Saturday, April 5, 2008

Vacation

First off, thank you to all who contributed to Chris' ethical discussion. I have been fascinated with all of the responses and different view points. I enjoy being challenged and medical ethics has done just that for me.

I have received a few emails wondering why I have not commented. It would take too long to explain at this time, but in short, I am not in a place in my life that I can take a step back and be objective. Things have been on the rough side here and I am not able to sort out my thoughts or emotions. I have read every comment though and feel very thankful that most all have refrained from being less than polite. I honestly believe that we learn a lot about each other with each challenging topic.

On a another note... we are headed out of town to have some fun. Much deserved fun. Although I will have my laptop, I am going to try very hard to spend some time away from it.

Lastly, thank you to all who have continued to visit The Preemie Experiment. I've been somewhat absent but I assure you, I am not going anywhere. I still feel that together, with all of our various viewpoints, we can make the future brighter for the new crop of preemies being born each day.

I want to leave you all with a video that I found very interesting. Although not directly related to prematurity, I think Jill Bolte Tayler's experience will open some doors into the world of the human brain.

10 comments:

Me said...

Stacy, I hope you have a wonderful (and absolutely deserved) vacation.

Anonymous said...

Hey there I am also a mom to a preemie, Tristan, born at 28 weeks.
Please stop by my blog and I plan to add your link so I can visit again.

Anonymous said...

THANK you for the video. It was fascinating AND inspiring.

Joan

Anonymous said...

Helen Harrison comments:

Have a great vacation Stacy!

I just saw the video. It was most interesting!

I wonder though, if, for comparison's sake, we could hear from someone who had a right hemisphere stroke.

Helen

MommaWriter said...

Hi Stacy,

I hope you're having a fantastic vacation! And I'm glad to have company in the inability to comment on the previous post. I read it all and I read several of the earlier comments, but couldn't bring myself to say anything. It's been a rough few months here as well...

Clearly I could use a vacation too! Hope you're getting some real R&R in!

Stacey (the one with the 'e')

Anonymous said...

Best wishes for a good, needed respite...

Anonymous said...

I am also a Mom of a preemie baby, born at 32 weeks. I came across your blog today and find the content so interesting and can't wait to start reading more of your ethics stories. Please stop by my blog as well, my husband and I write stories about our experience when our daughter was first born. Some are emotional and some just for fun. I will visit again soon. Have a great trip!

Laura said...

a little belated but i hope at this moment you are blissfully resting, reconnecting and enjoying a well deserved vacation!

Anonymous said...

Helen Harrison says:

The NY Times has a review of a book relevant to the video referenced in this thread.

The book, reviewed by Mary Roach, is entitled _Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath_. The author is a brain injury case worker, Michael Paul Mason.

Mason is described by the reviewer as the "anti-Oliver Sacks... he deals not with neurological exotica, but with workaday broken brains...

"No one is mistaking his wife for a hat. The people in this book are having seizures, running after their loved ones with kitchen knives, waking up in unfamiliar towns with no idea how
they got there...

"Mason returns again and again to the notion of self: 'What are we other than our brains? Is there a part of me that can't be changed by a brain injury?' The answer to the last question seems to be no. We are what our brains make us. Brain injury bears this out: it recasts personality, fogs thought, obliteraates memeory. Even mystical experiences can sometimes be explained as the results of neurological phenomena; both religious visions and profound deja vu can be symptoms of simple partial epilepsy... [often, it is from left temporal lobe epilepsy --HH]

"From reading Oliver Sacks, I had come to think of neurological dysfunction as an almost fanciful affliction, its victims like characters in a work of magical realism. Mason has provided a needed, and sobering, account of reality."

Helen

Anonymous said...

From Helen Harrison:

"[brain injury] also obliteraates memeory" ...

and wreaks havoc on typing skills!