Thank you, both of you. I suppose it was inevitable as I aged that this would start happening, but two close family members in the space of less than two months is a little hard. I wouldn't have posted but it's super early in the game and I am likely to vanish from the hydra at some point once all the various things in my life I need to rearranged are handled, and I figured it would be good to let folks know.
The scary part, for this particular situation, is that the uncle in question also had a spinal injury, although his was much worse than mine is and he took very poor care of himself in the 18 years since he was injured, and was in poor health. That said... the event which caused his stroke is a syndrome that most people with spinal cord injuries, including myself, deal with to some degree or another. It is called Autonomic Dysreflexia and is caused by the autonomic nervous system essentially kicking into overdrive while the brain's attempts to stop it get blocked by the nerve damage. One of the main dangers is that if the trigger cause of the dysreflexia is severe enough or lasts long enough without being relieved, it causes arterial and vasoconstriction (makes the blood vessels squeeze tight) which causes blood pressure to rise.
I have had one case where ER personnel refused to listen to my warnings and a problem that could have been fixed they left hours until finally it spiked my BP to ~ 275 over 170 or so. That was almost 6 years ago, and the incredible pain in my head for those few minutes until they finally took me serious and got the problem fixed ... I was pretty scared that was it for me. My uncle had a similar thing happen, only the BP went up into the 300s, and they couldn't get it under control and finally the pressure caused essentially one entire hemisphere of his brain to hemorrhage.
So it's simultaneously grief plus a little bit of being scared. I manage my condition very well, and I am super careful, but even so I experience the problem probably a couple dozen times a year, with one or two times the duration goes on long enough that it starts to be concerning.
This post is probably a gigantic overshare, but I've never really been embarrassed about my condition, and as strange as it seems ... the player list (and mod) for this game is almost entirely people I have no problems sharing this with. Thanks in advance to whomever feels like sending prayers, well wishes, good vibes or whatever my way as I deal with this. I will do my best not to leave my poor hydra partner stuck alone for any longer than absolutely necessary. I'll probably be around as much as I can when I'm done re-arranging my schedule before I drive the 1,200 miles to say my goodbyes to a 2nd close relative in as many months. Mafia has been kind of therapeutic for me since the first one, so hopefully it will help for the 2nd.
I hope it goes without saying that this post is entirely OOC and should not be considered at all when reading our slot. I think everyone I know on the game list wouldn't go there, but better safe than sorry.
*hugs Titus*