Cheney has 'irregular heart beat'.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Cheney has a heart???

I thought it was removed 5000 years ago when the anchient egyptians entombed him for his evil deeds?

[Justforfun000]

Broomstick Wrote:

According to my mother - who has had a half dozen heart attacks - the first few she had were excruciating. In fact, she described it as worse than labor pains in childbirth (she's had four kids, too). During her second heart surgery, however, some nerves were unintentionally severed so she no longer feels her heart attacks (hence, some uncertainty now as to exactly how many she has had). She does say that she does have radiating pain in her left arm and jaw when they occur, but it's not as bad as the crushing pain she experienced previously. There is also a sensation of suffocation, which is pretty damn unpleasent by itself.

Your poor mother! I hope she doesn't ever have to suffer too badly in the future if her way of dying is going to be Heart attack. Imagine having to suffer 3+ and still surviving. It must feel something like a big hand holding you underwater and ALMOST drowning you out of the blue.

You know, it's certainly understandable how many people deal with the scary realities of life by embracing religion. Quite frankly, I wish I was stupid like them and happy in my self-delusion that God is waiting to "take me home". But I simply can't pretend when I don't have any faith. I can't have faith without evidence. I guess that leaves me screwed unless I have one of those so called "white light" experiences that convince me utterly no matter what someone tells me. Even if I was wrong it'd be a comforting thought....

Damn it, why does life have to be so unfair? Give you a taste of life and then threaten you with non-existence? What kind of fucked up system is that? Why the hell is their life in the first place if it's basically useless? What's the point of existing if nothing lasts?

[Broomstick]

Broomstick Wrote:

According to my mother - who has had a half dozen heart attacks - the first few she had were excruciating. In fact, she described it as worse than labor pains in childbirth (she's had four kids, too). During her second heart surgery, however, some nerves were unintentionally severed so she no longer feels her heart attacks (hence, some uncertainty now as to exactly how many she has had). She does say that she does have radiating pain in her left arm and jaw when they occur, but it's not as bad as the crushing pain she experienced previously. There is also a sensation of suffocation, which is pretty damn unpleasent by itself.

Your poor mother! I hope she doesn't ever have to suffer too badly in the future if her way of dying is going to be Heart attack. Imagine having to suffer 3+ and still surviving.

Actually, it's 5+

It must feel something like a big hand holding you underwater and ALMOST drowning you out of the blue.

I've heard it described like that, too.

You know, it's certainly understandable how many people deal with the scary realities of life by embracing religion.

But, in my mother's case, she's been an atheist since her teen years.

[Justforfun000]

But, in my mother's case, she's been an atheist since her teen years.

How does she cope? Is it something she just accepts and lives her life not thinking about it or does she use daily anti-anxiety medication? I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night knowing I could be dropped at any moment.
I mean of course that could happen to any of us at ANY time too, but naturally you'd feel much more vulnerable in her specific case...

[Broomstick]

But, in my mother's case, she's been an atheist since her teen years.

How does she cope? Is it something she just accepts and lives her life not thinking about it or does she use daily anti-anxiety medication? I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night knowing I could be dropped at any moment.
I mean of course that could happen to any of us at ANY time too, but naturally you'd feel much more vulnerable in her specific case...

Well, when she was very much younger God never came when she needed help, which helped convince her that either there wasn't one, or if there was, it didn't care about people.

She's not on anti-anxiety medication, although she has had counseling for depression in the past.

How does she cope? Well, my family really does take care of each other. My dad is absolutely devoted to her. Other than her addiction to cigarettes, she does what she can to take care of herself and maximize what she gets out of life... and she's exceeded the life expectancy of someone with her genetic defect by something like 20-30 years, so she's actually had a lot more life than she expected to have.

People have a surprising ability to adapt to situations, even those that seem intolerable to the young and healthy.

[Justforfun000]

People have a surprising ability to adapt to situations, even those that seem intolerable to the young and healthy.

Yes, it's actually truly amazing how resilient some people can be. In my opinion, these tend to be the people that truly value life. I myself for example could never imagine the concept of suicide. The thought of willfully killing yourself EARLY strikes me to the core of my being as so insane, I would slap a straightjacket on someone with the attitude.

I LOVE life. I love every day I'm alive. I want to see so much of the world, I want to be able to learn new skills andexplore new dimensions of thought. I want to see children grow, and nations grow up. I want it ALL and I never want it to stop.

I've had some very rough periods in my life. A few people actually said to me that they would have probably offed themselves if they had to deal with some of the long term stress shit I went through, but no matter how down I got, I NEVER even entertained the thought of wanting to end my life. Not even for a millisecond.

Like I told people, even if my life went to absolute shit, I could always fuck off to Alaska and mine for gold. I could zoom off to Foreign lands and become an English teacher or an activist. Whatever. At least your ALIVE and experiencing something.

Absolutely nothing scares me more then the possibility of non-existence. I have to constantly push those thoughts away because if I dwell on them too much I get panicky.

I just can't understand suicide. The only exception to this rule is if you were TRULY miserable in life. Particularly in a case like you were dying of cancer and were in horrible pain and suffering. Obviously that's not enjoyable and death would possibly be preferable. I still say possibly because even the thought of non-existence scares me more then just pain. Pain still means your alive. Dead to me means gone totally. All my experiences, thoughts, feelings, just disintegrated and the me I was is now.....nothing. inanimate dust.

Horrible thought. I'd give anything in this world for immortality. Doesn't have to be physical, but even spiritual immortality if it existed. But I can't pretend that I believe it's going to happen. Not yet anyway. I simply haven't seen any personal evidence of ghosts or the supernatural. I'm still waiting and hoping...