95% Clear/I've Got A Secret!

As you all know after years of a little to much stress I began to have symptoms that worried me. Worried me so much that I scheduled an appointment with my Mom's heart doctor. The doctor was concerned enough about the symptoms that he scheduled a stress test. As soon as friends found about the stress test the stories about people having heart attacks during the stress test became the focus of their conversations. By the time the stress test happened I was scared stiff. I not only survived the stress test, I did damn good with it. Yesterday was my follow-up appointment with Dr. Leno (he looks like Jay Leno). I am not one hundred percent in the clear but I am at least ninety-five percent in the clear. They did detect a small problem at the bottom of the heart. Nothing major. Just something to watch out for. Not even major enough to schedule an angiogram. The symptoms that I had that made me want to see a heart doctor have gone. So where we are at right now? Continue the walking program. Watch the fatty foods. Call him if the symptoms return. Then see him March 23 of next year. If the symptoms haven't returned by then I will be in the clear. I thank you all so much for your good vibes, good thoughts, and prayers. Keep them up and then also keep me in line! Make sure I keep walking!!

One thing that came up this last week was really disturbing to me. I handled it really well, even though I was dutifully ticked. I took a deep breath and made the responsible people feel OK about a secret they kept from me. Their intentions were honorable which smoothed my feelings a bit. We have a friend of the family, Ted, who is just about the nicest and most helpful person on the planet. This is a really close family friend and a really close friend to me. He called me Thursday night and left me a voice mail. "I thought you might want to know that I had a quadruple bypass." I immediately called my Mom, "Mom, I thought you should know that Ted had a quadruple bypass." Mom, "I know but we were told not to tell you. With your stress test we knew how scared you were and thought knowing about Ted would make it even worse for you." Apparently my Sis had told everyone not to tell me until after the follow-up appointment with Dr. Leno. Mom who usually has a hard time keeping a secret chose this one instance to show us all that she can keep a secret. Boggles the mind.

Here is what bothered Sis. Ted couldn't complete the stress test so they had to immediately take him to the emergency room where they did an angiogram. They then discovered that he had several blockages and right then and there did the bypass. She was afraid I would translate that information into me not being able to complete the stress test and maybe cancel the test.

When sis called and apologized, because her motivations were good, I just told her it was forgotten. I bit my tongue. The thing is I could have handled the information. I have a reputation as being the strongest one in the family. Besides having the secret kept from me it also bothered me that they thought I needed protection.

Did I do the right thing? Or should have I expressed my anger at being kept in the dark? Under the same circumstances would have you wanted to know if a close friend or relative had major surgery? What would you have done if they had kept that information from you?


TODAY'S WHO AM I?

I was born in 1919 in Oklahoma to parents that toured the Midwest in a traveling tent show that they owned and operated. At 19 I went to an academy of dramatic arts in New York City. I met Robert there and we married in 1939. We divorced in 1945. We had two sons, one died before I did. I married again and after my second husband's death I attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff. After I came out of a coma and recovered my daughter committed suicide by jumping out of a 20th floor window. I married a third time to a wealthy industrialist. In my first movie I shared the screen with The Duke. I was billed in my first two films under my birth name not the name that I was most known by. After failing a screen test I worked as a part-time hat model. Although I left my next audition in tears because I thought I did so terrible I was signed to a seven year contract and given my new name. On my 25th birthday I won a famous award for singing about Bernadette. Also up for the award was by friend Ingrid for whom the bell tolled. The next year I was able to present the same award to dear Ingrid for a gaslight performance. Over the years I had a Duel In The Sun, found out that Love Was A Many Splendid Thing, wrote Love Letters, made a Portrait of Jean, had an Indiscretion Of An American Wife, met Gregory when he was A Man In The Gray Flannel Suit and said a Farewell To Arms with him. My last hurrah was dancing with the famous Fred right before an earthquake caused The Towering Inferno. In my last role after saving two children I fell one hundred and ten floors to my death. I received a Golden Globe nomination for that touching scene. I was a breast cancer survivor. I died recently at age 90. Who Am I?