Let me say this as a disclaimer at the beginning of this post, so if you are sensitive to this sort of speculation you just say "woman is a fool." and move on. The truth is that at this point nobody knows why Whitney Houston died this past weekend. Still, I'm going to step out on a limb here.
I was very shocked and saddened to hear about Whitney's death. I hope that there is a strong circle of family who are upholding Bobbie Christine. I have not ceased to pray for her since I heard of her mother's death.
There are women who are unrelated to me that I refer to as sisters. They are fellow Christians whom I love. I know that we share a sisterhood through our adoption into the Body of Christ. They are too numerous to mention here. But at the same time I am very shy about calling African American women sister. Not that I don't love some of them as much or not as related to them as closely in Christ as the women on my sister list. But the term among them seems to hold a deeper meaning. I respect that bond and as a GRITS and a WASP I would never assume to intrude on that sisterhood. Our experiences often overlap and often clash. It's a sad fact. Their reality tends to be much harder in many areas than what I experience. I understand that in many places my friends Ruth and Lucille receive less compassion and harsher treatment than I do even now. All too often I am embarrassed when I hear about the treatment they receive. At the same time I understand that we are often the same. We want the same things. We value the same things. We believe the same things. Our basic difference is the color of our skin...and sadly that is a huge difference. I hope that perception will die in another generation or two. Why should the color of someone's skin be more significant than the color of someone's hair?
But that is off the subject of this post. I feel glad that in the broad term of sisterhood in Christ I can say that I am comforted that Whitney was a fellow Christian sister and I know that she is singing in a Heavenly choir, and I am sure that she is wowing them. I mean, that voice was never meant to be confined to this world anyway. Still her death is touching me in more ways than this. Elvis died of a combination of prescription medications, not an overdose of any one prescription. Anna Nicole died of a combination of prescription medications, not an overdose of any one prescription. Heath died of a combination of prescription medications, not an overdose of any one prescription medication. I am stepping out on a limb and thinking that Whitney died of the same. I heard today that family who talked to her 30 minutes prior to her death had no red flags to be concerned about.
This is how it happens, you are an addict so your doctor prescribes Methadone to counteract the effects of going cold turkey off of narcotics. You are an addict because you are chronically depressed so your psychiatrist prescribes an anti-depressant, say Paxil. So you have a sore throat and you go to your primary care doctor prescribes Z-pack and Sudaphed,. Now you are taking four medications that prolong the QT interval. If you prolong this interval enough at the right time it will cause a condition known as Torsades de Pointes or The Turning of Points. If that doesn't correct itself within a few seconds the patient will go into Ventricular Fibrillation and the patient will die within minutes without intervention by cardioversion by electrical shock. That describes the predisposing sequence that often leads to death by acquired Long QT Syndrome.
I know that she could have slipped. Even Christians feel pain they think they have to mask. I know that she could have died of a mix of medication. But the truth is that after the life of pain that she lived, I am comforted to know that she is home. Sad that it is way too soon, but still one more sister is home.
Still, I am so sad that she is gone.
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