Kesner’s mother invited me over for dinner one evening in the fall, after my semester began. Beautiful Simone and I talked and cried together that evening, as she showed me pictures and told me more stories about Kesner. It was so nice to meet her in the context of her home and to imagine what it must have been like for Kesner growing up. Simone is such a powerful woman, a single mom who sacrificed to put all five of her sons through Catholic school and then college. She is amazing. I was there until midnight that night, sitting at the kitchen table and talking.
At some point I told her about the dream I’d had that Kesner had a stroke and not a heart attak . When last we spoke, I’d told her that I thought it was a heart attack; but now I was certain it was a stroke. “Kez wouldn’t have wanted to live like that..” She said.
I also told her again that Kesner was indeed taking his insulin shots. More than anyone, I wanted her to know this; I wanted her to know that I saw him take those insulin shots day after day. “But what about the high blood pressure medicine?”
I couldn’t speak on that, I never saw Kesner take his high blood pressure medication. In fact I remembered him having frequent mild headaches. And high blood pressure is a likely cause of a stroke… I didn’t understand why Kesner wasn’t taking his high blood pressure pills. Neither did his mom, we discussed it for a while and neither of us could figure it out.
The following week I volunteered at a stroke awareness workshop that my sorority was hosting in Trenton. A male cardiologist spoke that afternoon about men and high blood pressure. “A lot of men will not take their high blood pressure medicine, because they believe it will impact their ability to have an erection…”
Oh
© Copyright Thank You Very Sweet, 2012
Thank You Very Sweet 