Tim Russert: 1950-2008
Most of you have probably heard that long time newsdude, Tim Russert, died today suddenly today from a heart attack. He was 58 years old.
You younger folks aren't immune from such things, either. Our very own Bohemian Mermaid tells us she suffered a heart attack a little over a week ago and she's not even 40 years old.
Back when I worked at H.C. Juvenile Hall, one of our extra- help gals died. Her name was Borgie, if memory serves me correct. She died in her sleep from a heart attack. I believe she was in her early thirties. Shocked all of us and a shame. She was real good extra- help.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 1:10 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Borgie was my PE teacher in gradeschool.
It was really sad when she passed, and a few kids in my class who had bonded with her as a mentor took it really hard. She was a good person.
If my memory serves me correct, she got a blood clot that stemmed from her broken leg. Maybe that is how her heart stopped.
I am glad you mentioned her. Once and a while I drive by the softball fields and am reminded of her.
jason
It's good to know she was well thought of outside of her work at Juvenile Hall. She was one that everybody enjoyed working with, but I didn't know much about her other than from working with her.
Now that you mention it, I think I recall some talk of a blood clot causing her heart attack.
I wish the American Heart Association would warn people that some heart attacks don't have the symptoms of pain and pressure in the chest, pain in the left arm, etc.
My heart attack involved hot and cold flashes (I am a man, by the way), profuse sweating, shaking like a leaf, severely and one symptom right after the other.
Because my symptoms were never discussed in the Heart Assn workshops I had attended, I did not know I was having a heart attack.
I thought it was the flu.
I made an appointment with my doctor, and two hours after my heart attack started, I found out that I was having one.
I was remarkably calm, and my symptoms subsided after I prayed and acknowledged God's will was superior to my own. I asked that I might live. From that moment, my symptoms stopped. This is surprising, considering how often I have personally whined and moaned to God about the way His mismanagement of this world causes so much suffering. I guess you could say I was very lucky. Or very blessed.
Anyway, later, when I saw my doctor, she insisted I go to the Emergency Room. I gladly agreed to go.
Thanks to the team at St. Joseph Hospital, (I am a grateful Protestant, by the way), who gave me a stent, the coronary artery that was completely blocked was opened again. And I did not suffer any damage to my heart muscles. Can you believe it? There are days when I forget how thankful I was in those trying times! Another ungrateful human being!
Please remember these words: If you have any of the common symptoms of heart attack, Please call 911 right away. Don't try to be a tough guy or a tough woman. Your friends and family want you to face reality and get medical help in time.
And Please remember this, too. If you have symptoms like mine, and you don't know if you should call 911, here is my advice, the advice of a heart attack survivor. If one day you start feeling just terrible, just awful, worse than you remember ever feeling, or at least worse than you have felt in a long, long time, PLEASE CALL 911.
My failure to call 911 right away nearly cost me my life.
There's no reason such a delay should cost you yours.
When I described myself as a "grateful Protestant" I meant that I am grateful you don't have to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church to receive medical care at St. Joseph Hospital.
The doctors and nurses there, by the way, were wonderful. The nurses made this old cynic believe some angels really do live on earth. Our EMTs (ambulance workers) were also just fantastic. They don't get the credit they deserve for the work they do or the quiet, competent, caring way they do it.
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