"I've been ok," Penelope said, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She wasn't sure whether she had ever been 'ok' in the past six or seven years, but she said it anyways since it was a reasonable and normal enough answer. How else do you say that you afraid for your sanity? That you have far too many questions that need answers and that you hope to find it here? That you've been nervous and out of sorts for the past several years but somehow it's gotten worse in the past few days? 'Ok' should work, right?
She looked around at first and considered whether she would tell her 'chicken out' story. And so she did; the fear of even being considered mad compelled her to. "It's my wrist and hand acting up again," she said, with a sigh. "No one seems to know what the matter is, really."