Anyone have extra gift links?
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Thank you.
it’s a great article, thanks for posting
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Definitely a great article. Really makes me wonder. A recent episode of Brilliant Minds demonstrated the use of a brain-computer interface and it seemed so amazing.
Yes, I’m convinced both our parents could hear us and respond even when unconscious. I think it gave them great comfort to hear us saying positive and happy things. Dad chose to die during the 2nd time he had last rites. The nurses were impressed by the peaceful and joyous expression he had as he died.
H’s buddy’s wife had a progressive condition that trapped her in a body that she became unable to move or communicate and left her bedbound for 5 years. Her poor devoted H visited every day but it was causing him to be severely depressed. One day, she was perspiring profusely and the recommended treatment ended up giving her 24 hours of being able to speak and move. She told her H she wanted to go home and be able to die in her bed and bedroom. He made it happen, though it took some work in his part.
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In my career as a nurse, I’ve seen some things that made me wonder about this. Many years ago, I was working in the trauma ICU of our large county hospital. I reported in for duty, and the outgoing nurse for a patient to whom I was assigned filled me in on this new arrival. She had been driving with her two children and was involved in a terrible accident. Her infant daughter was killed, she had severe brain trauma and was in a vegetative state, not responding to any stimuli, but her little son had miraculously survived. The nurse told me at bedside that the young son had begged to see his sister, so his Dad took him to the funeral home, where the child was allowed to hold his sister one last time. I said, “Oh, God. The little boy was holding his dead sister??” At this moment, the mom’s ICP monitor (measures intracranial pressure) went sky high. Horrified, I held my hand to my mouth and said “Oh no.” The nurse shook her head and said, “that’s just coincidence. She’s definitely completely unresponsive.”
I was completely unconvinced of this. From that day forward, I always assumed that some part of an “unresponsive” patient might still be aware on some level of things being done to and around them. Any time I touched an unconscious patient I would tell them who I was and what I was about to do, even if it was just turning them or starting an IV or other such action. I didn’t ever again want to violate someone’s dignity or treat them as a body rather than a human being. Some nurses and doctors rolled their eyes at me when I would do this, but I didn’t care. I never forgot that young mother (and sadly never knew what happened to her after she was transferred from the ICU to a long term care center for patients on ventilators who were nonresponsive). I’ve never forgotten that poor family.
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I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, because I’ve been watching videos from a man named Jake Haendel.
He worked as an executive chef and inhaled an unknown toxin, likely from recreational drugs, but possibly at work. He was subsequently diagnosed with a terminal degenerative brain disease. He eventually went into a state that appeared to be a coma for 10 months. However, he was conscious yet unable to communicate during that time. He uses the term “covert consciousness” to describe that state.
A sharp-eyed doctor noticed something unusual and then his life changed entirely. He’s made a remarkable 4-year recovery and his stories are fascinating.
So if my loved ones are ever in such a situation where I have any doubt, I guess I’ll ask for functional MRIs 
?
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My brother was in a vegetative state after a stroke (brain bleed). I am certain that he was aware on some level, because he relaxed noticeably and passed away as I spoke on speaker phone with our favorite aunt. I’m convinced that her kind words about my brother allowed him to make his transition. He was never going to recover from his stroke, but knowing that the brain still seems aware even when we don’t think that it is makes me forever grateful that I didn’t leave his side, that I shared happy memories, and that I told him how much I & the whole family loved him after he was considered unable to understand. The doctor who tried to save him actually mouthed to me that he was unable to recover, never saying it aloud in my brother’s presence … I assume he also believes that the unconscious mind may very well hear.
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It must be about 10 years ago that there was an astonishing example of this in my neighborhood. (ETA: My memory played tricks on me; it was much longer than 10 years.
We have a public long term care facility in my neighborhood. Many patients are in this condition. The law is that all patients have to be reassessed at least once every so often–I think it’s 3 years. This does not happen. There’s not enough staff for patients; so these folks get short shrift.
One summer, a local college wanted student speech therapists to do field training. A couple were assigned to this facility. The administrators, thinking that these kids were too inexperienced to help much, decided to use them to reassess the vegetative patients to meet the legal requirement.
A few days later, one of the interns came into the office and said patient X wasn’t vegetative. She was responsive. The admin assumed intern was wrong and told her to do the assessment again. A couple of hours later intern came back and said again the patient was responsive.
The admin was super annoyed but decided to check it out. So, she went to the patient’s room w/intern. The intern said “I’m going to say the alphabet, when I get to the letters of your first name, please blink.” She started the alphabet, got to the right first letter& the patient blinked frantically. Restarted the alphabet for each letter and patient spelled out her first name. Repeated other questions. Are the blinds open? Blink once for yes, twice for no. The administrator said “One person visits you. Who is it?” Did the alphabet. Patient spelled out mother. (Yes, the only visitor she had was her mother. Indeed, the aids had frequently told her mom that visiting was a waste of time. Patient was fully aware of this and later thanked her mom profusely for not listening. She said her mom’s visits a couple of times a week during which she talked about friends and family, read her articles from the newspaper, etc. were the only thing that kept her sane. )
Administrator was stunned. They got her one of those letter boards you can manipulate with your tongue or something.
Patient had “locked in syndrome.” She was completely aware of everything going on around her. Patient later published a book of poetry about her experience.
All because one person actually tried to communicate and explained to the patient that she was assessing whether the patient could hear her.
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Hospice staff taught everyone at orientation that hearing was the last sense to go. Always assume that the person can hear you. Always.
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