Post by Rick Henry on Jan 11, 2004 0:29:45 GMT -5
Karen’s Dream.
By,
K. N. Prince.
Chapter One.
8:15 AM on the morning of February 4, 1983.
Karen Carpenter was in trouble and she knew it. All those years of her friends telling her that she was too thin and that she needed to get treatment for her anorexia she’d been able to tell them that she was okay. Now she herself saw the damage she’d done in the full length mirror in her brother Richard’s room. Deep in her mind she knew that she’d waited far to long to do just that. Sure spending the better part of 1981 in New York had helped to quite her families fears, but it was not enough. For weeks her heart had been beating funny and she’d been seeing spots before her eyes. Now she was convinced that she was not going to make it and that she was living on borrowed time.
" Look at yourself girl. You’ve been through the ringer and your still kicking." Karen shook her head and slipped in to her terry cloth robe. Crossing the large walk in closet she began to look through her wardrobe.
" Half of this will have to go. It’s all too small. I’m a size four now." Karen came across the formal gown that she’d worn for the "Close To You" albums photo shoot. She ran a hand over the fabric and felt a half smile play on her lips. What was I thinking that day? In her mind’s eye she flashed back to that week. It was a blur when it happened. "Close to You" was riding high on the charts. Then she and Richard had released " We’ve Only Just Begun." Making them overnight stars. When they’d presented the tapes for the album everyone on the A&M lot was pumped for a huge seller.
There was one problem, the photography department had no clue as to how to market a Brother/Sister act. Their choice was to put Karen and Richard in formal ware and take them off to the beach. What a joke!
Karen glanced at her watch 8:35 am. She grabbed the jeans and a T-shirt off the chair that she’d set them on the night before and turned to leave the closet.
That was when she felt the searing pain shooting up her left arm. Grabbing her arm she tried to yell for her mother, but nothing came out of her mouth. Instead she fell to the floor. There was a bright flash and then blackness. In that moment Karen Anne Carpenter’s heart failed.
*** *** ***
When Agnes Carpenter called for her daughter for breakfast at ten to nine she was not expecting to get silence as an answer. For the past few months Karen had not missed a meal. Now with a pang of disappointment she went to the stairs and called Karen’s name again. When she received no answer this time she began to climb up to the second floor. She’d heard the sliding doors of her son Richard’s closet being opened. Turning into the bedroom Agnes expected to see her daughter getting dressed. The sight that met her eyes made her heart jump up to her throat. She dropped to her daughter’s side and rolled Karen over. To her horror Karen’s eye’s had rolled up in their sockets. Checking for a pulse and screaming for her husband Harold to call 911 she began to give mouth to mouth. In her mind praying for Karen to be alright. She could hear Harold calling 911 and then their son. " We’ll meet you at the hospital. Rich it doesn’t look good. She’s down. Hurry!"
*** *** ***
Richard Carpenter paced in the small waiting room. In his mind he prayed like he’d never prayed in his life. Lord if you let my sister pull through this I swear I will be grateful for all time. It had been twenty minutes since Karen had been wheeled into the ER at Downey General Hospital.
When the door opened and the doctor came in his mother grabbed hold of his fathers hand and reached out for her son. Richard sat beside his mother and looked up at the man that held so much of his life in his hands.
" Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter I have good news and bad news. The good news is your daughter is alive. The bad news is her heart is still very weak. In fact it’s so weak that it could stop again at any moment. The next week will determine if Karen’s heart will hold out."
" But she will live?" Richard felt tears running down his face. Karen had lucked out again. Maybe this would finally open her eyes and force her to see that anorexia can kill a person.
" For the time being yes. But she can’t over exert herself. She needs a lot of rest. I want to keep Karen here for at least a month. I also have asked her former therapist to fly into Downey to help in her treatment. I want you to know that your very lucky that Karen has survived at all."
" Thank you doctor." Harold said.
" When can we see Karen?" Richard asked before his mother could.
" In about twenty minutes. Karen is being taken up to her room. I will have a nurse fetch you when the time is right." And the doctor left.
In an uncommon moment the Carpenter parent’s and son joined in a group hug. Their prayers had been answered. Karen had survived this brush with death.
*** *** ***
When Karen awoke she knew she was not at home anymore. She tried to sit up but found that she’d been tethered to the bed she was laying on.
" Calm down Ms. Carpenter your at the DGH. You suffered a heart attack. You’re going to be fine. The straps are there to prevent you from falling out of the bed. You need rest." A reassuring nurse smiled down at her.
" My.. My family. Where are they?" Karen asked.
" They’re on their way. They went home for the night. You have slept for three days straight." The nurse said. Karen read her name tag. It was Sheryl.
" Water please? My mouth is so dry." Karen tried to swallow but it didn’t help.
" Of Course. One moment." Sheryl disappeared out of the room. Karen took that moment alone to look about her room. They’re where flowers all round her. The cards from those who’d come to see her where on her night table. One caught her eye right away. On it embossed in gold over a floral pattern was " To My Wife."
" Tom?" Karen whispered and felt tears burning at in her eyes. She blinked them away.
" Here you go." Sheryl said when she came back into the room. She had a tray with a pitcher of ice water and a glass.
" Can you free my right hand so can hold the glass. I promise I will not try and escape." Karen rattled the chain that the fur lined cuff was attached to.
Sheryl smiled and began to loosen the strap. In a moment Karen had a hand free and grabbed the glass of water. She downed it and refilled and drank twice more.
" Thank you. I feel about five times better now. You said that I suffered a heart attack. That is not possible, I’m only thirty-two years old. I’m far to young for that to happen." Karen raised her eyes in question, she felt a twinge of fear rise up in her chest.
" Yes that should be the case but your heart has taken a lot of punishment over the last seven years. It was unable to take the strain of your weight gain. The doctor will explain all of that to you in detail." Sheryl said as she freed Karen’s left hand.
" When will I get to go home?" Karen asked. She’d never liked hospitals.
" The doctor will give all the information that you need." Sheryl just finished saying as the door to the hall opened and Richard and her parent’s filed in. Karen seeing her family burst in to tears. She felt so ashamed to have worried them so.
Richard sat on the edge of the bed and hugged her gently as she cried, once Karen was able to control her emotions he let go and looked into her eyes.
" It’s okay Karen. It was close but your still here with us. This time we are not going to let you go. You need help! Please let your family help you. Don’t shut us out."
It was then that the attending doctor that had admitted Karen and Steven Levenkron her old psychologist from New York came in the room, making the already small room more cramped.
" Good morning Karen. I’m Dr. Nathaniel Yates." The younger man said he appeared to be in is mid to late thirties, had brown hair and eyes, was six-foot-two, and obviously in shape. Karen warmed to his presence the moment that she laid eyes on him. " You can call me Nathan or Dr. Yates." He put out his hand which Karen took in hers and shook it.
" Thank you. Dr. Yates. Hello Steven how are you and the family?" Looking at the man that had done so much for her she felt a new wave of tears threaten to overtake her.
" Hello Karen. How are you feeling?" Steven took her hand once she’d let go of Nathan’s.
" Alright under the circumstances. I’d feel better in my own bed at home." Karen pleaded. She wanted to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.
" The doctor’s think that you ought to stay for a while. You need rest Karen. You have no idea how close you came to dying." Agnes said gently.
" Mom really I’m fine. I want to go home. I will rest better back at my condo. I swear I will not go out or have anyone come over."
" Miss Carpenter. As your physician I can’t allow you to leave the hospital. You may feel okay now, however your heart is still extremely weak. You need twenty-four hour care. I would like you to agree to six weeks in here and then at least nine months of out patient care seeing an expert in your illness."
" But I’m cured. Tell him that Steven. I spent a year kicking my anorexia." Karen raised her eyebrows in dismay.
" Karen, I never once told you that you where cured. Yes, you have a solid footing on the road to recovery but I told you from the outset that you’d need two or three years of treatment. Even then you still have a fifteen percent chance of relapsing back into your anorexia. One year is not enough." Steven shook his head in disagreement.
Karen looked at the faces in front of her and felt them begging her to consider what the doctors had said. She swallowed hard and then with a small barely perceptible voice said.
" I will do what it takes to beat this thing once and for all."
By,
K. N. Prince.
Chapter One.
8:15 AM on the morning of February 4, 1983.
Karen Carpenter was in trouble and she knew it. All those years of her friends telling her that she was too thin and that she needed to get treatment for her anorexia she’d been able to tell them that she was okay. Now she herself saw the damage she’d done in the full length mirror in her brother Richard’s room. Deep in her mind she knew that she’d waited far to long to do just that. Sure spending the better part of 1981 in New York had helped to quite her families fears, but it was not enough. For weeks her heart had been beating funny and she’d been seeing spots before her eyes. Now she was convinced that she was not going to make it and that she was living on borrowed time.
" Look at yourself girl. You’ve been through the ringer and your still kicking." Karen shook her head and slipped in to her terry cloth robe. Crossing the large walk in closet she began to look through her wardrobe.
" Half of this will have to go. It’s all too small. I’m a size four now." Karen came across the formal gown that she’d worn for the "Close To You" albums photo shoot. She ran a hand over the fabric and felt a half smile play on her lips. What was I thinking that day? In her mind’s eye she flashed back to that week. It was a blur when it happened. "Close to You" was riding high on the charts. Then she and Richard had released " We’ve Only Just Begun." Making them overnight stars. When they’d presented the tapes for the album everyone on the A&M lot was pumped for a huge seller.
There was one problem, the photography department had no clue as to how to market a Brother/Sister act. Their choice was to put Karen and Richard in formal ware and take them off to the beach. What a joke!
Karen glanced at her watch 8:35 am. She grabbed the jeans and a T-shirt off the chair that she’d set them on the night before and turned to leave the closet.
That was when she felt the searing pain shooting up her left arm. Grabbing her arm she tried to yell for her mother, but nothing came out of her mouth. Instead she fell to the floor. There was a bright flash and then blackness. In that moment Karen Anne Carpenter’s heart failed.
*** *** ***
When Agnes Carpenter called for her daughter for breakfast at ten to nine she was not expecting to get silence as an answer. For the past few months Karen had not missed a meal. Now with a pang of disappointment she went to the stairs and called Karen’s name again. When she received no answer this time she began to climb up to the second floor. She’d heard the sliding doors of her son Richard’s closet being opened. Turning into the bedroom Agnes expected to see her daughter getting dressed. The sight that met her eyes made her heart jump up to her throat. She dropped to her daughter’s side and rolled Karen over. To her horror Karen’s eye’s had rolled up in their sockets. Checking for a pulse and screaming for her husband Harold to call 911 she began to give mouth to mouth. In her mind praying for Karen to be alright. She could hear Harold calling 911 and then their son. " We’ll meet you at the hospital. Rich it doesn’t look good. She’s down. Hurry!"
*** *** ***
Richard Carpenter paced in the small waiting room. In his mind he prayed like he’d never prayed in his life. Lord if you let my sister pull through this I swear I will be grateful for all time. It had been twenty minutes since Karen had been wheeled into the ER at Downey General Hospital.
When the door opened and the doctor came in his mother grabbed hold of his fathers hand and reached out for her son. Richard sat beside his mother and looked up at the man that held so much of his life in his hands.
" Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter I have good news and bad news. The good news is your daughter is alive. The bad news is her heart is still very weak. In fact it’s so weak that it could stop again at any moment. The next week will determine if Karen’s heart will hold out."
" But she will live?" Richard felt tears running down his face. Karen had lucked out again. Maybe this would finally open her eyes and force her to see that anorexia can kill a person.
" For the time being yes. But she can’t over exert herself. She needs a lot of rest. I want to keep Karen here for at least a month. I also have asked her former therapist to fly into Downey to help in her treatment. I want you to know that your very lucky that Karen has survived at all."
" Thank you doctor." Harold said.
" When can we see Karen?" Richard asked before his mother could.
" In about twenty minutes. Karen is being taken up to her room. I will have a nurse fetch you when the time is right." And the doctor left.
In an uncommon moment the Carpenter parent’s and son joined in a group hug. Their prayers had been answered. Karen had survived this brush with death.
*** *** ***
When Karen awoke she knew she was not at home anymore. She tried to sit up but found that she’d been tethered to the bed she was laying on.
" Calm down Ms. Carpenter your at the DGH. You suffered a heart attack. You’re going to be fine. The straps are there to prevent you from falling out of the bed. You need rest." A reassuring nurse smiled down at her.
" My.. My family. Where are they?" Karen asked.
" They’re on their way. They went home for the night. You have slept for three days straight." The nurse said. Karen read her name tag. It was Sheryl.
" Water please? My mouth is so dry." Karen tried to swallow but it didn’t help.
" Of Course. One moment." Sheryl disappeared out of the room. Karen took that moment alone to look about her room. They’re where flowers all round her. The cards from those who’d come to see her where on her night table. One caught her eye right away. On it embossed in gold over a floral pattern was " To My Wife."
" Tom?" Karen whispered and felt tears burning at in her eyes. She blinked them away.
" Here you go." Sheryl said when she came back into the room. She had a tray with a pitcher of ice water and a glass.
" Can you free my right hand so can hold the glass. I promise I will not try and escape." Karen rattled the chain that the fur lined cuff was attached to.
Sheryl smiled and began to loosen the strap. In a moment Karen had a hand free and grabbed the glass of water. She downed it and refilled and drank twice more.
" Thank you. I feel about five times better now. You said that I suffered a heart attack. That is not possible, I’m only thirty-two years old. I’m far to young for that to happen." Karen raised her eyes in question, she felt a twinge of fear rise up in her chest.
" Yes that should be the case but your heart has taken a lot of punishment over the last seven years. It was unable to take the strain of your weight gain. The doctor will explain all of that to you in detail." Sheryl said as she freed Karen’s left hand.
" When will I get to go home?" Karen asked. She’d never liked hospitals.
" The doctor will give all the information that you need." Sheryl just finished saying as the door to the hall opened and Richard and her parent’s filed in. Karen seeing her family burst in to tears. She felt so ashamed to have worried them so.
Richard sat on the edge of the bed and hugged her gently as she cried, once Karen was able to control her emotions he let go and looked into her eyes.
" It’s okay Karen. It was close but your still here with us. This time we are not going to let you go. You need help! Please let your family help you. Don’t shut us out."
It was then that the attending doctor that had admitted Karen and Steven Levenkron her old psychologist from New York came in the room, making the already small room more cramped.
" Good morning Karen. I’m Dr. Nathaniel Yates." The younger man said he appeared to be in is mid to late thirties, had brown hair and eyes, was six-foot-two, and obviously in shape. Karen warmed to his presence the moment that she laid eyes on him. " You can call me Nathan or Dr. Yates." He put out his hand which Karen took in hers and shook it.
" Thank you. Dr. Yates. Hello Steven how are you and the family?" Looking at the man that had done so much for her she felt a new wave of tears threaten to overtake her.
" Hello Karen. How are you feeling?" Steven took her hand once she’d let go of Nathan’s.
" Alright under the circumstances. I’d feel better in my own bed at home." Karen pleaded. She wanted to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.
" The doctor’s think that you ought to stay for a while. You need rest Karen. You have no idea how close you came to dying." Agnes said gently.
" Mom really I’m fine. I want to go home. I will rest better back at my condo. I swear I will not go out or have anyone come over."
" Miss Carpenter. As your physician I can’t allow you to leave the hospital. You may feel okay now, however your heart is still extremely weak. You need twenty-four hour care. I would like you to agree to six weeks in here and then at least nine months of out patient care seeing an expert in your illness."
" But I’m cured. Tell him that Steven. I spent a year kicking my anorexia." Karen raised her eyebrows in dismay.
" Karen, I never once told you that you where cured. Yes, you have a solid footing on the road to recovery but I told you from the outset that you’d need two or three years of treatment. Even then you still have a fifteen percent chance of relapsing back into your anorexia. One year is not enough." Steven shook his head in disagreement.
Karen looked at the faces in front of her and felt them begging her to consider what the doctors had said. She swallowed hard and then with a small barely perceptible voice said.
" I will do what it takes to beat this thing once and for all."