New advancements in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Concerns for long-term intensive medical care are starting to focus on the matter of long-term nourishment of unconscious patients. It seems that the limited use of fluids through IV is most likely causing side effects from the lack of using the digestive tract. Experimentation has begun in regard to attempts to feed patients that have been in a coma for a month or more with solid foods - albeit solid foods that are soft, e.g. bread, crackers, etc. Surprisingly, one of the factors of unwanted side effects are foods that are too soupy or liquidy. It got to the point where the liquids caused breathing problems by entering the trachea and even the lungs. Ironically, one effort to try to counter-act this problem is to make food a bit more solid such as with act of toasting bread in contrast to the softer regular, non-toasted bread. Though results have not been fully assessed, the initial efforts have been promising to the point of now referring to patients using this procedure as comatoast.

Matthew Perry's Grandfather's Heart Transplant

I posted this on Facebook Wed, Jan. 8, 2014 of a little known event:

Very few people know that Matthew Perry's grandfather almost became the first heart-transplant patient. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Back then, they pretty much matched organs by blood type only. However, there were other complications as well. After a young man in his 20's died suddenly in a car accident in northern California, the surgeon rushed to catch a flight up north to extract the heart, and then tried to race back to LA in time. Meanwhile, Mr. Perry had slipped into a deep coma, and the surgeon felt pressure that time was slipping by.

When the flight finally arrived at LAX, the doctor was shocked to learn that his baggage had been lost when he changed flights at SF.

Deeply upset, when asked by members of the hospital staff, the surgeon emotionally explained that there were two things: Mr. Perry's coma, and he had left his heart in San Francisco ...

And now you are one of the few to know also ...

And in case any of you have any doubts as to whether this is a true story, remember Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying that if it's on the internet, it has to be true!