Monthly Archives: March 2005
Terri at Rest — Finally
| 3/31/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Terry Shiavo has died. I think the greatest tragedy about this oh so public death is that we, humans, are forced to allow those we love and care about struggle through to the last possible breath before they can find the peace and dignity in death that we grant animals. It is an act of mercy and compassion to relieve the suffering of our animal friends but an act of murder to do so for a person.
When are we going to advance to the point that we grant people the same compassion?
Almost 16 years ago I sat beside my late husband’s bedside and watched helplessly for hours as his body ever so slowly suffocated him. He had expressed to me weeks before that he was ready and wanting to go, to gain relief from the inevitable that was stalking him, his death. Yet, there I sat and no one, me nor the medical people surrounding me could do a thing except wait, forcing him to gasp towards his last.
In my younger and more niave time that was then, I was horrified when Frank had told me he just wanted it to be over. I felt he was acting with cowardice towards life. I know now I was wrong, he was acting with great courage — the courage that it takes to accept your fate and look towards it arriving. There was no faint hope for him, he had advanced heart disease. He knew and accepted that.
In his mind, his ‘life’ had ended when he became debilitated enough to become dependent on me and others for basic care. After that he was in a limbo, waiting for it to end. Myself, I didn’t have my husband’s courage at that time. When the nurse approached me to ask about resuscitation wishes that night I looked at her like she was asking me a very stupid question and told her all possible means were to be used. It wasn’t until another nurse gently told me that Frank’s lungs were shutting down along with the rest of his body that I finally admitted that I had to let him go as he wanted to go… peacefully.
It took great courage and fortitude for Micheal Shiavo to make that decision to honour what he believed were his wife’s wishes. In the face of the family and public opposition he was subjected to , a lessor person would have retreated and allowed others to take control. To allow others to sentence Terri to an existence she reportedly didn’t want.
I talked with a friend last night who was angry at the feeding tube being removed. She spoke of the agonizing death by starvation which resulted. She has an idea of what she spoke of, she’s worked in hospices. I can’t and wont disagree with her that dying by starvation is a rotten way to die. My anger isn’t that the feeding tube was removed, my anger is that it was the only way to honour what was reportedly Terri’s wishes.
Feet Go the Mile
| 3/31/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
Decision for Blue
| 3/30/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
I made a tough decision today. I wrote about my dog Blue having cancer — today I had to come to terms that she was rapidly losing quality of life. I made the appointment with the vet and let him allow Blue to die with dignity. She’s been a wonderful dog to not only me but her original owners, my sister and her kids. I’ve had custody of her for the last nine years or so but she has always remained as much their dog as mine.
Visitors to my home were usually met by Blue barking furiously at the door. I sometimes wasn’t sure if she was barking to be noticed, to announce their arrival or to warn them not to mess with her human(s). The intensity of her message was often distracted by her shooting off the traction the carpet in my living room gave her, hitting the floor in the entrance area and sliding into the door. She’d hardly miss a beat or a bark as she regained her feet.
For those she regarded as family and friends Blue was a gentle, friendly dog. When her extended family would arrive for a visit, I was temporarily just the other human in the house as her attention would turn to them as if I was a guest. Never seemed to matter how long it was between visits, she never seemed to forget who her family was.
She had been given a gray teddy bear when Lynn and the kids first got her. It was her ‘baby’ which she would carry around with great gentleness. When playing with her I could ask her where ‘baby’ was or when the kids weren’t around I’d ask where ‘Megan’ or ‘Max’ was and she’d run to get her bear.
She never had pups but she was rather maternal with the cats she shared the house with. When I brought Raven (the youngest of the two cats) into the house at 5 weeks old both Blue and Cookie (the older cat) both seemed to decide that they were going to be Raven’s surrogate mom. Problem was they wouldn’t share, so any time Rave got into trouble both Blue and Cookie would come running and then start ‘arguing’ with each other, leaving poor Rave to scurry away alone.
As kitten, Cookie would scale the edge of one of the bi-fold doors in the house, nudge it into a V shape and wait until Blue would walk by. She would then launch herself onto Blue’s back who suffered this assault with a patience only a mother could have with a ‘child’.
Her two feline companions have been spending time sitting at the door since I left with Blue. Waiting for their friend to come home I expect.
It is going to be hard when I go outside to clear the winter debris from my yard this year. That job has always been accompanied by Blue exploring the yard and playing with the sticks as though the whole job was just a huge game of fetch for her. I never did convince her to take the sticks to the pile at the end of the yard.
While saying my goodbye’s, I asked her when she gets where she’s going to find Frank (my late husband) introduce herself and give him a good bite in the butt. She’ll have a kind friend in him.
Small Steps
| 3/30/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
This morning I once more reached the three quarter mile point on the Walk Away the Pounds one mile video. I fell just short of matching the upper body movements with the walking for the full three quarter mile mark. I was able to push further than I had on Monday doing the upper body work so that is another baby step. I’ll have actually completed the first mile when both upper body work, weights and walking go the full distance. Seems the first mile is going to be a tough one but gotta start somewhere.
Here I Go — Again
| 3/28/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
Ok, now I’m trying to take another run, once again, at getting into better shape than I am now. My current shape at the moment would likely be closer to dead woman barely walking than anything else.
I’m about 250lbs overweight and have been largely sedentary. I took a run…. errr walk at getting back on exercise track at New Years but that didn’t last long. Part of that was my own procrastination and part was a B12 deficiency which was hindering my ability to develop some exercise stamina. Read the rest of this entry »
Protestors Creating Ordeal
| 3/27/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
The Toronto Star is reporting today on the effect the protests and media presence is having on the 70 other residents of the Woodside Hospice in Florida. Reportedly, most of those protesting are members of the so called religious right — what part of a hospice being a place for the dying to live out their days in peace and dignity don’t they get?
It is one thing to have the right of assembly and protest. It is quite another to assemble and protest in an area which infringes on the ability of those who are dying and their families to have the access and peace they need. This has become a feeding frenzy which needs to end and soon.
Schiavo Trial Coming to an End
| 3/27/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
I’ve not been watching the Schiavo situation really close until the media sort of shoved it into my face. Somehow it seemed rather voyeuristic to be peering through the window of her life and trying to project the right and wrong. I can understand both the parents and the husband’s stand on this.
It is never easy to let someone go even when illness is relentless stalking and draining them of their very life. It can be even harder when a person is in a sort of limbo between living and dying, like Terri has been. Eventually it becomes necessary to accept that while there is breath there is hope, hope is a very miniscule possibility.
Where do we draw the line between the sanctity of human life and cruelty?
As I’ve written before, my dog, Blue has cancer and she’s an older dog. At the moment the vet doesn’t feel she is suffering other than discomfort and other aging effects. When the time comes that it does seem she is suffering I have the option of putting her down to relieve that suffering rather than prolonging the inevitable.
Most, including myself, would consider me cruel not to do this for my friend. Stand her up on her hind legs and shave her and I’d be considered cruel and heartless for even thinking of helping her die with dignity.
The one blessing in all this media and legal uproar over Terri is that as near as we know, she isn’t aware of all this going on around her. She will be allowed some measure of dignity as she dies. I just find it heartless that no one can lift a finger to ease that transition.
Comments Fixed
| 3/26/2005 | Posted by Patti under Site News |
Comments are working now. Not really sure what I did to turn them off inadvertently but I fixed them by installing and customizing a new theme. Getting a much better feel for how WordPress works when I’m doing customizing.
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