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April 11, 2006
Squeaky clean..
I've had a shower and am feeling better, but still have my hacking cough and am somewhat lethargic...however, I can tell I'm on the mend...right now I'm having a battle with my ears - I am trying to open them up and they are trying to help me, but neither of us is winning...probably this afternoon they'll pop open and I will hear again...In the meantime, I'm gonna find something to do around the house...there's lots to be done, its just a matter of how much energy I have to do them (but isn't that true when I'm not sick?)...
Did you watch the American Experience on PBS last night? It was about the 'Bubble Boy' and I found it much more interesting than the Movie of the Week staring John Travolta...
What was most interesting was the three doctors who signed on to find the cure, then one by one abandonded the boy to pursue their own careers, saying they couldn't do anything more to help him...but when a new doctor wanted to give David a 'real' life, they all jumped in and said 'no'! There's a great debate as to whether it was right to keep him in a bubble to survive the 12 years he did, or if it was a human experiment gone wrong at the cost of a boy's humanity...Apparently now a days if children are born with this same disease, they are given a bone marrow transplant, but it doesn't work, they are not put into bubbles for survival...I can see both sides of the argument, there isn't a right or wrong, just two sides to the story...Science is great at extending life - at the cost of happiness, comfort and dignity...would you want to live on life support as a vegetable for 20 years? I spent time with a woman who had a major head injury and couldn't function on her own...she was 33 years old and her life was basically over...but her wealthy family kept her alive (probably so they could figure out how to handle her inheritance within the family and her children)and it was all rather awful...they moved her from Austin to Dallas and I lost touch with her...I still wonder what happened to her, her brother is a major politician in Dallas and I think of her when I see him on television...its a crazy world out there...
Posted by Donner at April 11, 2006 11:15 AM