You look terrible.”

I laughed, a rough sound I barely recognized.

For a minute, we were simply a father and daughter being familiar with each other again.

That felt like the first real evidence of recovery.

PART 14

I was discharged several days later with instructions for follow-up appointments and strict warnings about fatigue.

The medical and administrative review continued separately.

I had no interest in turning every hospital worker into a villain; I wanted to know which safeguards had failed so nobody else would face the same horror.