Blast from the past
Since
dr_david_banner mentioned in a reply to an earlier post that I had been mentioned recently at the TrekBBS, I logged in and did a search to have a look. When I logged in, I saw that familiar blinking envelope. So, of course, I clicked on it to see who PMed me. Turns out I had a PM from shornak. If that user name doesn't ring a bell, then you probably weren't on the BBS in '02 and '03. And I can think of at least two people on my friends list that probably should have been given a beverage warning before reading this.
In other news, my dad just found out from his doctor that he has an aortic stenosis. http://www.healthcentral.com/encyclopedia/408/531.html He also sounds like he's considering avoiding surgery as long as possible, unfortunately. You see, his younger brother died due to complications from bypass surgery, and the doctors at UCSF wanted to operate on him to close the hole in his heart when he was a small child, but my grandmother refused, and it turned out that the success rate of the surgery they wanted to do on him ended up being very low. So, essentially, if my grandmother had agreed to the surgery, they'd have likely killed him. In his mind, the only reason he's lived to be 57 is because he's avoided going under the knife. So how do I convince him that the only reason his brother died is because Washoe Medical Center blew him off when he was complaining of stomach pain when he was back home a few days after his surgery, and that he'll likely die without the surgery? And how do tactfully remind him that open heart surgery has nowhere near the risks now as it did in the 1950s when they wanted to operate on him to close the hole in his heart as a child? The advantage of having been the product of teen parents is that you are supposed to have your parents around for a lot longer than people who had actual grown-ups raising them. And to make matters worse, I know that if my dad dies, my grandmother will probably die soon after. Having my Uncle Tony die in May of 1997, followed closely after by my Uncle Bill in August of 1997 almost killed her. If my dad dies too, I know having 3 out of 4 of her children pre-decease her will be more than she can handle. And if she dies, there will be no one to take care of my Uncle Carl. Yes, he's a grown man, but his diabetes has been barely under control for many years, with a quite a few scares when his blood sugar has dropped dangerously low, or gone dangerously high. Without someone in the house keeping an eye on him, who knows what would have happened on those occasions.
dr_david_banner mentioned in a reply to an earlier post that I had been mentioned recently at the TrekBBS, I logged in and did a search to have a look. When I logged in, I saw that familiar blinking envelope. So, of course, I clicked on it to see who PMed me. Turns out I had a PM from shornak. If that user name doesn't ring a bell, then you probably weren't on the BBS in '02 and '03. And I can think of at least two people on my friends list that probably should have been given a beverage warning before reading this.
In other news, my dad just found out from his doctor that he has an aortic stenosis. http://www.healthcentral.com/encyclopedia/408/531.html He also sounds like he's considering avoiding surgery as long as possible, unfortunately. You see, his younger brother died due to complications from bypass surgery, and the doctors at UCSF wanted to operate on him to close the hole in his heart when he was a small child, but my grandmother refused, and it turned out that the success rate of the surgery they wanted to do on him ended up being very low. So, essentially, if my grandmother had agreed to the surgery, they'd have likely killed him. In his mind, the only reason he's lived to be 57 is because he's avoided going under the knife. So how do I convince him that the only reason his brother died is because Washoe Medical Center blew him off when he was complaining of stomach pain when he was back home a few days after his surgery, and that he'll likely die without the surgery? And how do tactfully remind him that open heart surgery has nowhere near the risks now as it did in the 1950s when they wanted to operate on him to close the hole in his heart as a child? The advantage of having been the product of teen parents is that you are supposed to have your parents around for a lot longer than people who had actual grown-ups raising them. And to make matters worse, I know that if my dad dies, my grandmother will probably die soon after. Having my Uncle Tony die in May of 1997, followed closely after by my Uncle Bill in August of 1997 almost killed her. If my dad dies too, I know having 3 out of 4 of her children pre-decease her will be more than she can handle. And if she dies, there will be no one to take care of my Uncle Carl. Yes, he's a grown man, but his diabetes has been barely under control for many years, with a quite a few scares when his blood sugar has dropped dangerously low, or gone dangerously high. Without someone in the house keeping an eye on him, who knows what would have happened on those occasions.