Indeed, it's good to hear a bit of good news on Walt.
I think we can be both realistic and somewhat realistically hopeful in his
case.
Meaning, it doesn't look good, but who knows?
Unfortunately, I also have relevant and recent experice--so I'm not
"whitewashing" the situation:
1. I've worked in a hospital--often enough as the tech for brain death
studies,
2. I have been a patient in a situation near enough to Walt's that I don't
care to repeat it (though I realize I'm likely to--at least once more),
3. and recently I watched a friend finish in Hospice (as me, in his 50's, so
"youngish" for that).
I have HUGE admiration for chaplins in these settings.
Years ago, after I got "very down", in the midst of a string of brain death
studies in the grossly inappropriately young , including at least one
preemie baby, I was blessed with a comforting thought that I've never been
able to convey adequately, but here it is: "There is a real sense in which
no life is long enough, but that every life is complete."
Perhaps oddly, this emphatically does NOT mean I believe in extending the
end artificially--quite the opposite! That's where the "complete life" comes
in. I TOLD you I couldn't convey the thought properly. Ah, well.
Good luck, Walt!
Gary Holder
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Scales" <tom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 3:38 PM
Subject: [OM] Re: Walt Update - Laughs while having card read to him.
>
>
>> Subject: [OM] Re: Walt Update - Laughs while having card read to him.
>
> I can personally attest that it is more art than science. I can recount
> at
> least a half dozen times where the doctors recommended hospice care
> because
> the end was near for Debbie. She made it through them all. I remember
> one
> time where she was in the ICU and extremely ill. The doctors counseled me
> to
> stay that night and not go home as they didn't expect her to make it
> through
> the night. As I headed towards her room, they asked me where I was going.
> You should have seen the looks on their faces when I said I was going to
> tell her.
>
> The upside is that when I did, we both actually laughed. We'd seen worse
> and knew this wasn't the time :)
>
> A month later she was at home and in the year following we rode our tandem
> bicycle almost 11,000 miles.
>
> Hospice is not always final. It is, however, an incredible support
> structure
> for patients and, as important, their families.
>
> We're all keeping Walt in our thoughts and hoping for the best.
>
> Tom
>
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