Close Topic Options

Could You Survive Being A Vegetable?

There was once a sad case, and there are probably more because of war... where a man, a soldier, was near a grenade that blew up most of his natural sensory perception as well as bodily functions. He was confine to a chair that has a button built in one chair arm and all he could do was type morse code. He could not see, hear, speak, smell and had lost much of the feeling from his body. It is said that after many weeks like this the man started to click the button in morse code while communicating... 'kill me', 'kill me'. Yes, it is tragic, could you survive this? Would you be willing to go on living?

Vegetable Being Survive Could

It is hard to really know what I would do in that situation. Generally, I always say I want to live. Period. If I have my mind, I can think. I can pray.

However, this is very extreme. Perhaps I wouldn't want to live either. (I doubt the validity of the story. More like another internet or urban legend.) I would think if you were that far gone, you could just about will yourself dead. Just give up! I don't know.

It would take a very strong person to keep their sanity in such a situation. I think you would end up living in a fantasy world in your mind.

Could You Survive Being A Vegetable? History & Civil Business Politics

What a terrible story, I really do not know what I would do in a situation like that I will probably want to die and I may ask God to take me with Him but I don't think I could ask somebody to kill me

Vegetable Being Survive Could

This is a valid story, I am only sorry I cannot give you a source, possibly someone else may come upon it and be able to, I do not have time to search. Here is another thought... if you want to know what this is like, go in a closed room, turn off the light, put a blind fold on, cover your ears, don't talk, and stay absolutely still while sitting in a chair... see how long you can be like that without getting fidgety or wanting to move, listen or say something.

Vegetable Being Survive Could

This is a really hard question for me because I have a sister who is nearing that state of being. Yes, she can still hear, smell, taste, and communicate. But she is almost completely immobile, including now her head and neck. She can't wipe her own nose or scratch anything that itches. She has a feeding tube that was surgically inserted in her stomach, and she is fed from a bag of liquid nutrients every night. She is not supposed to have "regular" food because she doesn't have good control of her tongue and throat and she chokes. She can't operate a remote control or a telephone keypad. She can't see much, anyway, and so TV doesn't hold much for her--though she "watches" and listens anyway. She lives in a nursing home with mostly elderly, very sick people, some with senility or Alzheimer's. She can't go to most of the functions held by the home because the men "mess with" her, knowing she can't move to stop them.

Yet even with all this, she has a very strong desire to live. She refuses to have anything to do with a "DNR" (do not resuscitate) order -- she wants extreme measures to be taken to keep her alive, even if it means going on a ventilator (which may happen soon, as the MS progresses up her spine).

But I have to say that I believe her mind has been affected from having nothing to do but lie there day after day after day. Just some of the conversations we've had and her insistence that she's "getting out" of there someday -- that the nurses are taking up a collection to buy her a plane ticket so she can go "home" to Nevada. Bizarre things I can't really talk about.

I don't understand her motivation to live the way she's living, and especially knowing it's only going to get worse and will never get better. But I believe she does not fully comprehend her situation. I believe her mental state is much worse than the doctor's have been able to realize.

Seeing this, visiting her, seeing her daily struggle with pain and medications and rough nurses and "dirty old men," I'm not sure I could live that way. I don't think I want to.

But I'm also not sure I could sign my own death warrant.

End of ramblings.
Roz

Edited: FarSeer on 25th Mar, 2004 - 3:33am

Could You Survive Being A Vegetable?

How sad for your sister Farseer. My mom had an aunt who had scarlet fever as a child. She was left profoundly retarded, but her parents did what they could for her and she was able to dress, feed and keep herself clean. Then the state government got involved and said she needed more care than her parents could give. So, at age 12 she was put in a state nursing home. I visited her once when I was 14 and she couldn't talk or even sit up without help. She did nothing but sit in her room and stare. She would make grunting sounds to let people know she wanted something. I felt overwhelming pity for her. The strange thing is that she died only weeks after her mother died. I have always believed that when my Great-Grandmother got to heaven she asked God to bring her baby home and he did. I don't think that I would want to live like that, but I couldn't ask someone to end my life. I wouldn't want anyone to live with that kind of guilt. I would just ask God to please take me home.

Could Survive Being Vegetable

The group Metallica released a song in the early 80's which was supposed to be about a true story of a soldier who was injured from a land mine. I am sure this is the same reference, but unfortunately I can't find the real story myself. Here are the words of the song, which explains the torture that the individual is going through:

One - Metallica
I can't remember anything
can't tell if this is true or dream
deep down inside I feel to scream
this terrible silence stops me

now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
that there's not much left of me
nothing is real but pain now

hold my breath as I wish for death
oh please God, wake me

back in the womb it's much too real
in pumps life that I must feel
but can't look forward to reveal
look to the time when I'll live

fed through the tube that sticks in me
just like a wartime novelty
tied to machines that make me be
cut this life off from me

hold my breath as I wish for death
oh please God, wake me

now the world is gone I'm just one
oh God, help me hold my breath as I wish for death

darkness imprisoning me
all that I see
absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
trapped in myself
body my holding cell

landmine has taken my sight
taken my speech
taken my hearing
taken my arms
taken my legs
taken my soul
left me with life in hell

Could Survive Being Vegetable Politics Business Civil & History

Malexander, thanks for the referrence and I believe I remember that song from my off beat teen days, but you did not answer the original question