Posted on 01/18/2009 9:16:06 AM PST by wagglebee
Sophie Pandit breaks into a smile as she recalls a nervous meeting with Julie Walters last summer. The actress plays Sophie’s mother in a new film and they met after Sophie was invited on set during rehearsals. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t do your mum with a Brummie accent,’ Julie had said mischievously, by way of an ice-breaker.
Sophie knew her mother would have approved. Throughout her life, Anne Turner was known for unleashing her wicked sense of humour to diffuse tension in difficult situations. This never stopped, even in the hours before her death.
Last summer, Sophie, 44, herself an actress, her brother Edward, 42, and sister Jessica, 40, were approached by the BBC, who wanted to make a film about their mother’s extraordinary final years of life.
Three years ago next Saturday, Anne Turner, a 66-year-old retired doctor from Bath, made the journey to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Zurich to take her own life after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy – a rare, incurable degenerative condition similar to Parkinson’s that gradually destroys nerve cells in the parts of the brain controlling eye movements, breathing and muscle co-ordination, eventually leading to paralysis, making the sufferer totally reliant on others.
‘This was a future Mum refused to accept and on the day she was diagnosed, she told me of her intention to commit suicide,’ says Sophie.
‘We were horrified and deeply upset but as a doctor, Mum was under no illusions about the outcome of her illness. She was a fiercely independent woman and she could not face losing that independence or being physically reliant on others.’
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
There is a point. And I’m praying for you to find it.
I have not looked back into your past posts.
I hope you are correct.
If I was in that position, not sure what I would do. Part of me thinks, let me go and let my family go on. Such a confusing issue.
If I was in screaming pain and drugs did not help, please let me go.
I believe that when my Dad was on his deathbed, he was pain free, but he wanted to go, his brain was mis-firing. He could not talk, the greater majority of the time, who knows what he heard....
The last 24 hours of his life, I told him to go if he wanted and I would deal with the family.
Mind you, I pushed for a DNR.....my Dad was a great man and would never want an extended care option. Period.
He could not talk, was curled up in a fetal position, after I told him it was okay to go...he looked right in the eye and told me he loved me. Clear as day.
He was dead 18 hours after that. Once my mom, sister and brother left him. He would not die in front of anyone.
I digress, if I was in screaming pain, let me go. My Dad went on his own.
It will be five years on the 26th of this month.
I miss him but it was good for him.
After my long post...
If I was suffering from cancer or such, please let me go. On my terms.
I will talk to the Lord when I get there.
He is forgiving, correct?
Morphine pump? Most of the time, I’d say some 95%+, we don’t even need a pump.
We usually start someone off on low doses and work our way up.
If necessary, that can be a staggering amount of medicine but generally we’re successful.
Incidentally, the most I’ve ever seen personally(AND ever heard of to date) in my 25+ years of hospice nursing was a skinny little hispanic guy, maybe 120 lbs soaking wet, self-confessed addict, he was getting the equivalent of 10,000 mg. of morhphine IV, per day, via pump. I say equivalent, because it’s a little complicated: he was on fentanyl patches, morphine nebulizers, and tablets of dilaudid.
In addition to that, he was on oral anti-anxieties, valium, ativan.
As one might guess, he had liver cancer.
Not metabalizing much.
Some people die in pain, or live in pain, and I understand wanting to stop the suffering, but in reality, we’ll sedate someone if their disease is terminal and they’re in excruciating, unbearable, intolerable pain, we literally give enough medicine to stop the pain, whatever end this might bring.
Sometimes, they stop breathing, sometimes they live for several more years.
If a person is on hospice and they’re dying, we stop the suffering. The key is getting a terminal diagnosis and the good news is generally in the later stages of a disease is when the pain becomes “unbearable”. We make it bearable.
Now function and dignity and not wanting to be a burden are separate issues.
Which is why we have chaplains, social workers, etc.
Pegita
Amen
Like I said apples to oranges
There might not be anything left that can be said or done. I’ve meant to drive out to my death for many years and patience was always hard to come by. There are no feelings of sorrow or self-pity, only am overwhelming and burning hatred for our absurd existence. Sorry folks, looks like this might be it.
Do something nice for others.
Go grocery shopping and bring something to the food pantry. If you can’t do that, send a check to your favorite charity. If you can’t do that, volunteer at a food pantry or any place that needs you. If you can’t do that, visit for an hour, or even volunteer at a hosptial or nursing home. If you can’t to that, call a friend and say something nice to cheer THEM up.
Focus on making someone else happy.
Also, I read that going for a walk in the fresh air helps better than taking medication.
Most importantly, pray for yourself and me, and I have prayed for YOU.
And face the terrible prospect of a very real Hell.
Don't do this thing, FRiend. Please.
Pegita
“Your FRiends want to help. Burdens are for sharing ~ stay in touch so we can do the FReeper thing ... bearing one another’s burdens. I’ll be looking for your post.”
I, too, will be looking for your post Soothesayer, and have said more prayers for you. We’re a family here.
Pegita
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” Romans 1:20
Praying you see Him in the beauty of His creation before it is too late.
Lord Jesus, open these eyes to your truth! Send your ministering angels,
comfort and love to one who is hurting.
“Lord Jesus, open these eyes to your truth! Send your ministering angels,
comfort and love to one who is hurting.”
I said that beautiful prayer, too.
Where are you, Soothe? Did you get my FReepmail? Still praying.
I haven’t gone out yet. Going to try and distract my mind as much as possible today. If I start thinking about the state of the world again, I won’t be able to stop.
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