Here is what happened to me last night at a candle party. I'll make it quick.
Young gal is there. She is nineteen. We'll call her Annie. Here is her bullet point story we talked about:
* Her mother died last month on Mother's Day from a heart attack. She had heart problems for a long time.
* Her mother was only 38. One year younger than myself.
* Mother lead a fairly unhealthy lifestyle. Smoked tobacco and pot, ate nothing but fast food.
* Mother knew she was having problems in the end and wouldn't tell anyone except a sister, who didn't tell anyone. Left behind Annie and a few younger siblings.
Now, Annie's parents are divorced so it's a situation where her parents have married and remarried all her life. She wasn't exceptionally close to her mother, but still misses her and teared up as we chatted.
Here is the kicker:
* Annie has massive shooting pain down her arms and her heart hurts sometimes.
* She's been told by a doctor that there is evidence that Annie has been having small heart attacks.
* She can't run the length of a block without "feeling like I am going to have a heart attack." She is rail thin, picture of health, and 19. She should be able to run a half block and feel slightly winded.
* I told Annie I, as an overweight 39 year old, can run around the block and feel slightly winded. Her mouth gaped when I told her that. She doesn't know any different than her own experience.
* Annie has piercings all over her body. Nose, cartilage part of her ears, and belly button. Exceptionally painful parts of her body to be pierced.
* Annie has tattoos as well.
I was very clear to Annie. I told her the symptoms she is describing are what doctors tell a person my age to call 911 for. They are major cardiac symptoms. Especially the shooting pain down the arm.
Guess what? Annie won't see a doctor because "I am afraid of needles."
I went around a few times with her gently about this. She has the opportunity to change her fate if she got some good cardiac care. She has the family history that many of us are glad we don't have.
She won't do it. She is being a typical 19 year old who thinks she's slightly invincible and these things only happen to "old" people my age.
I can see the future, and I feel so helpless.
2 comments:
Suddenly my life seems like a piece of cake. I will pray for her right now.
that's sad. Denis often sees people with tattoos and piercings who tell him they are afraid of needles. He gives a puzzled expression, points to a piercing and shrugs his shoulders. They generally get the point... "You're getting little sympathy from me, buddy. Buck up!"
But this sounds more like a very stout case of denial. She's got to know the truth, but doesn't want to deal with it. Maybe she thinks that there isn't anything that can be done anyway. It's a common thing we see with diabetes. People with a strong family history and all their relatives have had terrible complications. They just believe that there's no point in trying to avoid it. It's part of my job to try to give them hope that it doesn't have to be that way.
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