Pulaski

I got a letter in the mail from a British solicitor a couple of days ago. He was responding to a Christmas card I had sent a friend from university, and the best man at our wedding. It turns out that my friend had died unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage.

We hadn't been close in recent years, so not having heard from him for several months wasn't surprising but still the news was quite shocking. He lived alone, several hours drive from his parents and siblings, he was self employed, and without day to day customers, so it appears he wasn't found immediately either. The solicitor said that his parents were only informed about two weeks after his death (I'm not sure why the solicitor told me that ). He was two years younger than me.

Jerseygirl

Sorry to hear your sad news. I think most of us know someone who has been taken from this world far too soon.

scrubbedexpat091

Sorry to hear.

Life is indeed fragile.

hoffage123

Sorry to hear that - stay strong.

SultanOfSwing

Sorry to hear that. Very sad, indeed.

petitefrancaise

Sorry to hear that Pulaski. Time to gather our loved ones close and appreciate them. Big Hug P.

Hotscot

What a shock...how sad..

Enjoy it while we have it.

WEBlue

It's sobering (& also somewhat frightening) when someone you know fairly well your own age or younger dies....

scrubbedexpat091

Yes it is. I hate hearing about someone my age passing on, just hits home that I could drop dead tomorrow from a heart attack or something. Being in a rural area worries me more since the nearest hospital capable of dealing with a major heart attack or anything major is a good 45 minutes to an hour away by road, and probably not much quicker by air since the chopper has to come from Vancouver and it's about a 20 minute flight up.

Suppose it's just life and why it's best to live it to the fullest, and try not to dedicate too much to work or something else we dislike, and put more effort into the things we do like.

scrubbedexpat097

We are rural and Houston is almost an hour from us to get to the Medical Center.

When M had his Heart Attack I was amazed how quick the local EMS responded and how quick Lifeflight arrived as well. Of course at the time I thought it was so slow but when you are watching someone suffering and you have done all you can to help seconds feel like long long minutes until you see the flashing lights outside the door.

And it really does put life into a different perspective. Cherish who you have while you can.

scrubbedexpat091

During the day the paramedics here are quick as they have an ambulance on duty, after around 7pm or so they have no paramedics on duty, just on call, so they have to be called in from home, go to the station pick up the ambulance and then respond, can take up to 20 minutes to get the ambulance on scene.

Fire departments don't respond to medical calls here like in a good chunk of the US.

In Vancouver and bigger city's they of course have 24/7 paramedic coverage, but not in the smaller regions, costs too much to have a unit on duty 24/7 according to the politicians.

scrubbedexpat097

Yep, that is how ours is. My 911 call went to the County Sheriff's dispatch who then called our local EMS on-call person. Luckily the EMS guys that night both live a couple of blocks from the station and the station is 3 blocks from us. And being the early hours of the morning there was no traffic about..

The only thought that crossed my mind was the train track. I was so scared that a train would come through and hold them up..we live on the other side of the track. Luckily it did not happen

DebzinUS

Sorry Pulaski.

I lived this last March. My husband died at age 50, totally unexpected from a very treatable acute illness (kidney stones. yes, really). I took him to the ER on Feb 27th. I thought he would be in hospital for a few days, get some IV antibiotics etc. He never came home, he died on March 19. In what seems like a split second my life changed forever. You just never know.

scrubbedexpat097

That is so awful, I am so sorry you had to go through this x


It really makes me appreciate how fortunate we are.

steveq

Went home last week for a few days, and decided to look up an old mate, who I hadn't told that we'd moved. He died 6 months ago - about when we left. Went to doctor with a stomach ache that was terminal cancer.

Came back to the USA on Saturday to a note from the HR lady that one of my colleagues lost his 28 year old son to suicide on Friday.