I've not been writing much about my life in the past week or two

[xiphias]

I've posted a bunch of stuff on Shakespeare stuff, but haven't written much about what's been happening.

So, let me start with my grandmother Grace, since it looks like this is all turning out well.

Early last week, my cousin Meghan convinced my grandmother Grace to see a doctor about the cough she'd had for the past thirty years. Because Grace hadn't seen a doctor for longer than that, so hadn't had a chance to deal with it.

Turns out she has acid reflux, and the doctor put her on Prilosec and the cough went away in two days, and she no longer had heartburn, which she'd had forever and wasn't aware that you're not supposed to have. Which made me feel better, since it only took me fifteen years to figure that out -- well, from when I was sixteen until when Lis told me that heartburn isn't normal and talk to the doctor about it.

And, as long as they had her there, they did a physical on her. And discovered a partial blockage in one of her arteries. So they scheduled her for an angioplasty this past Monday.

In doing the angioplasty, they discovered that things were worse than they thought, and did a triple bypass on Tuesday.

She apparently looked like hell and wasn't accepting visitors on Wednesday, still looked like death warmed over on Thursday, but we saw her today, and she looked, well, entirely normal.

For anyone who's wondering where I get it from, I asked about what they were doing for pain meds for her, and she said that she was on them on Tuesday and Wednesday, but for now, she didn't see the point. Lis keeps trying to explain to me that not wanting pain medication four days after major surgery is actually stupidly macho, and not actually something to be impressed by and want to emulate.

Lis was asking me, "So, dear -- what are the lessons we can learn about avoiding doctors for thirty years from your grandmother's situation?"

I said, "If you avoid doctors for thirty years, you will be tough enough that you can go home five days after major surgery with no pain medication, because you're JUST THAT COOL."

Lis just shook her head sadly.

Comments

[yardlong.livejournal.com]

I'm nodding in agreement with the lesson you learned. That's exactly what I would conclude! :D

[cheshyre]

You're not helping....

;}

[redbird]

If thirty years of pain is worth it to you to avoid needing pain meds for five days, it's time to reexamine your priorities.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, you have to remember -- she's the matriarch of that half of our family. As such, she's got a level of responsibility for us.

Compared to that, what's a little heartburn?

[redbird]

So she could have avoided thirty years of heartburn and still not needed the pain meds, right?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I WILL find a good reason why I'm right. . . some time, um, later . . . LOOK! A MONKEY!!

[griffen.livejournal.com]

*arches eyebrow* More like an ostrich. *crosses arms, looks at you sternly, continues arched eyebrow*

[griffen.livejournal.com]

What zie said.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that was quite a week for everyone. I'm grateful Grace is doing well. Please give her my love. And, Ian, while I agree that Grace is indeed JUST THAT COOL, it's in spite of her waiting 30 years to see a doctor, not because of it. There's a lot of that kind of strength in your family.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

I think I agree with Lis on this one....

[(Anonymous)]

As the genetic link between you and Grace, let me point out the actual reason for the refusal of pain meds was the nausea resulting from said meds. There is also a sense that toughness is as much a factor in survival/success as blood counts and money. Also, she has outlived her last three doctors, so her suspicion that maybe some of this medical advice stuff may be made up is not without some basis in reality if not fact. Also, her maternal grandfather was really tough. He was the one that used to walk from Sudbury to the West End of Boston on Saturdays to visit his friends. More about him later...

[temima.livejournal.com]

You seem to learn all the wrong things when they are subtly presented.

So, what I learned from all this is if I have any advice for you, put it in the bluntest terms so you cannot misinterpret it. :)

[sproutntad.livejournal.com]

The fact that my response to finding out that our family has a history of heart disease and our grandmother was having bypass surgury was to eat greasy Italian food. Too bad it is probably the greasy Italian food that played a part in the blockages in the first place...

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

My uncle Jim in California ended up in the hospital last week. He hadn't been to a doctor in over 20 years either, or maybe it was longer, I have no idea. He's 72, anyway, and a stockbroker. And last Friday he came over feeling faint at work, and went home in the afternoon and passed out (literally). They got him in an ambulance, and he ended up in the ICU for a week. His blood pressure was 60/40 (half of normal). They also found fluid around his heart which turned out to be blood, though they have no idea as yet where it came from. They really thought he might die the first day or so. But he pulled through, and got moved out of the ICU to a regular room this past Friday, then sent home by the end of Saturday.

Now that he's stabilized, they can begin the detective work of figuring out what the hell just happened.

My mom was telling me on the phone, a day or so after it happened, that it was hard to believe there's any 70-year-old out there who's not already taking any *medications* for anything. (That may change now, of course, depending on what they find out.)

But I'm just unbelievably glad that those 20+ doctor-free years did not suddenly catch up with him all at once. And so, let me tell you, is my aunt.

Moral: Don't be a hero. >:-) Please. Not in *that* way.