“Come get your worthless daughter and take her back,” my mother-in-law shouted my father as I lay broken at the bottom of the stairs after my husband shoved me down. “Your family will answer for it if she has even a scratch,” was the sole warning Dad offered her. They had no notion who my father really was, so they made fun of him.

She promised, “Once the attending physician reviews your most recent scans, we can set up a brief visit in a private room.

Dad moved one step forward.

“Is she still coming home tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, if her internal scans are stable and pain is managed,” the nurse said.

“But she will require help and support at home for a few days.”

“She’ll be staying with me, right here,” Dad said firmly.

The nurse gave me a kind look.

“Are you 100 per cent safe going back to your home address?”