Health

Is a fragile thing.

I posted recently about my brother's illness and some issues of my own. These pale in comparison to those of a dear high school friend. She had chest pain on and off for several months while her doctors told her not to worry her pretty little head about it; she was too young, a non-smoker, etc, so she wouldn't have heart disease.

You know what is coming next.

Her heart attack was so severe that her ejection fraction, which is a measure of the pumping power of the heart, was reduced to less than half of normal. She now has a pacemaker. A week after she got her pacemaker, she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), what is more commonly known as a mini stroke. She spent a week in the hospital.

A week after she left the hospital, on their 27th wedding anniversary, she and her husband were told that his cancer had returned after over 5 years in remission. The surgery he needs cannot be performed anywhere but the Mayo Clinic, so they are heading there in a few weeks.

All four of their children are still at home, by the way. Her parents live in the same city as they do, but are NOT at all supportive. Her mother told her that if she had lived her life the way the mother had wanted, she would not be sick today. Very helpful.

My friend and her husband are people of faith, although that faith has sure been strained lately. Fortunately their faith community has been behind them 100%. Please remember them in your prayers.