It would be easy to say I have struck out several times lately: my incomplete treadmill stress test got me an immediate appointment with a cardiologist and my incomplete stent procedure put me on a fast track for a bypass in a week. Both apparently are not the norm lately. I’m getting three more vascular tests next week after which the bypass is scheduled for Friday. All I can say is lucky me. There are countless people without medical care of any kind around the globe at the moment. I may not be fond of medical bureaucracy, but so far, the medical staff have been courteous and kind. Thank you to all the staff and especially the kind student volunteer at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. The horrendous grind that covid wrought on them made me grateful for their expertise and service.

While waiting before and after the stent that didn’t happen, I read Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, (2013). What a story! I am so glad Rowell put it all out there about living with, and having panic disorders, families falling apart and learning to repair themselves. Thank you to the librarian at Rochester’s F. Douglass Community Library, who asked if I had read Rowell’s Eleanor and Park which I had and liked very much and then recommended Fangirl. I’ve also ordered the Newbery Award books for 1954 and 1955. Definitely my preferred required reading.

I have also had the satisfaction of finishing Part 1 of  my friend Paula Weld-Cary’s memoir, My Origami Mother: Reclaiming My Life After an Abusive Childhood (2022). Her writing is crisp, clear, well-paced and both refreshingly and painfully honest about her homelife. Once again, thank you to another author who dared to tell all. Part 2 is information about the roles people take on in families, and so far it’s been a good read. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Paula.

blog post. https://rokeefehistory.com/blog #amreading; #statins; #stent; #bypass; medications; #sideeffects; #over65; #StrongMemorialHospital; #RochesterNY; #RainbowRowell; #Fangirl; #PaulaWeld-Cary; #MyOrigamiMother;