Drama in the Little City - Essay Example

?RECURSIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT Recursive Writing Assignment: Drama in the Little Word Count: 2,217 (8 pages) Chase was driving home to his wife, Tara. Tons of things were running through his mind. How was he going to afford a $150-dollar phone bill? Their cell phone bill had skyrocketed. Maybe we should cut out texting, he thought. That was at least $20 dollars saved right there. Then Chase worried about how he was going to pay his bills. He and Tara had $6000 spread over three different credit cards. The interest on the credit card with the $5000 credit line was killing them, financially speaking. The card was almost maxed out and every time the interest rolled over, it added an extra $50 to the account balance. Chase and Tara were going to be parents soon. Tara was almost 9 months pregnant with their first child. Chase just wanted the pregnancy to go smoothly and for the baby to be healthy. Chase was worried because he himself had been born with a congenital heart defect. His Dad was currently dealing with CHF (chronic heart failure). One of the ventricles in his Dad’s heart pumped much weaker than the other, thus causing the problem. Chase was also preoccupied with the other things that were on his mind. He was wondering why he had all these financial difficulties. He worried that he and Tara might have to move into the basement of her parents’ house while their financial troubles subsided. Chase was working full-time as a history teacher at the local high school. Tara worked from home as a romance novelist. She really had a flair for it, too. But her advances on her books were getting smaller and smaller these days; a thousand here and a thousand there. But the bills kept piling up and it seemed like their incomes were getting smaller and smaller as well. Anyway, the money she brought in was minimal compared to what Chase was making at his full-time job—but still, Tara contributed to the household’s overall income so he considered that a bonus. Chase worried excessively about his job security in this bad economy. All of a sudden, the car swerved. The roads were icy this time of year, and Chase hadn’t put the chains on the tires yet since it was not technically “winter” in Colorado. In addition to this, it was imperative that Chase kept the SUV from turning over while it was spinning out. Luckily there were no other cars or trucks on the road at the time. Chase thought about Tara, the baby—his life flashed before his eyes. He was cursing himself mentally for not having put the chains on the tires now. Anyway, there was no damage to the car, and Chase hadn’t been injured—but the car was slightly in the ditch. By the time the police and the yellow angel tow truck had gotten there to the scene, Chase was a little shaken up. Unfortunately, the police couldn’t do much more at this point, but the police encouraged him to go to the hospital to get checked out just to make sure he was okay. He thought it was a lot of fuss, but he decided in the interest of safety just to do what they said anyway. By the time he had driven himself to the hospital, at that point, the hospital staff took over. He thought they were all very nice but were perhaps being a little too overzealous. There was one nurse, in particular, Mary G., who insistently kept checking up on Chase in the waiting room. What was disturbing was that the hospital staff wanted Chase to have an MRI, even though this had been a relatively minor accident. “Excuse me….is this Tara?” “Yes, I’m Tara Moss…Who’s calling, please?” “Mary Giacomo from Little Company of Our Sister of the Sacred Heart Hospital. It is about your husband.” “Oh my God, what happened? Is he alright?” “We’re running some tests now, but he basically walked away with barely a scratch. He seems just fine. His SUV just spun out and got into the ditch a little bit on the highway.” The nurse, Mary G., decided to take it upon herself to call Tara. Mrs. Moss got on the telephone with the nurse and mentioned that her water had just broken. The nurse, Mary G., encouraged Tara to come to the Little Company emergency room. She said that the staff would be waiting for her with a wheelchair to bring her into the delivery room. Tara thanked her and hung up after Nurse Mary said there would be no problem accommodating her. Tara called her friend Elise, explaining the situation to her. Tara mentioned that she was glad Elise had been home, telling her that her water had broken, and that Chase was in the hospital. However, Tara did mention that Chase was supposedly okay, but was a little shaken up. She asked Elise if she could drive her to the hospital. Elise said that was fine and that she would be there shortly, asking if there was anything she could bring along. Tara said no, just to bring herself—mentioning that she had a go-bag already prepared to take to the hospital, complete with diapers, baby wipes, the whole nine, anything she would need really. And of course, this go-bag included baby pajamas and one baby outfit. Elise said she would be on her way. Tara sounded worried, and Elise added, “Everything will be just fine, I’m sure. Be brave.” Elise knew that Tara was probably worried about complications. But, to be fair, Tara had been eating healthily and exercising. She thought Tara and Baby would be just fine. Elise arrived about 15 minutes later, rushing with Tara to the hospital. That was when Tara found out about Chase’s diagnosis. She couldn’t believe her ears. Chase had cancer? He confirmed this, shaking his head yes. Chase held his head down. Tara was speechless. She was hoping it was treatable. Chase mentioned that it could be treated with radiation, and that it wasn’t life-threatening but would require some intensive treatments to help resolve the problem. That was the good news. That was when Tara started having contracts. The doctor noticed that the contractions were every 15 minutes now, versus 30 minutes apart a little while ago. Chase noticed that Tara’s pupils were dilated and that she was getting a little bit hyper. Tara mentioned that the nurse on the phone was annoying, saying that she thought “Mary G. had inadvertently induced her labor. Chase quieted Tara down and tried to calm her. The last thing he wanted was to have his wife get stressed out while she was having the baby. They joked about the fact that she wasn’t going to have time to get stressed out because she would be changing diapers soon. They had a little intimate laugh between the two of them before the medical staff came into the delivery room. Soon, Tara’s contractions became more and more frequent until they were only minutes apart. Tara smiled, giving her husband a thumbs-up sign. She pushed very hard; one could tell that her blood pressure was going up. Chase was there holding her hand, giving her encouragement and reassurance. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a baby started crying. The doctor announced that it was a girl and everyone gave the parents a round of applause, congratulating them. They were going to put the baby into the mother’s arms, but Tara’s face had Turned ghostly white. The doctors could tell immediately something was wrong with her. He put the baby girl in the arms of the nurse. The doctor announced to the team that Tara was losing blood, and that she was hemorrhaging quite badly. The doctor asked the nurse for the hemostat and then mentioned to Chase that he would have to leave immediately. The nurses guided him, ushering him out the door so the doctor wouldn’t have to call security. Chase insisted to the nurses that he needed to stay, but to no avail. The last thing that he saw was his wife, passed out, her head to one side, while the doctor closed the curtain around her bed to set up a makeshift operating table. Chase waited out in the lobby for what seemed like hours. He thought of all the things that could go wrong. He strolled by the neonatal unit and saw his little baby girl sleeping quietly in her crib. Thank God she was healthy at least. Now he was praying, pleading to God, to just please, let his wife live. He was desperate. He didn’t know what he was going to do without Tara. After about ten minutes, the doctor came out. He said Tara was sleeping, but that she would probably wake up within an hour or so. He mentioned that Tara had some internal bleeding, and that she had need a blood transfusion. Luckily, they had taken some blood from Tara before she had her delivery so that they could use in just such an emergency. The doctor mentioned that there was one problem, however. Tara had something called tachycardia. At first, the doctor just thought she was only bleeding excessively. After we realized that it was just afterbirth…the placenta, and so forth, the medical team did a full work-up on Tara, and then they realized that the reason she got so pale was because she was having an episode in which her tachycardia was acting up. Tachycardia is when one basically has an irregular heartbeat, the doctor explained to Chase. Tara’s heart sometimes beat really fast, sometimes really slowly. Her prognosis was great—but then the doctor had some unsettling news. The doctor told him he had brain cancer. The doctor held up the X-rays to the light. Chase was informed that he had a Stage IV neuroblastoma—a brain tumor, which the X-rays before had not caught. Thus, the cancer was not only in his lymph nodes but had metastasized, having spread to his cranial tissue. The most dangerous stage of this disease was Stage V, which was a full-blown neuroblastoma. Chase was shocked, he didn’t know what to say. He asked the doctor if it could be shrinked. The doctor acquiesced that, yes, it could shrink. When Chase asked how long he had left to live, the doctor looked him squarely in the face and told him he had a year. He would be lucky if he made it to his daughter’s first birthday, the doctor said. Chase went back to the window of the neonatal unit, and looked at his daughter’s sweet little face. How could he go on knowing he wouldn’t see his daughter’s wedding. She would not remember his face, except through pictures. He started to weep openly in front of the doctor. “I’m sorry, son, I wish I had better news for you.” “That’s okay, Doc. Hey,” he shook his hand, “thank you for taking care of my wife. You’re a great man. I can never repay you enough for what you did for us today. Tara is my sun, she’s my moon.” “I know what you mean. I’ve been married 35 years.” “Thanks once again, Dr. Stevens.” “You’re welcome.” He walked off down the hallway. As the doctor disappeared into the distance, Chase tried to think about what (or how) he was going to tell Tara about the fact that his cancer was worse than he initially thought. And then, he decided, he was not going to say anything. Tara woke up, and after an overnight stay in the hospital, Chase and Tara went home. For weeks, Chase would come get up early in the morning to take care of their new daughter, Angelica, if she was up late crying—and he would cry with her, thinking about how he would never see her graduate high school, how he would never walk her down the aisle. The next check-up he went to by himself, hiding his visit from his wife. The doctor walked in. “I have some good news, Mr. Moss.” “What’s that?” “Your usual doctor, Dr. Stevens, looked at the wrong X-rays when you brought your wife into the hospital to have the baby. And the initial X-rays taken were accidentally switched.” “Are you… are you saying I don’t have cancer?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” “Oh my God! Doctor, thank you so much. I’m so happy, I just don’t know what to say.” When Chase got home, he went to Angelica’s nursery and picked her up. “Daddy’s going to be okay, Sweetie. It’s going to be okay.” When Tara came home from shopping, she walked into a room full of candles and rose petals sprinkled on the table. A gourmet dinner was on the table, with two place settings. “Where’s Angelica?” “She’s at Grandma’s house.” “What’s all this for…? The candles, the roses…?” “Tara… I don’t have cancer! It was a clinical error…they got the X-rays mixed up.” Tara hugged Chase, speechless—and thankful. As they sat down to dinner, Tara said a little prayer, quietly thinking about how lucky she and Chase were to be such a happy, healthy family now. “I love you, Sweetie.” “I love you, too,” Chase replied. And with that, they dined in silence, enjoying the evening and each other’s company. Read More