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."
Don't worry. No culture of death for the Pope. What is amazing is that I am reading it here from Republicans!
...the Cardinals are packing their bags.
Just because someone's throat or hip doesn't work properly, doesn't mean that their brain doesn't work. Your hypothesis is full of holes.
It's believed that George Washington died from the same thing. Supposedly he refused a tracheotomy, which was a new procedure at the time.
Humanly speaking, one reason the peope has hung on so long as he has is so he can outlast the liberals, since theirs is a movement of aging liberals.
"He may improve--may have only had the problem since he couldn't cough efficiently, due to Parkinsons."
With advanced Parkinson's, there's often a problem with aspirating tiny food particles into the lungs, which leads to chronic pneumonia. The only real solution for that is a feeding tube. Don't know if that's one of his problems, but it's a good bet.
I would imagine he did but with the virus that's going around the US (and I would imagine Europe) it was no help. I'm not frail and it kicked my butt and it was the same with everyone I knew who got it, young or old.
"I can't believe that I am hearing Republicans talk this way. It's very disheartening to me."
First, thanks much for the info.
Seems a quite natural thing to do. Who knows when we will be faced with such a situation. Anyone who has experienced the loss of a love one has also experienced the grief and tremendous emotions that accompany such a loss.
Perhaps it is better to contemplate death when we aren't faced with it than when we are?
And yea though I walk the through the valley of death, I shall not fear. For thou art with me.....
flu shots give you protection for whatever flu bug they include in the shot.....it does not cover all flu's and the way the term "flu" is used anymore, it often gets lumped in with every virus or cold etc that is around.....
A news flash. His Holiness, JP II, is the head lib. If you mean a Pope ready to order female ordination, the abandonment of transubstation, of the need for the Sacraments, etc, then by that comparison, one might argue that JP II is more conservative than a blatantly obvious anti-Pope. Some suspect the next Pope will continue in the ambiguous and categorically destructive manner of the two PC Popes. Others wonder that the next Pope won't step over the edge, over the line, and effectively prove that the sedevancantists are right. That would change things.
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.
I understand...these kinds of decisions are usually made in advance...at least in the US.
I agree with all of the Catholic Catechism you quote. To me prolonging JPII's life falls under this:
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.
Perhaps he has his reasons.
< flu shots give you protection for whatever flu bug they include in the shot.....it does not cover all flu's and the way the term "flu" is used anymore, it often gets lumped in with every virus or cold etc that is around..... >
I didn't post a thing about flu shots. Perhaps you meant to respond to someone else?
Hopefully we all can respect that.
One can respect him and still question the medical judgment of those caring for him.
Bttt. Sodano is so anti-American that I wouldn't be surprised if the media endorses him for Pope at some point.
He seems even more anti-Catholic than anti-American. It looks like he'd be their 'perfect' choice. There's probably not a few traditionalists would like to see a loon like Sodano elevated to the Holy See, if just to finally and triumphalistically declare Catholicism dead, in effect, and by his doing so prove all the sedes right. The Faith is too important, the salvation of souls is too important, to leave to collar-sporting heretics and those who intend the ruin of the institutional church. The Catholic Church is God's Church, and the answer for us. But the history of heretics was nothing compared to what you see now from clerics.
Latest AFP story:
Pope John Paul II spent a restful night after his throat surgery and is now breathing unassisted, but doctors have advised him not to speak for several days, a Vatican spokesman said.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls says the Pontiff's heart and blood circulation remained good and he had no bronchial pneumonia infection, a possible complication of the tracheotomy performed on him on Thursday (local time) at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome to ease his breathing problems.
"The Holy Father spent a night of tranquil rest. This morning he ate breakfast with a good appetite," Mr Navarro-Valls said, giving the first medical bulletin on the Pope's condition since his operation.
Mr Navarro-Valls says the 84-year-old Pontiff was able to breathe without the aid of a respirator and there were no signs of a lung infection which could affect his recovery.
"He is breathing on his own and his cardio-circulatory conditions remain good," he said.
"Upon the advice of his doctors, the pope must not speak for several days so as to favour the recovery of the functions of the larynx.
Mr Navarro-Valls says the Pope has not yet decided whether he will make an appearance to the faithful on Sunday (local time), with the next medical bulletin due the following day.
I don't care to feed into the speculations and other things. What will be will be. Some people on the net are saying such cruel things about him, it kind of blows me away.
I've been disappointed about some things done during his pontificate, but overall, he is a good man and has fought the good fight.
I don't trust ANY of these type of reports from powerful organizations
They ALL will cover up things if they have to
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