Thompson said not one to die in hospital ("he's had a rotten year,")

[truthpusher]

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/10956503.htm

Posted on Mon, Feb. 21, 2005

Thompson said not one to die in hospital

ROBERT WELLER

Associated Press

ASPEN, Colo. - While Hunter S. Thompson's suicide shocked many in his out-of-the-way neighborhood, one of his closest friends said Monday the writer had been in a lot of pain after a broken leg and hip surgery.

"I wasn't surprised," said George Stranahan, a former owner of the Woody Creek Tavern, one of Thompson's favorite hangouts. "I never expected Hunter to die in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him."

(snip)

Neighbors in Thompson's Woody Creek neighborhood said a broken leg had kept him from getting out as often as in the past, including to the tavern.

(snip)

Mike Cleverly, a neighbor and longtime friend, spent Friday night watching a basketball game on TV with Thompson. He said Thompson was clearly hobbled by the broken leg. "Medically speaking, he's had a rotten year," he said.

complete story:
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/10956503.htm

[sasquatch]

1. I was a reader of his ESPN articles and he did have a shitty year

He had half of the vertibraes in his back replaced, his hip replaced and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have a disease like cancer that he didn't want to deal with.

[Gman]

2. He talked about his titanium bionic body

or something. I read the same thing. This makes a lot of sense. Chronic pain does strange things to people.

[daleo]

4. I have known a few people that committed suicide.

And pain and/or medical issues have always been present, in my experience (diabetes, arthritis, cancer).

[SoCalDem]

26. The really sad thing is that HIS chronic pain

became his FAMLIY'S psychic pain forever:(

[Gman]

27. If they lived with Thompson for that long

surely they weren't the least bit surprised or shocked. I'm sure it was traumatic for Juan to find him being there was certainly a bloody mess. But I seriously doubt they were the least bit surprised or shocked. I'm sure they also knew he felt he could commit suicide at any time and believed it.

It's not like the usual, "Gee, he was just fine the other day when I saw him." with this guy.

[corksean]

3. (Hunter S.) Thompson Said Not One to Die in Hospital

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - While Hunter S. Thompson's suicide shocked many in his out-of-the-way neighborhood, one of his closest friends said Monday the writer had been in a lot of pain after a broken leg and hip surgery.

``I wasn't surprised,'' said George Stranahan, a former owner of the Woody Creek Tavern, one of Thompson's favorite hangouts. ``I never expected Hunter to die in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4816676,00.html

[geomon666]

5. What I want to know is...

When will the memorial rocket be built? Anyone who's seen Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood knows what I'm talking about.

[Binka]

21. Two Thumbs!

I read in the Guardian Johnny Depp is trying to get it built. No joke.

[geomon666]

25. That would be awesome. I mean it was in his will after all.

At least he said it was. If they do get it built I hope they let the public see the send off.

[Chalco]

6. I have a hard time not thinking of suicide as a selfish act.

I know he was probably in pain which can cause you to think of ending it. But what if the pain goes away.

My husband was in severe pain for a year and contemplated suicide. I begged him not to do it. I understood his wanting to do it. But I said the consequences to his daughter would be worse than the pain he was suffering. He was able to wrap his mind around that and held off. The pain finally went away. (Too many gory details to bother going into the nature of the pain, but it was real.)

It's hard for me to commiserate on this topic.

[Bridget Burke]

8. Even judges wait for all the facts before they render judgement.

How much of HST's work have you read?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

9. for somebody eschewing selfishness

you sure do talk a lot about your own experiences.

[Chalco]

19. Good point. I'm just glad my husband's still here.

[Mandate My Ass]

10. Did HST owe you some moral obligation to stay alive despite his pain?

Because pissing on his grave is not quite the same as witholding one's commiseration. All the posts today about the selfishness of suicide had one thing in common, indignant protestations of how a person driven to such an extreme act through pain and desperation somehow "owed" it to everyone else to "buck up." :nopity:

[Redstone]

11. May I educate you about chronic pain?

The biggest hurdle people face with chronic pain (not the kind that goes away in a year--not, of course to imply that your husband wasn't really hurting--but the kind that comes from nerve damage or RSDS or Phantom Limb pain) is that with these conditions, there is nothing to give the sufferer any hope that the pain will ever go away.

That's what distinguishes chronic pain from acute pain (the kind you get when you break your leg; you can stand it better because you know it will ease up in six weeks or so).

If you've never experienced chronic pain you cannot understand what it does to you.

Adding to the physical suffering is the fact that in our society, you feel apprehensive about telling anybody about it--it truly is The Condition That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Other Pain People out there, is this correct or what?

I don't believe in suicide. I really don't. But I'll tell you the stone cold truth, and it is this: The only thing that's kept me from going off the bridge, and that will keep me from doing so in the future, is that fact that I have a family.

I hope this helps you understand a bit.

Redstone

[havocmom]

12. Chronic pain also ages you way faster than normal

It interferes with sleep. People with it cannot rest and that takes other tolls on other body parts and functions.

And if the chronic pain goes with a dibilitating condition, where one can only look forward to more and more limitations, well, some of us just aren't gonna go there just to please the squimish.

We are all mortal. Many of us face unpleasant, slow endings. Who are we to judge another whose pain is unknown to us.

Glad you pulled through the darkest times, Redstone. I know that lonely path and the temptation of throwing off a damaged shell.

[Redstone]

13. Why, thank you for the kind word, havocmom.

RSDS (http://www.rsds.org) doesn't ever actually go away, but there are coping strategies and a few palliative treatments.

I do sincerely hope whatever your condition is, it's getting better (or at least stabilized, which can be almost as good) as well.

Redstone

[OldLeftieLawyer]

14. Good for you

You've made your choice, and I say, good for you. I do hope things get better for you.

But, that's a narrow view of pain.

No one knows what another's emotional pain is.

No one knows what another feels or sees or fears.

No one knows.

For you to sculpt your comments about Mr. Thompson's suicide around your singularly limited view is the height of artlessness. You believe that he was selfish not to consider his family before he did what he did.

Selfish? You would call someone in such emotional agony that he picks up a gun and blows his head apart "selfish"?

I'm truly sorry that you've had such a hard time with pain, but it's even more unfortunate that you've not been able to grasp compassion for others with problems just as serious, but perhaps not as visible, as yours.

(For the record, I live with chronic pain, having had my lower back crushed - L5-S1 - in a plane crash in 1980.)

[Redstone]

23. I think you replied to the wrong message

At least I hope so, because if not you misread my message completely.

I said essentially the same thing in my message (#11) as what you're saying.

I didn't say he was "selfish not to consider his family." For all we know, he did discuss it with his family.

I didn't argue with his choice. I said I could understand why he might make that choice, and that I am happy to be fortunate enough to have something that helps me stay away from that choice.

Redstone

[LiberallyInclined]

16. i'm a chronic pain sufferer too.

no cure for my condition, but to gobble narcotics daily.
if the day comes that i'm denied my meds...i will be going over the bridge, and my family understands.

[Chalco]

20. Exactly. The only thing that kept my husband from offing himself

was the fact that he had a family.

[Chalco]

24. Thanks for the education. I'm sorry I minimized the impact of pain.

[HuckleB]

22. Nope. Not unless you want to call biology selfish.

And, sure, you could probably make that argument, in its own way.

The Neurobiology of Suicide and Suicidality--
http://www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2003/june/heeringen.asp

[Dancing_Dave]

7. I bet the election had something to do with it.

I have no doubt that his disappointment at the election results played into this. He really had hoped the 2004 election would turn things around. And he was feeling to weak to effectively fight on the cultural front much longer. :nopity:

His spirit will still inspire energy in the movements we need for change. :yourock:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

15. No, I doubt he gave a rat's ass

He was tired and worn out and it wasn't getting better for him. Did you see that November, 2005 picture of him on a tarmac with John Kerry? He looked terrible, bloated and haggard and very, very ill.

Not everything can be blamed on Fuckface and his band of White House squatters, although I lament that.

Mr. Thompson did what he had to do, I guess. He gave us a memorable body of work. What a legacy! We're so lucky.

[bloom]

17. It's nice to have some idea

even though one never knows.

Blind speculation is worse.

Some people are afraid to have compassion - it seems - it may seem that to understand brings a person closer to ones own death.

[confludemocrat]

18. Maybe this fits, maybe not

but the words in the final movement of Mahlers Second symphony seem appropriate to me any way about his life, that he cared for his country, his people (us), his principles (which many of us shared with him, referring to thine in this passage and also refers to his suffering at the end:

Oh believe, my heart, oh believe:
Nothing is lost with thee!
Thine is what thou hast desired,
What thou hast loved for, what thou hast fought for

Oh believe thou wert not born in vain!
Hast not lived in vain, suffered in vain!