Brief Awakening From a Coma (fully conscious for 3 days after six years then relapses)

NYT ^ | March 9, 2007 | MINDY SINK

[T'wit]

>> Notice that in many of the cases of "awakening" the folks are being cared for at home where they are surrounded by loved ones. The caregivers in these situations are unsung heroes.

A keen observation. The caregivers seem to be healers as well as heroes. If so, it surely must be their love and prayer that assists the healing. I have no doubt at all that love is effective therapy.

There must be a symbiosis in it as well, for the caregivers also gain from their toils. They almost universally find that the experience is ennobling. It lifts them, makes them better, enriches their lives.

[T'wit]

>> Only a matter of time before the Michael Schiavo Fan Club shows up on this thread.

Don't hear much about St. Mikey these days. I think it has begun to dawn on his supporters that Michael's alibi was shot down by the autopsy report. He is the only suspect in Terri's still unexplained injuries. Kind of wrecks his story that he killed Terri because deep down, she wanted to die.

The real story is that deep down, he wanted to kill her.

[dbehsman]

Don't hear much about St. Mikey these days. I think it has begun to dawn on his supporters that Michael's alibi was shot down by the autopsy report. He is the only suspect in Terri's still unexplained injuries. Kind of wrecks his story that he killed Terri because deep down, she wanted to die.

I wish people in this country would struggle with this, but they won't. They're too proud to admit that they made a mistake and were accomplices to legalized murder. They're to stupid to research anything or to try to think for themselves. They're too hateful too Christianity to ponder that perhaps the Christians were right.

I have said this before, and I will say it again.

The real fact of the matter is the deathocrats wanted Terri dead so that they could show that they had power over Bush and the Christian community. The libertarians wanted Terri dead so that they could show that they weren't like Bush or the Christian community.

When it all boils down, what we witnessed was nothing more or less than raw anti-Christian bigotry. They distrust and hate Christianity so much, that they will NEVER take the word of any believer. They will NEVER give any benefit of the doubt to a believer. And they will ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NEVER admit that they were wrong and the Christians were right.

[sphinx]

The restorative power of Southern cooking.

Whadd'ya think caused the relapse?

[8mmMauser]

A keen observation. The caregivers seem to be healers as well as heroes. If so, it surely must be their love and prayer that assists the healing. I have no doubt at all that love is effective therapy.

Your own observations may be ratified by a simple action. If one goes to visit the facilities where the severely handicapped are housed, one can review them, finding maybe the bulk are wasting away, but one or two are thriving and radiant. These are the lucky and precious few surrounded by love of their family while those wasting away, soon to dwindle like unwatered flowers are those "dumped" by a family seeking to forget.

It is that simple.

[T'wit]

There were many motives involved in Terri's murder. Hatred and raw greed both played big roles. But your point is well taken that anti-Christian activism saturated the political attack on Terri. The media feasted on Christian bashing. The official Democrat Party talking points went after Terri to get at the so-called religious right. Our Terri threads in FR tracked hundreds of cases in 2006 election campaigns.

[T'wit]

>> If one goes to visit the facilities where the severely handicapped are housed, one can review them, finding maybe the bulk are wasting away, but one or two are thriving and radiant. These are the lucky and precious few surrounded by love of their family while those wasting away, soon to dwindle like unwatered flowers are those "dumped" by a family seeking to forget.

Excellent!

We speak of vitamins in our diet, so called because they are essential to life. Love is like the super vitamin. It is essential to life. People certainly do just waste away without love. Terri's creepy husband left her to waste away. Thank God her family and her priests were there to love her.

[T'wit]

There is another side of loving care that ought to be addressed by medical science (but probably won't be). Terri was far more responsive to those she recognized, loved and trusted. Dr. Hammesfahr, who took the time and trouble to make friends with her, got much better test results than the doctors who tried to test impersonally. Iow, the personal level affects the diagnosis. Impersonal physicians fail to elicit response, and therefore falsely find the patient to be more comatose or "PVS."

We recognize that brain damage reduces intelligence. Is it so hard to see that it also slows emotional response? Emotions require brain power too. If the brain isn't processing as well as before, emotions will be slowed or impaired. Medicine must allow for that impairment in its diagnosis and treatment alike.

Now... how do we teach emotionally impaired doctors to show a little love to their brain damaged patients?

Y'know, I think Dr. Cranford actually liked Terri, despite himself. He tried to interact with her and got her to respond within his one 39-minute session with her. He was paid to lie about it in court, and he did, but he was not totally evil.