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You are so right, Joe. I should be dead because of my poor attitude. I also especially dislike having well people tell me how I should feel. Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Ryan" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 1:59 PM Subject: RIP Tinkerbelle > Paula stated: > I think that the spunk of the person has a lot to do with survival. Hope > is a strong healer. > > I'll go out on a limb with this one but I think the idea that a patients > personal virtues or attributes affect medical outcomes gets way > overstated. Hope is the result of an expectation or judgment that there > will be a "good" outcome. Since hope can be misplaced it really does > matter that we use good judgment about where we place our hopes. > To put an expectation on patients with serious diseases like PD or cancer > that they be spunky might work out just fine if their own expectations for > a good outcome happens as the result, say of medical treatment. > What if that good outcome doesn't happen? Even if it's not our intent, are > those patients now going to also be burdened with guilt for not being > hopeful enough? > Do you remember Tinkerbelle? Not the Disney character but the one from the > tv play of a half century ago. She was played by the light from a spot > light. She had just deliberately drank a cup of poison meant for Peter Pan > and was dying. Just as her light was about to go out Peter turns directly > to the camera and asks all the children to wish really hard and thus save > her, and we did it! I felt wonderful.You must know what my next question > is without my asking it. > All I'm trying to say is that some things like taking care of those around > you are in your control. Other things like the consequences of having this > disease are not. Let's not add to the problem by expectations about how we > should feel. My concerns about this comes from my wife's experiences on a > forum for breast cancer survivors. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > Joe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn