tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post5659923873247579815..comments2024-03-06T23:13:36.562-08:00Comments on Sense of Misplaced: Suicide Prevention MonthBug Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06253157009010644214noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-83262606671853202982016-09-29T08:58:51.770-07:002016-09-29T08:58:51.770-07:00Very well said, thank you. My friend really had t...Very well said, thank you. My friend really had tried virtually everything, but every circumstance is different, I agree. Very glad you are still here to share your empathy. :-)Bug Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06253157009010644214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-1735333856291469372016-09-29T05:42:38.746-07:002016-09-29T05:42:38.746-07:00Having been a therapist and advocate for people wi...Having been a therapist and advocate for people with chronic conditions for many years, I have witnesses the inspiring ability of human beings to change the way they feel about their circumstances once given enough positive stimulation, tools, skills and support. Before I was a therapist, I myself was a person on the brink. An incurable illness had transformed my life without hope of recovery. I lost everything, perhaps most of all my hope, joy and sense of there being a future ahead of me to live for. The people closest to me were far from helpful. I was isolated, alone and in the darkest of places. But new people entered, people who themselves had lived through what I was facing.By their courageous examples, I slowly able to redefine myself to a different, but by all means NOT a lesser standard. I've been at this for 15 years now and my life continues to be difficult. I am not aging gracefully. Yes, I hope that I will not be deprived of my right to make that very personal choice to release myself from suffering down the road. But I know it to be true that most people reach that place prematurely due to an absence of community, support, example and mentoring. Those of us determined to derive joy and pleasure in our lives in spite of our suffering have a responsibility to lift others and offer them companionship and hope. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-47027203333227241172016-09-29T02:20:25.334-07:002016-09-29T02:20:25.334-07:00To be fair, I think it is very hard to know much a...To be fair, I think it is very hard to know much about the healthcare system without either being in it or knowing very personally someone who is. It's also very easy to become cynical of it because of how little time doctors have to spend with their patients. Kind of like how you grow to hate a big company because anytime you have a problem with it all you can get is some confounded recording or a clueless hireling. There are people who know what's going on and give a damn in there somewhere, but they're so hard to find!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01019461515734634626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-65008272646137508752016-09-28T23:21:30.087-07:002016-09-28T23:21:30.087-07:00Thank you so much for *your* eloquence and gentle ...Thank you so much for *your* eloquence and gentle reminder that I sometimes paint with too broad a brush. You have my respect and admiration.Bug Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06253157009010644214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-36601333550100202472016-09-28T21:07:02.459-07:002016-09-28T21:07:02.459-07:00Regarding your cynicism of the healthcare establis...Regarding your cynicism of the healthcare establishment: end of life conflict occurs between patients and doctors all the time. Sometimes it's the doctor who thinks that families should order "do everything you can" to save a patient, and other times it's the family, despite doctors' counseling otherwise and the futility of the situation.<br /><br />My partner has to deal with this a lot. He tries to teach patients' families about the horrors of a bad code on an elderly patient... how physically traumatic and undignified it is just for the patient to die anyway with a bruised and broken hand print indented chest, a free-floating sternum, and tubes in every orifice. It never becomes acceptable. He never gets numb to it. He just seems to get more and more angry and burnt out. It's sad and frustrating. And there are always other living patients with better outlooks who require a lot of tending to. It is, as you say, indeed the worst kind of selfishness. The patients become victims of their family's misguided morality or inability to cope.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01019461515734634626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4461221580583652638.post-62950371349638233962016-09-28T20:35:04.731-07:002016-09-28T20:35:04.731-07:00Interesting thoughts. The subject of suicide has a...Interesting thoughts. The subject of suicide has always been fascinating and taboo to me, but I often dare not speak of my fascination as to avoid the prospect of being looked upon as some kind of psychopath. The truth is that it is within anyone's power to harm themselves or others conceivably anytime, and it is our [nearly] collective yet unappreciated choice not to that is so fascinating.<br /><br />I loved the movie 'It's My Party' (1996). It was about a gay man with AIDS who is diagnosed with a horrible disease. The disease would cause an emotionally and physically painful death in less than a few years time, so he opts to commit suicide with prescribed suicide medicine after having a goodbye party with his close friends and family. By doing so, they remember him as he was, and he goes on his terms without letting the disease triumph. It was a beautiful story, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.Travis Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03723532486566037596noreply@blogger.com