A few years ago I was lying in the hospital very very close to death. I was kept on two occasions for periods of days, in medcially induced comas. SOME neurologists thought I'd die slowly and in great pain. To make a very long story much shorter 5 1/2 months later I left the third hospital , pain much reduced and with a good prognosis of liveable pain with the chance of some rehab..
AT the worst, I did consider suicide, as the pain was bad , if it became still worse and there was no chance I'd have a quality of life, what's the point? The plan was to give it my best possible fight first. And while I'm still screwed up and in some pain every minuite I'm awake, it is bearable, and I am getting better VERY VERY slowly. So, I go on, thanks to my family's efforts along side my own.
Would I have been a coward to opted out if the road had been all down hill in great pain, covered in hospital sores, unrecogniseable even to myself? As long as the family understands and we agree, the "long sleep" is an option.
Going off and blowing one's brains out without the required comming together of the family members and seeking alternatives is terrably narssistic and , well, mean thing to do. A cowards way is appropriate description to use, but not all suicides are cowardly, or based on anything except limiting terrable, uncontrolled pain.
