Posted on 03/23/2005 6:07:27 PM PST by ambrose
Posted on Wed, Mar. 23, 2005
Neurologists see little sign of activity in Schiavo's brain
BY BOB LAMENDOLA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Scans of Terri Schiavo's brain show that the great majority of her gray matter where thinking and feeling occur has died off and been replaced by watery fluid, with no chance of growing back, neurologists said.
About 70 to 90 percent of Schiavo's upper brain is gone, and there's also damage to her lower brain that controls instinctive functions like breathing and swallowing, said three Florida neurologists who viewed 12 of her CT "computed tomography" X-ray scans Tuesday and Wednesday.
"This is as severe brain damage as I've ever seen," said Dr. Leon Prockop, a professor and former chairman of neurology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, upon viewing the scans.
(Excerpt) Read more at grandforks.com ...
Today, I'm ashamed of my country.
I never thought such a blatant injustice could happen, out in the open, in America.
How can Scott Peterson be put to death for his crime, if Michael Schiavo is allowed to use the power of the state to do the same thing?
"It has been driving me nuts why there isn't a way that Terri could be allowed to divorce him....."
All she has to do is ask for it.
I have witnessed this myself in my mother who had an abscess the size of a lemon removed from the lower right occipital lobe. It will be two years in June. The growth literally tore optical nerves from their circuits causing partial blindness on the left sides of her eyes - just like those "lights" were unplugged. The "expert" Neuro-Opthamologist swore she would never regain any field of vision.
Guess what - it gets better each time she is tested every three months.
For a while, she was disoriented, confused, almost childlike and I felt as though I would be caring for a perpetual toddler after the surgery. The Medical doctors said that would probably be the case.(PCP, neurologist, neurosurgeon, psychiatrist). Her forgetfullness factor was the worst thing - she couldn't cook for fear of leaving something on the stove to burn, forgot to take meds and baths unless reminded OVER and OVER, would walk into a room and forget what she went in there for. It was heartbreaking to watch her frustration, because she was well aware of what she lost due to the craniotomy.
When someone suggested we see a Neuro-Psychologist, things changed dramatically for the better. He explained how the brain rewires itself, but it takes a little work. He recommended walks, listening to music, playing more Boggle on the computer (one of my mom's pre-op favorites....post-op, she didn't think she should even try due to eyesight and mental function - I am proud to report that she called me last night to tell me that she has one of the highest ratings!). He told her to paint. . .all the suggestions were right brain expressive things. Meanwhile, the left brain mental things like paying bills, keeping track of dr. appts., managing medications, insurance crap, etc. seriously overwhelmed her, when in the past, she was a whiz with it.
Through the expression of the eye-hand/ physical "exercises", she can now handle "the math" of life (and does OK). She is living independently, which is amazing if you saw what she was like the first 9 months. She is only 1/16 as forgetful as she was. Her paintings, post-op, are entered in shows and she has a waiting list for her works.
By my own testimony, I have experienced first-hand that the brain DOES rewire itself. And all those docs who said she'd be a "three year old" forever didn't know squat.
AMEN!
My mom sufferd a massive stroke and lost the ability to speak, and lost all control/function over the entire right side of her body. My dad spent the next 8 years caring for her before cancer and complications from diabeties took her. It was most painful to watch someone who had lost so much, and it was very painfull (in an emotional sense) for her as well, you could see it in her eyes, and from what I read it was nowhere near what Terri has lost.
As a result of that experience my dad has made out a living will spelling out exactly what is and what is NOT to be done in cases of debilitating illness. A DNR for him is written up and in place, and as painful as it is for us children to have to deal with, we thank him for it because you have no idea the pain and suffering that families, in addition to the those so afflicted go through with these kind of things.
So those of you who are a part of this circus... well.... this isn't aborting an unborn child; it's been 14 years in the making; it's letting nature and God take its course and letting the poor woman get some final peace and rest.
Dr. H wasn't nominated by his piers, he nominated by a politician, Rep. Bilirakis. Bilirakis has also been known to donate his unused campaign funds to the hospice which houses Terri. His son, Gus, is on the Board with Felos.
I don't think fMRI was in business till the mid 90's Doc.
He has been asked not to use that misleading descriptor anymore. He was "nominated" by his Republican congressman, Peter Bilirakis, back in 1999, not by representatives of the medical scientific community.
It is unknown if his nomination was even accepted by the Nobel Committee.
By the way, your neurologist submitted an affidavit on May 7, 2001, saying that Terri was not in a persistent vegetative state. Now this is odd, in that he did not spend those 10 hours personally examining her until September 3rd and 4th in 2002.
Any comment on that?
He is not "my" neurologist.
Several neurologists, including one who spent 90 minutes with her today, have stated that they do not believe she is in a PVS.
Given what is at stake, I believe she should be re-examined by those who do not have an axe to grind.
What ARE you talking about? Are you supposing that if God wanted Terri dead that he would need someone to pull the feeding tube in order to accomplish it?
Terri wasn't dying. Her body wasn't failing. It is people who decided she isn't good enough to be alive.
It just scares me to think that matters of this grave and personal nature will be left up to lawyers and politicians and not the family.This is so sad a situation but at the same time I fear decisions that are to be made by family will turn into another govt intrusion into our lives. So sad from every angle.
I was talking about conventional MRI (hence the absence of the "f".)
She had metallic implants as part of the advanced treatment Michael had taken her to a special hospital to try in a last-ditch effort to restore function. Do an MRI (MAGNETIC resonance imaging) and guess what happens to that metallic implant? Guess what happens to the tiny amount of brain surviving?
Dr. Cheshire said that "there is a greater likelihood that Terri is in a minimally conscious state rather than a persistent vegetative state.
A "minimally conscious state" is a brand new neurological diagnosis which came into being "only within the last few years". It needs an MRI to confirm the diagnosis, since the brain must be observed during aural stimulation. An MRI wasn't done.
Lastly, yes, Dr. Cheshire did visit Terri for 90 minutes. But her behavior which caused him to question the PVS diagnosis was on the video tapes, not a real-time observance. He states in the affidavit:
"Although Terri did not demonstrate during our 90 minute visit compelling evidence of verbalization, conscious awareness, or volitional behavior ..."
C'mon, tomahawk, he observed nothing. His diagnosis, like the other 15 physicians, was based on the video tapes.
I'll just step out of line here and say this:
A) I do not believe from the tape I've seen that Terri is a "vegetable"
B) Even if she is I wouldn't starve and dehydrate a plant that I love.
The HINO just doesn't want to miss out on the $$$$ from the book and movie deals. The parents don't stand to gain financially so I trust their motives.
I was just thinking about you, as a matter of fact - glad to see you are still around.
Are you taking into account that she is on heavy duty morphine?
When my mom was on morphine, without any brain impairment, she was not responsive either.
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