Ten-Finger Exercises

okay, there was one thing

I said I'd only mention today's funeral, of a co-worker of Bill's, if there was something different about it. Well, there was. There wasn't a single prayer, religious song, or reference to an afterlife. Neither of us could remember going to a completely secular funeral before. It was well done, and it was honest.

Jess was a public information officer who has worked with FEMA on disasters around the country. He was an Army Ranger, and a heck of a nice guy. The funeral began with the recorded song by Jean Aldean, Not Every Man Lives. It was followed by a three rifle salute and Taps played by a bugler. (The words echoed only in my mind: Day is done, gone the sun...from the lakes, from the hills, from the sky...all is well, safely rest, God is nigh.)

The service, in a gracious, old cemetery on a steep hill, reflected who he was. There were people from all over the country there, people who had climbed mountains with him, ones who worked the aftermath of Katrina alongside him, others who photographed Africa with him last year.

His death, at 50-some years old, was a shock. He looked to be in great health. He was active and fit. He woke up one morning feeling like he'd slept wrong, like his arm was a little numb. He stretched and stood in the shower, trying to work it out. His wife found him head down, unable to speak. He was taken to the local hospital first. They air evacked him out to Portland OHSU, where his carotids were found to be 90% blocked and he'd had a stroke. Nothing that even that excellent teaching hospital tried could bring him back. He had another clot, and he died.

I remember a old woman who came by ambulance to ER with a stroke. Her old husband said she'd fallen out of the chair, and he'd helped her back, but she'd only fallen out again. He didn't know what had happened to her. Another woman couldn't talk, and her husband just thought she didn't have anything to say. (He wished!)

Two other people in our small area died from strokes last week, two that were under 50 years old, that is. Don't think you're immune because you're young.

If these people had reached a hospital within three hours, a clot-busting drug might have been able to save them.

Here are the warning signs of a stroke:

* Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
* Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
* Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
* Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
* Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

I wish I had something cheerful or funny to end with, but I don't. What I do have is the advice: hug those people you hold dear, and tell them that you love them. We never know if we'll have another chance.

Everybody has to die, but some people know how to live. LIVE ON!