Sadness reigns in

We have been dealing lately with some family and friend problems which seem to affect us more now that we have a baby coming into the world, then it did when we weren't expecting. Well here is the jist.

To start matters off, my mother called Saturday evening to inform me that she took my father to the emergency room because he felt as though his heart was going to pop out of his chest. Upon taking his pulse and blood pressure (nurse mom), she diagnosed my dad at having a heart rate of 220 bpm and a blood pressure of 190/110. Now that is not normal. By the time he had gotten to the emergency room his heart had slowed somewhat and now that he is on medication upon his release from the hostipal, he is doing well. Scare one.

In between scare one and worry two we have Alisha (a pharm-D and my sister-in-law) speaking to Sabrina about the risk factors of my father (slightly obese) and my father-in-law (drinks and smokes). According to Sabrina, she would have assumed that obesity is a higher risk factor than someone who smokes and drinks, well it turns out that someone who smokes and drinks is 10% (or maybe it was 20%, I can't quite be exact) higher to have a heart attack than some one who is obese.

My father-in-law, who likes to drink and smoke, partly for fun, but mostly for pain relief has always worried Sabrina and I because what if he isn't around when our children grow older due to his habits. Worry two.

Scare three and the topper. I received a phone call from Sabrina's friend Missy, telling us that Sabrina and Missy's old college roommate, Julie, that her father had passed away. Now her father as of a year ago was health and normal. He had started to have pain in his joints around a year ago, but did say anything to anyone because he thought it was nothing until about two months ago he broke a bone and upon going to the hosiptal, doctor's had discovered cancer in his joints. The doctor's could not operate, but said that radiation and medication would hopefully help the situation. He was not feeling well on Saturday morning, the family took him to the hospital and he passed away Tuesday morning, with his family at his side. He was only 49...

Understanding that death is part of life and so if bringing a child into this world, but we keep going over and over and over the same situation, why are we deciding to have children in a world where a father at the age of 49 passes away. One can argue that why do children get gunned down in streets and countless innocent people are killed everyday across our hate filled world, but a death where the miracles of modern medicine or the decisions people make could not prevent. It is a sad and scary thought.

We just hope that our parents get to live long enough to see our children grow up, that is the point I am trying to get at. Will they make it that long, we hope so!!!! We hope there isn't an unexpected sadness in our family, like that which happened to Julie. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family in a hard time of morning.