Ballers

Ballers ( Part 4) : Changes

Yan was a busy girl. She had computer science lectures, projects that were intense during a lot of the day and the basketball training and fitness from about 4 in the evening till 8pm every day. She was enjoying both aspects of her life in college. She was determined to pursue both her childhood interests, as long as one wasn't interfering with the other. One distraction she had not expected to have, within a month of joining college, was a very deep friendship with the star basketball player of the men's team. She had several girls that were jealous, and many that were shocked that the nerdy, tomboyish Asian girl was the one Cassie would be taking out. Little did they know that it was she who had been taking him out. It was she who was clearly being the emotional support and it was Cass that was the sensitive one in their short friendship. Yan liked Cass, especially his vulnerability and his apparent need to be supported at this difficult time. While she had tried to approach the first date on the offensive, Cass's circumstances and medical condition had added some new twists in their relationship.
The next few weeks were all about Cass getting further consultations about the course of treatment could be for his diagnosis. He had been advised that they could wait and watch and go for treatment if his spinal scans should further deterioration, or they could start aggressively with medication and psysiotherapy to get ahead of the disease early. Cassie was an attacking basketball player and his approach to life was going to be no different, thanks in no small measure to Yan's backing of his plan. He had a couple more consultations with Dr. Alexander, who did outline some of the potential side effects of the medication. It was a recently researched breakthrough in medicine which was still not completely covered by insurance.   Dr. Alexander, as always got straight to the chase. "Researchers have been looking at chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPCs). These cells are in tissue that’s affected by osteoarthritis, and they can help the tissue regenerate itself—if they’re activated by sex hormones. The doses will be mild and have been shown to give remarkable improvement to the nerve damage around the spine". Cass was just trying to focus on outcomes and going with Yan's suggestions. For this consultation, she had come along with him too in his request. Yan spoke up and said, "Will these hormones not have their own side effects?". Dr. Alexander looked at Cass and asked if he had considered the risk of side effects from hormones. They both looked at him, and Cass just asked "Will it give me a better chance than zero to get my fitness back?" Dr. Alexander told him the results were positive in research on the improvement to physical ability and even instances of some people returning back to their sport. Cass didn't need to hear much more. " Tell me where to sign up, I am ready".
Yan reached out and held his hand and asked,"Are you sure? There's always a risk with hormonal treatments. Do you not want to give it a few weeks of physio before deciding?" Cass was unsure, and felt the pressure to decide with the two women looking at him for a response that could affect his life the most. "Err, what are the other options?" He turned to Dr. Alexander. She shrugged but offered a suggestion. " Maybe your girlfriend has a point. Do you want to consider strengthening and stretching exercises for a few weeks before medical intervention? It is your call Mr.Matthews .. Cass". Cass was still calculating to see if he may have a chance of strengthening and then having surgery or medication to be fit in time for the next year's NBA draft. His brain was refusing to accept professional basketball would not be a career progression. " Ok, what will it take if I had to strengthen my muscles. I am strong enough, ain't I ?", he asked.
Dr. Alexander nodded and said," Ok, I will refer you to the college sports physiotherapist Katie Chang and let's arrange another scan in a month".
Yan took Cass home and even cooked him something to eat. He had lost his appetite over the past few days and was definitely looking a little leaner. Cass wanted to distract himself and decided to ask Yan about how things had been at college. Yan was surprised, as Cass had gone into a shell of self pity over the last few weeks and had barely bothered to ask her how things had been. Cass was surprised to hear all the stuff Yan had got up to. She was acing her computer subjects and was one of the star players in the womens college basketball team. Yan just laughed about it and said her geeky computer science friends barely knew anything about basketball and her basketball friends barely asked each other about college studies. Cass felt a sense of pride in how wonderful Yan was. He realised, with a sense of shame, that he had never realised how much hard work and dedication was required by Yan. 
Cass was certainly growing attached to Yan and he wished he was still the confident and fit basketball player he used to be -the one that would have got her to atleast suck him off if he hadn't gone further than that by his usual standards. Instead he felt like she was his best buddy. Laying in bed that night, he was wondering again why he was finding it hard to move the relationship with Yan along.
The next few weeks were entirely focused on Cass's exercises. They had focused on getting his core, glutes, thighs strengthened. "It's all about lowering your center of gravity and strengthening the lower half of your body below the spine", explained the physio Kate Chang. It was hard work and there were several evenings when Cass would come home and just collapse and sleep from exhaustion.
It was nearly 6 weeks later that Cass went for his follow up appointment at the clinic. Yan was there as well. Dr. Alexander looked at his scans. She started on a bright note "You have certainly improved your lower muscles and I think your body is countering the effects of the weakness to the upper body from the spinal growth. However, I am sorry to say it does seem like thickening and the inflammation around the arachnoid membrane has not going away. I think it's time to decide if we medically attack this adhesive arachnoid." Cass was looking disappointed, so Dr. Alexander quickly sought to reassure him. "Look, if it is any consolation, there have been more research cases that show the right combination of hormones, steroids and exercise can alleviate all symptoms and even get you to physical fitness that you want. If you don't mind, can I ask if you have had any issues with your bladder, bowel or with your sexual functions?". Cass went red in the face. Yan didn't need to hear this but Dr.A had assumed they were dating so perhaps didn't feel the need to be discreet. "Err, not that I have noticed" he said, trying to avoid any eye contact with Yan.