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Chapter 5
Inevitably, the shot wore off after twenty-three days of paralysis. The first thing that caught Barbara out was feeling the need to pee. It didn’t occur to her that it was the start of muscle function returning, but after the need to pee was replaced by a burning sensation in her groin, she realised the catheter tube was bugging her. Quickly she went to the bathroom and inserted the syringe to remove the fluid-filled balloon that kept it in place. Pulling gently, the tube slid out of her, with a slight increase in the burning. Even when it was out, it felt like it was still there for a while. She still couldn’t feel her legs, but slid onto the toilet seat and tried to pee, but nothing happened. Slightly frustrated, Barbara redressed and got back into her chair and went about her day. At the studio, she tried again to go to the toilet, especially now that she had feeling in her hips and butt as well, but again there was nothing. It wasn’t until she was halfway through an office scene where her character was in the middle of a business meeting that she glanced at her lap and realised that a dark stain had spread through her lap; she had wet herself. Fortunately she hadn’t needed to move from behind a desk for the scene and when the director called ‘cut’ at the end, the film crew emptied out to the set next door to get ready for the next scene.
Babs slowly wheeled herself out to her dressing room with her suit jacket removed and now lying across her lap. She had no idea if anyone would notice and tried to avoid talking to anyone or stopping en-route. Once inside she closed the door, checked the jacket to see if anything had leaked and then went into the bathroom. She quickly slid across onto the toilet, her legs still largely numb and unresponsive. Wondering why it had happened, she remembered that her bladder had been stuck closed when she had the injection, so that must mean that it had worn off but that she hadn’t used it for so long that her sphincter must have weakened. It hadn’t occurred to her that morning that she would need some protection for this situation.
Annoyed with herself, Barbara cleaned up the mess she had made. She had to rinse out her clothes and the cushion cover on her chair. Fortunately the seat and her skirt had absorbed all the urine and she didn’t need to worry about anything else. Back in the changing room she used the hairdryer to dry off the cushion and bagged up the skirt and her underwear to take home, the skirt would need dry cleaning and she decided that she would do that herself to avoid embarrassing conversations with the wardrobe assistant. Having dressed into her new costume, Barbara went out somewhat relieved, to film the next scene, but this time she had an incontinence pad in place just in case.

Over the next few days, the feeling had returned to the rest of her legs and feet. She had told the director, but she still had residual paralysis to begin with because her legs had been completely disused for almost a month. She was able to move her legs and wiggle her toes but slowly as though she were moving through mud rather than air. Each attempt to bend her knee or lift her leg felt like a huge strain. She gradually began to find them more responsive to the point that a week later she had been able to stand and take a few steps, but not without some help from nearby furniture. One of the sets at the studio had been set up for filming scenes in a rehab hospital and there was a set of parallel bars there, which she took advantage of and practiced walking at the end of the day once everyone had left.
Ten days after the shot had started to wear off she was able to walk around relatively well, though found herself tiring very quickly and stairs were still a bit uncomfortable. However, she had declared herself recovered enough to film the early scenes as the director had wanted and he scheduled them for the following week.

Barbara was a little confused. The novelty of her paralysis had worn off pretty quickly and she had found it frustrating at times, but she had somehow enjoyed the experience overall. She had learned a lot and begun to appreciate how hard it was for some people to go about their everyday life with a disability. She had never really had an insight like that from her privileged lifestyle, where everything had come easily to her, whether that be money, success or fame. So it was that she continued to exercise her legs over the next few weeks but remained as she had since starting the project, firmly committed to the method school of acting and lived the rest of her life from the chair.
Jake too had noticed a change in his girlfriend. She had often been a little dismissive of him in the past, as though she were almost with him because he was a pretty face to have around rather than appreciate his qualities. Jake may have been an actor, but he genuinely loved her, but felt that maybe his feelings had more depth than hers. However, since the film had taken over her life, even more so after the injection, he had noticed her behaviour to be much more thoughtful and caring towards him. She had spent a lot of time with him and seemed to enjoy having him around her as much as possible. It made him question whether or not he wanted the film to end, because they were much closer now than they had ever been in the past.