Forced Retirement

Or should I say, "Forced to retire."

One of the people I have worked for for the past 10 years or more is being forced to retire because of a medical condition. He had a really killer headache. So bad that he went to emergency room. They ran some tests and discovered a blood clot in a vein in his head. Normally in this situation you give the patient blood thinners or anti coagulants and the blood clot dissolves. Simple.

Not this time. On the other side of his head he has a small hemorrhage. It's not a geyser of blood, maybe a small trickle that stopped on it's own without causing a stroke. So because he has this bleeding on the other side they can't give him anti coagulants for the clot. It would cause the other side to bleed and maybe cause a stroke.

I talked with him on the phone. He sounded mostly normal. A bit slower and maybe a bit slurred. He told me what was going happen with his business, that I would still be in the same hotels I've worked for a decade or more. I wasn't really that concerned. I was more concerned that he was alright. But I seemed to detect in his voice a certain something. He was not normal. And normal for him is full of energy and always with a story or a joke. He's a big personality and a force of nature. This situation diminishes him.

So what can be done about the clot? Nothing. They are going to wait and see what happens. For someone like him, inaction is the worst thing to be the only action you can take.

I hope my call with him today was not the last time we talk.  2 minutes and 49 seconds of talking would be a sad way for over 10 years of friendship to end.