The other reason I haven't been around... -- ABCra XYZee

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Date Posted: 22:42:07 01/04/05 Tue
Author: The Alien
Subject: The other reason I haven't been around...
In reply to: Katherine 's message, "Hmmmmm...." on 22:27:13 01/04/05 Tue

2004 was a pretty sucky year--one that I was very glad to see go, to be honest.

Some of you may know (but most probably don't) that my brother passed away on September 25th. He was 35 years old and it was quite sudden (although in retrospect, maybe not so much).

Billy was mentally retarded (he had encephalitis when he was two-and-a-half) and was pretty much fine (or so we thought). For the past three years, he's suffered from chronic shoulder pain--which eventually migrated to his legs. We had him to just about every doctor you could imagine, but no one could tell us what was wrong with him. I took him to therapy three times a week this past summer and he seemed to be improving half way through it, but then he worsened.

The week before he died, he was experiencing shortness of breath (another thing he had been tested for in the past) and I sort of chalked it up to the weather changing--he always seemed worse when seasons changed.

Turns out, not finding out what was wrong may not have been such a bad thing. He died of Cardiomyopathy--an enlarged heart. Aside from some medications that can prolong life, the only "cure" is a heart transplant. Without going into all the gory details, suffice to say that Billy would have been unable to receive a new heart.

I shudder to think what would have happened if we had found this information out before he died--or if we had to make the decision to take him off life support if it came to that.

Anyway...I miss him so much. Not only was he my brother, but he was like my son. Sure, we had our "moments", but if anyone else ever tried to harm a hair on his head, I'd beat the living C_ _ P out of them. No questions asked.

I think about all my old buddies from Maeve's all the time, but taking care of my father (he has Alzheimer's for those that may not know) is much more challenging without Billy here to keep an eye on him for a few minutes whilst I hop online. Simple things--like getting a shower--are scheduled to the minute.

So...say a few prayers or send me some good thoughts. I hope everyone has a healthy, happy new year and I'll visit this board when I have a few moments.

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Replies:

[> [> (inside) -- Canrane, 09:23:29 01/05/05 Wed [1]

Oh Katherine! What a rough year. I'm so sorry about your brother. You and your family are definitely in my thoughts and prayers.

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[> [> Katherine, I'm glad to see that you're still here in the cyberworld. You've been missed. I've been meaning to call you this last month to see how you've been doing with your chaos, but never seemed to have found the time in my own busy, crazy, weirded out schedule. I'll try and give you a call this weekend when I find more than 10 minutes strung together. -- KatRose - giving major cyber hugs to a dear friend, 14:57:51 01/05/05 Wed [1]

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[> [> Katherine, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Take care. We will be thinking of you. -- PB, 19:18:24 01/05/05 Wed [1]

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[> [> ((((((big virtual hugs for the Alien))))) -- Aria, 16:05:33 01/06/05 Thu [1]

Aria2124@yahoo.com if anyone needs my e-mail - I don't want it out where its obvious - so I just stuck it in here before I forgot...

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[> [> Hey, Kath...if you need to talk, and can sneak a few mins., let me know. I have a cousin with CP that lives with me. I can relate to some of the problems you're having. -- Mama Cass, 23:17:17 01/17/05 Mon [1]

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