I myself find that compassion utterly undoes me, and can hold it together reasonably well until someone asks if I'm okay

Yet more proof that Fay and I are the same person. I do the exact same thing.

I might have thought the exit to the bathroom was your way of saying "I'm pretending I'm not crying at work, go along with me on this one, people."

This.

So I'm used to it by now. Yes, I worry, because who wouldn't? But after 15 years, I can't keep reacting in the same sort of immediate-crisis-panic mode.

This. Ok, mom's stuff hasn't been 15 years, more like 8 - but yeah. Hospitals...she's in, she's out...yeah. Still, panic.

No overreacting.

Stuffs chocolate and alcohol into interpipes.

The first few heart attacks are the worst, Teppy, for you and for the cardiologists. Hopefully your dad will have a doctor who can keep track of him and who will be able to keep track of how heart problems manifest in your dad. Hubby's cardiologists have learned the idiosyncracies of his heart, but the first few attacks had the doctors going "He's not even 50! Stop wasting our time!"

And you know what? I'm *positive* that no one at work has a bottle or flask stashed in their desk.

Heh. We just had the following system-wide email go out:

If you left a bottle of Liquor in the Men's Restroom, you can claim if from Txxxx Mxxxx after identifying the type / brand. :-)

It's likely a specimen or evidence, but its darn funny to see that.

15 years? How many attacks has he had?

The first few heart attacks are the worst, Teppy, for you and for the cardiologists.

He's already had 4. Or possibly 5. And he just keeps. on. going. He really IS the Energizer Bunny.

And he just keeps. on. going.

Hubby has single-handedly raised the heart attack survival percentages for the entire county.

Meanwhile, Daniel Radcliffe is a grownup, or something.

Turned 18 in July.

WTF?

Indeed. He looks HORRID with that mustache. Blech.

(Yes - mark your calendars. I said DR looked "blech")

wee boy!!

You obviously haven't seen the full-frontal nude pictures from Equus cause NSM with the wee.

And he just keeps. on. going.

Hubby has single-handedly raised the heart attack survival percentages for the entire county.

My Dad is 65, and puts a lot of other 65-year-olds to shame. Like, ones who have no heart disease. He does yard work for a retired "lady friend" (dad is quick to mention that no, she's not THAT kind of lady friend; she's just a friend who is a lady) during the spring and summer (and early fall), and lately he's talked about getting a part-time job bagging groceries just because he's bored in the late fall/winter.

All a heart attack does is slow him down for a little while. And if I inherited his heart disease (which I sincerely hope I did not), I hope I got his sheer stubborn keep-on-going-ness as well.

{{{Tep}}} I'm sorry you're having a really rough morning and that your co-workers weren't more compassionate.