Carol, I believe the film was "Seabiscuit". Funny this topic should come up. Last Monday we buried my uncle, 78 years old. He was not sick, but went in to the hospital for a procedure to inject a substance into his spine to control the pain from compression fractures (he had osteoporosis). During his stay, he went into respiratory arrest while his family was there, and they put him on a ventilator. After a few weeks and several attempts to wean him from the respirator, he remained nonresponsive and my aunt was given a choice: to have a trach put in and attach him to the vent that way, which would mean the rest of his life that way in a nursing home placement, or to pull the vent and let him expire. My aunt, in essence, had to determine that "his time had come", and terminated the life support. He died within 24 hours, and his breathing became very laborious. We wished someone would have given him a shot to end it all for him, as a vet would have done with his pet. Our beloved Princess stopped eating in December. She was 12, a terrier mix. The vet did various tests to determine if she had organ failure (she didn't), and kept her on iv fluids for a couple of days. She came home, very weak, ate one meal (I think to please us) and stopped eating again. We had her put down. It was a peaceful end to her life. We figured we never let her be uncomfortable during her life, we weren't going to let her be uncomfortable during her death. I wish my uncle didn't have to suffer so much before he could finally pass.
but fabulous health otherwise. Then one day he went down in his rear legs. A rushed trip to the vet revealed spinal cord deterioration. Kinda like the last frayed string was about to snap.
