It's been a rough week here in Florida

[Emily]

A right to die case (that has been fought in the courts ) has started and the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo has been removed today to allow her to die.(today)

A nine year old girl from here in Florida and missing since Feb 23rd is now dead. A registered sex offender (found in Georgia) has just admitted to it 2 hours ago.

A very nice manager at work was found dead in the morning, he had died in his sleep, and he was a young man.(Weds)

A 40 yr old man was killed 1 block away from my work (Thursday) as he went to get medicine for his daughter.

Morgan chew off one of her new feathers. Wing feathers that was a blood feather. She squeezes it till it just about has no blood and then bites it off.

This all withing the last 3 days.......... :eusa_booh

Emily going to bed and covering my head with the covers and not coming out till June.

[TooLover]

Emily - I feel your pain and frustration!
Think I will take your advise and go cover my head as well. Wonder if the fids will miss me????????

[Lynjupiter]

Pulling the feeding tube on Terry distresses me very much.

1. She is in a vegitative state but it does not mean she can not feel pain. People in that state can laugh , cry and sometimes act like they are responding to what you are saying. She is going to be forced to starve to death. To die slowly over four weeks. Prisoners on death row get better than that. She never even got a swallowing test to see if she could eat on her own. The husband blocked the test.

2. There have been cases where people in persistant vegitative states do actually wake up. They are not the people they were before the accident, they are never completely cognitive but they are there, they think and feel emotions.

3. I have worked with young people that have suffered traumatic head injuries. I have loved them, cried with their parents and have been very involved in their lives. I worked with one young man as a personal aide for ten years. I watched him go from making no progress in years to suddenly become aware and start speaking again after he passed his ten year no return mark. If someone tried to starve him to death I don't know what I would do.

This just goes as an example of what kind of world we live in today. Where prisoners and fetus have more rights that a brain damaged handicapped adult. Someone loves Terry, some say Terry won't suffer but then what about her parents? They are going to have to suffer for a month, watching their beloved daughter slowly starve to death.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Oh yes plus the poor little girl. Another case of criminal with extensive criminal history on parole being allowed to live and walk among us. Last year my daughter lost a friend and classmate named Carlie. Carlie who was sweet, kind and had been to our house and loved the birds, only eleven years old. The killer one sunday evening he drove down my street, visited a friend, he passed right by my daughter who was riding her bike and picked up Carlie two blocks away.
She was violently raped and murdered. The killer Joe P Smith should have been in prison on parole violation but the parole officer did not take the action he should have, the judge let him walk the street. Makes you wonder who's side the law is on.
I pray every day for a violent prison death of Joesph P Smith. He is our boogey man. I will add John Evander Couey to that prayer.
Lynda

[Ingrid]

Oh Gosh Em,

Maybe its a good thing that we are going to San antonio.

Hey Mike you still got my toys??? or did you sneak them to yor babies already?? he he

See you in a few days........I hope the weather is nice, cause we have snow

Ingrid

[Jer]

I was in agreement with the husband ONLY because I thought it was the life support machine he wanted to shut down. I did NOT realize it was the feeding tube that would pulled. That is AWFUL!!! Nobody deserves that but Scott Peterson!!! That is SO sad. I am really sorry to hear that.

Jer

[Lisa B]

I have to add...I am VERY DISTURBED by them pulling the feeding tube.
My nephew, Kris Scott, has been in a coma since 1997. He was 16 at teh time of the car accident. He too is in the sunshine state of Florida. My sister cares for him at home. She recently lost her husband. She shoulders all this herself.
I can tell you first hand...my nephew is is a level 3 coma. (there are 10 levels of consiousness) 1 being the worst, 10 being able follow a set chain of commands 3 days in a row.
Kristoffers condition is very similar to Terri. Terri might be a bit more alert, due to the fact Kris sufferd a grand maul seizure for over an hour and his brain substained irriversable damage.
However, Kris is not on a vent, nor other machines. He does have a perminent trech(sp) because he has had so many they cant close this one.
My sister and I refuse to let him starve to death. Kris is still in that body. He responds when he wants to . He knows what is going on around him.
For whatever reason God has not taken him yet. While the family does not understand why this happend nor will we ever, we will not give up any glimmer of hope to have Kris come back to us at some level.
The Dr's advised us of what would happen to Kris if the feeding tube was removed, and it is unfathimable. Terri will now suffer inhumanely and slowly.
I hope as a person with similar circumstances, that they find a way to let her go peacefully. removing the feeding tube is not the way to go.
God will take her, when it is her time.

[The Outlaw]

Well, I know I'm gonna get a lot of flack here, but I'd like to do a little bit of explaining about feeding tubes and the pros and cons associated with them.

I did hospice volunteer work for quite a while. I recently helped a much loved, dying neighbor pass. It was gut wrenching and I still cry often. I loved him from the time I was 5 years old. He died from prostate and ultimately brain cancer.

The difference here, however, should be noted from the very beginning. When you have cancer, ultimately all of the important organs ultimately become affected and will sooner or later fail. Not so, necessarily with head injury. Organs can continue to function for a very long time.

The greatest problem with feeding tubes is that they are fraught with many, many problems. Infection, clogging, etc. being the most common. There are many others too numerous to go into. Assuming that someone is so ill and barely conscious, it usually means that they cannot or will not walk either. Consequently, the bowels cannot function correctly. As a result, the solids in the feeding formula often sit in the bowel and colon and either ferment or solidify. This can cause excruciating pain and discomfort. If one can hear voices, then they likely ALSO feel pain. Hand in hand with this is the constant problem with bed sores. Once they start, its a nightmare to try to control. If in the care of a loving parent or spouse, much of this can be minimized, but rarely avoided altogether.

The issue really is about whether or not to ever START forced feeding in the first place. Life support measures must be addressed when you are young and healthy. Anyone can become immobilized within their lifetime. If the prognosis is good, then of course a doctor would advise to use life support measures FOR A REASONABLE LENGTH OF TIME. Not indefinitely. I have a living will and it addresses this at great length. In fact, I've written that no life support measure shall be administered to me for more than 30 days. If I die on the 31 day, its in God's hands.

Slowly starving to death really isn't to the fully conscious what it is to the semi conscious. I know this because I've witnessed it with hospice patients. When they elect to have all support withdrawn, usually they slip into a comma very quickly. In fact, meds can be administered to help alleviate their suffering.

I am not in the shoes of this family nor do I understand their religious beliefs. I do know this, however, it is WE who play God when we start this process of life support. There are WORSE things in life than dying. I am a cancer survivor. I've faced this dragon before.

THE OUTLAW

[Emily]

I really have no feelings either way on what should or should not be done with Terri, it is just a sad situation. I met her husband, he is a nurse and was my husbands nurse when he was in the hospital and was such a nice caring man that it's hard for me to say anything bad about him, but I wish he'd turn over care to her parents.

Jessica the 9 yr olds body has been found now, that is heartbreaking. She was found a stones throw away from her home. How very very sad.


My Manager at work being found dead he died in his sleep, is hard to take when it happened so fast, he had been in good health.

Morgan's feather being chewed off....disturbs me, I'm sure she picked up on my stress but geezzz life isn't all happy happy 24/7...

Emily

[Lisa B]

We have been very lucky with Kris not having any bed sores, or bowel problems. He had one infection with his feeding tube. the tube was inserted right after the accident and has remained in place.
He has been able to swallow some foods...tho we got introuble from teh Dr's for feeding him...he still goes nuts when he smells my meatballs**LOL**

Now my dad on the other hand, we chose not to do a feeding tube. He went very quickly with his family around. He was dianosed with vascular dimencia, and was sick for a relitivly short period of time.

there was a definite differnce between Kris and my dad.