Putting things into perspective

This weekend was our Pacific Masters Championships. It was a close battle between WCM and USF and I don't know who won at this very moment. I don't care. You see, I left right before the 1000 today (the last event) right after the last relays. I watched some great swims today. Amazing swims. My friend Brendon swam a 2:03 200 fly and really hit his taper (as he's not going to Nationals)- we were teasing about how he does really well the week after a tapered meet. He seemed to finally figure it out this time. My friend Stephen called me tonight and told me that Brendon also had a great 1000, was warming down, had a heart attack and died. He was 35. I was stunned. I've been crying since then trying to make sense of it all. It doesn't make sense. I called some other friends and no one else can believe it either. Suddenly, the meet doesn't matter, swimming doesn't matter, what matters is that we lost a really great guy today. He was always so happy, funny, and loved to tell jokes. He was really good natured and fun to be around. I will miss him terribly.
Parents
  • There has been a lot of talk about the heart and its possible conditions lately. Today I heard, from a coworker, that he had horrible depression from a beta blocker and was referred to a psych hospital. The psych hospital felt helpless, nothing they were doing was working. They even gave him meds to counteract the beta blockers! Eventually, the doctor took him off the beta blocker and he was fine! I'm being reminded that knowledge and information are the keys to successful treatment of any condition, especially conditions that are life threatening.
Reply
  • There has been a lot of talk about the heart and its possible conditions lately. Today I heard, from a coworker, that he had horrible depression from a beta blocker and was referred to a psych hospital. The psych hospital felt helpless, nothing they were doing was working. They even gave him meds to counteract the beta blockers! Eventually, the doctor took him off the beta blocker and he was fine! I'm being reminded that knowledge and information are the keys to successful treatment of any condition, especially conditions that are life threatening.
Children
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