A Bittersweet Success

This week I officially got my own office instead of having to share the copy room with a particularly ornery machine that has a tendency to jam easily, grab too many papers to scan or copy at once, and generally behave in a surly manner. While my papers at work are still in the state of some chaos (then again, aren't they always?), I know have some space to myself, even if I don't particularly like the layout yet. For example, I don't like the fact that the entrance to the office is behind me, as I tend to panic when people surprise me from behind. But I digress. Despite my pleasure about having an office of my own, what makes it a bittersweet success is the rather sad circumstances that opened up an office for me in the first place.

The former occupant of this office was named Manuel. He was in his mid-to-late 50's, overweight, with high blood pressure, high cholesteral, sleep apnia, and so forth (all of these problems being similar to those of my father before he had his stroke last December and died of a heart attack in February). He slept little (more at work than anywhere else), and worked two jobs--reviewing building plans as well as delivering newspapers. Then, while I was out of the country last month, he had a brain aneurysm. He is still in the hospital, though he may be released soon, as he has somewhat recovered (though his brain function is still highly limited and he is not going to be able to return for a long time, if ever, to work, a disastrous consequence for his family).

I can think of a few reasons why my coworker's health would be of such a concern to me, besides the fact that in general I don't like to see people suffer. What is the most troublesome is that his health seems to have been affected in a similar way to my father's health. Right now Manuel is at the slow recovery from a severe health crisis stage. Hopefully it goes well for him. Still, this has not been a good year for the health of people I know (I could go on and on with examples from friends, family, and coworkers, but I would rather not). Suffice it to say, though, that reminders of mortality are not ever very far from me, at least right now.