Extra time

I thought I blogged about Art Buchwald, but googlesearch sez no. Anyhow, the venerable humor columist and pulitzer prize winner was told his kidneys were failing and that he needed to be on dialysis for the rest of his life. He refused, wanting a pain-free end, and moved to a hospice for what he has been told would be the last three weeks of his life.

That was back in February. In the months that followed, his docs told him that his kidney has inexplicably come back online and he has now moved out of the hospice.

Ezra posted about this, noting that end-of-life heroic measures should not be discounted because doctors are not always right about when things turn 'hopeless'. But I get the opposite message from this story. A painful, expensive medical measure was what Art Buchwald refused so that he can go with dignity. He has made his peace, and now any extra time he gets is a blessing.