One of my best friends in surgery - guess the topic of Easter conversation

[mondo joe]

One of my best friends, a physician, will be in a significant surgery tomorrow. Her prospects are pretty good, but she wisely has her living will and durable power of attorney paperwork on hand, just in case.

Not surprisingly, she does not wish to be maintained on life support, including feeding tubes, beyond the point at which she might reasonably be expected to recover. In other words, no Terri Schiavo for her, if the surgery goes bad.

Easter is her favorite holiday so we had a gathering, even though she couldn't eat. But conversation was lively, and of course it turned to Terri Schiavo. Every person at the table - including 3 physicians and one nurse - was adamantly opposed to the nightmare the Schindlers have put the Schiavos through.

And every last one agreed that they would not want to be kept alive on life support in this way.

And there was my friend, the most likely of us to be in that position, with her years of experience as a physician, still absolutely certain that this was NOT what she wanted, and firm in her desire to have a feed tube removed if one was ever inserted.

I still don't know how people can go on about this being torture or suffering or murder.

[babylonsister]

1. Thanks for your personal story and words of

sanity in a very divided issue right now. And for the record, I would not want to be kept alive either.
Ruth

[Floogeldy]

2. Pics?

}(

[mondo joe]

Here's one.

[Floogeldy]

5. Sweet pic!

B-)

[mondo joe]

7. Well... we did a Buddhist ceremony for my friend, and had an

Easter egg hunt.

A holiday to remember!

[Floogeldy]

8. Do you have any pics of her parents moving a balloon around in her face?

So we can see whether or not she blinks, or smiles or says "AHHH WAAAHHH," or anything like that? The American pro-life public would appreciate it.

B-)

[mondo joe]

9. LOL - she would punch someone if they did that to her.

She doesn't take shit. That's why I like her.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. Good luck to your friend

I hope the surgery goes fine. It's always good to be prepared though cause you never know. My Mom was watching the news last night and told me they had a brief segment on the Schavio ordeal and according to what she saw on the news the people interviewed all were pretty upset that the government was involved and supported the husband and wouldn't want to live like that either. :shrug: I know I wouldn't. Especially after fifteen years of living like that when you know there's no hope.

[mondo joe]

6. I respect the choice to stay on life support. It's all about choice for

me.

I just really don't understand how some people can make the bizarre accusations about people who choose NOT to stay on life support and those who carry out their wishes.

[aquart]

11. The only way to make sure it doesn't happen

is to be prepared for it to happen. I'm glad your friend is prepared.

[burrowowl]

4. Hope all goes

well for your friend.

[ultraist]

10. Best wishes for your friend and a speedy recovery!

I agree, I really don't understand how someone can take the Terry Randall nutcase position on this. It's totally illogical. I heard a lecture on CSPAN today about how 20,000 children will die today from treatable conditions, yet people are fighting to force Terri to take medical treatment for an unrecoverable condition. It's insane.