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Post by barbt on May 30, 2014 22:57:15 GMT -5
The next two days went by very quickly. George returned to Glasgow to pack and say good-bye to his wife and daughter, who insisted on all the details of how Ryan was doing, even though he'd called them every night. As each of the boys had to leave, they each took some alone time with Ryan to sing him one last song and talk to him, telling him where they were going and that they would be checking in daily and praying for him, and would be back to see him as soon as they were home. Neighbors of the Kellys from the Moy, who had been checking in regularly as well, would be taking over staying with the Kellys in the waiting room, although they weren't allowed in Ryan's room. Flying so far away was difficult for the boys, who felt very much as if they were leaving Ryan when he needed them most, but they all agreed that the best thing they could do now was to put on the best show they could in honor of him. Damian reported just before he had to leave that Ryan had done well with the recordings and was continuing to progress slowly. At least one trans-Atlantic phone call was placed every day, checking in with the Kellys. They reported simple changes that meant a great deal - Ryan began smiling or turning his head towards his parents and siblings voices; he began moving his arms and legs on his own, which meant he probably wasn't paralyzed; once in a while he even seemed to follow a simple command, although it wasn't consistent. Meanwhile, rehearsals were awkward as well. Colm still hadn't gotten his visa so they were working around an empty space and missing voice, while Colm was madly trying to memorize as much as he could without actually having the other singers there to work with, and worrying if he would be able to learn the choreography quickly enough. Sharon was starting to get seriously worried that they'd still be a man down when they had to do the first show, and the strain was showing on all of them - they tended to be a bit more snappy with each other, a little less tolerant than they would normally be. Consequently some of the activities and pranks went a bit too far and either worried Sharon more or caused arguments. Finally Colm called that he'd gotten his visa and was flying out - but it would give him only a day until the first show. He worked right through the flight on memorizing songs, and went straight into the theatre to start working on choreography. It was the first time he'd met any of the other singers and needless to say, he was nervous. For the most part, the boys welcomed him and did their best to help him out, working with him on choreography when someone else was rehearsing. He did notice that they all seemed a bit touchy and was hoping that it wasn't him - he knew, of course, that they were worried sick about Ryan, but he was afraid that they were thinking he couldn't cut it either. When they got a few minutes to breathe, George pulled him aside. "You're doing fine, Colm, don't worry," he said. "I guarantee you that none of us could pick this up as fast as you are, and any of the others will tell you that I'm the slowest one on choreography - not that I agree, mind you, but that's what they'll say!" He smiled, seeing that he had made Colm grin. "And don't worry about the fans being upset if you mess up. They know how fast you've been thrown into this, and in truth they seem to enjoy it even more when we mess up - which we do all the time. You'll see. I know we're all a bit touchy, we're not usually this short with each other. It's just being worried about Ryan and having to be so far away from him, it's naught to do with you." Colm felt better after talking to him, and more so after he'd made an mistake in rehearsal when George reached over and grabbed his hand and swung it, grinning at him. He knew then that the big Scot had taken him under his wing and would look out for him. Truthfully, he liked all the other guys, and he and Emmet were rapidly becoming the best of friends, but his nerves were still taking a beating. The first few shows went well, a few minor and one or two major mistakes, but as George had said, the fans laughed with them and seemed to enjoy the flubs as much as anything else. Colm was still getting used to people wanting his autograph; as a back-up singer for Celtic Women he'd been fairly anonymous, so he hadn't been expecting to find fans outside the stage door looking for HIM after any show, much less his very first one. This was something all the guys remembered very well and, while they teased him about it, they also told him some wild stories of their first touring experiences as well. One night Neil was to call Raymond for a late check-in before everyone crashed for the night - being they were now 5 hours behind Irish time, they had to be careful when they called. Nicole had ducked out of the room for a few minutes, and when she came back him, she found Neil with his head in his hands. She went to him immediately and wrapped her arms around him. "What is it, love?" she said. "Is Ryan worse?" "No," Neil said, raising his head, and she gasped at the joy in his eyes, even though there were tears rolling down his cheeks. "He woke up, Nic," he said, "He woke up and he knew Raymond, and he was talking clearly!" "Oh, thank God," Nicole said. "Did you get to talk to him?" "No." Neil shook his head. "Ray said he was only awake for a little while. He didn't know where he was or why Ray was there, and when Ray told him he'd had an accident and was in the hospital, he thought we'd been in an accident on the ABC tour and was worried I was hurt, too. He doesn't remember being home at all." "Well, I remember you said the doctor told you to expect that," Nicole said. "Did Raymond say anything else?" "Yeah," Neil grimaced. "Ryan tried to hit him and was cursing at him." Nicole gasped. "Why?" she said. "Ryan wouldn't do that!" "The doctor told us to expect that, too," Neil said. "He said Ryan would probably be agitated when he woke up. Raymond said Ryan was trying to pull his IV out because it hurt, Ray stopped him, and the next thing he knew Ryan was swinging at him and cursing a blue streak. He did settle down after the nurse came and took the IV out, but Raymond said just that little bit being awake completely exhausted him and he fell back to sleep." "Oh well, it's a start," Nicole said. "Much better than I expected from what Sharon told us of the doctor's meeting with you all. And you'd better be getting everyone in here for an update, or they'll be after you!" "Oh, man, I almost forgot about that part!" Neil said. "I feel like I'm on a roller coaster or something right now, stuff gets away from me before I even see it sometimes!" He quickly sent out a mass text to everyone: "My room, NOW! Big news! Mostly good." Within minutes, the room was crowded as people sat on the floor, the beds, the tables, and anything else that wouldn't move - there were even a few attempts to sit on each other, resulting in some horseplay until Sharon got them all settled down. Neil had taken those few minutes to get things organized in his mind so he could tell them more coherently than he'd babbled the information out to Nicole. "Ok," he said. "Good news first - Ryan woke up for a few minutes a little while ago, he was talking fine, and he knew Raymond." He had to stop for cheers at this point. "He doesn't remember being home after our ABC tour, and he thinks he and I had an accident on the tour and was afraid I was hurt, too." Heads nodded; they'd known to expect this. "This is the not so good part - he woke up in pain , trying to pull out his IV because it was hurting, and when Ray stopped him, he took a swing at Ray and cursed at him." "No!" "God, I was hoping the doctor was wrong about that." "I can't imagine Ryan acting like that, I can't even picture it." Finally Sharon got a word in. "Did he hurt Raymond?" Neil stopped to think for a minute. "I don't think so," he said slowly. "Ray said, 'He tried to take my head off with a swing' I think were the exact words. He didn't say if Ryan actually managed to hit him." "Thank Heaven for that," Sharon said. "Did Raymond say anything else?" "Just that Ryan got exhausted really fast and fell back to sleep. I don't think he was awake for even 10 minutes, because Raymond told me that Ryan had woken up about 10 minutes before I called, and he was already back to sleep." "That's probably not too surprising," Sharon said. "Sounds like it was an action-packed 10 minutes." Everyone smiled at that. "Anything else?" Again, Neil thought for a minute. "Just that he hoped the agitation didn't get worse before it got better," he said. "I told him I'd let you all know and get everyone praying to get him through that part quickly." Heads nodded all around. Praying was one thing they could do for Ryan, no matter where they were.
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Post by HburgEagle44 on May 31, 2014 16:42:46 GMT -5
Great update!! Loved how George helped Colm and how Neil got the news.
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Post by celticbear on May 31, 2014 20:57:56 GMT -5
Great Update! Glad Papa George took Colm under his wings and let him know that all the tension was because of not being with Ryan! Great to see the start of Celtic Comet! Wonderful about Ryan waking up, but I feel bad for Raymond having to duck a swing from Ryan and having Ryan curse him. Let's just hope the part of the waking up process goes by quickly!
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Post by barbt on Jun 1, 2014 21:02:01 GMT -5
The next day was very busy, with interviews all morning and then an afternoon show. It didn't stop everyone from talking and thinking about Ryan whenever they had a chance, wondering how he was doing today. No one was going to have a chance to call and check on him until after the afternoon show. Near the end of the show, Sharon was standing backstage watching Ireland's Call and thinking about how fantastically Colm had stepped in when she felt her phone vibrate. Looking at it, she saw the call was from Raymond, so she took it even though she normally wouldn't have taken a call backstage. The CT folks had been calling for updates, so if Raymond was calling her, it had to be important. "Yes, Raymond? What's going on? "she said quietly. "I'm sorry to call during the show," he said, "But we need you to talk to Ryan. He's curled up in a ball on his bed crying because he thinks you fired him." "Oh no." Sharon raised a hand to her head and turned away from the stage, walking to a quieter area where she could talk at length. She didn't know that Keith had seen her take the phone call and was now quietly passing the word that there was a problem. "How did he get that idea?" she asked, puzzled. "Put 2 and 2 together and ended up with 43," said Raymond bitterly. "Normally his math's better than that. Anyway, he realized tonight that no one from CT is here, and he thought you'd given up on him. So we ended up having to tell him where you were - or actually, he realized it himself after we told him when he fell and how long he'd been unconscious. The tour schedule seems to be firmly in his memory, anyway. But he thinks you hired Colm to replace him, even though we told him he's only understudying. He doesn't remember you hiring Colm before he fell. He figures that between the mess last summer and now this, you think he's too much trouble to keep on." "Oh, heavens," Sharon said helplessly. "I suppose I might have seen that coming - I could probably have managed to free somebody from the crew to stay behind at least. Well, nothing to do about it now except to talk to him." "I'll warn you, he's been pretty agitated a lot of the day. He's likely to yell or curse at you if he doesn't shut down entirely," Raymond said. "I'll take my chances," Sharon said, trying to work out a strategy in her mind. It was hard, knowing that Ryan's reactions weren't likely to be what she would expect from him. She waited as Raymond stepped back into Ryan's room and told him he had a phone call. She heard him asking who was on the phone and smiled to hear his voice, even though he sounded pretty upset. Raymond didn't tell him, just told him to take the call. "Hello?" Ryan said curiously "Ryan, it's so good to hear you! It's Sharon," she said, thinking that perhaps if she sounded upbeat he would mirror her mood. It didn't work. "Calling to tell me you fired me, you bi-" "RYAN!" came an interjection from his father that was loud enough to cover the word he'd used. "No." Sharon decided that being stern and getting right to the point might be best. "You listen to me," using the voice she reserved for the boys when they had done or planned something totally idiotic. She hoped that, as it usually did on tour, it would shock him into listening without talking for at least a moment or two. It worked. "I would NEVER fire you. You are part of CT for as long as you want to be. Got that?" He didn't reply. On the other end, Ryan's family was trying not to laugh at the look on his face as they heard Sharon sounding like she was scolding a naughty child, although they couldn't hear the words. "I'll hold your spot until you're ready to come back, I don't care how long it takes." "Then what's with this Colm bas -" "RYAN, watch your language!" came again from his father. Sharon was startled; she'd never imagined Ryan being this volatile and disrespectful. "Colm was hired before you fell," Sharon said firmly, ignoring the rudeness. "He was hired to be part of the Mythology tour. I asked him to understudy for you for Atlantic City because we needed another singer with you down. When you're back, he will have his own parts." "Well, best of luck to him." Ryan said grudgingly. "But how could you just leave me here..." Now his voice was sounding tearful. It physically hurt Sharon to hear him mood-swinging from one negative emotion to another like this. "I wish we hadn't had to," said Sharon gently. "It tore all of us up, but we didn't have a choice. If there was any way we could have stayed with you, or brought you along with us, we would have, but you know that wasn't possible." "I know," Ryan said sadly. Now that his emotions had calmed a little, he knew that he'd been inexcusably rude." I'm sorry for yelling at you, Sharon. This is so hard. I can't even sit up by myself, and I keep losing control of myself. I get scared and then I get angry, and then I explode." "It's all right, Ryan, it's all part of getting better," Sharon said. "Your doctor warned us this would happen before we left, that you'd have problems like this. It will take a while, but you can come back to us whenever you're ready, even if we need to back things down for you for a while so it's not so hard or tiring. You're part of us, Ryan," she said softly, finding tears running down her cheeks. "Don't ever forget that. You know there are recordings in your Ipod from the other boys? When you need us, listen to them; we left them for you for that reason." "I know," Ryan said. "How are they, are they OK?" "Worried sick about you mostly, snapping at each other and getting into even more trouble than usual. If one of them doesn't break something coming off a jet ski, it'll be a miracle." "God, I miss them," Ryan said quietly. "You're going to tell them I talked to you, right?" "Yes, I'll tell them," Sharon said, smiling now through her tears as Ryan sounded more like himself. "Please don't tell them what I said about being scared or about me calling you and Colm..." "I would never," she assured him quickly. "I'll let them know you've had a rough day and that I told you that you can always come back, that's it. We love you, Ryan, and we'll see you as soon as we get home, I promise." "OK," he said, sounding exhausted. "Bye, Sharon." Raymond took the phone back and stepped out into the hall again. "Sorry about that, Sharon," he said. "I don't think any of us expected him to blow up at you like that." "Is that what you've been dealing with all day, Raymond?" Sharon said, distressed. "Pretty much, yeah. That, and shoving things and people and throwing things. If he's not doing that, he kind of disappears. You know the phrase 'the lights are on but nobody's home'?" Raymond sounded pretty exhausted himself. "Yes..." Sharon said, not liking the sound of this. "Well, sometimes that's exactly what he's like. His eyes are open, but they look completely empty - no emotions, no intelligence, nothing. Just blank. And he doesn't respond to anything, it's like he's gone." "Did you talk to Dr. Reilly about it?" "Yeah, he said it means that Ryan's brain is overloaded, that he can't process everything that's happening so his brain shuts out everything else until he can get things sorted out. He said it's normal for this stage of his recovery." "Well, that's a relief, at least," Sharon said. "There's always such a light in Ryan's eyes, I can't imagine them the way you're describing them. Is there any good news for today beyond his being awake?" "Yes! I was so upset about earlier that I forgot to tell you. He's out of intensive care, on a regular ward, he's starting physical and occupational therapy, and he's eating and drinking on his own, no more feeding tube!" "Wow, now that is good news!" Sharon said. "Raymond, I've got to go, the afternoon show has got to be done by now and I'm really surprised no one's come looking for me yet." She said good-bye and hung up, and suddenly found herself crying again, for Ryan's confusion and distress and for his family having to deal with it. The Ryan she'd spoken to had been such an odd mix of the man she knew and a complete stranger, she could only imagine what it was like for his family being around that all day. Pulling herself together, she headed back towards the stage - and was surprised to see every single person from CT huddled together there, looking scared. The she realized what must have happened. "Ok," she said, trying to look stern, "Who was looking offstage instead of paying attention to what they were doing?" "Me," Keith said. "I should have known," she said with a watery smile. "It would be you. Well, I won't keep you in suspense." She sighed. "As you've probably guessed, the call was about Ryan. Physically, he's fine - out of intensive care, eating, starting therapies. His memory for the few weeks right before he fell still hasn't returned. He's had a rough day today, lots of things to cope with and lots of stress. He suddenly realized tonight that none of you are there. Somehow, he took that, and the fact that he realized that we're here performing without him, and the memory of having to leave us last summer, and the news that Colm was acting as his understudy, to mean that we'd left him behind and I'd permanently replaced him with Colm." "No!" "How can he think that?" "He knows we'd never leave him behind!" "We all know that," Sharon said, "but Ryan can't help the fact that his brain is making up things to fill in the gaps he can't remember. To him, right now, since he doesn't remember knowing that Colm was on board BEFORE he was hurt, it's logical that Colm is his replacement rather than his understudy." "Surely you didn't let him keep believing that?" Emmet said. "Of course not! I told him directly - yes , I spoke to him - that he has a permanent place with Celtic Thunder, that his space is here whenever he is ready to come back, and that he can come back in whatever capacity he is able to, whenever he is able to." "Did that ease his mind?" Nicole asked. "It seems to have," Sharon replied. "But as I said, it's been a hard day for him; he's lost his temper a number of times, as Neil told us he did last night. He's even been throwing things. He's feeling as though he's not himself anymore, and thinking he'd lost his spot with us just made that worse." Half the cast and crew were crying now, holding each other. George suddenly said, "Sharon, can you get Ryan back on the phone?" "Probably, why?" "I think he needs to hear it from all of us." Sharon placed the call to Raymond's phone. He picked it up in surprise. "What is it, Sharon?" "Tell Ryan he's got another call, and then put us on speaker phone." Sharon sounded mischievous and happy. "O-kayyyy," Raymond said, and turning to the others he said, "Sharon asked me to put my phone on speaker. I don't know what she's up to." Setting it up, he said, "Sharon, can you hear us?" "Yes. Hold on a second." Then they heard George counting "3-2-1" and the phone suddenly vibrated with many voices calling "We love you, Ryan!" followed by a variety of voices saying they missed Ryan, get well wishes, etc. Everyone was crying, and Ryan was staring at the phone in shock, a huge grin on his face. Then the voices stopped. Ryan spoke up, his eyes shining and his voice thick with tears. "I miss you all, " he said, "so much. I'll be back, I promise. I'm not letting you do Mythology without me!" Suddenly a voice they didn't know came out of the phone. "Ryan, this is Colm!" Ryan looked bemused to hear the voice of the person who was replacing him. "You'd better come back soon, singing those high parts of yours is going to kill me!" They heard laughter on the other end and then a voice that was unmistakably Keith, the impish smile with which he was speaking clearly audible even over the noise. "Aye, if we have to keep yanking the poor lad's shorts up around his ears every night, we'll do him a permanent mischief!" Ryan literally laughed so hard that he started crying from sheer joy at hearing their nonsense again.
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Jun 2, 2014 0:11:41 GMT -5
:')
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Post by celticbear on Jun 2, 2014 19:51:16 GMT -5
The first part of this update was rough! But I have to smile at the way Sharon handled Ryan! She did it in pure upset Mama Bear Sharon mode! Glad Sharon was not upset with Keith and the Phone call at the end was just the medicine Ryan needed! And I do believe from this point on maybe everybody won't be so snappish with each other!
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Post by barbt on Jun 10, 2014 21:01:01 GMT -5
Not sure this is a particularly good update. Probably shouldn't have tried writing it since I'm really tired and stressed. Let me know what you think.
After the phone call with Ryan, tensions eased considerably in Atlantic City, but there were still incidents and accidents. Nicole fell and sprained her ankle so badly that she had to be carried on and off stage. Keith had gotten into a late night altercation with some other guests who were being noisy outside his room, and had mouthed off about the hotel on Twitter, making Sharon force him to apologize. Even a new guitarist who had come in to audition, Dave Bakey, was already in an ankle cast when he arrived, leading Sharon to say sarcastically that he'd fit right in. The daily phone calls continued, although as they were being placed through Ryan's family, there were times when the family would tell the caller that it wasn't a good time to talk to Ryan at the moment - either he was too agitated, or he was overloaded and not responding. The details of these states gradually worked their way through the group members, who found it hard to imagine Ryan in either state. When he was able to talk to them, the phone got passed from hand-to-hand in AC as whoever was nearby would come running. Even if Ryan was confused or forgetful, it was good to hear his voice again after so many weeks of no response at all. Meanwhile, the fan support continued; in fact, it had increased after Sharon had mentioned in a blog that Ryan no longer needed critical care. The fact that Ryan had been so severely ill had rattled quite a few people. Ryan's family began judiciously sharing some of the information about the fan response with Ryan as a way to keep his spirits up when he got discouraged at what he perceived as his slow progress. At this point most of Ryan's understanding of his progress hinged on the physical, and the fact that it had taken him days to get strong enough to sit up for 15 minutes or to get himself to a wheelchair wasn't going over well. He wasn't really even seeing the memory and concentration issues he was having yet. Something else did come to mind one afternoon when Fiona and Nadine came to visit. They'd barely had time to see him awake, much less get to know him, before he'd been transferred out of the ICU. He didn't remember them, of course, as he'd been unconscious for most of the time they'd worked with him, so for him it was like meeting new people. It was like that for them, as well. They both knew, of course, that the Ryan they were seeing wasn't his old normal self yet, but it was at least a glimpse, and as he was having a good day at the time, it was pleasant. That was, until Nadine asked him if he'd tried singing anything yet. He hadn't, as it simply hadn't occurred to him to try it. Now he did, and was appalled to find that he was having tremendous difficulty with his breathing - even singing quietly, he was out of breath before he could finish a line. This threw him into a serious agitated episode as it scared him that he wouldn't be able to go back to CT. Not even the boys' music helped this time, as it represented what he thought he was losing. Finally, Mrs. Kelly gave him the suggestion of calling David Munro, and the idea that there was someone he could talk to about the problem helped settle him down. Mrs. Kelly placed the call to Sharon and told her what they needed. Sharon called David out of rehearsal to talk to Ryan and he was able to talk Ryan through his worries, reminding him of how he'd had to learn breath control when he'd started with CT and reassuring him that he could learn it again. He emailed information on breathing exercises to the Kellys, who shared them with Dr. Reilly. Dr. Reilly insisted that a respiratory therapist oversee the exercises initially as he didn't want Ryan to push too hard. The therapist had never worked with a professional singer before and was fascinated with the process, and in turn shared it with the speech therapists who often worked with patients who had trouble with breath support for speaking longer sentences. One day, Ryan was having a particularly difficult day with all of his therapies, including the breathing exercises, as he was having a lot of trouble focusing. Feeling himself growing agitated, he said to the respiratory therapist, "Stop. Please." "What's wrong?" asked the therapist. "Can't. Too much." Ryan was so stressed he was having trouble putting words together. He started searching for his Ipod. "Music. Help me!" The therapist didn't know what Ryan was looking for, and he was getting steadily more agitated. The therapist was about to call the nurse when Mr. Kelly came back into the room. He recognized the agitation immediately. "What do you need, Ryan?" he asked. "Music! Can't find it!" "Here." Mr. Kelly grabbed the Ipod from the drawer where Ryan had put it that morning. Handing Ryan the headphones, he turned the device on to shuffle through the recordings the boys had made. Ryan began to settle almost instantly as the familiar voices surrounded him. Closing his eyes, he relaxed back into his pillows. The respiratory therapist pulled Mr. Kelly aside. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that's what he was looking for," she said. "It's all right, but couldn't he tell you?" She shook her head. "He asked me to stop, said it was too much, and then started looking for something and said 'music' and 'help me'. He really seemed to be having trouble with the words." Mr. Kelly nodded. "Yes, that happens sometimes when he's starting to get overwhelmed. We'll have to find a way for him to keep that Ipod with him all the time so he doesn't lose it again. Usually we've been here with him and can get it for him, but we're trying to back out a little now and let him do more things on his own." "Whatever he's listening to, it seems to be working. He's gone from agitated to smiling!" The therapist was surprised - in her experience, it usually took a lot longer for people to settle down. "It's the other boys from his singing group - recordings they made for him before they left for a tour. Right now it's his lifeline since he can't have them with him. Thank God George thought of doing this, it's exactly what he needs when things get too hard. We knew the boys were close to each other, but we've really learned how much they rely on each other through all this." The therapist nodded. "I'll make sure a note gets put on his chart and passed to all his therapists," she said. " That way if something like this happens again, we'll know what he needs. I'm going to give him a break today, he's obviously had a pretty rough day and I think he can use the down time."
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Jun 11, 2014 0:39:32 GMT -5
A hard update... But good. Very good. It feels very raw and real.
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Post by celticbear on Jun 11, 2014 19:29:11 GMT -5
Ryan had a tough time in this update! FYI Dasve Bakey was new to the lads but not to Keith. It was Keith who suggested Bakey to Sharon in the first place. Keith has know Bakey and the other member of T rising since either 2008 or 2009. But all in all a very good update!
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Post by barbt on Jun 17, 2014 23:50:07 GMT -5
While Ryan was relaxing with his music, George called to check in. Mr. Kelly stepped out of the room for a moment to talk to him. "Hi, George," he said. "I am so glad you had the idea of putting that music in Ryan's Ipod. He's gotten to the point now where he knows he's losing control, and he'll ask for it; it always calms him down. It just saved us from a nasty episode with one of the therapists." "I'm glad it's working," George replied, "And it's good to know he's starting to be able to keep himself in control. I guess today's been a bad day, then?" "Yes," Mr. Kelly sighed. "He's so stressed right now he couldn't even get out a full sentence to tell me what he needed when he couldn't find the Ipod. He'd put it into one of the drawers this morning and didn't remember. But the therapist who was here is going to put a note in his chart so that all the other staff know that his Ipod is what he's looking for when he gets like that." "That's a good idea," George agreed. He sighed, too. "I wish we could be there with him. The shows here are going well, and Colm's fitting right in, but we miss him, and we worry about him all the time since we aren't there. It's got to be hard on you as well with him bouncing between moods like this and being so impatient." "It is," Mr. Kelly acknowledged. "We're never quite sure what we're dealing with from minute to minute. We're slowly starting to see bits of the old Ryan, but they're few and far between right now. I don't know if he'll be able to talk to you, but I'll ask him." Mr. Kelly stepped back into Ryan's room. "Ryan?" he said quietly. "George is on the phone, do you want to talk to him?" Ryan nodded, dropping the headphones around his neck. Mr. Kelly passed him the phone. "George?" Ryan said hesitantly, then smiled as George replied. He listened for a few moments then said, "No." He listened again and then said "No. Sing, please?" Mr. Kelly watched, smiling, as Ryan relaxed back on the pillows and closed his eyes. On the other end, George had said to Ryan, "Not having a good day, eh, brother?" He grimaced at the few people around him as Ryan said, "No." "Do you want me to talk to you, or someone else?" He listened, and then started softly singing "Scarlet Ribbons". The others looked at each other in confusion. Normally Ryan was anxious to hear their voices. When George had finished the song, he listened and then smiled gently. "I'm glad I could help, Mr. Kelly." he said "Hopefully that'll set him right." He disconnected the call. "What was all that about?" Emmet burst out. "Really bad day," George said. "Mr. Kelly said Ryan had gotten so stressed he couldn't even say a full sentence, but he is beginning to be able to tell when he's losing control and he'll ask for his Ipod to settle himself down. He couldn't find it this time and almost lost it but Mr. Kelly was able to get it to him. He'd been listening to it when I called. When Mr. Kelly gave him the phone, and I asked if he wanted someone to talk to him, he said 'No' and 'Sing, please'. Apparently I sang him to sleep." George wiped a tear from his eye as he finished. "Hey, if that's what he needed, than that's fine, big G," Keith said, giving George a pat on the back. "That's what we're here for, right?" "Aye," the big man agreed. "They're going to put a note in his chart so all the therapists know to look for his Ipod if he gets upset and starts hunting for something. He didn't remember where he put it this morning and he couldn't tell the therapist what he needed." It made all of them sad that something so simple could upset their brother that badly, but the fact that he could now get himself back under control was such a huge step that they felt like celebrating anyway.
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Post by celticbear on Jun 18, 2014 0:55:30 GMT -5
A bittersweet update! I feel so bad for Ryan in this story. But thank God in the end he pulled trough as was ready to perform again in time for the filming of Mythology. It's hard to believe that 2 years have gone by since the real accident occurred.
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Jun 18, 2014 3:30:03 GMT -5
Yeah... A bittersweet update. But good as always.
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Post by barbt on Jun 18, 2014 22:40:14 GMT -5
Sharon was surprised, the next morning, to get a text from Ryan. Partly because she knew he wasn't allowed to have his phone, and partly because George had let them know how bad the previous day had been. When she opened it, she involuntarily groaned, because what it said was, "They want me to go to another hospital. I'm going home. Tell them to let me go home so I can get better and come back to recording." The staff in the production office looked at her curiously. "It's from Ryan," she said. "I don't know how he got hold of his phone." Everyone started to crowd around her, wanting to see what he'd said, but she quickly blanked the screen and simply said, "He's giving out about being in the hospital. Wants to go home." "Typical guy," Angie said with a grin. "Worst patients in the world." Sharon excused herself, knowing that she needed to follow this up with a call - but not to Ryan immediately. She called his father instead. "John, it's Sharon," she said. "I just got a text from Ryan telling me he's going home instead of to another hospital, and wanting me to back him up. What's going on, and how did he get his phone?" Mr. Kelly sighed. "He convinced Raymond to bring it to him. Ray has it back again, though, he only let him have it for a few minutes. Anyway, Dr. Reilly is sending Ryan to a specialty brain injury rehabilitation center where they can really assess everything and find out exactly where he is in recovery terms. Ryan's been arguing with him and us since yesterday, he's convinced he just needs to go home and get his strength back and he'll be fine." "That explains yesterday, then," Sharon said. "When he was so stressed he couldn't talk." "Yes. We can't get him to see that there's more going on than just weakness. That's all he's focused on at the moment. He's not even understanding that the fact that he can't talk when he gets upset is anything to worry about. All he sees is that he can only sit or stand up for a few minutes and he can hardly walk even a few steps." "Well, I suppose I'll have to be the bad guy again and tell him what's what," Sharon sighed. "I'm not letting him come back until we know exactly what he can and can't handle - I'll have to know that to be able to adjust things for him. Is now a good time to talk to him?" "Best you're likely to get, I suppose," Mr. Kelly said. "He just had a pretty good physical therapy session, he managed to walk about 10 feet holding onto the parallel bars so he thinks he's ready to run again. Not really, but he's on an upswing at the moment." "Well, that's good news anyway, he is getting stronger," Sharon said. "OK, let me talk to him." She mentally prepared herself for what might be a very disturbing discussion on both ends. "Hey, Sharon!" Ryan said, sounding more like himself than any time Sharon had talked to him since he'd woken up. "Da didn't give away my good news, did he?" Sharon hoped he meant the walking and not that he thought he was going home. "What news, Ryan?" "I just walked the whole parallel bars by myself! " He sounded almost like an excited child announcing that he'd just ridden his bike for the first time on his own. "That's fantastic, Ryan! You're getting a lot stronger, it's good to hear. So what's next?" Ryan's voice flipped from happy to grumpy instantly. "They want to send me to another hospital . I just want to go home so I can get better. I don't need to be in the hospital anymore. I want to be back with you guys." "I know," Sharon said carefully. "We'd like nothing more than to have you back with us tomorrow, but you're not ready for that yet, and it's still a few weeks until we'll be home anyway - and a few weeks past that before we start rehearsing. Why not go to this other hospital while you're waiting for us to get back?" "I told you, I don't need to!" Ryan's temper was starting to rise again. Sharon knew she had to be careful. "Ryan, you do still need to be there. You still can't walk or take care of yourself alone yet. The other hospital will help you do that. And before you come back to us, I need to know exactly what you can do - how strong you are, how you're going to hold up in rehearsals, how much break time you might need, even if it's going to take you longer to learn your songs and choreography. I told you I'd make changes if we need to for you to come back to us, but I can't do that until I know exactly what you need." She was afraid she'd gone too far and he was about to explode, and held her breath waiting for an answer. Ryan swore, something Sharon had almost never heard from him. Then she heard Mr. Kelly's voice in the background saying sternly, "Ryan, don't you dare throw my phone! Give it to me." Then she heard a loud bang and another curse. She heard quiet voices for a minute and then what sounded like muffled crying. Finally Mr. Kelly came back on the line. "He kicked the bed rail," he said. "But once he got that out of his system, he just said, 'She's right, I know she's right, she always is. I'll go.' But he's curled up crying again, I think probably because he had to admit to himself that he's not as well as he wants to be." "God, John, I'm sorry, this has to be so hard on you all. I wish I could do more for you." "Sharon, don't you dare get down on yourself. You did exactly what we needed, you got him to listen to reason. I wasn't fancying having to sedate him or something to get him into the ambulance to take him to the center tomorrow morning; I'd rather he have his tantrum now and get it out of his system." Mr. Kelly sounded quite relieved, actually. "I'm almost glad he's crying, he's been bottling everything up for the last few days." Sharon suddenly spotted Neil and Keith coming down the hallway. "Neil and Keith are here, would he like to talk to them? Tell them his big news?" "I'll ask." Sharon heard Mr. Kelly talking and then he came back on. "He does, but he wants to talk to you first. Here he is." "Sharon?" Ryan's voice was emotional again, as it had been the first time he'd spoken to them after he'd woken up. "I'm here, Ryan." She grinned as she saw both Neil and Keith look up at her quickly, eager anticipation on their faces. "I'm sorry for swearing at you. You're right. You haven't steered me wrong yet, even when I haven't listened to you before you've turned out to be right." "It's fine, Ryan, don't worry about it. I think Keith and Neil are going to have to share the phone, neither one of them seems to want to let the other one talk first! I'm putting it on speaker for them." "Hey, Ryan, how's it going? Better than yesterday?" Neil said. At the same time, Keith said, "Doing better today, man?" Ryan's voice came through the speaker, sounding considerably happier than he had a moment ago. "Big news, lads," he said. "I walked the whole set of parallel bars by myself this morning, no help at all!" Sharon threw her hand over her ears just in time as Keith's "YEEEEOOOWWW!" echoed through the halls and brought people running from every direction, knowing that it had to be good news from Ryan to set him off into that yell.
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Post by celticbear on Jun 18, 2014 23:36:19 GMT -5
Yep Sharon and her tough love has done it again! All these mood swings have to be taking there toll on Ryan. But I'm glad he has agreed to go to the other hospital. Love Keith's yell at the end! That's my favorite Blonde,Irish,Surfing,Singing,Song Writing Pirate for you. Great update barbt.
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Jun 19, 2014 1:57:12 GMT -5
Haha tough, but a wonderful ending
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