by Vivian Ward
“You’re beautiful,” he said, looking deep into my eyes. He meant every word.
“Deeper,” I replied.
He began thrusting deeply into me. As he did, the excitement started to build between us and soon his slow, deep thrusts turned into faster, harder advances. My body quivered in pure ecstasy as he drove his cock with an intense and pleasurable force. I could feel an orgasm beginning to erupt.
“Faster,” I cried out.
Quickening his pace, he was about to deliver an exhilarating orgasm that I had never experienced before. My body twisted and convulsed as I had a mind-shattering orgasm and came all over his thick, luscious manhood. Hearing my soft moans and pleas escape my sweet, plump lips as I bucked my hips was enough to set him off. He was completely fired up and began fiercely plunging his cock deep into my womb as he worked himself up into a frenzy. With abrupt, carnal and monstrous pumps, he began to plant his seed deep inside me.
The scent of sex and love filled the air as we laid in each other’s arms, caressing one another. He played with a few locks of my hair as he smiled down at me.
“That was incredible,” he told me as he continued loosely twirling my hair around his finger.
“It was,” I agreed as I rested with my hand cupped over his chest.
From that night on, we began spending more time at Dale’s house—sometimes even spending the night. Nevaeh loved his mansion; she called it her big doll house as she pretended to be a wealthy princess who was in charge of a village. Dale and I cherished her vivid imagination as she spun around throughout the house, often singing as she danced.
“You know,” Dale said to me one evening, “I think it would be really beneficial for Nevaeh to swim in the pool out back. Her doctor said that physical therapy would help her, and with the school year fast approaching, I think it’s wise to keep her as active as possible so she doesn’t miss school. It’ll be easy on her joints since you’re weightless in water. I think it’s perfect!”
“Yeah, but there’s just one thing,” I laughed. “Nevaeh doesn’t know how to swim.”
“She doesn’t know how to swim?”
“Nope. I’m not much of a swimmer and when I have time off work, I take her places to do things with her. Swimming has never been one of them.”
“I’ll teach her how to swim. It’s not that hard, and we’ll have a blast.” He assured me. “Bring her over tomorrow and I’ll give her her first lesson.”
“Okay, I’ll let Nevaeh know the game plan. She’s going to have so much fun with you. She already thinks you’re so cool. I think you’ll be moved from fresh status to super cool status.” I joked.
For the duration of summer, Nevaeh spent every waking moment she could in his swimming pool when she wasn’t at Lorraine and Tyrone’s. My relationship with my family was getting better—just as long as I didn’t mention the “D” name. Meanwhile, I tried to figure out how to pay off Nevaeh’s medical bills while trying to afford her medication and come up with enough cash to buy her school clothes for the fall. I never dared told Dale just how bad my financial struggle was; I was too proud to admit that I needed help.
The school year was a new beginning for Nevaeh. She quickly reunited with all of her friends and told them all about her summer, leaving out the part of her new condition. She bragged to her friends about her mommy’s new boyfriend and his enormous house and swimming pool. Her friends gathered around as she described her swimming lessons and told them about all of the exciting places she’d gone with Dale and I.
With her specialist appointment fast approaching, my nerves began to get the best of me. It was almost time to find out exactly how far Nevaeh’s disease had progressed and figure out our next steps in her treatment plan. In less than a week, we’d know the answers. In need of support, I invited Dale to the appointment; he gladly accepted.
“Nevaeh Harris,” the receptionist called.
We made our way down a corridor into a room, stopping along the way to take Nevaeh’s current height and weight. “If you’ll just have a seat in here, Dr. Newton will be with you shortly.”
I nervously looked around the room as a question-filled Nevaeh asked what everything was. Dale reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it with reassurance as he grinned at me.
“Hello, Nevaeh, Ms. Harris,” the doctor said as he entered the room. “Are you the father?” he asked, directing his question toward Dale.
I spoke on his behalf. “No, this is my boyfriend. He helps care for Nevaeh,” I explained, which wasn’t all that untruthful. Dale and Nevaeh began to develop a beautiful relationship; almost like a father-daughter bond.
Their days in the pool and outings were enough to bring the two nearly as close as Dale and I. He was the first man who ever developed a strong relationship with Nevaeh. I was so happy with the way they accepted each other; it made me proud. Maybe I finally found the right guy. Out of all the guys I’ve ever dated, he has made a difference in both of our lives. I don’t know anyone else who would’ve taken us on mini vacations or taught her how to swim, and he did it with patience… and love. Did I just say love? Of course, he loves her, who wouldn’t? I wonder if he loves me.
The doctor began probing about Nevaeh’s medical history after reviewing her chart. “Now Ms. Harris, it appears that Dr. Herber treated Nevaeh’s AS for the last few months. Can you tell me how she responded to the medications that he prescribed for her?”
“Yes, she’s responded quite well. She takes prescription-strength NSAIDS and methotrexate.”
“Has she had any complications that you’re aware of?”
“Not that I’ve noticed.”
“Good. What I’d like to do is schedule her for an x-ray and an MRI. Once we have the results of those tests, we can determine how much the AS has affected her. Our hopes are that the methotrexate and NSAIDS keep her symptoms to a minimum for as long as possible.”
“What happens if her symptoms return or worsen?” Dale asked.
“If that should happen, we’ll have to bring her back in for more testing and decide how we’d like to approach things. But right now, everything looks good. Nevaeh, would you like a sucker?” the doctor asked her as he ordered the labs for her testing.
Even though I didn’t receive the answers I was looking for at the appointment, I was relieved that the testing was scheduled. Nevaeh was set to have her diagnostic testing within two weeks from the date and had a follow-up appointment with the specialist the following month to go over the results.
As we were leaving, Dale asked me, “Do you feel better now that things are heading in the right direction?”
“I guess so.”
“What do you mean you guess so? I think the appointment went as well as could be expected,” he squeezed my hand.
By the end of September, I pulled Nevaeh out of class to take her to get her testing done, which also meant I had to juggle my hectic work schedule. One of my coworkers traded days with me to avoid my boss giving me too much grief for missing any more work. Nevaeh was a bit nervous, but so was I. As we made our way into the hospital, Nevaeh refused to go inside.
“What’s wrong sweetie?” I asked as she jerked her hand back and stood near the entrance.
“I don’t want to go in.”
“Why? They’re not going to hurt you. I promise.”
“You don’t know that. What if they poke me with a bunch of needles?” she cried.
“That’s not going to happen. They just need to take pictures of you.”
“I don’t believe you, mommy. Why do they want to take my picture? Can’t they see what I look like?”
“Of course they can, but these tests will let them see what you look like on the inside.”
“Why do they want to see what my insides look like?”
“Because they need to see your bones and joints.”
After explaining what bones and joints were, I finally talked her into going inside the building. Nevaeh anxiously waited in the lobby as she pre
pared for the worst. A tall, thin woman called me to the front desk shortly after I registered for the appointment.
“Miss Harris, how would you like to pay for the down payment this afternoon?”
“The down payment? What down payment?”
“We require a down payment at the time of service. After you make your initial down payment, we’ll bill you for the remaining amount. We ask that you put down at least two hundred dollars.”
“Two hundred?” I was lost in disbelief as I was put on the spot. I didn’t have two hundred to put down. I wasn’t sure I had one dollar, never mind two hundred of them. I lowered my voice so other patients couldn’t overhear me, “I’m sorry, no one told me. I don’t have two hundred to put down; I didn’t know a down payment was required. I can do half of it today, I guess,” I offered, seeing that money seemed more important than my daughter’s health.
“That will be okay. How would you like to pay that today?”
I rummaged through my purse and pulled out my credit card. “Can I use this?”
“Yes, that will be fine.”
The woman took my credit card and processed the payment. Great, there goes some of our grocery money for the month.
“Here you go Miss Harris,” she returned the credit card along with a receipt. “You’ll be called back shortly.”
I held Nevaeh’s hand until the technician called us back to the MRI room. She instructed Nevaeh to undress and put on the tiger printed hospital gown. While I helped her undress, I could sense her fear.
“Listen, baby, I know you’re nervous, but I promise, it’s not going to hurt. Do you see that table right there?” Nevaeh nodded her head. “You’re going to lay on that and they’ll press a button that moves the table inside of that circle machine. You’ll have to be really still while you’re in that part of the machine because that’s where they’ll take your pictures. Okay?”
Nevaeh looked at me as if I were crazy. “That thing’s not going to take my picture! I don’t even see a camera.”
“You can’t see the camera because it’s inside the machine,” I tried to reason with her.
The technician knocked on the door and asked to come in. Once she was back in the room, she helped Nevaeh onto the table and began the procedure. As her tiny body was pulled inside the scanner, she weakly smiled at me. Trying to put her at ease, I said, “It’s okay Nevaeh, I’m right here. I won’t leave you.”
Nevaeh laid completely still as the machine started pulling her inside of it. I can honestly say that I was scared for her. I thought the machine was intimidating, and I’m an adult! The scanner began making loud tapping noises, which scared Nevaeh, but she remained brave throughout the whole procedure. As the technician announced that the scan was complete, Nevaeh let out a sigh of relief. The motorized bed retracted out of the scanner, allowing Nevaeh to sit up.
“See. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked her.
“No, but it was scary because it was so loud. I wanted to jump, but I remembered that you said to be still.”
“You did an excellent job,” the radiographer added.
“What’s next?” I asked the woman.
“We’ll send these off to be analyzed, the results will be forwarded to your doctor and he’ll go over them with you. I noticed that Dr. Newton ordered these; he’s an excellent physician. The best in the field, actually.”
That made me feel better. “Okay, and what about her x-ray?” I asked.
“We’ll do that today as well, but I don’t do those. You’ll have to go down to x-ray.” She looked at Nevaeh, “You’ll need to stay in your cute gown for a while longer.”
“Where’s x-ray?” I asked.
“When you leave this room, take a left and continue down the hall until you reach the next main corridor. At the next hallway, make a right and you’ll run right into it. There’s a big sign hanging on the wall that’ll say X-ray on it.”
Nevaeh toted behind me as we headed to x-ray. While we were walking, she began to ask about the x-ray and how it worked.
“How does this test work?” she asked.
“It’s not like the other one. There’s no noise at all, and you can stand up while they do it. They’ll place individual boards behind you and take pictures of you with a camera that you’ll actually be able to see.”
“Good, I didn’t like being in that weird machine back there. Are they going to put me inside another thing?”
I laughed, “Oh, no, baby. You’ll just stand in an open room.”
Once we reached x-ray, I checked in with the receptionist to let them know we were here. We took a seat in the waiting room until a short, round woman called us back.
“Oh, I see you’re already sporting one of our gowns, huh?” the lady joked with Nevaeh.
“Yeah, they made me put it on for my other test.”
“Okay, now I’ll just need you to stand right here and hold still. When I’m ready to take your picture, I’ll need you to take a deep breath and hold it until I say you can breathe. It’ll only be a few seconds. Can you do that?”
I admired how friendly she was with my daughter. She kind of reminded me of my friend Lorraine. Suddenly, I wished I would’ve asked her to come with us. It would’ve been nice to have someone tag along for support. Dale was busy, off buying another commercial property in East St. Louis, Illinois.
After the woman had taken x-rays of Nevaeh’s spine, she had her sit on the table so she could take x-rays of her hands, elbows, knees, ankles and feet. Poor Nevaeh was bored as she had to hold still for picture after picture. When they were finally finished, the kind woman helped her off the table and offered her a drink.
“Would you like some Sprite or apple juice?” the redheaded woman asked as she slid her glasses back up her nose.
“Sprite!” Nevaeh exclaimed.
“Nevaeh, where are your manners? Say please.”
“Please,” she added.
The woman smiled as she made her way to the mini fridge behind the receptionist desk. As she returned with the soda, she told her that she could put her clothes back on since they were finished with their testing. It would be another two weeks until we would know the results of the images, but I was okay with that. At the moment, Nevaeh was healthy and going strong. Her medicine was still working, which I was grateful for.
Just a few weeks before Thanksgiving, I once again traded days off and pulled Nevaeh out of class to see the specialist. This time, Dale accompanied us to the appointment. The assistant called us back, this time placing us in a colorful green room. Dr. Newton was quite busy that day, which caused us to wait at least a half hour before he made it into the room.
“Hello Nevaeh and Miss Harris,” he shook my hand. “Good afternoon,” he spoke to Dale. “Okay, let’s take a look at the test results.”
He scanned over the analysis of the diagnostic test results for a few moments. After reviewing them, he removed them from the chart to allow me to read them as he explained them.
“According to the MRI, Nevaeh has a great deal of inflammation surrounding her joints. This would explain all of the pain and swelling that she’s experienced. It’s especially dangerous in her lower extremities, which caused the stiffening in her legs, feet, and hands. Her sacroiliac joint has the greatest amount of inflammation, but this is common in those who suffer from AS.”
We nodded, indicating we were following the doctor as we read the analysis from the report. “What is her sacroiliac joint?” I asked.
“The sacroiliac joint is the joint where the pelvis and spine join. This would cause all of the lower back pain that she complained about previously.”
“Now, with her x-ray, she has a noticeable amount of fusing around her vertebrae. This is a concern because it has caused some damage to her spine. When the vertebrae fuse together, it robs the spine of mobility and leaves her vulnerable to fractures. If this continues, it can gradually lead to her spine curving forward. It’s imperative that we keep her inflammation under c
ontrol; if ignored, she may develop calcium deposits in the cushions between the spinal vertebrae.”
“But none of that has happened yet, is that what you’re saying?”
“Well, she does have some fusion of the spine and her inflammation is a concern. Are her medications still working well for her?”
“So far,” I answered.
“Then we’ll continue with that treatment plan and we’ll schedule her to come back in six months for more testing to determine the rate at which her disease is progressing. As long as we monitor it and keep it under control, she should grow up to be a young, healthy adult.”
