Nightmare

By Frank Joseph Fara

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 29, 2006
• ISBN: 9781477166574

Frank Joseph Fara

Dr. Fara is a third generation obstetrician, a Chicago native, a converted desert dweller and river rat, and is happily married to Carla, "the best Labor nurse in the business". Nightmare is his first effort as an author. He and Carla enjoy their kids, grandkids, dogs, and the desert sun, and spend their best times planning their next adventure together.

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Copyright © 2006 by Frank Joseph Fara, MD.

ISBN:         Softcover                           1-4257-0511-1

                   Ebook                               978-1-4771-6657-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

The Drive

Friends

Ben

The Doctors

The Dogs

The Power Of Prayer

Postscript

INTRODUCTION

We humans are quite foolish. In the name of optimism, we look forward hopefully to the future, and plan carefully for things to come. Unfortunately, as we dream of the future, too often we lose sight of the present, and of all those things grand and simple that make life the complex and wonderful patchwork that it is. And sometimes, those wonderful parts of life are taken from us, and, in their absence, we grieve, and ask why.

Let me tell you a story, about fear and doubt, about hope and faith, and about the simple milk of human kindness and caring. It is a story that is both old and new, one that is as fresh as the dawn, and one that has been told countless times throughout the course of history. It is a story of discovery: of self, of others, and of God. It is at once the worst and best experience of my life, and one that, in retrospect, I would not trade for all the world. In so many ways, it has made me a better person, and a more complete human being. It was a sixty five day descent into hell, followed by a spiritual rebirth and a return to our family and friends, and to each other.

DEDICATION

Along the way, we were visited by a number of Graces, angels in disguise, without whose help, succor, and intervention the story would not have ended as it has. I know that it is customary to acknowledge by name those people who have played important roles in the story to be told, but that acknowledgment would be a book in itself. I would say only that those of you who were there through those long days and nights know who you are, and what you have meant to Carla and I as we traveled down that long, lonely road, apart in our fear, and together in our faith.

This book is for the angels out there, to each of you who helped us through this nightmare, and who helped us to believe again.

Monday, October 12, 1998

Dear friends,

I’ve got some bad news. Carla ruptured a berry aneurysm in her brain early Saturday morning and was air-evacuated to North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She underwent successful neurosurgery at noon that day, but she still is a long way from being out of the woods. She does not have any focal neurological deficits, thank God, and can eat, talk, move, and generally behave normally. Please don’t send flowers or plan on coming out to see her. She needs her rest now. I will be in touch with each of you to give you regular updates. And please, when you get this email, bend a knee and ask God for His grace and His healing. He’ll listen if you ask.

With love,

Frank

10/10/98: Day 1

As so often it happens, the nightmare began quietly, in the middle of what began as just another night. Her quiet cry woke me from a deep sleep, and, at first I could not tell that it wasn’t just the continuation of a very real dream. Although I remember being confused by what she was telling me, I will never forget the pain and the fear in Carla’s voice.

Frank, please help me! Her first cry for help was so nearly whispered that, for a moment, I thought to feign sleep. Frank, I need you to get up! The second cry was stronger, and tinged with a note of fear. I’ve got a headache, and I think I’m going to have a stroke. I sleepily asked if she tried some Tylenol, and in response, she threw the covers off, jumped out of bed and nearly fell to the floor. I knew then that there was something dreadfully, woefully wrong. She was not one to dramatize, or to overreact to the day-by-day challenges of our life together. And, in all of the years that I’d known her, I’d never heard her complain of pain.

By the time my head started to clear, Carla was already halfway down the stairs. Holding her temples with both hands, she walked with such unsteadiness that I thought she would fall. I have to get to the hospital, Frank. I think I’m going to die. As I hurriedly started to dress, I looked at the clock: 3:17 AM.

By the time I made it to the kitchen, I found her slumped on a stool, bent over, holding her head, sobbing and saying over and over, I’m scared, Frank. I’m so scared. When I tried to let the dogs out, she impatiently started for the door, and I realized she was wearing only a nightshirt and a pair of sandals. I am still amazed at my own denial when, with my wife slowly dying in front of me, all I could think about was letting the dogs out.

With a sense of urgency bordering on terror, Carla stumbled for the car, with me following closely behind, her fear rapidly becoming mine. I still felt, in my denial, that it was probably a tension headache, a bad one, but still nothing to fear. I backed out from the garage and sped to the hospital through the dark of the night.

Though it seemed forever, we arrived at the hospital in record time. Carla lay