Why is this news? Seriously? We haven't figured this out yet? Ughhhhh...
The Mister and I were just talking about this. Mr. Sexy Pants Brian Williams reported the death of some NFL guy, Pat Summerall. He passed away at the ripe old age of 82. Not bad actually considering his past. He was an alcoholic, got sober and ended up needing a liver transplant. Now, I am not 100% sure he needed a liver transplant because of his alcoholism but it is the most likely reason. I made a comment about how it seems unfair that someone that has abused their one body they were given and now they get the gift of life? I know it's harsh and if he was my father/grandfather, I would probably feel differently (maybe). Am I in the minority here?
Here's another good example of this...one of my best friends' mother has dealt with health problems her entire life. She survived cervical cancer in her 20s, lymphoma in her 30s and kidney failure in her 40s. Just to give some background, she has been a life long smoker, does not watch what she eats and drinks pop like it's water. So, she has type II diabetes and as a result and it ruined her kidneys in just a few years because she did not manage her blood glucose levels. One of her other daughter's friend's mother VOLUNTEERED to give her a kidney even though she didn't really know her. The transplant went off without a hitch and she was given a second chance. Now, she stopped smoking for about a month and was watching her diet for about 2 weeks. She ended up having a stroke about a year ago and continues to smoke and eat shit. I seriously don't understand this. You're given a second chance of living a relatively long life and you fucking piss it away because you can't stop smoking and stop eating shit? What the fuck are you thinking? I'd love to be able to actually say this but of course that would make me a terrible person.
I can't help but think about all the thousands of people on the transplant list that have hereditary diseases rather than "lifestyle" diseases that are in desperate need of organs. Maybe I'm being a bitch (don't care) but I can't help but be pissed off when I hear stories like this. I am busting my ass in the gym 6 days a week and planning my meals down to every fucking bite and cutting out junk food and pop and there are people that sit on their fat fucking asses, destroy their bodies and expect someone else to feel sorry for them? NOPE!
I'm done ranting (for now). My day went well. Food was spot-on and I swam 1/2 mile and pushed myself a little harder than I did last time. Thursday and Friday are going to be difficult to negotiate a workout. Thursday I may not be able to swim after work because I may be there until about 6 or 7 so I plan on going around 5-5:30 and running on the treadmill (I promised a friend I'd do a 5K color run in June!) even though I'd rather grate my eyeballs on a cheese grater than run. I'll get over it. Friday, I have to be at work by 0600. This presents another problem. The gym opens at 5:00 and it takes about 15-20 minutes to get to work from the gym. So, I may not be able to fit in a shower (gross, I know) but it's better than skipping a workout. The old me would have been all "I'll just workout Saturday." Then Saturday would come and I would end up on the couch all day.
Tomorrow is a lift day. My favorite! I'm currently thinking about switching up my routine to more of a 3 or 4 day split but I'm not sure I want to do that just yet. I like that my lifts take only about 40 minutes. An intense 40 minutes, I should add. We'll see how it goes.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
I hear ya, Jules. When Mickey Mantle and Larry Hagman got their liver transplants, the same controversy was in the news.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how long you've been reading my rants, but on a similar-ish topic, I lost a dear friend to AML (leukemia) last summer.n We were close high school friends who'd lost touch, both moved away from the area where we grew up (North shore of MA), found each other on Facebook and discovered we were both living in the South Coast part of MA, only a few towns away from each other. And we had Spawn in the same age group (her two boys are just a bit younger than my two girls), so we totally rekindled the friendship both online and in person and shared lots of fun outings and get-togethers. She was a yoga teacher who'd recently opened her own studio, a budding runner, a health nut who did as much local/organic shopping as possible, hadn't eaten red meat in 25 years, who DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. But in the Fall of 2010, she was diagnosed with AML after a month of so of feeling really tired (what busy mom who runs her own business isn't?) -- she was in the hospital for about four months, got a bone marrow transplant from her sister, and was "clean" for just over a year...and then it came back in early 2012. She died at home last June. I was blessed to spend some good time with her in her last weeks, and we talked honestly about the unfairness of it all. I said, How many fucking people do we know, our age, who just abuse the shit out of their bodies -- smoke, eat crap, drink like fish, and worse -- who get to keep living -- and we have you, who did all she could to treat her body like a temple, and you get fucked in the ass? If you knew that, at age 40, you were going to get terminal cancer, would you have lived your 20s and 30s any differently? And my poor friend, said, HELL NO; I would still have done my best to live well, eat well, exercise, etc., no matter what lay ahead...because I can face my death knowing that I did RIGHT and getting sick was NOT MY FAULT. Imagine if I were sitting here right now this sick thinking that I'm leaving my children without a mother and it's because of bad choices that I made? At least I have the knowledge that I didn't do this to myself. At least my kids will know that I tried to do right.
So...I tend to look at it that way. I try to honor her memory by making the right choices every day and being that example for my kids.
Sigh.
That's a sad story. I see that all the time. I work in a lab that does the processing for blood and marrow transplants and I see young people and children due of horrible blood diseases more than I care to remember. I have heard several stories like that though where the healthiest people get the nastiest, shittiest diseases and they just waste away. Fucking sucks. Who knows why she got AML? Obviously it was nothing she did to herself. My Grandmother lived to be 90 and she smoked on and off and ate shit. BUT, she never overate and ALWAYS exercised. She had her one hip replaced when she was in her 80s and had a pacemaker because she had mild congestive heart failure. One day her heart just quit and I was relieved she went that way although she did fall as she passed which was not he easiest way to find her. She didn't suffer, she was happy and independent up until the day she died.
DeleteI think genetics play a huge part in someone's health problems too. If a person is prone to heart disease or high cholesterol, they are most likely going to have issues no matter how good their lifestyle choices are.