Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Don’t Emulate My Family
Hana and Ibrahim Farraj – Wedding Photo.
Hana Farraj (my beloved grandmother) died of a heart attack in 1993, she was 70 years old. She had the heart attack while she was in Seattle (visiting her son), but she didn’t want to be a bother. So instead of going to the hospital, she waited, for three days, she even got on a Greyhound bus and rode down to Portland. She died the day she got back. Don’t emulate my grandmother.
Issa Farraj (my beloved uncle) died of a heart attack in 2015. He was 70 years old. He had a heart attack but didn’t tell anyone or go to the doctor because his son we getting married that weekend and he thought the doctors would bar him from flying. By the time things got bad enough he went to the hospital, his heart was damaged beyond repair. He passed away two days after his son’s wedding. Don’t emulate my uncle.
Issa Farraj.
Nuha Farraj Rice (my beloved mother whose neck I want to wring) has not yet died of a heart attack, but she came close. She had been experiencing radiating chest pains while exercising for more than six months … but she didn’t tell anybody because eventually, the pain would go away. Fortunately, my parents went to a college reunion and had to walk a fair distance to their car. My mom had to stop four times to catch her breath (even though it was a relatively gentle hill) and my dad insisted she went to see her doctor. It was only when directly confronted by her doctor that she admitted to the chest pains. She is now the proud new owner of two stents and a ballooned-out artery or two. Don’t emulate my mother.
This is serious business, people. You only have one life and you are the only one that really knows what is going on in your body. Even if you are fit and eat well this kind of thing can still sneak up on you as a large component of arterial health is genetic (Former President George W. Bush possibly the fittest man to hold the office had to have a mostly occluded artery stented). I want all of you (be you FiCon, Conservatarain, RINO, Libertarian, token liberals [@viruscop], or religious conservative) to live long and healthy lives. So here is my plea to you:
- Go to your yearly doctors appointments
- Watch your levels (blood sugars, blood pressure, and cholesterol)
- If you need meds, for crying out loud take them!
- If you think there is something wrong (chest pain, shortness of breath, unexplained nausea, etc.) go to your doctor!
Don’t emulate my family! Don’t die of the Farraj family curse.
Published in General
I happened to see this post in the member feed, but I didn’t get a notification that my name was mentioned.
Who is in that picture? Was it taken in Lebanon?
Roger that, @1967mustangman. Thanks for this Public Service Announcement – pure love, dear friend!
Are you really a token liberal, dear Viruscop? I thought I was…but this place is rubbing off on me. My Godson’s granny just sent me a birthday card exulting that even if her daughter and son-in-law are liberals, her grandson’s Spiritual Advisor is a conservative!
You are? My husband asked.
Well, I think so.
Anyway, Mustangman, beautiful family… and if I feel peculiarly breathless sometimes, and have low blood pressure and low cholesterol might I still have heart disease? I thought perhaps a heart murmur or flaw of some kind?
Yes, I’m a liberal, but I have some sympathy now towards conservatives.
My Cod! It’s contagious! ;)
I’m on the other side @1967mustangman. I see their deaths as peaceful deaths. As a Christian I see this world as fleeting and long and hope that my eternal life is in Heaven (certainly via Purgatory for this miserable sinner). I’ve lived through the painful and long death of my mother via stroke, and the painful and long deaths of my father-in-law and mother-in-law through stroke and dementia. And now my father, who has been crippled by Parkinson’s Disease has had to move out of our home into a care facility. I think medicine is too good these days. It keeps us alive way too long. I am ready to meet the Lord, God willing. I pray my wife and children hold fast to the faith. May we live together forever.
Their deaths came needlessly early. My grandmother and uncle were otherwise relatively healthy and they could have had many healthy years ahead of them had they taken basic steps to take care of themselves.
That is my grandmother and her husband on their wedding day along with my grandmother’s cousin (her maid of honor) and my grandfather’s best man (whose name I don’t know).
Where was it taken?
You worship a cod? Dagon?
No. It’s an old joke that started elsewhere and is also contagious.
Oh. I prefer Moloch.
He also has an excellent sense of humor and helped contribute to this little gem from before your time:
http://ricochet.com/archives/uberfem-the-great-new-mobile-app-for-reducing-your-privilege/
I was hoping that disappeared.
It seems quaint now in the age of Trump.
Hmmm, I remember Moloch. Lots of fire. Bad times had by all (the sacrifices).
Behold! The Mighty Cod. More of the story here.
Nothing ever disappears on the Internet.
Maybe it’s time for a service update?
Did VC make you write this?
(Thread derailed by a moderator, a progressive, and a libertine.)
In other words, Tuesday.
Excellent advice. The older generation had a buck up and take it attitude, especially about going to the doctor or complaining. The Baby Boomers think they are forever youthful. Thanks again!
She suggested I write it.
Jerusalem, Palestine (at the time).
Suggested, eh?
You can’t guarantee ahead of time, though, when a heart attack will deprive you of several healthy years and when it will save you from the protracted, expensive, harrowing thing that could kill you otherwise. I’d agree with Scott that a heart attack sounds like a nice way to go.
That said, MustangMan is right that there’s something a bit selfish about going against your family’s wishes to keep you around longer. Once you reach your final decline, your family, if they’re humane, will want to keep you around less because they don’t want you to suffer more than you “have to”. But if someone preventably dies when it seems to his family that his quality of life is still good, I can see how the family would resent it.
Maybe…