara responds with a small smile, "Thank you for today. I hope to see you in 2 days as well." Barbara gets help from the therapist to get into the wheelchair, and a volunteer comes and takes her back to her room. [[Back to her room]]

Back in her room, Barbara begins to reflect back on her appointment. She felt a little embarrassed that she cried, but also felt happy that she did, letting out a little chuckle. She feels as though a little weight has lifted off of her shoulders. Now, she is looking forward to her next appointment, and decides that she will not skip another appointment. For the rest of the day, she has her door open a bit wider than usual and is beginning to interact with the nurses a bit more. She even asked one of them, how their day was first. Today, for the first time in awhile, Barbara felt talkative. She continues this until she falls asleep. [[The next morning]]

The next morning, Barbara wakes up feeling more tired than usual. She thinks to herself, "It must be from the therapy I did yesterday. I haven't felt tired like this in awhile." Her leg still hurts, but not as much, although her legs do feel sore. One of the nurses comes into her room and says, "Barbara, its time for breakfast, honey. Would you like to eat in your room again today, or eat in the dining hall?" Barbara pauses a moment...unsure of what to decide. [[Eats breakfast in dining hall]] [[Eats breakfast alone]]

Barbara tells the nurse, "I would love to eat breakfast in the dining hall today." The nurse was shocked to hear this, considering Barbara hasn't eaten in the dining hall with the other residents in such a long time. The nurse is quite happy, and begins to help her in her wheelchair so that she can push Barbara to the dining hall. Once Barbara gets down there, she is placed between at a table with 2 other woman there. The two of them seem to be already in mid-conversation already, so Barbara keeps to herself. For breakfast today, Barbara is having eggs, toast, and a small bowl of assorted fruit. She isn't too happy about the food, since this is what they normally serve throughout the week, but still enjoys the food. After a couple of minutes, one of the women turns to her and introduces herself to Barbara, "Hello there, I haven't seen you around here. My name is Ruth, and this other lady is Anna. What's your name?" Barbara begins to feel rather nervous, but doesn't want to be rude, so she answers, "My names Ruth. I've been in my room eating all this time. Nice to meet you." Ruth, and Anna, seemed to be very energetic and talkative. In fact, they were so energetic and talkative that one would assume it was contagious. Barbara began to talk just as much with them about the most random of things. First, it was just small talk about the weather and stuff like that, but then it changed to a random talk about anything. Barbara gave out a few laughs throughout this conversation, and it was wonderful to hear. Once breakfast was over, the 3 of them head back to their own rooms, but before leaving Ruth says they should sit by each other again for lunch and dinner later, which Barbara and Anna agree to. [[Back in room|after]]

Barbara tells the nurse, "I would like to continue to eat alone today." The nurse nods, and says, "Okay, I'll bring your breakfast to you shortly." Barbara still feels too nervous to be around other people. She understands that she should try to connect with others, but doesn't feel ready to do so yet. After a few minutes, the nurse returns with her breakfast in a tray. It contains scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and a bowl of assorted fruits. Barbara doesn't seem to happy about the meal, considering this is a very common breakfast here, but she enjoys the meal anyways. She eats breakfast while watching the news, but gets tired of listening to the reporters talk about all of the negative stuff, so she changes the television to a channel that is showing reruns of M.A.S.H., not her favorite show, but better than the news. Once done with breakfast, she pages for a nurse to come pick up the dishes and tray, and lays back into bed. The nurse comes, and asks, "How was your breakfast?" Barbara responds, "Same as always. Not good, not bad." The nurse lets out a little laugh, and picks up the tray with the dishes and proceeds to leave the room. Now, Barbara is alone again. [[The rest of the day]]

Once back in her room, Barbara notices she has a smile on her face, and realizes that she hasn't laughed, or talked, like that with anyone ever since her husband passed away. Now, she is really glad that she decided to go to therapy yesterday, and is really looking forward to going to it again tomorrow. But before the appointment, she is looking forward to going to have lunch and dinner with Ruth and Anna later today. [[Lunch]]

Once lunch comes around, Barbara begans to feel very eager to get to the dining hall. As the nurse gets her there, she sees Ruth and Anna sitting together already, Barbara tells the nurse, "I would like to sit by those two, please. I think they're my new friends." The nurse gives out a little laugh, and smiles, and pushes her towards Ruth and Anna. Ruth, and Anna, both say, "Hello, Barbara!" at the same time, which Barbara greets them back also, with a smile on her face. Once at the table, the 3 begin chatting once again about any random topic they can come up with. The topics seemed to be endless, but interesting. Barbara talked with a smile on her face, one the nurses haven't seen in a long time, and were glad to see again. One of the nurses says to another nurse, "I haven't seen her this happy in such a long time. I'm so happy that she's finally coming back." The other nurse nods in agreement. Barbara, Ruth, and Anna, all talk until lunch is over and return back to their rooms after saying goodbye to eachother. On the way back, Barbara tells the nurse, "Yes, those two ARE my friends" with a big smile on her face. The nurse smiles also, and says, "I can see that Barbara, I'm so glad you've made some friends. Barbara gets to her room and decides to nap a bit before dinner, all of this talking has made her tired. She lays down on her bed, and naps until dinner. [[Dinner]]

Barbara has been up from her nap for the past 2 hours, and has been watching tv to pass the time until dinner, where she will be eating with her friend Ruth, and Anna. A nurse comes and gets her when it is time for dinner, and Barbara seems excited. The nurse sets Barbara next to Ruth, and Anna, who have gotten there before Barbara. The 3 of them greet each other the same way they did during lunch, and continue to have a conversation on various random topics. This time though, one of the random topics got personal, and was about a dead loved one. Barbara wasn't sure how to get involved in the conversation, since she felt she wasn't ready to talk about her dead husband yet because she thinks it will make her feel sad again. But Ruth begins talking about her dead husband, saying, "Ohh, how I miss Benjamin. I really do miss him. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him. But that's normal though, its normal to miss a loved one, its also normal to be sad after losing a loved one. I'm sad he's gone, but I'm glad I got to spend so many years with him." Anna agrees, "I completely understand. I miss my Theodore. He was so kind, and sweet with me, that when he passed I wasn't sure what to do anymore. But one day, I just knew I had to stop being sad about it and start doing something better." Upon hearing these things, Barbara realizes that she wasn't the only to lose a loved one. She tells the two of them, "I...I also miss Franklin a lot. Its been 5 years since he's passed, and its taken me so long to finally be able to talk about it. You two have changed all that today. I'm so glad to have met you two." Ruth, and Anna, both respond, "Aww, we're glad we met you today too Barbara." After this, the 3 begin to talk some more about their married life and their past that before they knew it, dinnertime was over. And the 3 of them were the only ones left in the dining hall. They all say their goodbyes again, and head back to their rooms. Barbara, now feels like she has had a lot of weight lifted off of her shoulders. Once back in her room, she tries to watch some television, but is too tired and falls asleep. [[The next day|closer]]

The next morning, Barbara wakes up and is feeling better than she has before, she doesn't feel as sad anymore and is ready for the day. A nurse comes in the room, after a bit, to tell Barbara that she has come to take her to breakfast and that she has another therapy appointment later on. Barbara says, "I'm excited for breakfast and therapy today. I can't wait." Nurse, surprised a bit, smiles and says, "That's good to hear, Barbara." Barbara heads to the dining hall, where Ruth, and Anna, are and gets seated next to them. The 3 of them talk about various random things, once more, until it is time for Barbara to go to her therapy appointment. She tells the 2 of them goodbye and heads to therapy. Once at the therapy clinic, her therapist comes up to greet Barbara, "Hey, Barbara! How are you doing today?" Barbara responds, "Oh, I'm doing great today! I've made some new friends yesterday, we talked a lot!" "That's good to hear. I'm so happy for you, Barbara. Now, are you ready for today's session?" "Oh, yes I am." The therapist then begins to help Barbara stretch, so that she is ready for her exercise. Barbara doesn't feel that much of a pain, as she did the first day of therapy. The therapist then has her do her exercises today, which were stepping up a box that was about 3-4 inches tall and walking around the room again. Barbara does these exercise quite well, only stopping once to rest. After this is done, the nurse says to her, "You did great today! A month, or so, of this and you should back to normal." Barbara was happy to hear that. The therapist helps Barbara into a wheelchair, where a volunteer took her back to her room. [[Back in her room|goes back]]

Once back in her room, Barbara wonders how great these last 2 days have been. And realizes that, the upcoming days will either be the same or better, and that makes her happy. She is happy that she will be back to normal in a month, or so, and is really looking forward to it. She's made 2 great friends, and has made some small progress in her therapy. Let's fast forward a month, and see how she is. [[A month later]]

A month has gone by, and Barbara no longer needs therapy. She is now able to walk the halls of Luther Manor with only her walker, which she does almost everyday to see her friends Ruth, and Anna, in the lounge. She's made a few other friends within this month also, but she is together with Ruth, and Anna, most of the time. In just one month, she has changed so much. She truly looks happy. Yes, my wife is finally happy again. The End [[-Franklin|Barbara's Story]]

Once at her appointment, Barbara is greeted by her therapist, "Hey Barbara! How are you today?" Barbara, still nervous, says in a quiet voice, "I'm doing fine." The therapist smiles and proceeds to tell her what the plan is for the day. Barbara nods in agreement. First, the therapist helps Barbara with stretching her legs, so she doesn't hurt herself further. Barbara feels fine with the stretching, but once the exercise starts she somehow begins to struggle. The exercise was stepping up and down a box about 3-4 inches tall, for about 5 minutes, then a few laps around the room in her walker. She was able to complete about 3 minutes of the box-stepping when she got too tired and told the therapist, "I need to stop, I'm getting too tired." Therapist agrees, and helps her sit down. While sitting down, Barbara really realized how weak she has gotten over the years and begins to cry. [[Next|Crying moment]]

The rest of the day, Barbara spends inside her room listening to the voices coming from the television while she does a crossword puzzle from a newspaper. She eats lunch in her room again, not caring that she is alone at all. She talks a little bit with the nurses that come in the room throughout the day, but besides that, she has still not talked with any of the other residents. Dinner comes along, and she also eats alone her room again. She really prefers to eat alone, which disheartens the nurses. The nurses really do feel sad when they see Barbara eating alone, but they know that they cannot change her mind, so they leave her alone. After dinner, Barbara goes to lay on her bed and leaves the television on, so that she can listen to the voices, which helps her fall asleep. [[The next day|route2]]

The next morning, Barbara wakes up and looks outside to see that it is raining. She frowns a little, thinking of how she doesn't like how the outside of her room looks when it is raining. She closes the blinds, and continues on with her day. She notices her legs feel a lot better from yesterday, and remembers she has a therapy appointment today, which she is looking forward to. A few moments later, a nurse walks in to bring, Barbara, her breakfast and tell her she has another therapy appointment today. Barbara responds with a small smile, "I know, I'm actually looking forward to it today." The nurse gives a smile back, and says, "That's good to hear. I hope you have fun at it today. I'll come grab your tray when you are done." After this, the nurse leaves the room to attend to the other residents. Barbara finishes breakfast, and sits patiently waiting for the volunteer to come and bring her to her appointment. [[Therapy|route2a]]

As Barbara arrives at the therapy clinic, her therapist approaches her with a smile and asks, "Hey, Barbara! How are you doing today? Its been a couple of days since I've seen you." Barbara gives a small smile back, and responds, "Hello, I'm doing okay. Legs feel better." The therapist is glad to hear that, and helps Barbara sit down onto the cushioned bench. The therapist then tells Barbara what her session is going to be like today, and what stretches and exercises they will be trying to do today. Barbara just nods in agreement, and lays back. The therapist helps Barbara begin to stretch, making sure not to go too hard so she doesn't feel the pain too much. Barbara finishes stretching, and the nurse helps her stand up in front of a box that is 3-4 inches tall. Barbara's exercise for today will be stepping up and down the box for roughly 5 minutes, and then walking around the room again. Barbara begins to step up and down the box, and does fairly well for the first 3 minutes, but has to stop to take a rest. The therapist helps her back down onto the bench, and says, "Its okay, take your time. Don't rush yourself too much." Barbara just nods again, and continues to rest. After a few minutes, Barbara is ready to finish the rest of the box exercise, which she does. The next thing for her to do was walk around the room again with her walker for a few laps. She does this without stopping, since she is going at a comfortable pace this time. Once finished with her exercise, the therapist exclaims to her, "Wow! Wonderful job today Barbara! Keep this up, and you'll be out of therapy in about a month." Hearing this makes Barbara really happy, since she won't hurt herself as much anymore. The therapist helps Barbara into a wheelchair, and a volunteer comes and brings her back in to her room. [[Back in her room|route2b]]

Once back in her room, Barbara sits there and smiles. She is happy that her legs will be better in a month, and feels like she is doing better now. Barbara turns on the television, and watches a few minutes of the news, which she then changes, again, to a channel that shows reruns of old shows. She is eager now to see what the next month will be like, and can't wait for it. So, lets fast forward to see what she is like a month from now. [[A month later|route2c]]

A month later, Barbara is finally out of therapy. She can be seen walking around her hallway, and conversing in smalltalk with her neighbors and the nurses. Although she doesn't have any friends really, she feels content with just being able to walk around freely with very little pain. From here on out, Barbara's rest of her life will be quite normal again. [[The end|Barbara's Story]]

3 days has passed, and Barbara is in the hospital. There is a bandage around her head, and she is asleep. Her doctor looks very concerned for her outside of her room, and is waiting for her to wake up so they can go in and talk to her. When Barbara wakes up, she looks out the window of her room with a very depressed look. She looks as though she has ultimately given up on life after that incident and it is very sad for her doctor, and nurses, to see. The doctors come in to check on her and to tell her some bad news. The doctor looks quite sad, and seems hesitant to tell her the news, but knows he has to. They begin by saying, "Hey, Barbara, glad to see you finally awake. How was your sleep?" Barbara responds quietly, "Okay..." "That's good to hear. I've come in here to check up on you and to tell you [[something|diagnosis]]...

"It seems you hit your head pretty hard the other day, and due to your frail body, you barely made. It put a lot of stress on your body. I...I'm not sure how to word this properly, but it looks like your body is slowly giving up and it seems you don't have long to live." Barbara looks shocked, but deep down, she knew. "How long do you think I have?" "A couple weeks, or a couple months. It depends on many things. We will try our best to make sure the time you have is as long as possible." Barbara shakes her head, "Its okay, when its time for me to go, I'd like to go without a struggle. I've lived long enough. And now I can, finally, go see my dear Frankin." The doctor looks even more sad now, "Are you sure?" Barbara nods her head. The doctor sighs, "Okay. Then we'll try to make your remaining time here as comfortable as possible." Barbara gives the doctor a faint smile, and tells the doctor, "I would like to get some rest again, would you mind leaving?" The doctor nods, and leaves Barbara alone. [[Alone]]

Once the doctor leaves, Barbara doesn't go back to sleep. She has too much going on her mind to sleep. She just wanted some time alone, to process everything. Majority of her, is happy that her time is coming up, but a small part of her is sad that she is leaving. She thinks of Franklin, and how she'll finally be able to see him again, and that makes her feel better about the whole situation. She begins to reminisce about her whole life, of how when she was a little girl, to when she met Franklin and all of the adventures they've had. She truly feels like she's had a full and fulfilling life, and that it really is her time to leave. After reminiscing, she looks outside of her window, and notices that it has begun raining. She mutters one word, "Beautiful." [[Three weeks later]]

Three weeks later, a faint buzz can be heard coming from Barbara's room. In it, there is her doctor and a couple nurses around her. The doctor pronounces the time of death, and goes to turn off the machine that was connected to Barbara. The doctor looks sad, and says, "Look at her, she looks so at peace now. She really did go peacefully." It was so sad to see my Barbara pass away, I truly wish she would have lived longer, and happier. But I, guess, I am happy to finally be with her again after all these years. [[-Franklin|Barbara's Story]]

The next morning, Barbara wakes up as usual and stares outside of her bed. The weather outside is cloudy, but it doesn't look like it will rain. She begins to do her daily morning routine, until a nurse comes in with her breakfast and tells her that instead of Barbara going to the therapist, the therapist has decided to come to her. Barbara is confused at first, but nods and says, "Okay..." Barbara eats her breakfast, and waits for her therapist to come. After a couple of hours, her therapist knocks on her day, and asks, "Hello, Barbara. May I come in?" Barbara nods, and says, "Yes, you may." [[Therapist enters]]

The therapist enters the room, and asks Barbara, "How are you doing today? I didn't see you at our last appointment, so I decided to come to you instead, I hope that's okay." Barbara responds, "I'm good. And its okay for you to come to me, but what will we do in my room?" The therapist then tells Barbara everything they have planned for their appointment. First, they started off with some light stretching on her legs to help make them feel more loose. Once that was done, the therapist helped Barbara get to her walker and they proceeded to walk up and down the hallway. They did this for about 5 minutes, once Barbara got tired, and went back into her room. The therapist helps Barbara onto her bed, and tells her, "You did great today, but I would like you to come to the therapy clinic from now on because there are more equipment for us to use. But if you can't I will try to come to you." Barbara nods, "I know that I need these therapy sessions. I will try my best to go to the therapy clinic." "Good, I'll scedule another appointment for 2 days from now then. How does that sound" "That sounds good. I will try to see you then." "Okay, sounds good. I'll see you then. Bye." And the therapist leaves the room, as Barbara is waving her bye. [[Alone in the room|route3b]]

Once alone in the room, Barbara thinks about how her appointment went, and realizes that she needs therapy, but uncertain if she wants to go to the therapy clinic. She thinks to herself, "Even if I don't go, the therapist will meet me in my room. So I should be fine." This thought may further handicap Barbara even more. [[Two days from now]]

Two days from now, Barbara decides to tell the nurse that she doesn't want to go to the therapy clinic, and that she would rather prefer the therapist come meet her in her room. The nurse says, "Okay, I'll let them know right away." After a short while, the therapist enters her room and says, "Hello Barbara, I see you didn't want to come to the therapy clinic again today. That's okay though, I can come to you. Ready to do the same as the other day today?" Barbara responds, "Yes, I am." They, then, begin to do the same thing they did the other day. Starting with the stretching, then walking up and down the hall with Barbara holding her walker. The appointment went smoothly. Before the therapist leaves, they sit down next to Barbara and says, "If you don't want to go to the therapy clinic, and would rather have me come here, that's okay, but it will take about 3 months for your legs to be back to normal. Is that okay?" Barbara nods, and responds, "That's okay, I don't really want to leave my room at all." "Okay, then. I'll schedule another appointment for 2 days from now. I'll see you then. Bye." The therapist leaves the room and heads back to the therapy clinic. [[Alone again|rought3c]]

Once alone again, Barbara thinks that 3 months to have her legs heal isn't long at all and that she doesn't mind it. For the rest of the day, she stays in her room, watching random shows on the television, and eating lunch and dinner. She was alone, but she preferred it this way. She really just can't wait for these next 3 months to be over with. [[Three months later]]

Three months later, and Barbara no longer needs to go to therapy anymore. Although her legs are better, she still continues to do the same thing she did in the beginning of this story. Nothing has changed at all. Barbara takes a break from the television, and looks outside her window to see that it is cloudy outside. She says to herself, "Gloomy." This is how Barbara decides to spend the rest of her life. [[The End|Barbara's Story]]