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A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

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Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#191

Post by astatine »

My father passed away suddenly when I and my younger brother were still studying, 29 years ago this week. It took us a decade to pick up the pieces and I don't think we ever became whole again.

I think the question of suddenness vs a slower passing is very much to do with general state of affairs. Are there people dependent? Are there a lot of open threads which need some confusion? Is it below the average age (not that it should matter)? Or are they enjoying their life, perhaps in comfortable retirement?

The passing of a parent would be traumatic in nearly all cases? Can the pain (of an extended illness) be reduced? Or the chaos of a sudden death?

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#192

Post by derefr »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #64
derefr wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of these problems are solved by transcending flesh and blood. Why wouldn't a brain-emulation want to live forever, with just as much zest for life and learning after a billion years as today; and what's stopping us from eventually hosting a googolplex such ems (= plenty of room for raising kids) on "only" the computational substrate of a single Sol-powered matrioshka brain?

If I show you a machine that people step into and are then brought out the other side on a single Sol-powered matrioshka brain then I suppose you would take that offer, however there is a leap between the two states that cannot be conclusively proven. How do we know that the consciousness is in the matrioshka is the person who went in.

Certainly, there might be ways of achieving this; but in terms of talking about the continuation of our species as a whole, does it matter if people today can do it? Us flesh-and-blood humans can live out our limited flesh-and-blood lifespan, while raising children who are born as brain-emulations. Nobody has to cross over for “humanity” to eventually attain immortality. It just might not be immortality for us living now.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#193

Post by mcv »

S_A_P wrote: post #142
mcv wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies. My mother and my wife's father died in the same year. He died suddenly of a heart attack. He was gone, no chance to say goodbye. My mother was diagnosed in the summer with pancreatic cancer, and had only a few months to live. She didn't want chemo, as it was unlikely to do much good, and she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in hospitals. It surprised me how calm she became about everything. She's…

I would never wish pancreatic cancer on anyone, and the thought of passing away suddenly without being able to tell my loved ones good bye is equally awful sounding to me. I suppose it highlights the importance of making sure that your friends and family always know how you feel about them.

And don't postpone spending time with them. We knew we had little time, so we used our time well. But it's often much too tempting to postpone these things, to neglect our family, and then something happens and it's too late.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#194

Post by selimthegrim »

lttlrck wrote: post #22
pansa wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was sure your link to a British comedian was going to be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Cooper

Me too, I saw it live on TV - along with millions of others... everyone was in stitches because they thought it was part of the act.

Redd Foxx as well

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#195

Post by mcv »

digitalsushi wrote: post #167
mcv wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies. My mother and my wife's father died in the same year. He died suddenly of a heart attack. He was gone, no chance to say goodbye. My mother was diagnosed in the summer with pancreatic cancer, and had only a few months to live. She didn't want chemo, as it was unlikely to do much good, and she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in hospitals. It surprised me how calm she became about everything. She's…

If I could have chosen whether to let my mother die from colon cancer over 18 painful months, or drop dead from a heart attack, I would rewrite history to the heart attack every single time. There is no way being able to say goodbye would overvalue the dignity of being so instantly gone.

18 months is a lot. For my mom it was only 3 months, and she was surprisingly at peace with it. More than she's ever been before, actually. But every case is different.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#196

Post by mikestew »

echelon wrote: post #32
fernly wrote: post #12

Dubious about the "heart attack" diagnosis, at least as the phrase is usually understood. More likely "Sudden Cardiac Arrest"[1]: "In over half of the cases, however, sudden cardiac arrest occurs without prior symptoms." Like, the pump just stops. You'd feel faint and then be unconscious. [1] https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/sudden-cardiac-dea...

Does this happen in young, healthy individuals? I was reading the Wikipedia article linked in another thread [1], and several of the "sudden" deaths were people in their 40s that appear to have been healthy. Do you feel symptoms, eg. during exercise, that you should listen to so as to inform you to stop whatever activity you're doing? Feeling light-headed, short of breath, blurry vision, etc.? I run and also perform…

In my particular case, Wolf-Parkinson’s has been known to kill young people (a college basketball player about 20 years ago comes to mind). My case was fixed with ablation. I asked the cardiologist, “isn’t that what killed that ball player a few years back?”

“Yup. And if it hasn’t killed you by now (in my 40s), it probably isn’t going to.” Didn’t make the tachycardia (rapid pulse) anymore fun when an incident occurred, but at least it wasn’t probably going to be fatal.

And as additional anecdata, I’ve seen a Cat 1 bicycle racer in his mid-30s drop dead mid-race from a heart-related thing. Just kind of quit riding and fell over; from my non-professional observation, it was a literal case of “dead before he hit the ground”.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#197

Post by stronglikedan »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #113
fernly wrote: post #12

Dubious about the "heart attack" diagnosis, at least as the phrase is usually understood. More likely "Sudden Cardiac Arrest"[1]: "In over half of the cases, however, sudden cardiac arrest occurs without prior symptoms." Like, the pump just stops. You'd feel faint and then be unconscious. [1] https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/sudden-cardiac-dea...

> "Sudden Cardiac Arrest": "In over half of the cases, however, sudden cardiac arrest occurs without prior symptoms." Like, the pump just stops. You'd feel faint and then be unconscious. What a wonderful way to die. No sickness, no disability, no pain. Just turn off when the time comes. I wish everybody could die this way. Not too early preferably.

I was near death once - internal bleeding on the sidewalk while waiting for the ambulance. I was contemplative of my life, but it was very peaceful and I wasn't scared. So much so, that I hope I get that opportunity again when my time runs out.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#198

Post by avgDev »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #170
tartoran wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this. My grandfather’s slow painful leukimia death found me relief when he actially passed. I was relieved that he was no longer suffering, it was an experience that no human should go through..

Maybe there's nothing worse than suffering, but suffering is better than nothing. I would rather suffer an extra week than die.

Have you ever suffered enough to make that comment though? It is hard to understand how an individual feels when they are on their last days fighting with cancer.

I would like to be able to go, when I no longer want to suffer. Keeping people alive seems kind of sadistic to me.

I highly recommend anyone watch documentary about Masahiro Tanaka. He was a palliative care doctor who treated dying patients, and was diagnosed with a cancer himself. He asked his wife who is also physician to ease his suffering and help him pass. The film crew wanted to film the ideal way to pass. What they witnessed was much more interesting. His wife kept him alive against his wishes, just to prolong his existence. It was quite sad.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#199

Post by reroute1 »

pfdietz wrote: post #190
brenden2 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could argue that you live on forever in memories and historical accounts.

Those don't live forever either.

How do you know? Have you been to the future and confirmed that my history has not lived on? You might think it improbable, but you have no way of knowing that.

Re: A singer apologized, closed his eyes, dropped his head and died onstage

#200

Post by FireBeyond »

mywacaday wrote: post #101
chrissnell wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t speak for others but I had appendicitis about 10 years ago and ended up spending almost 8 hours in the ER waiting room suffering immensely. I distinctly remember towards the latter half of my wait that I began to feel a strange sensation of impending doom. I can’t describe it exactly but I feared that I might actually die if I wasn’t called back soon. I later heard that this sensation is supposedly one of the…

A sense of impending doom is listed in first aid books as a potential sign of a heart attack.

Absolutely. As a paramedic, in a good instance of the number of SCDs I have attended where the family have said "y'know they said they just really didn't feel right/had a sense of something dark/impending doom, all day long".

In the setting of chest or upper abdominal pain or pressure, especially over 35 years, any pain that radiates to shoulder or jaw, especially that cannot be relieved and doesn't appear exertion-related (but even then) should be considered something serious until shown otherwise, in general, and coupled with the above.

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