What Goes Around Comes Around There is, it’s Karma, what sow you will reap, and the most popular, what goes around comes around. No matter which one it is, the essence of them all is, our actions good or bad will affect us in our lives at a future date. What goes Around Comes Around Nina sits on an exam table in a doctor’s exam room waiting for her doctor to arrive. She has been sitting there for fifteen minutes looking at every picture and chart that hangs on the walls in the small office listening to the sounds of the air conditioner coming through the air vents. She checks for the time on her phone and thinks to herself, “My appointment was for 9:30, here it is 10:15 and I still haven’t seen the doctor. I’m glad I didn’t make any other plans for this morning. Just then the doctor enters the room carrying her chart, “ Nina, I’m sorry I took so long, I had to take an important call from another doctor that is helping me with a case. Now tell me what brings you in to see me today?” Nina answers, “Well doc, I feel absolutely miserable, I have a headache and my ears and throat hurt. It is hard to breathe and I have a cough that just won’t go away.” The doctor asks, “How long has this been going on?” Nina answers, “It started about ten days ago. I first thought it was simply a cold that would go away in a couple of days, but it has gotten worse and not better.” The doctor looks into her eyes and feels her throat. He takes a wooden tongue depressor from a jar, holds it in front of her mouth and tells her to say “Ah.” Nina opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue, “Ah.” The doctor holds her tongue down with the depressor and looks into the back of her throat with a small flashlight, “Your throat is really red and swollen.” He takes a long swab from a protective wrapper, “I’m going to take a sample from the back of your throat to send to the lab, say ah.” Nina does as he asks. He swabs the back of her throat and sticks the swab back into the wrapper. He then takes a stethoscope from a draw and listens to her heart and lungs. “Take a deep breath,” he says as he moves the stethoscope around her chest and back. He tells her to take several more deep breaths. Nina inhales as deep as she can, “Doc what is the matter with me.?” The doctor answers, “I think you have an infection, but I’m going to have to take some blood to send to the lab along with the throat swab to know for sure.” He then proceeds to draw several vials of blood. He takes a prescription pad from his pocket and scribbles something on it and hands it to her, “I’ll have the results in a couple of days, in the mean time I want you take this medication. I will call you with the test results when they come in.” She steps down from the exam table, “Thanks doc” and leaves the exam room walking down the hall to the reception room. She never hears the doctor say to his nurse, “Get these samples to the lab and tell them to put a rush on it.” The tests only took a few days to return. The call from the doctor wakes Nina from a restless sleep. Groggily she opens her eyes and answers the phone, “Hello.” She hears a voice say, “Good morning Nina, this is Doctor Shane. Your test results have come back. How are you feeling today?” Nina answers, “Except for my throat not feeling as sore, about the same. My chest still hurts when I breathe; the fevers and headaches still come and go. Doc what is wrong with me?” Doctor Shane answers,” Just as I thought, you do have an infection. I want you to finish taking the medicine I gave you and make an appointment for next week. There are a couple more tests that I want to do.” Nina concerned responds,” Doc, why do you want to run more tests?” Doctor Shane answers, “I just want to check something out and make sure I haven’t missed anything. I’ll explain more when you come in next week. I’m going to transfer you to the receptionist so you can make your appointment. See you next week.” Nina replies, “Thanks doc” and waits for the receptionist to come on the phone. Chapter Two Nina lay with her eyes closed on a hospital bed hooked up to all kinds of monitors remembering the day four years ago when she first heard the news that changed her life forever. She had made the appointment with Doctor Shane as he requested. The medicine he had given her was starting to make her feel better, but she was still short of breath having trouble breathing. That day in his office she found out why. The type of infection she had could affect the heart. Dr. Shane sent her to a cardiologist to be evaluated. The tests he performed revealed the infection had indeed affected her heart. The medication that Dr. Shane had given her would clear up the infection, but the damage to her heart was permanent. She had been given medication to help with the condition of her heart but nothing could cure it. As the years passed, the condition of her heart worsened to the point where she needed a heart transplant. There was nothing that could be done. The room in the hospital where she lay had become her home for the last several months. Hearing footsteps coming into her room, she opens her eyes. Through labored breath she weakly says, “Good morning Doctor Harrison, come to see if I’m still alive?” Doctor Harrison looks at the monitors connected to Nina’s body and picks up her chart from a table, “Still a fighter I see.” She responds, “Never surrender, never give up.” Doctor Harrison pats her arm, “That’s my girl.” He takes a stethoscope from around his neck and listens to her heart. When he is finished he makes a notation in her chart. Nina quips, “Just like a Timex watch, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” He places the chart back on the table, “You rest now and I’ll be back later.” She smiles, “I’ll be here waiting.” Doctor Harrison leaves her room and walks down the hall where Nina’s family is waiting. Her husband asks, “Doc, how long?” He shakes his head, “I don’t know. It could be hours, it could be days. Unless she gets a transplant soon.” He doesn’t finish. “There isn’t anything that can be done now except pray.” Her husband answers, “Doc, that’s all we have been doing.” Doctor Harrison touches his arm, “Good, don’t stop. Miracles do happen. I’ll be back later to check on her.” He leaves wishing he could give them more hope than he has. Chapter Three Trina sits on her bed writing in her diary. April 6th “Dear Diary, today I will tell my mom I want to find out who my birth mother is. I have been thinking about it for a long time. I hope she understands. She has been the most wonderful mother a person could have, but I need to know who she is.” April 7th Dear Diary, “I told my mom my wish to find my birth mother. When I told her, I explained it had nothing to do with me not loving her or thinking she was not my mother. I told her she would always be my mother. She held me in her arms and told me it was ok, she understood. She knew one day this moment would come and had been prepared for it to happen the day she and my stepfather took me home from the hospital seventeen years before. She hugged me so hard, I could barely breathe. I cried, she cried. When we stopped crying, she looked at me and said, “What do you say we make some of your father’s favorite cookie and tell him tonight after dinner.” October 15th Dear Diary, “Six months have passed since I first told my mom I wanted to find out who my birth mother is. The agency we hired to find her called yesterday and informed us they are very close to finding out who she is. It should not take more than a couple of more weeks. I have so many questions. What does she look like? Will I like her? Do I have any sisters or brothers? I can hardly wait. Chapter Four Nina lies in her hospital bed. She has been in the hospital for a long while getting weaker with the passing of each day. The room is decorated with banners and balloons that say “Happy Birthday.” Her birthday was coming up in three weeks and Doctor Harrison knew she would probably not live to see her birthday and had no objections when her family said they wanted to throw her a birthday party early in the hospital. He knew the party was as much for them as it was for Nina. She is surrounded by family, friends and members of the hospital staff that are trying to make her last birthday celebration the best ever. A cake is wheeled in with thirty four candles all around it. Her husband says, “We couldn’t light the candles because of your oxygen, but we can pretend to blow them out.” He starts singing Happy Birthday and everyone joins in. When they are finished he says, “Everyone blow on three” and starts counting “One, Two, Three.” Nina closes her eyes and makes a wish as they all pretend to blow out the candles. Just as they finish, Doctor Harrison walks into the room, “Happy birthday Nina, I have a present for you.” She weakly smiles, “I hope it isn’t a pair of running, I already have a pair.” Doctor Harrison grins, “No it’s not a pair of running shoes, but is something that may make you want to put them on. That miracle we talked about has happened. We have found you a heart and it will be here in a couple of hours.” If Nina could have jumped out of bed, she would have,” You’re not kidding me, are you Doc?” Doctor Harrison takes her hand and smiles, “No I’m not. I hate to cut this short, but we have to get you ready.” One by one everyone says their goodbyes and leave till only her husband and her two children remain. They step up to her bed and kiss her before they leave. As her husband bends down to give her a kiss the cheerfulness that she was just feeling leaves her face and she begins to cry. He asks, “What’s the matter, why are you crying. This is what you have been waiting for.” She answers, “It just hit me, someone had to die so I might live.” Chapter Five Six months have passed since Trina first told her mom she wanted to find out who her birth mother is. They sit talking in the kitchen when there conversation is interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Trina’s mom answers it, “Yes this is Mrs. Waters. Are you sure? Yes we can be there in an hour. Thank you good bye. She hangs up the phone and just stands there with her hand on the receiver with a blank stare on her face. Trina looks at her mom, “Mom, why do you have that look on your face? Who was that on the phone? Trina’s mom walks back to the table and slowly sits back down, “That was the agency we hired to find your birth mother, they have found her.” Trina jumps out of her chair, “Mom, are they sure?” She answers, “Yes, they are sure. I told them we can meet them in an hour. Trina can barely contain her excitement, but settles down a bit when she sees the look on her mother’s face. She hugs her mom, “Mom I’m sorry, I’m just so excited. You know no one can ever take your place. “Her mom holds back a tear, “It’s alright, I know that. Come on let’s go. All your questions will be answered when we get there.” Trina and her mom are talking in the car as they ride to meet with the man that called from the agency. Traffic is moving slowly due to road work being done on a bridge over the road they are traveling on. Trina becomes impatient, “Mom, why of all days did they have to work on this bridge? We are never going to get there.” Her mom pats her arm, “I know you are excited, but calm down, we are almost there. Our exit is just beyond the bridge they are working on.” Just as they pass the bridge above them a truck on the bridge loses control and crosses into oncoming traffic careening into another truck carrying pieces of metal rods with pointed ends slamming into the guard rail. The force of the collision snaps the retaining cables on the truck that hold the rods in place sending some of them over the bridge to the road below. The rods fall all around their car and her mom has no time to react. The last thing she sees before she crashes and passes out is Trina slumped in her seat with one of the rods impaled through her body. She wakes up in the hospital with her leg in a cast and screams, “My daughter, where is my daughter?” A nurse tries to calm her down, “Sally calm down, your daughter is in the next room.” Sally asks,” How is she, I want to see her.” A sad look comes upon her face. Sally says, “My daughter is dead, isn’t she?” The nurse answers, “Let me get the doctor, he will explain everything to you” and leaves the room. A few minutes later the nurse walks back into the room followed by a doctor. He grabs her chart, “Hello Sally, I’m Doctor Chen. You are one lucky woman. That was one serious accident you were in. You have a broken leg and several bruises. Your seat belt and the airbags in your car saved your life. I informed your husband of the situation and he is on his way here.” Sally calms down a bit and says, “My daughter is dead, isn’t she doc?” Doctor Chen looks seriously at her, “She is still alive, but just barely. The iron rod that went through her body amazingly missed her major organs but damaged major blood vessels and she has lost a lot of blood. The rod is still in her and for the moment is keeping her alive. If we remove it, we will not be able to stop the bleeding. It will be only a matter of moments before she bleeds out and passes away. We wanted to give you and your husband a chance to say goodbye before we remove it. We hope he gets here soon; we don’t know how long we can keep her alive. Are you ready to see her?” Sally nods her head. Doctor Chen and a nurse helps her out of bed and into a wheel chair. He grabs the arms of the chair and begins to roll her into the room where Trina is being held, “I must warn you it won’t be easy to see your daughter in the condition she is in so prepare yourself. We have her sedated to help with the pain so she may not be too responsive. He stops in front of a door and looks down at Sally, “Are you ready?” Sally pauses for a moment preparing herself for what she is about to see. She looks up at him and answers, “Yes.” The nurse opens the door and he pushes her into the room. Even though she had prepared herself, seeing Trina lying on a hospital bed hooked up to tubes and wires and machines and the bulge in the sheet caused by the piece of rod that was still in her body is almost too much to bear. She put her hands up to her mouth and let out a gasp. Doctor Chen pushes Sally to Trina’s bed and she grabs her hand, “Trina it’s your mom, can you hear me?” Doctor Chen nods to the nurse for her to reduce Trina’s the pain meds enough for Trina on to come back from the darkness she has been put in. Slowly she comes back to some semblance of consciousness and opens her eyes. Sally kisses her hand, “I love you.” Trina responds, “I love you too mom. Tell dad I love him too and thanks for being a great dad.” Trina looks at her mom, “I know I’m dying, promise you will do something for me?” A tear slides down Sally’s check, “Yes, what is it?” Trina answers, “In my desk drawer is a letter I wrote to give to my birth mother, Make sure you give it to her for me.” Sally nods her head, “I’ll make sure she gets it.” Trina answers, “Thanks mom.” They get a chance to speak for a short while before she gives out a gasp, her eyes close and the beeps and buzzing that comes from the monitors slowly stop one by one. Sally looks at Doctor Chen. He walks over to Trina’s bed and examines her one last time. He looks at Sally and shakes his head, “She is gone. I’m sorry your husband could not get here in time to say goodbye. Dr. Chen stands there letting Sally get over the shock of Trina’s death. When he thinks enough time has elapsed he says, “There is something I need to ask you, I hate to ask it, but time is of the essence. It was brought to my attention that Trina’s driver’s license indicates she is an organ donor. Because she is only seventeen we need your permission to allow us to remove her organs for donation. Do we have your permission?” Sally slowly nods her head, “Yes. It will help knowing that because of my daughter others will have a chance to live.” Dr. Chen holds up some papers,” Good, I was hoping you would say yes.” Sign these papers and I will take care of the rest. Thank you. It is a great thing you and your daughter are doing. You don’t know how many lives you are changing.” He hands her a pen and the papers, “I’ll leave these here for you to sign. You can stay with your daughter until someone comes for her. Give the signed papers with the nurse when she takes you back to your room.” Sally sobs “Thank you doctor.” Dr. Chen exits the room leaving Sally to say her final goodbyes. She pushes herself out of the wheelchair, bends down and hugs her daughter for the last time, “You were the best daughter a mother could ask for. I will make sure your mother will know who you were.” She lets go of her daughter and stands back up, collapsing back into the wheelchair. She grabs the papers that Dr. Chen had given her and signs them. Just as she does the nurse comes into the room. She hands the papers to the nurse and takes one last look at Trina as the nurse wheels her out of the room. Chapter Six Dr. Harrison stands over Nina lying on the operating room table, “Ready?” Nina nods her head, “Yes.” Dr. Harrison pats her arm and smiles, “I’ll see you when you wake up.” He nods to the anesthesiologist, “Take good care of my patient.” The anesthesiologist places a breathing mask over her face, “Take a deep breath; you’re going to take a nice long nap. Nina follows his order and takes a deep long breath and then another. Her last conscious thought before her world fades to black is “Whoever you are, thank you.” Nina’s consciousness exists somewhere between darkness and reality. Noises filter in and disappear. A feeling of pain fades in and out with them. Slowly they get stronger till she finally opens her eyes. She hears Dr. Harrington say, “Welcome back.” Nina looks at him with questioning eyes. Dr. Harrington responds, “Things went really well. Your new heart is pumping like a champion. It was the strangest thing; I never saw anything like it before. It started beating as soon as we put it into your chest and hooked everything up. It was as if it was made for you. Your family is waiting to see you. I told them they could come in for a few minutes to see that you are ok, then they will have to leave.” Nina weakly smiles. He checks her vital signs one more time, “You are doing great, before you know it this will be nothing but a memory. I’m going out now to get your family, but remember they can stay only a moment.” Nina nods her head indicating she understands. Chapter Seven Nina sits up in bed as Dr. Harrington examines her, “Well doc, how am I doing?” He answers, “You are right on track and improving every day. Your color is good, you are able to walk around a bit and your stamina is improving. I must say, it is a big change from the time you came in here. How do you feel?” She answers, “Like a new woman” and then sadness comes upon her face. Dr. Harrington asks, “Nina, why so sad? What is the matter?” She looks up at him with sad eyes, “I’m happy to be alive, but I feel guilty someone had to die so that I could live.” He takes her hand in his, “It may not make you feel any better, but what you are feeling is perfectly normal. Many transplant recipients feel exactly as you do. If you want I can give you the name of a counselor to help you with the way you’re feelings.” Nina responds, “Thanks’ doc.” She pauses for a moment and then asks, “Doc, whose heart did I get?” He looks at her,” I don’t know whose heart it was, I only know it was from a healthy young girl that died as a result of an auto accident. He finishes his exam and Nina sits back in her bed, “Doc, I want to find out who she is. I need to know. Two parents have lost their daughter and I want to thank them for the gift she gave me. They have to know how much I care.” He pats her on her arm, “You can worry about that later, right now just concentrate on getting better.” Nina weakly smiles, “I guess you’re right.” Days pass quickly; little by little Nina recovers from her transplant surgery and finally gets to go home. Several months after going home from the hospital, she and her husband are in their car riding to a destination that had been set many years before. He looks at her, “Are you sure you want to do this?” She answers, “You know it’s not a matter of if I want to do this, it’s a matter of I have to do this. It is the only way to bring peace to my life and stop feeling guilty of why I’m alive and someone else isn’t.” He answers, “I know, I was just making sure.” From the time Nina first started to recover from her transplant, there were only two things she wanted, the first was getting better so she could go home and start to get her life back and the other was to find out whose heart she received. Sometimes it was the thing that kept her going in her recovery. It was on this day she would find the answer to her question. The closer they get the more nervous she becomes. “Did you remember to bring the flowers” she asks he husband. “Yes” he replies, “And the thank you card. Relax it’s going to be fine.” They finally arrive at the address they were given. They exit their car and walk to the front door that stands before them. Nina looks at her husband and reaches her hand towards the doorbell, her hand shaking from the anxiety. Her husband nods his head. Nina pushes the bell not knowing how something so simple will change her life forever. In a few minutes they hear footsteps coming towards the door. When it opens, there stands a man and a woman with nervous smiles. The woman puts out her hand, “Hi, I’m Sally and this is my husband Alex. It’s finally good to meet you. Welcome, come in. Nina and her husband had spoken with Sally and Alex times on the phone getting to know each other a little bit before this meeting. Nina and her husband George introduce themselves and follow them into the house. Alex attempts to break the uneasy tension, “How was the drive here, was there a lot of traffic?” George answers,” The drive was fine, there was hardly any traffic and the directions you gave us were perfect.” Nina and George follow Sally and Alex into the kitchen. Marion says, “After your long drive, you must be thirsty. What can we get you?” Nina answers, “A cup of tea would be nice, if it isn’t too much trouble?”Sally replies, “It isn’t too much trouble, I’ll have a cup with you.” Alex asks, “What about you George, what will you have?” George points to a pot of coffee sitting on the stove, “I’ll have a cup of coffee, if you don’t mind.” They spend the next half hour socializing getting to know each other a little more letting the uneasiness between them fade a bit. Then as there is in any conversation like this, there is an awkward pause, neither couple knowing how to bring up the topic of why they had gotten together. In the silence Nina begins to cry and between sobs says, “I’m sorry.” Sally gets up from her chair and hugs her, “It’s ok, knowing you have her heart makes me happy.” Nina is awed by Marion’s response and would soon find out why she has acted this way and how it will bind them together for the rest of their lives. They talk for several hours having all of their questions answered getting to know who Trina was and the parents that raised her. Stories and pictures were shared from the time she was an infant till the day before the accident. Then Sally stops, a look of uncertainty comes across her face trying to decide to tell or not to tell the most important thing about Trina they haven’t told Nina and George. Sally finally makes her decision and fulfills Trina’s final wish, she removes an envelope from a drawer and looks at Nina, “There is one thing we haven’t told you about Trina. We didn’t say anything before because we wanted to get know you a bit and tell you what we have to tell you in person. Trina was not our biological daughter; we adopted her when she was just several days old. Six months before the accident she told me she wanted to find out who her biological mother was. We knew it was important to her and we hired an agency to find out who she was. We were on our way to their office the day the accident happened to find out. Nina and George stay quiet, waiting for Sally to continue. Marion holds up the envelope in her hand, “Trina wrote this letter to her mother, she had planned to give it to her before she died. Her final words to me were to make sure I gave it to her mother. I promised her I would.” Sally slowly moves her hand holding the envelope towards Nina, “She wanted you to have this.” The reality of her words knocks the breath out of Nina. Disbelief and shock hold her motionless. She is finally able to take a breath and her body is racked by sobs and tears. All she can say is, “It can’t be.” Marion answers, “It is” and cries with her. Nina many years before when she was fifteen had a child. She and her parents were not financially able to take care of the daughter that was born to her and had put her up for adoption. Slowly Nina reaches out her hand to take the envelope from Marion’s hand, afraid to open it. Sally says, “It’s ok, read it. Nina’s hands shake as she breaks the seal on the envelope and opens it. She removes the letter in it, unfolds it and begins to read out loud, “Dear mother, finally we have met. I want you to know I hold no hard feelings towards you for giving me up for adoption. You could have aborted me, but you didn’t. It was an act of love that made it possible for me to be adopted by two of the most loving people a child could have as parents. I want you to know about the incredible life I have had so far. I look forward to tell you all about it and all of my plans for the future. Thank you mother for letting me live. Imagine all the things we can do together because you did. I love you, your loving daughter Trina.” Sobbing uncontrollably, Nina holds Trina’s letter to her chest. She never had a chance to hold Trina in her arms, but now she held her heart in her chest. It would be a part of her for as long as she lives. Nina finally stops crying and looks at Sally. Sally returns her gaze. They hug knowing they will forever be connected by the heart of their daughter sharing in her love. The Bible says, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. Nina never knew that life would be her own. I ho
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 01:11:18 +0000