The Terri Schiavo situation.
- Thread starter member5726
- Start date
It amazes me how many people on this board alone have gone through the same kind of tough times and made the tough decisions that Terri's family had to make. It also amazes me about how many of you never ended up on the news (sorry, my little political rant for the day). I can only imagine how awful it must be. My mom had a scare a year ago when they found a lump in her breast but it turned out to be nothing. I was scared to death while I was waiting to hear back from her doctor so I can only imagine what the rest of you have gone/are going through.
Well I don't have the time to read all these posts, but I have experienced a similar situation.
What people have a difficult time understanding is that when a family member is suffering and has no control over their own well being, you want them to be without pain and suffering. Terri Schiavo has been going through this for over 15 years, and thats a heck of a long time for a family to deal with, much less a husband.
Now back to myself being able to identify with this situation. About 8 years ago, my own mother was involved in a near-fatal car accident. It left her in a coma for a little over a month. She also suffered from severe brain damage and several broken bones.
Me being the next of kin gives me the decision on how to handle my mothers situation. I was 19 years at the time. It's very hard seeing you're mother in a comatic state with tubes all around her. She was barely recognizable. Anyway basically this machine I believe called an EKG, is keeping her brain functioning. I was told their was 2 occassions where she had massive brain failure. Even declared dead for 2 minutes.
So basically I was the only person who had the right to decide to pull the plug on the machine keeping her "alive". I decided to let her remain on the machine, and a week or so later her brain activity had improved.
As mentioned after 32 days in a coma, she woke up, but was far from recovery. She had to spend about 6 months in major physical therapy, to basically start all over again much like a newborn baby.
Today she is much better and only has short term memory problems (similar to the movies Memento or even 50 First Dates), and double vision.
It was a tough decision to wanna leave my mom connected to the machine. My mother is pretty much all I have so it was difficult for me to just want her to die.
Hoever, had I known that no more could be done and her condition worsened, I definitely would have told the doctors to pull the plug and let her die in peace.
I can only imagine what Terri's family is going through right now, but I believe after 15 years it was time to put her out of her misery. Who knows if she was suffering or not, but I believe no human being has the right to suffer, especially when near death. May she rest in peace, and I hope the media lets loose of this story and let her family and friends mourn her death.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought everyone should know about it from soemone who has been in a similar situation. Thanks.
What people have a difficult time understanding is that when a family member is suffering and has no control over their own well being, you want them to be without pain and suffering. Terri Schiavo has been going through this for over 15 years, and thats a heck of a long time for a family to deal with, much less a husband.
Now back to myself being able to identify with this situation. About 8 years ago, my own mother was involved in a near-fatal car accident. It left her in a coma for a little over a month. She also suffered from severe brain damage and several broken bones.
Me being the next of kin gives me the decision on how to handle my mothers situation. I was 19 years at the time. It's very hard seeing you're mother in a comatic state with tubes all around her. She was barely recognizable. Anyway basically this machine I believe called an EKG, is keeping her brain functioning. I was told their was 2 occassions where she had massive brain failure. Even declared dead for 2 minutes.
So basically I was the only person who had the right to decide to pull the plug on the machine keeping her "alive". I decided to let her remain on the machine, and a week or so later her brain activity had improved.
As mentioned after 32 days in a coma, she woke up, but was far from recovery. She had to spend about 6 months in major physical therapy, to basically start all over again much like a newborn baby.
Today she is much better and only has short term memory problems (similar to the movies Memento or even 50 First Dates), and double vision.
It was a tough decision to wanna leave my mom connected to the machine. My mother is pretty much all I have so it was difficult for me to just want her to die.
Hoever, had I known that no more could be done and her condition worsened, I definitely would have told the doctors to pull the plug and let her die in peace.
I can only imagine what Terri's family is going through right now, but I believe after 15 years it was time to put her out of her misery. Who knows if she was suffering or not, but I believe no human being has the right to suffer, especially when near death. May she rest in peace, and I hope the media lets loose of this story and let her family and friends mourn her death.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought everyone should know about it from soemone who has been in a similar situation. Thanks.
member2686
Banned
That's a terrible situation to be in, Phill77. I'm glad, for you and for your mother herself, that she was able to recover.
Cheers. :hatsoff:
Cheers. :hatsoff:
We know you didn't post to garner sympathy or REP points, Phil77.
I can sympathize with you... and I'm sure I can empathize and commiserate with a lot of what you experienced emotionally.
So, to echo my friend up above us, you have my sympathy and most sincere well wishes for the both of you.
Though it may sound condescending, I certainly don't mean this way... but just... just always be thankful for the fact that you still have your mother with you. I'd give anything in this world to be able to hear my Mom's voice again... Dad, too.
Good post, Phil. Good post. You earned a lot of respect from me in the way that you posted something so personal and private. A lot of respect, sir.
:hatsoff: :bowdown:
I can sympathize with you... and I'm sure I can empathize and commiserate with a lot of what you experienced emotionally.
So, to echo my friend up above us, you have my sympathy and most sincere well wishes for the both of you.
Though it may sound condescending, I certainly don't mean this way... but just... just always be thankful for the fact that you still have your mother with you. I'd give anything in this world to be able to hear my Mom's voice again... Dad, too.
Good post, Phil. Good post. You earned a lot of respect from me in the way that you posted something so personal and private. A lot of respect, sir.
:hatsoff: :bowdown:
QBall1970 said:
Of course I am very thankful about my mother being able to survive her accident. It was very hard for me to deal with the situation and it led to my depression and thoughts of suicide because I blamed myself at first.
Thanks for your respect, and I'm sorry about your own personal loss.
