Etta betta.

Kanemano: This news come just days after the singer was reportedly in "bad shape" from her battle with leukemia, Hepatitis C and dementia.

If I am in this sort of "bad shape" Let me go, life will not get any better.

This. Seems like putting her on a ventilator was a cruel move.

AbbeySomeone: pisceandreamer: Kanemano: This news come just days after the singer was reportedly in "bad shape" from her battle with leukemia, Hepatitis C and dementia.

If I am in this sort of "bad shape" Let me go, life will not get any better.

This. Seems like putting her on a ventilator was a cruel move.

She has money. She's got around the clock medical care. They'll keep her alive until it's all gone, nothing to do with what's right for her.

Unless she put it in legal documentation that she would want to be taken off support, how are they supposed to know what's "right" for her?

SnakeMan: Unless she put it in legal documentation that she would want to be taken off support, how are they supposed to know what's "right" for her?

Her family should know, but apparently they're too busy fighting over her money.

rga184: Fark you. You have obviously never worked in an ICU. Its family that always requests that everything be done, and staff is obligated to follow through no matter how angry we are that a family's inability to accept the inevitable is causing somebody pain. The only time i have ever gladly kept somebody like this alive was to give family from out of town time to see their loved one before we let them go.

I have to say, I have never understood the mentality of keeping someone alive at any cost, especially if it is a loved one. Dying process sucks enough as it is - why would anyone want to extend it?

/Grandma is on her way out
//Nurses know that if anyone does anything to prolong her misery by one minute, they will greatly regret it
///Still expect her doc will call and ask "So, do you want her to go to the hospital?"

It's a ventilator, not a respirator.

/pet peeve
//ICU RN

rga184: Its family that always requests that everything be done, and staff is obligated to follow through no matter how angry we are that a family's inability to accept the inevitable is causing somebody pain.

Which is why I have a living will @ 30. And every single one of you should follow suit.

Don't let the family dictate what to do, because they have no f*cking clue what they should do. They're too tangled up in their interpersonal relationship to you to be able to objectively handle such, unless you're related to nothing but autists. Decide your own comfort level with death, from "heroic measures" to "it's my time to go". This takes the decision out of everyone's hands save your own, and forces everyone else to come to terms with your mortality, same as you. No self-recrimination, no undue pain.

On-topic, hearing Etta breathe those two syllables will always make my hair stand on end. At Last embodies what it is to feel satisfaction, the flourish of love requited, gushing joyousness that has to be vocalized. Her music and memory will be timeless.

weiner dog: Haven't there have been instances of a seriously ill person improving noticeably for maybe a day or two before they die? Or am I way off base here?

You're not off base - one of the things I was told by the hospice nurses was that it isn't unusual for someone to have a burst of energy/really good day just before dying. I'm guessing that probably freaks some people out thinking that someone is getting better.

Occam's Chainsaw: Which is why I have a living will @ 30. And every single one of you should follow suit.

Watching my grandmother's decline has made me realize that I need to make some changes to mine. The minute my food has to go in a blender, it's over.

This headline is horribad.

/salute!

Le Bomb Suprize: All I really know about Etta James is that she is the answer to awful lot of crossword puzzle clues.


....with typical phrasing like "Blues singer _____ James". You know,to make it challenging.

The Lone Talbot: I hope you never have an accident where half your teeth get knocked out and you break your jaw! Yikes!

LOL, I've thought of that - it will be with the caveat of being part of a terminal illness. He's not allowed to suffocate me after I've had a root canal.

With my grandmother's slow and icky decline, we talk way too much about death and everything leading up to it, so he knows what to do. I'll name the Fark community as a backup if needed. ;)