The Story of Us Part III

I hate to keep you guys hanging, I swear. I don' want to give you the impression this story will gradually develop into some thunderous climax. I've broken it down for the sole purpose of avoiding a ridiculously looooong post. So, here we are again...


The months passed and our relationship blossomed. I was still struggling with the anemia, but I never considered it as anything larger than a pain in the rear, since I had to rely on one of my RN friends to stick me with regular shots to stimulate red blood cell production. One night, while on the phone with L, I had just finished giving a recap of my abnormally exhausting day, I noticed my chest was feeling heavy and I was having a hard time breathing. I swear it was merely a matter of minutes, but my condition seriously deteriorated, the whole time L was on the other end of the line panicking about my wheezing.


I put him on hold, called 911, then in my oxygen-depraved condition, hung up on the emergency dispatcher as I preferred to speak with L instead. (Can anyone say stupid!) L had enough of his wits about him to talk me into going to my front door and unlocking it...right after which I passed out. My guardian angel Anne, a friend from the oncology department, was on her way to visit and found me there just shortly before the paramedics arrived. It was later relayed to me after I had come to that I actually flatlined for a minute in the ambulance. My aplastic anemia had developed into a serious condition that I had to receive a blood transfusion.


Later on, L admitted that this close call made him realize he wanted me in his life. And he wanted me as his wife something fierce. From then on, it evolved from the already complex mechanics of long distance relationships to one that also had to consider sickness and its ultimate result should it not resolve itself. It was frustrating and confusing, not knowing how to revel in the newness of young love and still deal with the darkness that could easily overthrow it all. After some time, I had managed a full recovery.

L and I started our relationship unconventionally. Everything was backwards. We had our first date when he came home for a month-long furlough six months into his tour in Korea. Six months after we spent two nights together, and four months after we discussed everything we could ever think of, there was no awkwardness whatsoever when we met again for the first time since we last said our goodbyes. It sounds cliche, but he and I truly and genuinely clicked. When we were together, it was as if we'd known each other for years. Two weeks into his vacation, we picked up a marriage license at the courthouse and snuck away one morning, pulling a stranger in from the hallway as our witness, and got married.

I had called my friend, Jessi, telling her the news and she laughed so hard, "L was the guy I wanted to set you up with! I knew you two would be great together!"

A short honeymoon and a week later, he departed again to finish out his last six months in Korea. It took a while, and many many phone calls to arrange for the military to agree to station us together. L had a follow-on assignment to Aviano, Italy, but because they didn't have a vacancy for my job there, they changed it to Utah instead. In November of that year, he reported to his new assignment. It wasn't until March of the following year did I get to live with him in a joint household.

Many of our friends doubted how it would turn out, considering our first year and a half together was a marriage by telephone. Distance, statistics, sickness...it seemed everything was put in place to keep it from working. But I suppose we both wanted it bad enough.

We still want it bad enough. And I suppose that's the secret that keeps us going. We've had our share of struggles both petty and catastrophic since then. But because we have started out fighting for our relationship, it never became a choice between fight or flight. We hit an obstacle, we figure out how to get through it together.

So although this isn't the "end" as we are still married after all, this is where I'll leave the story. Thank you for your interest, and thank you for your patience in the whole story installment process. This may not be a Twilight, or The Notebook type of love story, but this is ours. I hope you enjoyed the look into the history of Fam Och.

P.S. We have just received word that L may be returning home on schedule after all. Although he warned me that it is only a "MAYBE," it has just gotten me floating on air right now.