My brother called me last night to tell me my sister was in intensive care in the hospital after having stent placement to remove a 100% blockage in an artery that goes to the back of the heart. They removed a blood clot too.
I called her today on her cell phone because all the lines in the coronary unit at the hospital were busy. I was surprised but happy when she answered the phone. I asked her what happened and she told me that she had been doing some beadwork three nights ago and her chest started hurting. She attributed it to sitting in one position for too long. The pain was in the middle of her chest, not on the left so she didn't think it was her heart. She went to bed. The next day it was still hurting but she went to work anyway thinking she would work through it and be okay. At some point it hurt bad enough that she went to see a staff nurse at her place of employment. Her blood pressure was high but what did that mean? She went back to her desk. The pain then got a whole lot worse so she drove to her doctor's office. Her doctor sent her to the hospital in an ambulance. She had had a heart attack.
It's a reminder that women's symptoms of a heart attack are very different from men's. For one thing, they aren't as clear cut.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Sometimes you have to say goodbye
Being in Birmingham, Alabama, one is always happy to find a friend who is also liberal. I met someone my age who is the mother of one of my son's friends a couple of years ago. I really didn't get to know her until the last 12 months or so. She is fun to be with and I enjoyed her company.
But my friend, we'll call her "Lisa," has some issues. Like me, she is not religious, but unlike me she is anti-Christian. She has often posted stuff on Facebook that is offensive and most of my friends are Christian. But these are minor compared to the drama she has inflicted on my family and others. On four separate occasions that should have been celebrations for other people, Lisa, somehow managed to get her 'feelings hurt' and ruined the celebration. Two of those times were celebrations meant for my son. The last thing that happened happened this week. My son's godmother gave him a week vacation at her condo on the beach for his graduation from college. He invited several of his friends but had trouble getting anybody to come during the first few days because of work schedules, etc. He posted something on his Facebook page telling his friends he had room for them at the beach if they wanted to come. Unfortunately, Lisa thought this included her even though she is 50 years old and my son is 23. She called my son at the beach and asked him if she could join him. He was very uncomfortable with the request but told her no. So she 'got her feelings hurt' again and once again caused a big drama by crying and carrying on until her daughter, one of my son's best friends, said she would stay home with her mother who was sad. I was very angry.
Lisa had done this before. It happened at my son's graduation dinner which both Lisa and her daughter were invited to but apparently in that case, the invitation wasn't early enough to suit her so she held her daughter hostage by making her feel sorry for her which means of course that one of my son's best friends didn't come to his graduation celebration. He was very sad. And now, at the beach, he once again in the same position. Lisa had a meltdown and prevented his best friend from coming down to the beach. I let Lisa know how angry I was and she left the barbecue we were both attending on July 4th. She then got her daughter to write me a lengthy email explaining how I was wrong to be mad and that her mother was sad and it was all mine and my son's fault. I feel sorry for Lisa's daughter, I truly do but the fact is that it is weird for a 50 year old to call a 23 year old and invite herself to share his vacation at the beach.
So my son was going to be at the beach alone for a few days until other friends came down but then suddenly, Lisa's daughter and her boyfriend showed up at the condo where my son was staying at the beach. But it didn't end there. Lisa had come to the beach too and got a hotel down the beach from where my son was staying.
Lisa wants to be friends/peers with her daughter and her daughter's friends. I think this is a dangerous thing but basically, the drama that surrounds everything Lisa does was enough for me. I ended our friendship. I will miss Lisa but the benefits of having her as a friend are not worth the pain she has inflicted on me and my family not to mention other friends.
Did I mention the chipmunk story? No of course not. A couple of months ago, Lisa decided that the chipmunks in her backyard were so cute that she would make pets of them and so she started feeding them and babying them and told everyone all about it. Then she read on the internet that chipmunks can become pests. Her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend told her they would use livetraps to capture the chipmunks and relocate them but Lisa said no, that they would just come back so she set up some boards leading to a bucket with water in it and drowned them by luring them with food.
Goodbye Lisa. I hope you will get help.
But my friend, we'll call her "Lisa," has some issues. Like me, she is not religious, but unlike me she is anti-Christian. She has often posted stuff on Facebook that is offensive and most of my friends are Christian. But these are minor compared to the drama she has inflicted on my family and others. On four separate occasions that should have been celebrations for other people, Lisa, somehow managed to get her 'feelings hurt' and ruined the celebration. Two of those times were celebrations meant for my son. The last thing that happened happened this week. My son's godmother gave him a week vacation at her condo on the beach for his graduation from college. He invited several of his friends but had trouble getting anybody to come during the first few days because of work schedules, etc. He posted something on his Facebook page telling his friends he had room for them at the beach if they wanted to come. Unfortunately, Lisa thought this included her even though she is 50 years old and my son is 23. She called my son at the beach and asked him if she could join him. He was very uncomfortable with the request but told her no. So she 'got her feelings hurt' again and once again caused a big drama by crying and carrying on until her daughter, one of my son's best friends, said she would stay home with her mother who was sad. I was very angry.
Lisa had done this before. It happened at my son's graduation dinner which both Lisa and her daughter were invited to but apparently in that case, the invitation wasn't early enough to suit her so she held her daughter hostage by making her feel sorry for her which means of course that one of my son's best friends didn't come to his graduation celebration. He was very sad. And now, at the beach, he once again in the same position. Lisa had a meltdown and prevented his best friend from coming down to the beach. I let Lisa know how angry I was and she left the barbecue we were both attending on July 4th. She then got her daughter to write me a lengthy email explaining how I was wrong to be mad and that her mother was sad and it was all mine and my son's fault. I feel sorry for Lisa's daughter, I truly do but the fact is that it is weird for a 50 year old to call a 23 year old and invite herself to share his vacation at the beach.
So my son was going to be at the beach alone for a few days until other friends came down but then suddenly, Lisa's daughter and her boyfriend showed up at the condo where my son was staying at the beach. But it didn't end there. Lisa had come to the beach too and got a hotel down the beach from where my son was staying.
Lisa wants to be friends/peers with her daughter and her daughter's friends. I think this is a dangerous thing but basically, the drama that surrounds everything Lisa does was enough for me. I ended our friendship. I will miss Lisa but the benefits of having her as a friend are not worth the pain she has inflicted on me and my family not to mention other friends.
Did I mention the chipmunk story? No of course not. A couple of months ago, Lisa decided that the chipmunks in her backyard were so cute that she would make pets of them and so she started feeding them and babying them and told everyone all about it. Then she read on the internet that chipmunks can become pests. Her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend told her they would use livetraps to capture the chipmunks and relocate them but Lisa said no, that they would just come back so she set up some boards leading to a bucket with water in it and drowned them by luring them with food.
Goodbye Lisa. I hope you will get help.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
