My Mom had a stroke 15 years ago. Christmas Day 2009, in the evening. Her husband (my stepdad and a really good shit rest his soul) found her on the living room floor next to the couch on Boxing Day morning. She may have been there for hours. Only two nights earlier on Christmas Eve we were celebrating and I still remember her saying “I love you” as we left their house back home to wait for Christmas morning. She hasn’t spoken since, other than a single word, which is “bo”. She uses different inflections and nonverbal cues with it to convey meaning, but man, I wish I could have a conversation with her again. She went from being a voracious reader to barely being able to comprehend or write a single written word.

The fact that she is still alive today after such a huge ischemic event really points at the drug companies and her doc as the reason it happened in the first place. She had been prescribed Crestor and Lipitor a couple years earlier to treat high cholesterol, and when her husband was laid up and unemployed following cancer surgery, she stopped purchasing the meds because they simply couldn’t afford them.

I’ve learned since that stopping taking these two drugs once you are on them increases your risk of clotting and strokes by up to 10X. Fucking Astra Zeneca and Viatris.