Posted on 04/06/2005 5:03:58 AM PDT by johnny7
I spent much of last Thursday trying to sort out my feelings about the death of Terri Schiavo. Had I been her mother I would have done my utmost to preserve my daughter's life, just as Mary Schindler did. I would have fought the doctors and the courts and Terri's husband, Michael. I would have railed and screamed and prayed. To watch your precious daughter die by starvation is far more painful than accepting your own mortality: this is a child you have nurtured and played with and shepherded through the turbulence of teenhood and dressed in a wedding gown.
Had I been her husband, Michael, I would have found it equally painful to watch my beautiful wife descend into a form of torpor and to remain in this state for 15 years. Michael has been vilified for starting a relationship with another woman and having children with her. But for the first years of Terri's hospitalization he did his utmost to seek special therapies for her; he bought her comfortable, stylish clothing so she would look her best; he enrolled in nursing school so he could understand the complexities of her medical care. I can't judge him for entering another relationship. He was a young man; he wanted children. Why he didn't divorce Terri, I don't know. Clearly he still felt responsible for her.
The reasons for Terri's death, however, go beyond the removal of a feeding tube and family and court battles. They go beyond medical ethics and religion. Terri suffered from an eating disorder that led to dangerously low potassium levels that led to cardiac arrest. Her brain was not fed with enough oxygen and this led to severe damage to her cerebral cortex, the seat of reason and emotion. She lapsed into a vegetative state. Her brain could make her heart beat but it couldn't make her sensible to her surroundings. Terri had been an overweight teenager, at one point weighing 250 pounds. Didn't her loving parents worry when they saw their daughter shrink to 110 pounds? Didn't her husband notice she ate very little and purged after meals? Did her family or her friends question her extreme eating habits?
It is likely Terri was complimented by how terrific she looked and this would have encouraged her to continue to deprive her body of food. It is true the bloated features in her high school class picture had been transformed; the bulimia had allowed her to become a delicate beauty. She resembled the young Elizabeth Taylor. Her weight loss was validated, at a horrible cost. Terri Schiavo's case, like that of singer Karen Carpenter who died of anorexia, is an excruciating reminder to parents to be vigilant about their children's eating habits -- even if those children are young adults and tell us to mind our own business. We need to persist in helping them. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, "anorexia and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and 1 million men (primarily teens and young adults)." That is a huge number of our children.
If Terri's parents or her husband or her family doctor had stopped for a moment and wondered about her swanlike transformation, maybe she never would have suffered that cardiac arrest and lapsed into catatonia. But our society admires thinness -- the Rubenesque Marilyn Monroe likely would be considered too plump these days -- and so some of our children, in the quest to look attractive, may starve themselves. Even to their death. That is what Terri Schiavo's story has communicated so clearly.
"This bone scan was done 53 weeks after her "collapse"."
Why?
One hopes the autopsy answers questions. And I'm sure the debate will continue. I need to turn my focus on being vocal in that this never happens again. Thank you for the conversation and deciphered chicken scratch. :)
I'll look, but perhaps you can hasten my project.
1. I have read many of your "thoughts" here and responded to you on occasion although you have apparently learned nothing. This has to be one of your sickest posts yet.
2. You write as though you know it all although it is very clear you don't. I've refrained for quite a while from correcting your spelling but I can no longer stand it. For no other reason than the fact that you love to constantly spout your undocumented claim that Terri Schaivo was bulimic the least you could do is learn how to spell the word correctly.
The word is BULIMIC not "boliemic." HTH.
Pic I found...here. Not much help from others huh?
http://stpetersburgtimes.com/2005/03/25/Tampabay/A_Hometown_divide.shtml
But..but I thought only the pro-life people were spreading rumors and making stuff up about Terri...
Thank you for that.
I read his whole report and yes, you are correct that he was not an advocate for Terri.
I use his quote because he at least states that "The cause of the imbalance was not clearly indentified,....... While no formal proof emerged, the medical records note that the combination of aggressive weight loss, diet control and excessive hydration raised questions about Theresa suffering from Bulimia.."
That's all they did is raise questions. There was no proof that she was Bulemic like everyone likes to say she was.
I don't know if the eating disorder theory is true, but- many women are pressured by their men/husbands to stay sexy and skinny. I know my sister was by her husband, and she almost ruined her health trying to please the manic-depressive she was married to.
IF the eating disorder business is true, my money is on her 'dear husband' as the one telling her she was 'too fat' and pressuring her to look a certain way.
The point of a guardian ad litem is to represent Terri and protect her interests. Wolfson flunked both his legal and his moral responsibility. Furthermore, Greer had a legal responsibility -- which he likewise flunked -- to make sure that Wolfson discharged his proper duty to Terri.
We can still say, with only a little poetic license, that Terri never had a lawyer.
At least one of the doctors who testified is a lying professional, although I doubt he would admit he lied. He gets his jollies by saying that people should be offed.
Have you found any yet? I've heard you're pretty clever at finding photos online.
I am not sure where you got the idea it pointed to excessive hydration unless it is because he states she drank from 10-15 glasses of iced tea a day.
But if you read the following even though green tea may contain potassium it also is fluid and to much fluid acts as a dieretic and could wash it all away. Therefore you could be dehydrated.
Diuretic
Any agent or compound that increases the flow of urine from the body. They can range from herbal teas to powerful drugs that flush out electrolytes and water. They are classed based on the location and mechanism of action in the kidneys.callurl('http://www.getbig.com/glossary/g-nut-ad.htm');
Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Water itself helps cut down on water retention because it acts as a diuretic.Taken before meals, it dulls the appetite by giving you that "full feeling."
Most herbal teas fall into one of two categories, stimulants and laxatives/diuretics. Find out what's in them, what they do to your body, and if they really work. by: Karen Collins, MS., R.D. How can we beat the odds and keep off those unwanted pounds?
Diuretic
A mineral deficiency involving potassium, calcium, magnesium and/or sodium. Dehydration, which can occur in athletes when they exercise hard in hot conditions and do not drink sufficient liquid.
Excessive intake of fluid (drinking 2-3 litres or more of water in addition to your daily fluid intake) - this can ‘wash’ the above-mentioned minerals out of your body and lead to cramps.
c) Potassium
Potassium is one of the most abundant minerals available in common foods and most people should not develop a deficiency. However, eating minimalistic or monotonous diets to lose weight or cutting out all fruits and vegetables and grains and cereals, can cause a potassium deficiency. Drinking too much water can also deplete your potassium reserves. d) Sodium
Most people on a western diet, which is based on processed foods, won’t develop a sodium deficiency. However, drinking too much water, sweating a lot, and certain imbalances in kidney function can lead to sodium depletion, which in turn can cause cramps.
Health 24
I'm sorry I can't help right now, perhaps in the a.m.? I also saw family and friends pics on tv, but that isn't going to help us much now, I don't think. She was very over-weight in high school 250 lbs. is what they said. From what I saw, it was at least 200+ lbs. The swollen face...
She turned into a lovely young woman as she lost the weight.
What a tragedy, for her and her loved ones.
If you have ever seen their wedding photo, you can see she was much taller than 5'4", knowing that he was 6'4".
Weak bones break on their own and from very light blows and sometimes from turning over in the bed, ask a doctor. Most broken hips in the elderly where they fall, what happens is the hip brakes and then they fall.
That's strange I took on all that and an instant 9 yr. old stepdaughter and I gained 5 lbs, first time in my life I weighted over 97 lbs. And to top it all off, my husband worked split shifts and I cooked hot meals for him even when I had to get up in the middle of the night to do it.
Who ever said Jan Fonda was smart? I sure don't think any woman who would do those things and then tell the world about it, sure couldn't be the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer.
And she had numberous broken bones, never had any treatment for they and they healed, maybe it happened after she was unable to speak and tell anyone it hurt, like maybe when she was turned in the bed?
Well, I lost ten pounds, went from 128 when I married to 118 afterwards, and stayed there for years. I worked hard. I was married to a stickler at the time. He has, thank the Lord, mellowed out quite a bit in 40 yrs. I also cooked for a demanding appetite. Things had to be RIGHT, and I was in a generation that had not yet gotten "liberated". Perfectionists are very hard on wives, and when they are young they are VERY hard on them (or were in those days). Some women were starting to burn their bras back then, but I was not one of them.
Mikey seems to really be the only "witness" to Terri's "problems". That's sad. - I do know, in any case, that things and people can look an awfully lot like they are one thing (either good or bad) when they are something else altogether. As far as I am concerned, the judge is Christ and not me, He knows the truth, whatever it is, and the day will come when it will be shouted from the rooftops. Sometimes that happens quickly. People are always amazed at how quickly it does happen sometimes. Clinton thought he was going to fool all us little peons with his diddles with the interns in the Oval Office and walk into the sunset full of accolades. He was fooled.
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