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Three things made me pause this week.
Money Makes the World Go Around.
Reading the papers, I paused to absorb the depth of U.S. economic gloom and, as economic markets are interconnected, the depth of the global economic crisis.
Is this the worse it will get? How much lower can we go -- a series of financial institution failures, credit crisis and $85 billion to bail out AIG?
Old versus New.
The second pause was a sigh of sadness and a deep breath in a mother’s determination to carry on.
My 5-year-old son is sad. He wants his old home, his old neighborhood, his old buddies and his old school. My heart breaks.
He doesn’t have any buddies in Nashville yet. It still early days: barely 11 weeks. Although, I’m heartened a few tendrils of new friendships are forming.
He had a bad dream about his new school and said he was crying. I know he’s worried about not making friends at school.
I reassure him that mommy is like a new kid in Nashville too and I miss my friends in Albany. It’s a slow process reaching out to make new friends. You have to put yourself out there and be open to new people and influences, including rejection, but that’s hard to explain to a 5-year-old.
Of course, as a mother, I’m worried that he’s welcomed and not excluded and teased by the kids who know each other from previous years of attending the school.
But, I’m not going to be a “helicopter parent” (a term I heard recently in the news) and overprotect him. It’s my job to reassure and encourage, but harsh though it sounds, he has to walk the tricky road of learning about life, communication and relationships; even at five.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/13/helicopter.parents/
You Can’t Buy Health.
The last pause was more like a big gasp.
On Tuesday, September 16, I went in for a routine exam with my new primary care physician and ended up at Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Department.
I was in the ER for 9 hours. My blood pressure was extremely high – 240/142 – as high as if I were having a stroke. My parents have hypertension and this puts me in the high risk category.
My life is hardly a picture of a sedentary couch potato. In fact, to the contrary, I have enough exercise in running around after a 5-year-old and 3-year-old. I neither drink nor smoke and I’m the queen of healthy, home-cooked food, but perhaps one can’t escape the inevitable force of genetic predisposition.
My blood pressure had never been this high before and I’ve had no symptoms, twinges, aches or pains (perhaps that’s why hypertension is sometimes called the “silent killer”).
I was shocked and still in shock when I called my husband to come and drive me to the ER and in shock as I scrambled to make sure the children were looked after.
And in deep shock as I was observed, poked and prodded for many hours. My blood work came back and showed a depletion of certain electrolytes. The one time I needed to be strong, but ended up balling my eyes out as I was pumped full of potassium and magnesium through an IV.
I almost yelled at my nurse for not allowing me to eat. My head pounded with hunger -- there is only so much appeasement of my stomach a small bowl of cereal eaten first thing in the morning can do!
My blood pressure has stabilized through medication, but my primary care doctor needs to determine whether my high blood pressure is due to anything adrenal or renal, and that means more tests and investigations in the coming days.
Low potassium, “Eat bananas,” says my doctor. Who knew potassium deficiency could mess with blood pressure and heart beat so much.
Does anyone have any banana recipes as having two or three bananas a day can get quite old?
What have I learned through my medical crisis?
The universe brings good people into your life to help you when you need it and it doesn't matter how long you've known them.
Thank you, Shellie for driving me home.
I was in good hands in the care of my doctors and nurses. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is ranked number 15 in America’s best hospitals, according to U.S. News.
http://health.usnews.com/sections/health/best-hospitals
Thank goodness they found the problem now and not later when serious damage had been done.
I’ll do what it takes, including taking medication, to have a healthy life for 40 plus more years because I want to see my children grown up and leading independent lives.
Health versus Wealth?
At the end of the day, if you have your health you can make more money. You only have one body and it has to be maintained and cared for like it was a national treasure.
SUSAN S. CHEUNG
