Karen Harris is a young woman who narrowly escapes death on the freeway. Everything is good but her arm starts giving pain.
Five months into the extension Karen began having more pain in the arm just above and in the elbow. The doctors saw massive inflammation near the artificial joint and in the flesh around it and ordered more anti-inflammatory drugs. Karen hated them. They made her feel irritable, her face got puffy and she read the sheets on them. They were bad for long term use. Just before the six month mark they changed the meds and gave her a stronger pain med. She couldn’t drive for four hours after taking it. Her life was deteriorating.
During one of the doctor appointments she asked, “Will I loose my arm?” The doctor looked at her. “No.”
“But what if it gets worse?”
“We can give you more medications and there are some surgeries we can do that we haven’t tried.”
“Will any of them give me more function?”
“No. But you don’t want to loose you arm.”
“But I really can’t do much with it and the pain and anti-inflammatory drugs are really bad.”
“You are a pretty girl. It would really hurt your appearance.”
She put it out of her mind for the time.
A few weeks later the pain woke her about two AM for the third night in a row. She didn’t get to sleep till she took more pills at four. They were not even getting her adequate sleep. That evening she found the book by Charles Stanley’s daughter and read the chapters about her friend Karen. Over the next four days she spent time on the internet doing research. She located two people, made some phone calls and met them over meals to talk to them. Her mind was set. Finally she called the producer. She had vacation time coming. She wanted to take it starting the following week. Could they find someone to fill in for her? If not she could wait.
The answer came back. Fritz studios offered Denise Shore or Sandra Ball as fill in for up to two weeks each if they ever wanted them. The producer checked and Fritz told her the they could have Sandra and Denise each for one of the weeks if they would schedule one other person he asked for on half of the days. The producer was not sure of this and asked if he could give names.
“Have you seen any of the coverage of my road crew?”
“Well. Yes.”
“I want to get Carol, Debbie and Susan some on camera time. I am willing to give you the others free if you will make sure they get that time. I am not sure if Barb and Lou are ready yet but I would like to have them on too.
The producer didn’t know Lou and Barb but the other three were dynamite. She would have paid to get them but they were being offered free. “I don’t think there will be any problem with that.”
The producer called Karen and told her the coverage was there. “So you can cover two weeks if I need them?”
“Sure.”
“I really need the time.”
“Then take it.”
She called Patti and told her she would be taking vacation. Patti asked if there was something wrong. Karen responded, “No. I just need some time.”
Patti responded. “I will be blunt with you because I care. Are you considering suicide?”
“No. I can’t do that to you, to my family. I just need some time.”
“If you need me, give me a call.” She gave Karen her cell. “Any time.”
“I will. Thanks.”
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