Carrots Don't Cry

aish.com ^ | April 17, 2005 | Rachel Ginsberg

[justche]

GREAT Find!!

In the back of Dr. Tabak's mind was the heroic story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of the Parisian magazine, Elle. Brain stem damage left him totally paralyzed; the only voluntary muscle that worked was his left eyelid. He managed to dictate an entire book -- one letter at a time, all with eye blinks -- to his dedicated secretary who painstakingly deciphered his alphabet code. The book was published two days before he died.

I didn't even think of this book during the time before Terri was murdered! But it's an incredible book that I can't recommend highly enough.

[Reborn]

Love Never Fails

[GloriaJane]

Wonderful story of love and devotion. And it just goes to prove that Doctors shouldn't write people off just because they don't know how to fix them.

They're using adult stem cells to try to heal spinal cord injuries. Why not try to use adult stem cells to speed up the healing process in cases such as this and Terri's case?

What we think of today as a miracle to me just seems like Gods way of lighting our way. Showing us that Doctors should never write anyone off just because they don't know how to fix them yet. They should just keep on trying until they find the way.

My prayers are with Marsi for a complete recovery.

[Tamar1973]

The doctors could destroy her will to live. I went to her and said 'Marsi, we know you can hear us, we are with you, we're going to help you get well. Now, the doctors are going to say some pretty terrible things that you will hear, things like, 'This patient is a vegetable and has no hope for recovery, we are going to suggest to the family that she be put away in a facility, she'll be a vegetable for the rest of her life...' Imagine if a person hears this and his cognition is intact. It's like a person waking up and realizing he's in a coffin and the lid is being nailed shut. He wants to shout, 'I'm not dead yet!' but no sound comes out. Marsi was in such a state."

If only someone early on could have set Michael Schiavo aside and tell him the same thing this man said to his wife, maybe Michael Schiavo would not have lost hope. Maybe he would have been on the defense against listening to any physician who would try to steal his hope for his wife's recovery.

Now, there is no hope for Terri Schiavo's recovery he has to live with that for the rest of his life. This is what happens when we let people w/ MD next to their name over-ride our common sense.

[Future Useless Eater]

I'll need kleenex if I try to finish reading that story, I'll try again later. Thanks for posting it.

[maine-iac7]

Dr. Tabak felt that the care facility, which was an important interim training ground, was not especially equipped to take unconventional measures to improve Marsi's situation. His personal research indicated that massive amounts of physical therapy might improve neurological regeneration. The facility provided less than half an hour a week, more as a concession to protocol than as a hope for healing. The patients, after all, weren't really expected to get better. Yacov wanted at least an hour every day, but an outside physical therapist was against regulations.

Herein lies the problem - one that the medical society will not acknowledge...that aggressive therapy is essential, not just going thru' the motions.

Patricia Neal, the actress, had THREE massive brain hemorhages in one hour. Whe was a 'vegetable. She couldn't talk, walk, etc.

She was taken home and given up to 8 hours of therapy EACH DAY! - by her husband and loyal friends who took shifts.

the most beneficial therapy, that affected all areas, was moving the arms and legs in opposite rythm like a baby does when learning to crawl. There is evidence that this trains (or in the case of brain damaged, REtrains,) the brain to be able to progress to walking, talking, cognition etc. It took over a year, but with this daily regime, like a baby would have, she recovered. (If a baby were allowed only 1/2 hour week to crawl, how long do you think it would take before they could walk? .

(Patricia Neal from: http://www.wic.org/bio/pneal.htm

"Miss Neal suffered a series of massive strokes. After surgery, she was unconscious for three weeks, waking completely paralyzed on the right side and unable to speak. Her recovery is an epic in the annals of stroke rehabilitation. Learning from her own experience, she and her husband devised a system using amateur therapists that is now globally recognized. Thirty stroke centers using this method are now in operation in the United Kingdom alone."

the site for her US rehab Center: http://www.covenanthealth.com/aboutus/pnrc/pnrc-home.cfm

the Average number of inpatient core therapy hours per day (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology) * 3.08 hours

(Additional therapies such as behavioral medicine, recreational therapy, and other therapies not included in these numbers)

In addition, there are "Specialty Clinics", for ex:

Augmentative/Alternative Communication Clinic The use of technology to support, enhance and supplement the communication of individuals who are not independent verbal communicators in all situations. This program is for patients who have been diagnosed with a neurological condition and have difficulty communicating verbally.

Terri was never given a chanch...

We need to get people educated to these methods - they will probably never be used in hospitols, not will a doctor be likely to either/tell you or even know about it.

But it could offer real and beneficial help for a family like the Schindlers for a loved one they could care for at home, as "amateur therapists", if unable to keep in a facility like the Patricia Neal Rehab cntr.

I remember reading about a case, years ago, where a young man was severely injured and 'braind dead/veg - the family would not give up - they applied the every day rule of treatment and the son recovered - after a long and arduous time - and had his whole life ahead of him ance again.

[maine-iac7]

maybe Michael Schiavo would not have lost hope.

ah,....what?

He never "lost hope" - he played a game until he got the settlement to take care of her for the next "51 years" of Care///

then he promptly pulled ALL therapy, stimulation, etc - and set about putting her out of his way.

[Nataku X]

*very* interesting information & ideas... thank you for posting it.

[syriacus]

What a wonderful story. Thanks for posting it.

Marsi was in a wheelchair with an unfocused expression

This will sound silly, but has a rehab team worked on Marsi's facial muscles, just as they've worked on the muscles of her limbs?

It's too bad that Nancy Cruzan wasn't given the help that she deserved.

"[Nancy Cruzan, three days before her death from starvation] turned and looked at me and stared at me with a panicky look, sweating profusely, and the thought I had was, she was thinking, ‘Oh, here’s a policeman, he’ll help me.’ But we weren’t allowed to do that,"...Doug Seneker

[PhilDragoo]

What did the doctors say about this? "They were very nonchalant. 'Now go prove that the heart changes are from a specific outside stimuli and not from some reflex.'" The medical team shrugged off these seeming developments as coincidence and reflex, but Yacov was convinced that his wife was still with them.

Love of life versus medicos with black holes in place of souls.

Wonderful triumph of the former.

The latter should be whipped and challenged to prove their cries are not mere reflex.

The husband and wife, family and caregivers, live in a rich protective canopy of love.

The medicos might as well be so many Mengeles. They should have such an oxygen deprivation and be surrounded by their colleagues.

"What's that, Bernie? Oh, it's just a twitch--I thought you were trying to tell us something."

[Cicero]

What a wonderful, amazing story. I believe that in cases of coma and paralysis the soul is still intact, and therefore the basic person is still intact, but cut off from use of the body or contact with the outside world. This story seems to suggest something of the kind. The whole woman is still inside, even though the brain has been badly damaged.

On the other side, what a terrible thing it is to contemplate Terri Schiavo being deprived of all human contacts and communication by her husband, basically kept in a state of sensory depravation by her husband Michael for fifteen years, with none of the nurses allowed to talk to her. And probably having to listen to him tell her how he hated her and planned to kill her whenever he visited.

What an extraordinarily brave woman Terri was to hang on so long in the face of such treatment!

[exDemMom]

Poor Terri. The day she married Schiavo, her doom was set.

Reading a story like this, about a husband taking such good care of his disabled wife is both uplifting and sad. Sad, because it shines a spotlight on the horrible injustice that was done to Terri.

I hope we can stop our slide down this greased slope.

[Outland]

Wow! Excellent news.

God bless the Tabak family and all others who see the light on this issue.

Much thanks to little jeremiah for the ping! This uplifting story made my day.

[Red Sea Swimmer]

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is a very powerful story about love and devotion in the face of extreme adversity.

[agrace]

Oh wow, this actually made me cry for several reasons. This man's dedication to his wife is incredibly inspiring, and grief for Terri and her family again, that they were robbed of so many opportunities.

Thanks for posting and thanks for the ping, Ohioan. Amazing story.

[agrace]

Within two hours, Marsi's Hebrew name was changed (a way of perhaps changing her original destiny) and a chunk of the Tabaks' savings was given to charity.

What's the tradition behind something like this?

[Ohioan from Florida]

Please ping me when you get an answer. I was also fascinated by that. I think I understand the idea behind the charitable donation, but I don't understand the name change.

[Ohioan from Florida]

I have thought of Patricia Neal's recovery after intense therapy many times during the months I've been familiar with Terri's case. I am sure that intense therapy was needed, and Michael didn't see fit to provide that for his beautiful wife. And it's not like the money wasn't there to provide for it.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Welcome to Free Republic!

[Alouette]

The reason for the name change, as I understand, is to add a name like "Chaim" or "Chaya" (which mean "Life") or "Alter" or "Alta" (which mean "old age"). This is supposed to "trick" the Angel of Death.

The idea is that when a person is dangerously ill, the Angel of Death is sent to fetch the soul of "Somebody" "son/daughter of Somebody" but upon finding "Somebody Life/Old Age" son/daughter of somebody" thinks it is the wrong person and returns empty-handed.

All right, it sound silly and superstitious -- you would think the "Angel of Death" would know if someone's name has been changed, but according to Kabbalah, this is supposed to confuse the Angel and I wouldn't knock an ancient custom that can't hurt.