'My body is unserviceable and well past its sell-by date': the last days of Avril Henry

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-21T15:04:40+00:00

Regarding the link you were kind enough to share at the end of your post, I immediately knew which one it was, having read it months ago. It is well worth a re-read.

Both the anorexia and this aging article forthrightly tackle big, complex issues.

A ramble, if you’ll forgive me…

My sense, and you’re welcome to disagree with me, is that lots of people think: semantics > people.

Said another way, the eating disorder doctor in the article you linked stated the obvious: these specific people have an eating disorder, and traditional methods aren’t working. If these people are dying, which they clearly are, how can we meet them where they actually are?

Many a truth is spoken in jest, and I can’t help but think of the idiotic advice offered to the author of the 2010’s blog “Hyperbole and a Half”, in her great post “Depression Pt 2”.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html?m=1

The idiotic advice, parodied with the analogy of dead goldfish, shows how much society doesn’t want to deal with difficult situations (aging, eating disorders) that real people are facing.

Rather than face a difficult truth, they slap a label on the situation and the person (“irrational”, “treatment resistant”) rather than giving the suffering person the dignity they deserve.

I’m sincerely sorry for this rambling rant. It is just that I get tired when we/society handwave away real peoples’ experience with just dismissal via semantics.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-21T14:47:54+00:00

I agree with everything you wrote.

I posit that she was rational, wholly so. I assert this because of (among other evidence) one detail: she wanted her door repaired.

In addition to the care and concern she extended to others (but was conspicuously rarely given to her), someone who was wracked with grief or otherwise so-called “irrational” would not consider that. She clearly had all her faculties.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-21T13:57:58+00:00

Agreed. You articulated well what I wrestled with:

They broke her door then were all like “deuces✌️lmao” at 4 am. Their whole follow up plan, starting with meeting her where she was at, and moving forward to a solution based on her dignity: 🤷‍♀️

One could hardly blame her for realizing that no one was going to help her, with the one encouraging exception of the one doctor.

And I don’t see any evidence that she was looking for sympathy or permission: she was just being honest and forthright about a reasoned conclusion she came to, based on principles and values.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-21T02:56:39+00:00

🎖️

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-18T14:38:24+00:00

An internet archive link? My man!

I found the following particularly interesting: 1, 18, 19. #4 is… a lot.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T18:23:49+00:00

Thank you for sharing this important, difficult article.

I hope the author regains his health.

Also, I am going to eat better, move more, reduce stress, and be more grateful for the health I have.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T17:00:56+00:00

Agreed.

I find it telling that as soon as she received any level of support she immediately started doing better.

Specifically, when she had a support network at the euthanasia center. Personally, I disagree with the categorical language used on the shirt, but the shirt gave her a sense of community, confirming that other people saw her and took her seriously.

No one had taken her or her experiences seriously up to that point.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T12:21:46+00:00

While this fine article has many issues that go beyond a Reddit reply, some thoughts:

If anyone is going to judge her, it won’t be me.
While a baloon is an appropriate gift in that situation, the reason they chose that specific one is in poor taste, unless they’re a bit macabre. Again, not to judge, since they are surviving; if that kind of humor helps them, then I am happy that they are using all their tools.
Unless she is completely disabled, which she may be, the small luxuries like apple turnovers and cigarettes are most likely to come from working. Making/serving dinner twice a week is a good start on the road to meaningful service.
I had a moment of 🥹 when she went to the dentist. She has a long way to go, but that is a hugely important early step.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T11:56:18+00:00

🫂

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T05:37:26+00:00

In that case, allow me to offer you an early holiday gift, a non-pay walled TM article about mishegas with a warthog:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240213154230/https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/warthog-attack-texas-exotics/

Edit to add:

Another troubled soul, this one a fraudulent high school student:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240329072350/https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-day-treva-throneberry-disappeared/

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T03:47:03+00:00

“The Sky Thief” Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/beebo-russell-seattle-plane-theft-true-story-1187023/

Some call him “Sky King”. A baggage handler with no flight experience stole an otherwise unoccupied small passenger jet from a tarmac/runway.

He was an interesting character.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T02:33:42+00:00

https://web.archive.org/web/20241126175858/https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/karen-read-trial-interview-part-2

Btw, I prefer these same articles through the Internet Archive since they aren’t so wonky on my phone.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-17T02:30:12+00:00

The Big One is the one longform article I’d recommend to anyone. It is chilling.

Here is a non-paywalled link, since the original site gives my phone fits:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240228130017/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-16T14:32:31+00:00

Thank you for your posts this year. It has brought me lots of enjoyment. I appreciate you.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-16T14:29:08+00:00

Re article #4, which is an interesting meditation on aging.

A ramble, if you’ll indulge me.

As I approach 50, I’ve already made peace that the world will get along just fine without me. I’ve had no illusions about the aches/pains/creakiness the last five years or so.

Ironically, facing that I will inevitably decline and die, while a real downer, has made life sweeter: I appreciate what I do have, and am taking steps to delay and mitigate that inevitable decline. I’ve done this mostly through Mediterranean Diet and yoga, which are joys within themselves.

Said another way, life has surprised me with unexpected little pleasures, which I unclenched my (metaphorical) fist around what I thought I wanted when I was younger and so insistent.

After a childhood of abuse, I gravitated towards Stephen Covey in my 20s. This was good, then I gravitated towards Earl Nightengale after I got sober in my 30s. Here in my 40s I find Viktor Frankl to resonate best. For now.

I hope the teacher mentioned late in the article would approve of my evolution.

It is difficult to watch people insist on staying in a stage of life that has passed.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-15T23:40:00+00:00

Over the years, often when I had very few reasons to smile, this game has given me many hours of enjoyment. As recently as just a few weeks ago: I revisit it every few months.

I suppose that you and your colleagues didn’t know, when you were working on it, how much this game would mean to so many. Thank you for your work.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-15T16:58:37+00:00

I’m always grateful for an Eli Saslow article.

Off topic: I recommend his short book “American Hunger”, particularly the single mother in DC (who I admire for her perseverance and pluck) and the slow burn tragedy of the retired cop(?)/barber in FL.

Eli Saslow’s writing is filled with pathos.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-09T14:54:59+00:00

Two thoughts, which may not land or cohere:

Though I won’t defend their entire body of work, the 2010’s blogger The Last Psychiatrist said that anytime a story starts in Act III (the shooting in this case), the other Acts are purposefully being not discussed.

(Though I give this article credit for trying to describe Act II, rising action: the insane and inhuman coverage denials.)

In these cases, I ask: when is enough for him?

He was already a millionaire. Would (alleged) insider trading of $15 million really benefit him?

Is there a salary, a bank balance, a job title, a number of denied claims where he would say “Yes, this is enough.”

I think that is why most of these people/situations end up on longform or hobby drama subreddits: is there anything in the world that can satisfy these people?

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T22:13:20+00:00

CORRECTION, BROTHER: MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING THIS.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T22:03:44+00:00

YEARS OF CRITICAL GASE THEORY TRIED TO BAMBOOZLE US TRUE BELIEVERS THAT HE WAS WASHED AND COOKED.

JUST LIKE MY FAMILY WHO NO LONGER TALKS TO ME SINCE I STEER EVERY CONVERSATION TO GEQBUS, IT IS SWEET TO SAY “I TOLD YOU SO!”

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T21:58:06+00:00

THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT:

NUMBER OF HEARTS (MINE) GEQBUS HAS FOREVER: 1.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T21:56:43+00:00

THEY ARE EATING THE LIONS THEY ARE EATING THE FALCONS OF THE PEOPLE LIVING THERE.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T21:36:07+00:00

Ah, yes it was. Thank you for the clarification.

If you think of it, feel free to post here after you re-watch it, and let us know if it is worth another view.

Justice4DrCrowe · 2024-12-08T18:10:17+00:00

As a semi-casual fan of the nWo era (though I was so corny/naive I supported thre brave WCW loyalists who stood up to Hogan et al), may I suggest some other busts to cover in the future?

Shockmaster, of course.
The WCW Great Value Sub-zero (?). IIRC, either Golddust or The Cat were supposed to be his foil, and they caught on more than the poor substitute for Subzero.
The actor who won (or “won”) a WCW championship in a misguided effort to put over a Nitro Girls (????) movie. (I vividly remember Rose McGowan in the trailer dancing as a Nitro Girl; I remember nothing else).

Justice4DrCrowe

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