Filed under: shethinks
Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:4
Uncle James passed away. 10 Nov’11, Thursday. He was diagnosed with throat cancer last year, and has been battling with the disease for many months, and there were complications with his kidneys as well. Chemotheraphy and dialysis were not easy on his body.
The monday of the week he passed, his heart actually stopped, and the doctor and nurses tried to revive him, but they took about 15mins, and after that, he was in a comatose state. The doc diagnosed that he was already brain dead because if a person takes more than 4 mins to revive after his heart stops, the oxygen is cut off from his brain already.
The family waited by the side, for Uncle James to wake up, and to wait for any response. Everyday, they would get the same report, as the day the doc tried to revive him.
So, it was down to two choices.
1) wait for him to come to, but to a vegetative state as his brain has already stopped functioning … or
2) to switch the life support machines off, and let him off.
the family deliberated over the very hard decision to make.. and chose the latter.
all the relatives and close friends were called in, as the intended time to shut down was 8pm. Pastor Tracy held an arbitary service in the ICU room by his bed, leading hymns, and reading from the bible.
It wasn’t until 9.30pm, that the doctor finally came.. and went with the immediate family, to switch off the buttons. And it was final.
sigh.
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