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One Decision: 12th Story for the Inspirational Book

By: NANCY McCARROLL

Everyone has a story to tell, and listening to some of these recordings is fascinating. You can even buy a book of interviews (see last paragraph below for details).

The interviews result in a three to four minute verbal story. To give myself some structure in preparation for telling my story, I wrote this, which I have titled "ONE DECISION." It is factual, and I have taken out close to forty years of emotion in order to capsulize what I want to say in this message. Here is my NPR story:

one of Nancy's oil paintings

This is about a decision made after the birth of my physically handicapped daughter in 1970. The doctors attending to her in her first hours of life gave her father and me the decision of either doing no medical intervention with her death imminent within a few painful months, or to immediately begin intensive medical treatment. The physicians left the room with this question to be answered by us, young people in college, working, never having planned on being parents, much less to a child with grave problems.

We were advised there was no guarantee of success in any way relating to her quality of life. My husband’s inclination was to let nature take its course and not intervene medically: we were young and we were not through with our formal education, and since she probably never walk, her life would be very difficult for all of us. (I was a sophomore in college, and we were both taking as many classes and working as many hours as we could to help defray student loans and living expenses.)

But the path we chose, and the decision made, was to start trying to save her life immediately. We decided to let the doctors do what they could for her.

And she lived. And she grew up, although most of her adolescent and adult years were spent hospitalized due to shunt malfunctions and systemic infections.

There are more than a few ironies in this story. One was that Julie’s father and I both DID finish our educations (he got a PhD and I have a Master’s degree). So her life did not hamper that goal. And another irony is that Julie’s father died of cancer over twenty years ago, while Julie is still living today.

Which is not to say that over the years, her life has been extremely happy or in any way carefree. She has had over one hundred surgeries relating to complications brought on by her birth defect. She has been depressed to the point of trying to end her own life; she had virtually no childhood friends her own age.

In a few weeks, Juliet is facing another very serious operation. She has been in bed the better part of three years with skin ulcerations and infections. But in spite of the heartache, there have been positive, bittersweet successes…

1: She has worked for as a receptionist and lived alone, using public transportation to get her to and from work while in a wheelchair;

2: Julie completed high school and then college with a four year degree -- this in spite of many long months of hospitalization;

3 : Julie has resided independently both as a single and married woman;

4: Julie has maintained an eleven year long, loving marriage to a man having the same handicap of spina bifida;

5: She moved across country from her native state, and then she and her husband built their handicap accessible home five years ago on land which her husband purchased many years ago as an investment;

6: She (and her husband) are members of a strong faith-based Christian community. I’m told they are of spiritual importance in that church group;

7: Julie aspired to be a journalist, worked at a local newspaper as a college intern and had several sequential articles published. She currently writes to the editor of her local newspaper in South Carolina, expresses her opinions (especially about the problems that handicapped people encounter), and has had her letters published in the Charlotte Observer;

8: She and her husband are the loving owners of an eight year old frisky Yorkshire terrier;

9: Julie is a loving, generous, stubborn, sweet person with an amazing coping mechanism of denial.

She has become the person she is, in part, because of caring adults coming into her life by way of a loving family, excellent medical care, good surrogate fathers, a decent education, mental health assistance, the religious community, paid caregivers, and adult friends. And her own will to live and thrive are, of course, part of her essence.

And so all this has happened, at great financial and emotional expense. Her determinism and desire to keep living came out of ONE DECISION years ago to proceed with medical intervention. Julie's life has played out in far reaching ways that I cannot fathom. But it MUST have been the right decision to try and stave off hydrocephalous and infection in those first hours after her birth, because all of the lives she has touched have been significantly, and I believe positively, changed by knowing Juliet.

In a nutshell, this story is about perseverance and love, and how each person's life is important and part of the structure behind the doors where we live. Maybe more than a few will find it a valuable listen.

A compilation of NPR Story Corps stories can be purchased here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Nancy McCarroll is a woman of many talents. She is a Master's Degree holder in Health Administration and had also earned her Baccalaureate Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She's an artist, and a generous woman who volunteers a lot of her time to local community services, like the NPR Corps, from which this article was derived.

WOW! Isn't she amazing?

Her blog, "Arts, Crafts and Favorites," features some of her works of art. Yes, she dabs in watercolor and oil, and you know what? she also plays in National Scrabble Tournaments abroad.
Read her complete profile in this link.

ENTRECARD MARKET : My Call for Articles for an Upcoming Inspirational Book

This is a call for articles , short stories, poems, essays, drawings for a book. I am still in the process of gathering Inspirational Stories from Bloggers all over the World. I will be compiling them in August into one self - published book.

If your contribution is accepted, your article will be published in my blog and in the book, and you'll be given one complimentary copy of the book where your article appears(for free). You'll still own the copyright to your written material.

I will be awarding 5,000 EC credits to contributors.

I still need 9 articles, so folks I'm eagerly waiting for your contributions.
Here's my Market listing at Entrecard. To know more, watch the video below.

I'm Joining Big Mak's Blog Contest -" What Something Big Are You Expecting This 2009?"

To join the contest, I have to answer this interesting question from Makoy .

I always try to be an optimist. I have some big plans this 2009; and these are the following I'm expecting to accomplish:

1. On August, I should be able to publish the book entitled "Inspirational Stories From Bloggers all Over the World". There would be at least 20 authors from different parts of the globe; so I'll have to come up with 21 copies. Additional copies will printed as they are ordered.

2. On September, I will also publish a magazine type collection of poems from three authors: me, Dr. Lorenzo Bernardino a.k.a -Zorlone and Roy dela Cruz. The tentative title is "Trilogy of Poems". This will be a dream come true for the three of us. We had always wanted to see our poems in print.

I did have some of my creative works publish in some local mags and in our school journals, but I see this as something different from the rest because it will feature a collection from each of us. Wouldn't that be exciting?

3. I also plan to have all my online articles categorized and book bound, even if it's soft bound first. Then eventually , I'll have them hard bound -complete with pictures.

These are big things for me because for the first time, I would be venturing into publishing my creative work in volumes. I'm keeping my spirits high. I know I can do it. It just takes determination and optimism to be able to achieve them.

Wish me luck guys! and thanks Makoy for giving me the chance to express my plans.

And of course, I hope I would win in your contest!

if you want to join Makoy's BIG contest visit his blog - The Certified Pinoy Blogger . It is a unique contest you should not miss! And it is very simple to join.

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The Waiter - A Shorty Short

"What do you recommend?"

"Our cotoletta alla petroniana is the best in this region, sir."

"Okay, give me that and one lasagna."

"And hurry up."

***************************************************************

"You can't just leave sir," Andy pleaded.

"Well, I can't spend my time waiting for food that takes so long to prepare. "

"But sir, the food will be served shortly."

"You didn't tell me it takes that long to prepare this...whatever you call it,"
the man was sputtering in indignation.

"Sir, we can't withdraw the orders, they're cooked already."

****************************************************************

"You will have to pay for the food," the head waiter scowled at him. "They were your customers."

"Can't I have it deducted next month?"

"It is already in-voiced; you'll have to pay for the entire amount today." The voice was stern, almost unfeeling.

"But..."

"That's the rule, take it or leave it!"

*******************************************************

He had to borrow money to pay the $ 240.00 for the lasagna and cotoletta alla petroniana. He brought the food home and gave some to his vagrant friends and ate some himself. His back was aching like hell but he still got one more job to go to.

"Good evening sir, welcome to Giogatto's," he led the group to a nearby table.

"Honey, I don't know what to eat, " the woman crooned to the man.

"Let's see the menu."

He kept his peace. He learned a lesson well.

"What about this, two Pezzetti di cavallo and one Baccala alla vicentina. "

"Wine, sir?"

"Yes, 2 Vino Nobile Montepulciano."

"Would that be all sir?"

"Yes, for God's sake, stop hovering over us! "

*********************************************************

"Andiyan na ang pasalubong!" (The packages have arrived!) Tina was shouting with so much joy in her tiny frame.

"Ang daming padala ni kuya Andy!" (Andy has sent us so many gifts)

"This is for you Tina," a big, talking and walking doll.

"This one's for you Joy." It was the latest cell phone model.

"And these are for me and your papa." Celia was excitedly displaying her new, dark blue coat.

Dozens of grocery and household items were closely packed in the remaining space of the balikbayan's package. (packages coming from relatives abroad) And an airmail envelope was on the table top with a thick bundle of cash in it.

"Kuya Andy has made it big in Italy! " Celia was brimming all over with motherly pride and joy. "He works as a nurse in one of the big hospitals." She intoned to the neighbors who were watching curiously from the dilapidated windows.

*************************************************************

Andy finally laid down his fatigued body on the hard mattress. He has to work three jobs in a day to be able to send money home. He did not want to disappoint his parents. They had spent so much in his nursing education that he wanted them to be comfortable now that he can work. There were immigration procedures that he had to accomplish first, though before he could work as a nurse.

He lied to them about his job. It was the first time he had lied. It would be embarrassing to let them know the truth. He turned and stared at the ceiling.

Come to think of it, what was embarrassing about working honestly for a living? He should be proud of it! He has to tell the truth to his family in his next letter: that in the three diners he was working for, he was "The Waiter".

This has been published at Helium.com

Photo by: gapysphoto