Need some love: DU friend had 2 strokes. [View all]

[ellenrr]

a friend went into hospital for knee replacement, and had 2 strokes.
(she is a member here, but since I don't have her permission will not mention her name)
I actually met her thru this forum just one year ago, and we have been emailing since - every day, sometimes more than once a day.
She lives in another state, I have never met her in person, but we do talk on the phone.

so since the strokes, she can talk, I talk to her in the hospital every day.
She says the docs have said there will be no permanent effect.
Good news.
but it is strange talking to her, one moment she will be completely lucid, the next, she says things, words, that make no sense. And she cannot make sentences sometimes - she just stops.
So I tell her it is ok, not to worry.

then, on Tuesday, same day I found out about this friend -^, I was sitting in the lobby of the Senior building where I live, and there is an ambulance outside.
(a very common occurance)
and who do they bring thru on a stretcher but someone I know who we have just begun creating a friendship!
She is young, Not even 50 I would say. Very vital, active person. Interesting.

She was laying face up in the stretcher, her eyes open- staring up. I called her name. She did not respond.
I asked around the building, staff and friends, and no one has any info.
I left a msg on her cell, which not surprisingly she hasn't yet responded to.

first thing, I'm going to do when she gets out and recovers from whatever it is- is get the name of someone close to, that I can call in case of a situation like this.

it is awful to not know. I feel helpless, I want to ask her if she needs anything, I don't even know what hospital she is in,
and even if I did they won't tell me anything.

i'm 68 years old, and healthy (as far as I know). I'm active, I'm engaged in and with the world.

I feel like people around me are dropping left and right.
I know - at this age - it normal and common to feel this way.
But I don't like it!

thanks for listening to my lament