Posted on 02/24/2005 3:08:47 PM PST by prairiebreeze
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation Thursday night to insert a tube in his throat to relieve his breathing problems, hours after he was rushed back to the hospital for the second time in a month with flu-like symptoms of fever and congestion, the Vatican said.
The pope was conscious and back in his hospital room late Thursday, breathing with the help of a respirator, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
A top aide to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who visited the pope said John Paul was "serene" after waking up from the anesthesia. The pope raised his hand and attempted to speak with doctors but was told not to try, Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta told reporters at Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the tracheotomy lasted 30 minutes and the outcome was "positive." The pope had approved the procedure, which the Vatican characterized as elective - underscoring that it was not done as an emergency measure.
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The frail, 84-year-old pontiff, who was taken to the hospital shortly before 11 a.m. in an ambulance, will be spending the night in his hospital room, Navarro-Valls said.
But the tracheotomy may require a longer hospital stay and have serious consequences for the pope's abilities to carry out his duties since he will not be able to speak, at least initially, while the breathing tube is in his throat.
Before the tracheotomy, outside medical experts had said John Paul may have pneumonia. However, Navarro-Valls' statement made no reference to pneumonia, saying the pope suffered a narrowing of his larynx.
President Bush, flying home from a European trip, said in a statement: "On behalf of all Americans, Laura and I send our heartfelt best wishes to Pope John Paul II. The Holy Father is in our thoughts and prayers and we wish him a speedy recovery and return to the service of his church and of all humanity."
The pope's sudden turn for the worse alarmed the faithful from Nigeria to the Philippines to St. Peter's Square, and raised more doubts about his ability to carry on.
"We have prayed for the pope to live as long as possible so we can still share our joy with him," said Zofia Gebala, a 73-year-old retiree, as she left a church in Wadowice, the pope's birthplace in southern Poland. "We are praying for him every day, for his well-being. But it's all in God's hands now."
John Paul, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had greeted pilgrims twice at the window of his studio at St. Peter's Square since his release from the same hospital on Feb. 10. On Wednesday, he made his longest public appearance - 30 minutes - since he fell ill more than three weeks ago.
With each successive appearance, he seemed a little stronger, a little more alert, and his voice rang out with greater clarity.
That made Thursday's reversal all the more shocking for the faithful.
"We are so scared because he has been sick in the past," said Vanessa Animo Bono, 32, a Catholic being treated at Gemelli. "He is one of the few popes who is actually able to listen to people."
Papal officials played down the seriousness of the hospitalization, saying a patient of the pope's age is always at risk from the flu. Vatican aides said the pope had a fever and congestion in addition to the breathing problems.
ANSA reported the pope was conscious when he arrived at Gemelli and that he was sitting upright in a stretcher. According to the report, people who saw him enter the hospital said his face looked "quite relaxed."
Before the operation, the pope was well enough to joke with his medical team, Letta said. When doctors told the pope that the operation would be a small one, the pontiff retorted: "Small, it depends for whom," he said, citing doctors' accounts.
Earlier Thursday, Vatican officials had said the pope suffered from a "syndrome of influenza."
Chile's ambassador to the Holy See, Maximo Pacheco, told The Associated Press that the pope suffered a "bad relapse," citing a conversation he had with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
But outside experts said people don't get a relapse of influenza itself. Instead, flu can lead to a bacterial infection such as pneumonia or bronchitis, which is an inflammation of the tubes that carry air into the lungs, or to congestive heart failure, a treatable condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.
Thursday's hospitalization was the pope's eighth since his election in 1978.
The pope's common touch and his willingness to travel to remote places, despite serious health problems that include knee and hip ailments, make him much loved among Catholics.
As with the previous hospitalization, which lasted 10 days, the latest was certain to fuel speculation about whether he could continue as pope, and what would happen if he was incapacitated.
In the clearest sign that the Vatican may be taking the eventuality of papal resignation seriously, Vatican No. 2 Cardinal Angelo Sodano declined to rule out the possibility during John Paul's first hospitalization this month, saying it was up to the pope's conscience.
Thursday's news spread quickly, with the pope's illness flashed on television just as news shows were ending in the Philippines. Church officials relayed a prayer request to the faithful by text message on their cell phones.
Brigid Nolan, 73, saw the news on television in Dublin, Ireland, and walked to St. Columba's church. She lit a candle and offered a five-minute prayer for the pope and her own struggle with Parkinson's.
"I do draw inspiration from his own fight for life," she said. "He is suffering, but he's surviving, and more power to him. I get angry when people say he should quit. He should keep going for every minute God gives him."
Tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square expressed alarm.
"I'm sure he wants to return to the Vatican because he has spent so much time there," said Ornella Lisandrello, 29, an Italian physician. "I'm sure he would like to die at the Vatican."
In the pope's hometown of Wadowice, worshippers offered prayers at St. Mary's church, where the young Karol Wojtyla was baptized.
"This is a very emotional moment for me," said Zdzislaw Szczur. "His suffering really moves me. It's all God's providence now."
My brother was like that for about two months with Gillian Barre...but he recovered. It counts...sometimes being kept going is a temporary thing to get over a critical illness that will run its course, and then you will get better. If being trached was because of the flu, or a pneumonia, this is can be a good choice. If this is because of something that is not recoverable, such as a person who has Lou Gehrig's, now that is a different question.
I agree that there are times to be kept artificially alive. I am not sure that being 84 and in failing health is one of them
In the old days pnemonia was called "Old Man's Friend."
This is one of those things...when you are clear of mind and choking or suffocating to death, you might decide you don't like it...I guess it's one of those bridges that have to be crossed when you get to them.
I know if I had Lou Gehrig's, I would not want to go the respirator route...but if I were clear minded but sick with the flu, and choking from it, I might give in...thinking that this would be temporary.
Prayers said for a complete recovery. Good Lord please watch over your faithful and loving servant.
Gee, I hope the culture of death doesn't extend to the Vatican. After all, John Paul II can't breathe without a tube. What if some euthanasia contingent claims that he's suffering diminished quality of life and demands the removal of that tube?
Why does the Drudge headline say ''Silenced''? Did the trach permanently affect his voice?
Prayer ping for His Holiness.
I wonder if whoever said that is still on ebay trying to auction off the bridge over that narrow channel into SF Bay? That is, one might be suspicious.
I just hope more 'documents' and 'decrees' don't come down in the meanwhile all supposedly signed by the Pope. It's only to recall Wormtongue in Jackson's retelling of LOTR, as he holds up the order against Eomer - it's from the King, he signed it this morning.
One has to pray that JP II gets right with God and The Church, while he still lives. But his time surely is running out. And it will be interesting to see who is the new Pontiff, and whether he at all moves more finally and openly to the left and rebellion, or toward more Catholic orthodoxy, this from the fairly ambiguous, always suspect, and categorically disastrous policies of the PC Popes.
You forgot #4; he has Parkinson's, which drastically limits his ability to fight off infection, especially respiratory infections.
Don't take my post wrong.
I'm not Catholic and I have a lot of respect for this man and I'm praying for him.
This statement of Cardinal Sodano's has been twisted by the media. The liberals are just dying to get Pope John Paul II out of the way so they can elect some dissident into office and get all the things they have dreamed of passed--women priests, contraception and abortion approved, homosexual relations approved, and so forth. It will never happen. There have been weak popes and sinful popes, but in 2,000 years not even the most sinful of them have done anything of that kind.
Many of the liberals who so eagerly anticipated the Pope's death a decade ago are now dead themselves. God will take this Pope to Himself when it is time.
Takes me back to my school days. A lot of prayers were sent by the nuns to St Jude on my behalf!
My prayers are with Pope John Paul. He is a great man.
**Or so they say**
Do you have a source that says otherwise?
Bumping your thoughts. Prayers for the Pope.
If he wanted to go on breathing...............Accept it -- it's not time for the Pope to die right now.
Thanks for your input from the medical side of things.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Euthanasia
2276 Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.
2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.
Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.
2278 Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.
2279 Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged.
Please see the Catholic beliefs about euthanasia I just posted above. I can't believe that I am hearing Republicans talk this way. It's very disheartening to me.
Thanks for your input!
But it is each person's decision and the Pope has made his.
Hopefully we all can respect that.
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