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Administrator
15007 Posts
Gratitude: 3353
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 Posted - 12/31/2011 : 17:15:08
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BEN BREEDLOVE SAW HEAVEN
(MailOnline)
After cheating death three times, Ben Breedlove, 18, finally lost his life on Christmas night after suffering from a heart attack. But not before he recorded videos of his life and near-death experiences and how at peace he felt when he believed he was leaving the world.
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Administrator
15007 Posts
Gratitude: 3353
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Posted - 01/01/2012 : 01:06:54
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BEAUTIFUL, BUT VERY SAD NEW YEARS EVE
Today was New Years Eve and I visited one of my dearest friends, Hymie, who was dying of cancer. He and I trained together during our psychiatric residency, and we were partners for the first 17 years of my psychiatric practice.
Although I had visited him the week before, I was shocked by how gravely ill he looked today. Although he appeared very close to death; Hymie greeted me, as usual, with a clinical question. He asked me which antipsychotic medication had I found most effective for Schizophrenia. I respectfully told him my answer, as I did the previous week when he had asked me the same question. Even to the end, Hymie was a psychiatrist.
His devoted wife and daughter were with him. His daughter had spent the day reading to Hymie the poetry that she remembered he had read to her in her childhood. Cheryl also lay next to her father playing his favorite music. She was literally at her father's side day and night.
His wife, Faye, was obviously grieving, but was amazingly strong. Hymie's son was overcome with grief, and was temporarily absent.
After a few minutes, Hymie decided to walk 10 steps into the living room. This small exertion totally exhausted him and made his face flush. Then it dawned on me; Hymie was dying prematurely of pneumonia. Last week, he developed pneumonia, and was started on antibiotics. This week, because of vomiting, he couldn't keep his antibiotics down. Without these antibiotics, Hymie's pneumonia had returned with a vengeance.
I told Hymie that he needed intravenous antibiotics and oxygen by mask at a hospital. At first he dismissed this, and stated that he knew he was dying of cancer, and just wanted to die at home surrounded by his loving family.
Nevertheless, we phoned his family physician, who was away on holiday. Fortunately, we were able to arrange for his family physician's partner to come to see Hymie that evening.
I told Hymie that intravenous antibiotics in hospital would give him his best chance to survive another few weeks or months. Without intravenous antibiotics in hospital, I told Hymie that he would have only another day or two to live.
His wife and daughter were wonderful. They told Hymie that he had to live for them. They were not expecting a miracle; they just wanted a few more weeks to share with him. Hymie reluctantly agreed to do as his wife and daughter asked. So he went to hospital by ambulance.
Right now it is shortly after midnight, and my dear friend is lying in a hospital bed fighting to live a little longer. His family remains at his side. They have vowed that Hymie will not die alone.
Tonight the power of his family's love has extended his life for another few weeks. They were the ones who convinced Hymie that he had to go to hospital. With any luck, his intravenous antibiotic therapy should cure his bacterial pneumonia, and he will live a few more weeks. Right now, every additional day of his life is a cherished gift to his family. We have accepted that Hymie is dying of cancer, but it is too soon for him to die. We are just asking that his death be postponed another few weeks.
Life is so precious.  |
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Inspirational Thoughts On Immortality
