Good News and Bad News

I went away overnight to meet up with the future Baron and go see our relative who was in a very bad car accident last January. That’s the good news part of this, but let’s get to the bad news first.

While I was at dinner with our son and that relative, another close relative — this one older, Dymphna’s son and the fB’s half-brother — had a massive heart attack. So I had to turn around and hurry home. He had surgery, and two stents were put in. He is lucky to be alive — they think his heart was not beating for 7-10 minutes. Fortunately he got CPR before the ambulance arrived. He is also lucky that his brain didn’t get anoxia or whatever you call it — it managed to get enough oxygen, and there’s no brain damage. So we are guardedly optimistic.

Also (and I haven’t mentioned this before) yet another close relative — this one considerably older, Dymphna’s brother — died a few days before all this happened. So it’s been a rough week.

With all this going on, I will be in and out, depending on what happens. I intend to maintain the news feed, at least, and will do other odds and ends when they come up, as time allows.

The good news: The young man who had multiple broken bones and severe brain trauma last winter has made a miraculous recovery over the past four months. He is almost completely back to normal functioning, although he will remain in rehab for a while longer. He has a slight limp on one side, and the arm on the same side doesn’t quite extend all the way, but that is a result of neurological damage to the brain, and not damage to the limbs themselves. His speech faculties are fully restored; he sounds just like he always did. He says the damage messed up his memory to some extent, but I can’t detect it.

It was great to see him so completely recovered — it was like the sun coming out from behind dark clouds for me.

That would have been a wonderful dinner the three of us had last night, if it weren’t for the grim news about our mutual relatives.

15 thoughts on “Good News and Bad News

  1. For the massive heart attack. Please listen at least once. Vitamin K2 cleans your arteries over time, even the old cholesterol. It cuts to 0 the risk of heart attack and stroke. It has a variety of other good effects that I am sparing to you.

    I am a PhD in chemistry. I got Jews wrong, but I might have gotten this right. A lot of people who listen to me on this come back to tell me that they were just fine with cholesterol in their blood, and felt better in every regard.

    • Ila I’m of the opinion that different populations have over thousands of years adjusted to and been selected by evolutionary pressure, to thrive on certain diets that are locally available.

      This evolutionary pressure causes different populations to thrive
      on different diets .Numerous studies have shown that Japanese men eating their traditional diet in Japan have lower rates of both heart disease and prostate cancer than the general American population.

      But if they immigrate to America , they are exposed to the Western diet, and after 10 years they have higher rates of both heart disease and prostate cancer ,than the general American population.

      So if the baron’s half brother could get a DNA test and research his ancestry ,sticking to foods traditional to the areas from whence his ancestor’s hailed, it could might possibly be beneficial to him .

      I’ve been trying to lower my cholesterol by sticking to my ancestors ‘traditional diet ,which causes some dismay in my household as my kid and spouse object to me eating traditional foods and also to the aroma that is attendant on the preparation of those foods.

      Kippers/ smoked herrings drive them spare for instance. Oatmeal/porridge tastes horrible and gives my spouse heartburn apparently.

      It means two styles of food coming out of the kitchen ,traditional for me,modern Western for my kid and spouse.

      I’m tempted to fall off the wagon ,the traditional diet of the subsistence Scottish tenant farmer ,being monotonous in the extreme ,
      but when I do up goes both my blood pressure and my cholesterol.

      This means that in between routine blood tests ,I give in and eat the junk my kid and spouse prefer.But 8 weeks before twice yearly blood tests and check-ups I stick to the boring traditional diet ,so my results looks lovely and my doctor doesn’t feel disappointed in me.

      • K2 works for all animals. K1 for all plants. It so happens, plants too have their version of high cholesterol. I am not here to argue, I am here to teach.

        • Good point. I saw your original comment earlier and started to answer it but got distracted. There is a very good wiki on K2 and its variants.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K

          Adequate intake of vitamin K is associated with the inhibition of arterial calcification and stiffening,[6] but there have been few interventional studies and no good evidence that vitamin K supplementation is of any benefit in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.[7]

          One 10-year population study, the Rotterdam Study, did show a clear and significant inverse relationship between the highest intake levels of menaquinone (mainly MK-4 from eggs and meat, and MK-8 and MK-9 from cheese) and cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in older men and women.[8]

          The whole entry is good. but5 one has to pay attention.

          The use of extra supplements can sometimes be avoided by wise nutrition.

    • They aren’t burdens, but I do wish they were more spaced apart. As Jordan Peterson is fond of reminding his students, “life is darn hard and sometimes you have to live with a lot of pain. Then, in the end, you die anyway”…meanwhile, there are glimmers all along the way, aren’t there? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn liked to remind us of that.

  2. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
    My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

    It is thought, by some, that this may have been sung by those making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for a major festival. Traveling by foot they might encounter any sorts of dangers. Yet,it expresses the belief in the One who is their ever-present help throughout all of life. May He be as much to your and yours when you may indeed ask, “From whence cometh my help.”

      • Mine, too. Having lived in a mountainous area, I would think of this psalm frequently. However, I was rather challenged when living in an area that didn’t even have large hills let alone mountains!

        Blessings to you and yours.

  3. I am so sorry to hear about all this–was this Dymphas brother who taught university in Ireland? I’m writing to say that you both have been in my thoughts for years. I’m going to continue praying that God watch over and aid you. You’ve been an inspiration to me and I’m sure to many others.

    • No, that’s my cousin. He’s quite well and thriving and still maintaining his website. He’s pro-American, pro-Israel, and known for his work in genealogy.

  4. Unbelievably fragile, are we who believe we are bullet proof.
    Resilience is a surprisingly strong antidote, if one takes that in, whilst allowing time.

    All aspects of life to be appreciated, and make the most of things, even if it is in what may seem small ways.

    Laugh with one another, not at each other, even if it is very “black humour”, as there is joy and fun to be found in life, and even after.

    This modern age of medicine that we live in, is a marvel, and it is great that the human body and mind usually endeavours to make the most of it.

    Measure your selves, do what you can, and many thanks for the treasures of Baron & Dymphna,; from a “Zipper Club” member.

  5. Dear Dymphna ,glad to hear that your relative who had a car crash is making a good recovery.

    Sorry to hear about your half brother’s heart attack. I wish him a speedy recovery.

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