POV: Olivia

The doctors discharged me at two in the afternoon. The doctor looked at me for a moment and then looked at my chart and then looked at the monitor readings from the night and said, with the precise wording of someone choosing their concession carefully: “Rest. Complete rest. For at least seventy-two hours. Nothing that could be described as stress.”

I listened to all of it. I asked the questions that needed asking. I received the answers with the seriousness they deserved. I agreed to this with a sincerity I intended to honour. She gave me the list of things to watch for, the numbers to call, the...