Hoping today is an improvement

[missdiane]

Yesterday wasn't a fun one.

I started the morning checking to see whether my friend Kimberley Rector posted on Facebook since I hadn't seen her posts come up in a while and she usually posted daily. I know that Facebook is absolute shit at showing you what you actually want to see (which is why I don't go there as often) so I went directly to her page only to find out that at the end of February she was found unconscious on her front lawn and later passed away at the hospital. I don't think anyone on my current f-list was friends with researchgrrrl but she was a LJ user. I'm going to miss her. Although she honestly was the unluckiest person on Earth - no exaggeration - she'd tell funny stories about her ferrets that were her life and reminisced about goofy instances she had in her life.

My back has been ramping up for several days and yesterday my lower back felt like someone tied a anchor to it. It has a deep ache that pain meds and lidocaine are struggling to get to. I'm taking today off to rest more since I have a 3 hour online class tomorrow morning.

Then later in the day I foolishly decided to look at Facebook again - mostly to read the tributes that people are now posting for Kimberley. Not so long ago, I followed my aunt on there who I hadn't communicated with in many years and always found her to be cheerful and nice to talk to. Not anymore. She had been posting fringe anti-vax support videos which I'd block the source of those so I wouldn't have to see them. There's no point in trying to sway the opinion of anyone that posts them since they're in too deep at that point. Then yesterday was the straw. She posted a "funny" video by Jim Breuer with hateful rhetoric being nasty to liberals. I unfriended her and messaged my (fellow liberal) cousin to warn her. I had thought that maybe she went off the deep end when my Dad's brother died last year but evidently no, she's been like this for some years. Sad but I have enough stress in life not to have to interact with anyone that posts that nonsense. Thankfully I never gave her my email address.

Comments

[halfmoon_mollie1]

I hope your back is better with the rest. It's upsetting when people you know - or know of - pass the way your friend did. We are hunkering down for a storm, here.

[threecee]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. It happens more and more as we get older.

Have you tried lying on the floor with your knees over a stool or low chair? Thighs have to be straight up in the air, not slanted. A doctor once told me to do that for my back because it straightens and supports the lower back. Never helped me, but maybe you will have better luck. Gives the kitties a bit of novelty at least.

[spiffikins]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I think about this occasionally - if something were to happen to me, where I wasn't able to post for a long time - I'mnot sure how or if my online friends would find out what happened?

I don't have a ton of overlap between DW/LJ and Real Life - mostly on purpose - but that means that people in meatspace wouldn't really have any idea that they should somehow notify the online friends about what is going on.

I guess, hopefully if I disappear, someone could email my dw username@gmail.com and hopefully someone will be reading my emails and responding :D

OR IT WILL BE A MYSTERY FOREVER!

Honestly - while the internet is great for keeping in touch with far away family and friends - one benefit is the ability to just...block and unfriend - you don't need to be bombarded with that nonsense. I'm sorry your aunt has gone to the dark side :(

I hope your back appreciates the day off and behaves better tomorrow for you!

[vysila]

Oh my goodness, how awful about your friend. It's frightening how many friends we are losing these days.

Sorry about your aunt. It's difficult when family and friends fall down a crazy rabbit hole. My brother is the same and it makes me so sad and angry at the same time.