The Maroon Beret

-Charlie-
“@SrACharlieC: Getting the casts off today! Let’s see how skinny my entire right side is now.... :) #WWP”

It’s been a week since the team came to see me, and I finally feel like I’m making some progress. Today is the day I get both my arm and leg casts off, which means I’ll finally be able to start some real rehab. I feel bad because my tweets and Instagram pictures have been boring, since they haven’t really changed....

I’m sitting in a chair. I’m doing things with my left arm. Blah blah blah it’s the same thing every day. My followers get the point, you know?

I was actually shocked at how many followers I instantly gained after my first post. I gained followers from all over, including former military members, guys across the league, hockey fans in every city, and even a couple of professional athletes outside of the NHL. Mainly other Philadelphia athletes, but also a couple of random MLBers and NFLers, even a bunch of Olympians. Everyone seems to be interested in my progression, which is surprisingly motivating. Many people have tweeted at me that they are inspired by my story, and that makes me want to show them that anything is possible.

“Are you ready to get your casts off?” My nurse Christina asks, dragging me away from reading through my notifications.
“Oh gosh, I’m so excited!” I reply with a giggle.
She wheels me into the doctor’s office and helps me get situated on the table.
“I’ll be right back with the doctor.” She says, giving me a smile.

A couple of minutes later, Christina returns with Dr. Wells. I always laugh to myself when I think about his name. Admit it, it’s kinda funny right?
“You ready?” He asks.
“Absolutely!” I respond. He grabs the electric saw from the other table and begins explaining to me how the blade is designed to cut the cast, but won’t cut my skin. “Yeah, yeah I know! Let’s just get to cutting these damned things off!” I exclaim, gaining a laugh.
“Well alrighty then, let’s get to it!” He says.
“Wait!” I pause, grabbing my cell phone and opening up Instagram. “Take a video?” I ask Christina. She nods and takes the phone.

When she’s ready, Dr. Wells begins cutting the cast on my arm first. All I can do is laugh. I’m so happy that these things are finally coming off. He cuts through the one side quickly and moves on to the other, finally popping the plaster confinement off my arm.
“Oh, it’s so skinny!” I laugh, smiling at Christina.
She hands me back my phone and I quickly caption the video and post it, making sure to put it on twitter too.

“@SrACharlieC: Goodbye arm cast! #SunsOutGunsOut #WWP”

“Okay, now let’s get the leg cast off!” I say, laughing, offering my phone to Christina again. Before she starts recording, I grab a blanket from the pile next to the table and drape it over my left leg. I’m not really comfortable with showing it off on social media quite yet.

Christina gives Dr. Wells the go-ahead and he begins slicing through the plaster. In no time, he pops it off just like the arm one. I slowly flex my foot and give the camera a thumbs-up and a big smile. I type out a quick note and post it.

“@SrACharlieC: Friends don’t let friends skip leg day... #Shrinkage #WWP”

“You should post one of you and Dr. Wells holding your casts.” Christina suggests.
“Would you do that?” I ask him.
“Sure, why not?” He laughs, shrugging his shoulders.
He hands me my arm cast and holds up my leg cast next to me. We smile and Christina snaps the photo.

“@SrACharlieC: Thanks, Doc! Now off to therapy! #ByeCasts #WWP”

Dr. Wells takes my arm cast from me and Christina helps me back into my wheelchair. She wheels me out of the room and towards the physical therapy wing.
“I think it’s great that you’re doing the social media thing.” She says as we make progress down the long hallway. “I’ve seen so many people come through here with different injuries. Gunshot wounds, burns, paralysis, missing limbs. They come in here one person and they’re completely different by the time they leave. Most people are pretty much back to normal.” She pauses. “The public doesn’t know what you guys go through. They only see the scars and the prosthetics. They don’t know how much you have to work to just be functional again.”

We both fall into silence, thinking about what she just said. Neither of us say anything until right before we head into the physical therapy room.
“Thank you.” I say.
“For what?” She asks.
“Giving me a reason. I agreed to do this because they asked me to. But I wasn’t completely sure what it would accomplish. I figured it was just fun, so why not? You gave me a real reason to continue.”
She gives me a smile and opens the door, pushing me through.

-Sean-
“Okay, so who saw Charlie’s posts earlier today?” Someone yells as they come into the locker room. Most of the guys with social media accounts respond, and they begin a conversation about how skinny her arm and leg are.
“Did you see them?” Brayden asks, coming up next to me, scrolling through his phone.
“She texts me all of the pictures she takes.” I respond, pulling my shirt off. “Almost always right after it happens. And always before they go online.”
“So did you see the videos of the doctor removing them?” I shake my head.
“She only sends me pictures. But she told me about the videos.”
He hands me his phone and I watch the two short videos. I smile at how happy she looks. Scrolling through the other pictures, I recognize them all.
“Yeah, I saw all of these already. I like the one with the doctor. It’s funny. She sent me that one plus a couple of the casts by themselves. She said she’s gonna post those later though, since she isn’t posting any of the ones she took during therapy today.”
“Woah woah woah! You have a picture of her at therapy? Doing what?” He asks, drawing the attention of our conversing teammates.
“Standing.” I smile.
“Can we see it?” Rinaldo asks.
I hesitate.
“Dude, it’s the first picture of her standing!” Giroux exclaims.
“I don’t think she’d want me to show you guys, honestly.” I say, throwing my Underarmour shirt over my head.
“Why not?”
I pause and sigh.
“Her leg isn’t covered.” I say, hoping they’ll drop the subject.
“Well no, she’s standing on it.” Jake says. I shake my head.
“Not that leg. Her other one.” I say, and they all seem to get it. “I don’t think she wants anyone else to see it. Not yet, at least.”
“That makes sense.” Brayden says.
“It looks pretty bad.” I admit.
“We get it, man.” Giroux says.
“Don’t worry, she said she’d take a couple pictures tomorrow and post them. She’ll be wearing sweatpants so no one can see it.”

After throwing our gear on, we head out for practice. It’s a rough one, since we have a light practice tomorrow. Chief decides to run a conditioning session at the end and everyone is pretty much wiped.
“Remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to become a professional athlete?” Hartsy moans as he chucks his gear into his stall. We all chuckle with what little energy we have left.
“I was supposed to take Johanna out for dinner tonight but I might not make it.” Kimmo says.
“Fuck, I volunteered to babysit your kids, didn’t I?” Rinaldo asks. Kimmo nods his head with a smile. “You should just stay home.”
Kimmo laughs. “Maybe we’ll go out after all. My girls do love you.”
“Yeah, they love running around and messing with me!”

They continue to bicker as I head for the shower, turning on all the cold water. I can never handle a warm shower right after practice. I stand under the stream and let the water cool me down for a minute before I clean off and throw my towel around my waist.

“So we’re going to be playing in DC for your birthday.” Luke says as I’m putting my clothes on. “You gonna go down the day before and see Charlie?”
“I was thinking about it. I gotta go talk to Chief since I wouldn’t be traveling with the team.” I respond.
“Well it’s next week so you might want to get on that.” He laughs.
“I was going to go talk to him now.” I say. “But don’t tell anyone, okay? These idiots are likely to say something and I want it to be a surprise.”
“Gotcha.” He says. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thanks, man.”

I throw the rest of my stuff into my bag and head for coach’s office. His door is open and he’s sitting at his desk so I knock on the doorframe.
“Sean. Come in.” He says. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He motions for me to shut the door and sit, so I do. “Next week is my birthday and we’re playing in DC-” I start.
“You want to go a day early and spend some time with Charlie.” He interrupts.
“Uh- yeah...” I say. He just laughs.
“Of course you can go.” He says. A smile spreads across my face.
“Really? Even though that means I won’t be traveling with the team?” I ask.
“Absolutely. You hardly get to see your fiancee as it is and we’re going to be there the next day. What kind of man would I be if I denied you the ability to see her?”
I chuckle. “Thanks, Chief.” I say.
“You don’t have to thank me. I appreciate what you two have been through. Anything I can do to help, I will.”

I shake his hand and head out to my car. As I’m throwing my bag into my trunk, I hear a woman calling my name. I turn around and recognize Kelsi’s friend from the day she kissed me running up to me. I instantly tense up.

“I’m glad I caught you.” She says, out of breath.
“What do you want?” I ask, a bit defensively.

Notes

Uh ohhhhhhh!