New Beginnings

By Jay Whittaker

This story starts with the beginning of the end of a couple's life as they knew it to be. Their lives changed forever, making way for a new beginning. In the beginning, this couple would have support of family and friends, hospitals and doctors, soon finding themselves with no one to depend on but each other and the heavens along with a select few Angles here on earth. Having sorrowed over the loss of family and friends, hospitals and doctors, because of something so tragic. Then to add to the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781682890400

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New

Beginnings

Jay Whittaker

Copyright © 2015 Jay Whittaker

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2015

ISBN 978-1-68289-039-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-68289-040-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Diana and her husband, Rick, along with their son, Jeremy, and their daughter, Jolie, moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, with the hopes of starting a new life in a new and faraway place. Diana wondered what effect Nevada would have on her. Starting as far back as a young girl of about five years in the stairwell of her parents’ home, she noticed one day a shape cut out of the Sheetrock, which she would later learn was the shape of the state of Nevada.

Even then she was curious as to what meaning this shape would have on her life. After three very long and very troubled years in Las Vegas, she found herself separating from her husband and a very unhappy marriage. Diana and her daughter moved in with a male friend named Jay, while Rick and their son, Jeremy, stayed in the apartment they all had been living in. Jay, Jolie, and Diana lived together in a weekly rental for about three weeks. Diana was coming to realize that Jay was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Because of the uncertainty of Diana and Jolie’s future and with the increasing pain and frequency of Diana’s headaches, which she’d had all her life, she felt the need to write a will, naming Jay as executor. Diana had noticed that her feelings for Jay had been steadily growing, and she knew that if anything ever happened to her, Jay would take care of her personal business and Jolie too.

About six months later the three of them were living in a nice apartment community, and Rick had taken Jeremy and moved back to New York. Diana missed her son, something fierce, but for the first time in her life she was happy and secure. Jay had done everything in his power to make Jolie and Diana happy. Jay called Diana Bright Eye’s, and he was her guardian angel. He even drew pictures for Jolie of animals and castles that she wanted, which were promptly hung on her wall.

Diana Jay

Jolie really seemed to love Jay very much. Moving in with and becoming close to Jay seemed more and more like the smartest thing Diana had ever done.

A short time later Diana’s son, Jeremy, was hit by a truck while riding his bike in New York. Jay did everything within his power to raise the money so they could drive out to New York to be with Jeremy.

They had been hearing conflicting stories from friends and family back east as to his condition. Seeing Jeremy was as much for Diana’s comfort as for Jeremy’s. Two days before they were to start on the long journey to New York, their lives would be drastically changed forever. It was October 5, 1989, at 10:20 p.m.

Diana had laid back in her bed when suddenly a massive headache, worse than any had ever been, came over her. She jumped out of bed holding her head and screaming in severe pain! Jay rushed to her side and asked where it hurt, how bad it was, and what she was allergic to. Diana said, Demerol. The last thing Diana remembered saying was, Son of a -----, it hurts sooo bad! Jay rushed to get them both dressed in order to take Diana to the hospital. They worked their way out to the front room, where Jay helped Diana to sit back on the love seat. That was the last thing Diana remembered fully until about three months later. Over this three-month period their lives would be ripped heartlessly apart.

Diana jumped up from bed, grabbing her head, screaming from the pain. By the time Jay managed to place Diana on the love seat and lean her back, her headache seemed to have lightened somewhat. Jay was sitting on the couch, which was next to the love seat, bending over to tie his shoes. He looked over at Diana, who was all stretched out, holding her head with both hands.

Her breathing was very shallow. Her eyes were closed, and sweat was rolling off her forehead. All of a sudden Diana’s eyes flew open, looked straight ahead, split apart, and then rolled upwards into the back of her head as her heart seemed to come to an abrupt stop. Jay forced himself to react to the situation as best he could. He eased Diana down flat on the floor. Her body was in full convulsions by this time. As she stopped breathing, Jay did the best to recall the CPR training he had gone through in the service many years before. As he performed CPR, Jay yelled for his mother to come out of her room and call 911. As he continued the CPR, he could hear his mom rushing the 911 operator because the situation was taking a severe turn for the worse. Diana’s heart had now stopped beating. Jay’s efforts at reviving Diana had finally paid off; she started to breathe on her own, and her heart was beating again too, Pat ran out the front door to get his sister, Mary.

She lived next door. As Jay sat over Diana watching her lie there lifeless and feeling more helpless than he ever had before. At this point Diana was unconscious, but she was still breathing on her own. As a state of shock was starting to take effect on Jay, he heard footsteps rushing up the stairs to the front door. The voices behind Jay made him feel like help had finally arrived. Mary’s boyfriend, Tom, bent over Jay’s shoulder to ask if he could help in any way. Jay asked Tom if he could please pull Diana’s jaw down, so he could get his finger out of her mouth. In total despair Jay said, Tom, she was trying to swallow her tongue. The sirens were coming closer now, and seconds later the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) walked in the front door and asked everyone to move out of the way. In the same breath they asked what had happened, and Jay explained. The EMTs were trying to bring Diana back to a conscious level by yelling out her name, with no success. They prepared Diana for transport and asked Jay to sit in the front of the ambulance for the ride to the hospital. While en route, Jay heard a yell from the back of the ambulance, which sounded to him like some sort of code they would use. Before he knew it, the sirens were blaring, and the lights were rolling and flashing. Diana’s heart had stopped again.

Jay felt that Diana was just not going to make it, but he could not give up hope. When Jay looked toward the rear of the ambulance he saw that they had revived her again. They were using a balloon-shaped instrument to help her breathe, and there was blood all over the front of her clothes from the IVs being poked into her. As they arrived at the hospital, a group of people were standing at the emergency room doors waiting for Diana’s arrival. Seeing them gave Jay a slight sense of hope that they might be able to get Diana through this.

The EMTs rushed Diana into the emergency room as Jay was led to the administration’s desk to fill out the appropriate paperwork to admit Diana.

After this Jay was asked to follow a nurse to a small room with the word QUIET written across the door. Jay’s heart dropped to his feet. He knew what this room was used for. After entering the room, Mary walked in behind him, and they both sat down. There in front of them was a small box of tissues and a telephone.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, Dr. Lewin entered the room. He directed his questions at Jay. What happened to Mrs. Blanchard? Before Jay could finish telling him what had taken place, Dr. Lewin cut him off and asked where her next of kin was. Jay replied, New York City, and went on to say how Diana had told him that she had an aneurysm in her head that she felt would eventually kill her. Dr. Lewin looked at Jay with a cold, blank stare and said, Go home and call Diana’s family. I have just examined her, and there is nothing more you can do for her, she’s dead. Then he stood up and walked out the door, leaving it open behind him. Mary and Jay stood up and followed Dr. Lewin out the door. Jay’s legs started to shake, and he felt like he was falling into a deep, spiraling tunnel of grief, confusion, and despair.

Just outside the door stood a woman, one of the EMTs that had just helped them. Jay fell into her arms, crying an endless river of tears. He kept telling her, She didn’t make it, over and over. Mary gently pulled Jay from her arms and slowly walked him down the hospital corridor and out to the parking lot. The next thing Jay remembered was sitting in the apartment where he had lived so happily with Diana for much too short a time, trying to accept the fact that Diana would never be back again. He walked next door to Mary’s apartment, where his mother was sitting at the table. Mom, she didn’t make it. She’s dead, Jay told Pat. Pat told Jay that she had made the phone calls he had ask her to make to Diana’s family and that Diana’s sister Christine wanted him to call her. Just then the phone rang. It was Christine, asking, What are you doing at home? Get back with Diana!

Christine, she’s dead! Jay replied.

She is not! I just got off the phone with the hospital, and they’re rushing Diana down to surgery. They may be able to save her life! Christine said.

Jay dropped the phone and asked Mary to please rush him back to the hospital because they might be able to save Diana’s life.

Mary said, But Dr. Lewin said she was dead.

I don’t know what’s going on, let’s just go! Jay told her as they ran out the door and headed for the car.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Mary and Jay were taken to the day surgery waiting room. A medical technician came into the room and asked for Mr. Whittaker. When Jay answered yes, he was informed that Diana’s family had given the hospital permission to answer his questions, if he had any. Jay’s first question was, How is Diana?

The technician replied, You don’t want to get your hopes up, but she may have a chance to pull out of this.

Jay then asked, What happened to her? What would do all this to her?

I don’t know yet, he replied, but I’ll be back to let you know if there are any changes in the situation.

Twelve hours later, a doctor came to the waiting room asking for Jay. He told Jay and Mary that Diana was out of surgery and that it really didn’t look good for her at this point. Only time would tell now.

How long before I can see her? Jay asked the doctor.

The doctor replied, We will let you know when she has been moved into the intensive care unit.

About four hours later someone came into the waiting room to give Mary and Jay the room number so that they could go see Diana in ICU. That elevator trip was the longest ride Jay had ever taken on an elevator in his life, wondering what he might see when he walked into Diana’s room. Mary stood at the door of Diana’s room as Jay walked in to see her. What Jay saw looked to him like a person hovering at Death’s door with hoses and machines, the only thing keeping her from crossing through that door. Diana’s eyes were open, and she was looking at the empty spaces around the room. Her eyes had a faraway, wrinkled look to them. As Jay looked up at the monitor, he turned and walked toward Mary. His tears told her the whole story, and she also started to cry. Holding each other, they walked out of the room and went back down to the waiting room to await the arrival of Diana’s family from New York.

Around three or four hours later, two of Diana’s sisters, Christine and Linda, walked through the lobby doors. Jay had no problem recognizing them as they looked a lot like Diana. Jay approached them and let them know who he was. Simultaneously they asked, How is she? Jay suggested that they all go up to Diana’s room and see. Diana’s sisters walked in the room and stood over her bed, with not a tear in their eyes, talking to Diana. They told Diana, What is this lying around here? You’re a Callery. You’ll make it! It was amazing for Jay to watch these two women setting such a positive example. It showed Jay that there was no room for negative emotions.

Sensing that Diana’s sisters were afraid of him, Jay went over what had happened to Diana, explaining to them what Diana had told him about the doctor in New York telling her she had an aneurysm for years before she even moved to Las Vegas.

Christine asked, What aneurysm?

Didn’t Diana ever tell the family? asked Jay. They replied that she had not. Jay could only guess at what the sisters were thinking as the distance between them grew, and prayed that he was wrong.

Christine and Linda asked Jay if they could go to the apartment to go through some of Diana’s things in search of something that would support the fact that she had been diagnosed long ago as having an aneurysm. Jay welcomed them into their home, knowing that Diana would want them to see her home. They said they would be over the next day. Right now all they wanted to do was go back to the motel and rest.

Jay hurried home to shower and change his clothes so he could be back to the hospital for the next visiting hour. When he got home, Jolie met him at the door wanting to know where her mommy was and what had happened to her. Jay told Jolie that Mommy had to go to the hospital last night because she got really sick. It was all he could think of to say. Jolie then asked if she could go see her mommy, and Jay told her that he would bring her to the hospital in a few days when her mommy felt better. Jolie seemed to accept what Jay had told her and ran off to play with the other kids. All showered and changed, Jay returned to the hospital to find Diana’s sisters already there. When the visiting hour came, they all went up together. Diana was still lying there motionless. It had been hours since the surgery, and much to Jay’s surprise, a tear rolled down Diana’s right cheek, and the tip of her right index finger moved.

When the nurse entered the room a short time later, Jay told her what they had seen her do. The nurse responded that it was probably just sensitive nerves causing her finger to twitch. Within another twelve hours Diana was looking around the room with a very concerned look on her face. It was almost as if she was trying to ask what had happened to her. She kept grabbing at all the hoses, IVs, and electrical leads, wanting to know why they were attached to her body. As Diana grabbed each hose or lead, Jay did the best he could to tell her what they were and the importance of each one. She seemed to be satisfied with his answers and was soon asleep.

Jay and Diana’s sisters went to their respective places for the night after planning to meet back at the hospital in the morning. When Jay returned to Diana’s room, she was very alert and responsive to things, like holding up one to five fingers and moving her toes, legs, arms, etc. Dr. Lewin asked Christine, Linda, and Jay to please step into the room across the hall so he could update them on Diana’s condition. With a nurse at his side, Dr. Lewin told them that it looked as if Diana might have beaten this and that there was a good chance that she could go home after undergoing a three-week therapy program in the hospital. They were all very excited at this latest bit of news.

Jay then took the sisters to his apartment. They took a lot of things that belonged to Diana. Because of the way they went through the apartment, grabbing Diana’s things almost as if for remembrance of Diana, Jay felt as if they were convinced Diana had no chance to pull through this. Pat told Jay a man had been calling for him from the police department and wanted Jay to return the call. Pat also told Jay that they thought he had hit Diana. Jay was absolutely shocked that anyone could even think such a thing, especially anyone who knew him.

When Jay called and identified himself, Detective Hatch told him that he really did not want to make this call but the hospital would not let up on him until he did. He asked Jay to explain what had happened a few nights before. Jay explained all that took place on that dreadful night. Detective Hatch said, It seems to me if I did this to my girlfriend, I would probably be in another country by now. Do you hear this?

Jay could hear a book slam closed in the background as the detective told him that the case was closed and that he would not be reopening it. He then told Jay that he should get back to the hospital since Diana was the one who needed him most right then. After hanging up, Jay told anyone who would listen that if he