|
On
12/4/00...
4 pm
I am on call tonight and Marc has to do surveys for CAPS
at the airport till 10 pm. I figure it will be a great
opportunity to have dinner with Kelli, since we haven't
gotten to hang out too much. I am trying to finish up
with patients so I can slog through all the paperwork
and phone calls that I have to do before I can get out
of here. I am thinking about Marc and how much I love
him. He seemed kind of tired and stressed today when I
talked to him since he was working on such little sleep...poor
baby. I sent him an e-greetings card today telling him
how much I love him and can't wait to see him tonight
(and he's been too busy to check his e-mails yet today).
Oh well, back to the grind...
5 PM
I am finally done with patients and am working through
the paperwork. The phone rings and it's my partner Dr.
Baker calling to tell me about an 18 month old boy with
a history of asthma who has pneumonia and she's admitting
him to the hospital. She says he looks OK, pretty straightforward
case. I tell her thanks and jump back into the paperwork.
Kelli's medical assistant calls and says not to forget
to come by her office before I am ready to go...That'll
be at least an hour!!!
6 PM
I am DONE with my paperwork and phone calls, I am ready
to go!!! I wish I could call Marc, but I know he's busy
with the surveys...The phone rings and it's the page operator,
nurse from the ward wants to speak to me. She connects
us and the nurse sounds nervous when she tells me that
Dr. Baker's patient has started to look really sick over
the last 45 minutes, increasing oxygen requirement poor
air movement rapid heart rate despite back to back breathing
treatments, fluids, steroids, etc. She thinks I need to
get to the ward right away and look at the patient, and
that the child might need to be transferred to an intensive
care unit. She asks how long I will take to get there
and I tell her at least 15 minutes from the office. She
seems very worried and I tell her to get the ER doctor
up there if she thinks the child looks that sick. I pick
up my stuff and walk over to Kelli's office to tell her
I won't be able to go out to dinner with her because I
have to go check on this kid. She is frazzled with all
her own work and says to call her after I get done and
maybe we can still go out later.
6:05 PM
I am driving to the hospital worrying about this patient,
will I have to transfer him, what is exactly going on
with him, Dr. Baker didn't make him sound so sick...As
I near the hospital, I think about Marc and how excited
I am that everything is going so well between us and that
we are talking about marriage plans. I think that no matter
what happens with all the details, I am so happy that
we will be together always. As I walk up the stairs to
the ward, I feel at peace with that even as I am nervous
about what is wrong with this child I am going to see.
6:20 PM
I walk
onto the ward and the nurses are there looking concerned.
They tell me they are sorry to disturb me but the child
looks so sick. I
tell them not to worry, that is my job.
They
lead me to the room and I walk in steeling myself for
a difficult situation. I walk to the first bed space and
see the crib with a teddy bear in it but no child in there.
I think that that must be the roommate's bed or the
child is in his mother's arms in the next bed space
which had its curtains drawn. I pull back the curtain
and see a regular adult hospital bed and vaguely note
an adult sitting on it but without a child in his arms.
In a split second, Marc's comes into my thoughts but
I push it away because I have to concentrate on this
patient.
Where is the patient? I turn back around to the crib
and look in there again and I see the teddy bear has
a UCLA child's hospital gown with "WILL YOU MARRY ME?"
embroidered in red letters. I turn back to the other
bed and I see it is Marc in a hospital gown with the
same "WILL YOU MARRY ME?" embroidered in red letters.
He has a bouquet of a dozen huge, beautiful red roses
in his hand and he is walking over to me. My heart is
racing and I can't believe...the nurses have left and
we are all alone. Marc gets down on one knee and says:
Lisa,
I Love you! I want to spend the rest of my life with
you! You are the only one I have ever asked this question
to...Will you marry me?
I am so overwhelmed. I say "of course I will marry
you!!!!!!
He then presents me with a ring box. Since I know
we are still working getting the ring, I wonder what
it is. I open the box and it's a toy ring with a note
saying "until we have the real one..."
By now I have lost track of all time. We walk out
to the nurses' station and everyone gives congratulations
hugs and kisses and Kelli is there, she had been so
involved in making it happen!!!!
I was so surprised by the whole thing that I ask the
nurses how the patient really is. They all laugh and
tell me there was never any patient!!!
Then Marc says we are going to go to Rocky Cola Diner
for dinner, one of our little hangouts. I think how
cute that is and Kelli informs me she will be taking
my call for the next 4 hours. We take pictures of
our "patient's room" and then drive off to the restaurant...
|
Marc
is driving and I really am not paying attention
to where we are going, my heart is just soaring.
Suddenly, I look out the car window and see
that we aren't at Rocky Cola. We are right
near the beach in Hermosa Beach. I say that
this isn't Rocky Cola and Marc says that he
must have taken a wrong turn or gotten turned
around. He pulls into a parking spot and says
that he will try to get reoriented. The he
says that we are not going to Rocky Cola.
I look at him surprised...He tells me to take
the bear and we walk to a tiny restaurant
called The
Bottle Inn.
Marc still has his hospital gown on and I
have the bear in my arms and we walk into
the restaurant like that. All the diners look
up and stare at us. The maitre d' comes and
greets us warmly and has us follow him to
the back of the restaurant to the wine cellar.
At first it is dimly lit, but as we walk in
there the lights go up some and I can see
red rose petals scattered over the floor and
over the single table with two chairs set
up just for us. There are votive candles set
up around the room amidst the bottles, and
by the table is another dozen of those red
roses in a vase in a champagne bucket..
|
Unbelievably romantic setting, I am totally overwhelmed...We
have an amazing dinner alone in the company of roses
and candles and the incredible love we feel for
each other.
|
| I
still can't believe how lucky I am to have found this
amazing man who loves me as much as I love him, boundlessly.
We have the blessings of both our families and our friends,
and are so excited about our future together... |
|
|
|
A
very special "THANKS" to Kelli C., Judy
H., Barbara B. and the Staff at Torrance Memorial
Hospital.
Without
their help and assistance this amazing moment would
not have been possible.
Love,
Lisa and Marc
|
x
|
|
|
|
