AFW Stories. Charlotte Ravel' and Astrid Arvidsson. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger

"Up to 30% of all penguin mass is in very developed chest muscles. They need such strong muscles to swim quickly," Astrid said aloud.
"Do you think if Alaina couldn't kill me by breaking my spine, then you can do it by reading me an idiotic article about penguins?" sighing heavily, Charlotte asked in a hoarse voice.

The blonde smiled and put the magazine aside. She glanced at her friend. That the Frenchwoman retained the ability to joke was a good sign. But, to be honest, the young woman looked just awful. She seemed to be passed through a meat grinder. Most of her body was covered with bruises. But, of course, the saddest thing was the situation with her right shoulder and her spine.

The Frenchwoman was unconscious for three days. For the next four days, she sometimes woke up, but only for a few minutes, no more. During this period, she began to have nightmares and she was often delirious in her sleep. Only on the eighth day she spent two hours conscious. On the ninth day, her sleep and wake state had stabilized, but she was too weak for any conversation. She only talked with Sintharia for a short time, and also asked Margarita and Victoria to go home to rest. The manager and her former student have not left her a single step since the moment Charlotte was in the hospital.

Now it was the tenth day of her stay in the medical facility. Of course, now she felt better, but the situation remained very vague. All this time, her torso was constrained by a rigid corset that did not allow her to move. This was necessary in order not to aggravate her situation with the spine. Her right arm was firmly fixed in order for her right collarbone to begin to heal. And, of course, her nose was set in place, but because of this, she could not speak normally and her voice sounded very choked.

Astrid was also not in the best condition, many parts of her body remained bandaged, but their injuries could not be compared. When the Norwegian woman saw what had happened to Charlotte, she became scared for the first time in a long time. Not everyone can tolerate such injuries. Plus... she knew perfectly well that her friend was now more depressed than ever before. Who can keep positive when you and your dreams were literally broken?

"It's not my fault that there is only this idiotic nature magazine," Astrid chuckled, "how else can I pass the time?"
"You can shut up, for example," Charlotte snapped.

Astrid looked away. In any other situation, she would not have allowed to talk to herself like that, even in the case of her best friend. But she understood why the Frenchwoman behaved this way. A doctor should come any minute to give a prognosis regarding Charlotte's situation. If everything was relatively clear with the fracture of the collarbone, then with her spine they still did not receive a clear answer. Perhaps it was a displacement of the vertebrae. Perhaps it was a crack in one of the vertebrae.

Right after Charlotte was injured, she couldn't feel her legs. This was the biggest fear for everyone, they were afraid that the life of the Frenchwoman would be over. And although it turned out that it was a pinched nerve, now the situation could not be called joyful. After some procedures, the sensitivity in her legs returned to her, but every movement gave her unbearable pain. And most of all she feared that her career was over. Even if her legs were okay, her spinal injury could be too serious. She was not ready for this.

She lost. She lost not only the match. She lost the rivalry. She could not surpass the veteran. And now she had no chance to ever do it. It was eating her from the inside. She tried not to show it. She already looked weaker than ever. And she didn't want anyone to see her emotional distress too.

But this fact remained a fact. She was unable to win the most important match. Because of this, she felt insignificant. Someone could say that nothing is over yet, because on her score against the American woman there were two victories and two defeats. But Charlotte looked at it from a different angle. The only option in which she could take revenge is another title shot. But, she knew, this wouldn't happen. She screwed up with her only chance. Now her rival was at the top, while she was... who knows where.

She would like to leave this in the past and move on. But the problem was that now she wasn't sure if she had a future. She couldn't help but think about it. If the doctor came into this room now and said that she could no longer practice martial arts... she did not know what to do.

“Everything will be fine,” Astrid said.
"Seriously?" Charlotte even tried to smile, "maybe you will come up to me, pat me on the shoulder and tell me that I did a good job? No, Astrid. We made a promise to each other. Only victory. But I missed my victory."
"I understand," the blonde nodded, "but I'm sure you still have a chance."
"Yeah," the Frenchwoman looked out the window, "In the end, everything works out exactly the way I wanted it, right?"

Astrid pursed her lips and said nothing. Yes, she understood that, but she didn't want to say it out loud. Initially, the Frenchwoman wanted to repeat the path of her rival. And only then she realized that this desire was wrong. She realized that this desire will lead her to the fact that she, too, will lose shot after shot in the hope that someday she will achieve something. Only a weak person sets such goals for himself. Only a weak person wants to be like someone else. No, Charlotte was stronger than that. That is why she changed her aspirations. That is why she tried not to become like Alaina, but to surpass her. However, it didn't matter now.

The doctor entered the room and Astrid got to her feet almost immediately. Charlotte only turned her head slightly, one of the few movements she was able to do now. And she didn't like what she saw. She wasn't very good at reading people. But the doctor's face had something like "bad news, son" written on it.

"Good morning," the doctor greeted, "how are you feeling today?"
“I feel like I want to know the state of my spine,” Charlotte replied coldly, at such a moment she did not want it to take longer than necessary, she was already not in the best emotional state.
"Well, in that case..." the doctor opened the folder and walked closer to Charlotte, and Astrid did the same, "let's start with your shoulder. As you already know, this is a collarbone fracture. The shift of bones was not too big, so we made the decision to just align the bones and fix them. But we still recommend that you accept the offer to hold the bones together with metal plates, in which case there will be much less risk of complications after the bones heal."

Charlotte had a different opinion on this matter. Yes, she knew perfectly well that metal plates guarantee the absence of consequences. But at the same time, this means that a repeated fracture in this place will lead to even more sad consequences due to the presence of metal in the body. So...

"We'll settle for conservative treatment," she said, "but my collarbone worries me only a little more than a my broken nose. Be kind. Tell me the hell, what's with my spine?"
"Yes, of course," the doctor turned a few pages and cleared his throat, "to be honest, despite the fact that you are lucky, the situation is not very simple. We expected that the CT scan will show the displacement of the vertebrae, but fortunately, your body turned out to be stronger than we thought, many other people could already say goodbye to being able to walk on their feet."
"Thanks Odin..." Astrid breathed in relief.

But the Frenchwoman was not so positive. She glared at the doctor, who clearly did not tell everything to the end. It was just a way to calm her down a little, she knew that. Through Sintharia, she learned a lot about psychology.

"But?" she asked.
"But we are forced to diagnose your intervertebral hernia," the doctor said bluntly, "you could not feel your legs immediately after falling on the ladder because you had a pinched nerve. And although we managed to localize the injury, now you continue to feel pain because this hernia still getting on your nerves."

Although she did not have a medical degree, Charlotte knew enough to understand everything more than seriously. She pursed her lips, she felt something. What's this? Exactly. It was fear. She was scared. Will she no longer be able to do what has become her life? Who she will be without martial arts?

"What do you suggest?" she asked, gathering her strength.
"I ask you to listen to me very carefully," the doctor asked, Charlotte nodded, "the images show that the nucleus has been displaced by five millimeters. This is not considered an absolute indication for surgery. But we are not sure that conservative treatment will be effective. So we are obliged to recommend microsurgery for you. Only your health insurance does not cover these costs."

There was silence in the room. Astrid lowered her head, realizing that this was not the best thing they could hear. Charlotte was lost in thought. There was nothing wrong with the operation. But she didn't want it to end that way. She was upset by the thought that it was all her fault. And it seemed to her that if she agreed to the operation, it would be the last point that would finally confirm that at the most crucial moment in her life she was unable to win.

"It's not about money. What is the likelihood that I will be able to recover without surgery?"
“You must understand that we do not work with probabilities. We can only give you recommendations for treatment. But if you decide to recover without surgery and the situation gets worse, then there will be risks for the operation too. We cannot give an accurate prognosis. Therefore, I would recommend that you agree to the operation, the very next day you will be able to sit up, and in a week we will release you from the hospital. And in another two months you will be able to return to your usual life."
“Thank you Doctor, we will inform you of her decision,” Astrid said, as she saw that Charlotte could no longer continue this conversation.

The doctor left the room, leaving the women alone. It was a tough decision. And Astrid would have liked to give some advice, but she didn't know what she had to say. She was very sorry that Charlotte was in such a situation. Such situations break people. And even if the recovery of the Frenchwoman was successful, she was not sure that she would find the strength to continue to engage in pro-wrestling and martial arts. Even Astrid wasn’t sure she could forget what had happened at the Summer Summer.

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger," Charlotte said as she looked at Astrid and tried to smile, "right?"

This answer gave Astrid hope that her friend's fortitude was much greater than she had thought a moment ago.