X-Message-Number: 1255
Subject: CRYONICS Quintessence: Part 3/3
From:  (Edgar W. Swank)
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 92 07:32:42 PDT

Quintessence (part 3 of 3)
 
Lessons Learned
 
Against what seemed to be insurmountable odds, the suspension
occurred.  Even with delays, the patient was perfused, though without
clinical controls and instrumentation, in the usual two phases, and
was then cooled to the temperature of dry ice within about one day
after deanimation.  It is difficult to generalize but, at least,
clearly possible under appropriate circumstances, given adequate
preparation and appropriate collaboration from noncryonics
professionals, for a minimal crew--perhaps even a single cryonics
staffer--to implement some sort of suspension.  It was possible to
observe very clearly the effect of the perfusion on the brain.
Additional protection probably occurred by direct diffusion into the
cortex by immersing the brain in the perfusate.  Of course, the entire
procedure was very invasive and thus the corresponding danger involved
needs to be carefully weighed against the benefits.  Gross inspection
of the brain did not show any damage as a result of removal.
 
 
Recommendations for Similar Cases
 
1. perfuse to both sides of the head
2. cool head constantly during perfusion
3. watch perfusion pressure, rate
4. remove brain before taking any tissue samples
5. consider better sterility for embalming pump
6. perform some surgery during perfusion (?), viz:
    startincising scalp
7. make sure no blood from the body drains into the head
    afterperfusion of the latter has begun
8. start CPR, heparin right away
9. if helpful and possible, e.g.  right after deanimation,
    placepatient in bathtub, immerse in cold water (keep it
    running anddraining), perform CPR while immersed
10. develop flexible unit to fill with ice and water, wrap
    aroundhead to keep it cool
11. consider purchase of embalming pump and other
    supplies,including extra pump to facilitate bilateral
    perfusion ifneeded
12.purchase oscillating saw, scalpels, protective visor, etc.,
    and learn to use them
 
 
What Have I Done?
 
Some years ago, I commented to a prominent cryonicist that I hoped to
be able to find some way of suspending my mother, in spite of her
reluctance to participate.  He then questioned how well this fit with
my libertarian and such views about not violating people's rights to
make decisions about their life, liberty, and property, and the extent
to which doing so might set a precedent in which parties opposed to my
suspension would feel freer to interfere with it.
 
Mother explicitly did nothing to promote her suspension, but
implicitly did almost everything, which, at least in retrospect,
facilitated the project; and other circumstances seemed almost to
conspire to do so as well:
 
(a)Although she did not implement a "living will," she made itclear
    to family and medical professionals that she declined
    "extraordinary measures," which would have involved many
    moreparties and institutions.  She arranged (as much as possible)
    to die at home, therebyavoiding the involvement of hospital
    personnel and facilities.

(c)Though admitted to the hospital, she insisted on leaving itand
    returning home.
 
(d)She had round the clock care at home, including oxygen.
 
(e)Things were so arranged that death could be easily certified.
 
(f)She did in fact die when of the family only I was present, todo
    as I chose, and was able, at that precise juncture.
 
(g)Her doctor visited her that afternoon, continuing the state ofa
    physician in attendance, and noting her deterioratedcondition.
 
(h) Interment arrangements had been made that very morning,thereby
    easing my own arrangements with the mortuary.
 
(i)Qualified observers (the attendants) were on hand to
    confirmdeath, as authorized by physician in charge.
 
(j)Certain limited funds from the estate were soon available
    toaddress certain expenses.
 
(k)There were no more specific written instructions which mighthave
    interfered with the project.
 
(l)The arranged (whole body) burial helped to forestall efforts to
    implement whole body or cephalic suspension, which might have
    prevented any suspension at all.
 
(m)Her cousin, a registered nurse, was in frequent
    attendance.
 
(n)That very day, I attempted to inform her of what I was planning.
 
(o)Mother did authorize any donations for scientific use
    [thedonation as it occurred is at least partly consistent with
    such].
 
(p)She wanted to be buried [burial occurred].
 
(q) She did not positively exclude this compromise [compromise
    implemented.]
 
(r) There was to be no funeral (which might have complicated
    procedures) [burial occurred immediately after suspension and
    without a funeral.
 
(s)She was interested in and hopeful of reincarnation [ifrevived,
    she will have a new body--both hers and not hers, inthe
    appropriate senses].)
 
(t) She hoped to live life better the next time around [her
    memoryshould be available as a guide].
 
(u)She felt that her death signaled the beginning of a great
    adventure [what an adventure!].
 
 
A Miracle in Our Time?
 
This idea for a sculpture (collaborators welcome!)  has repeatedly
occurred to me, with varying details, an inversion and a combination
in its sorrow and its hope of Michangelo's "Pieta" and numerous images
of Madonna and Child.  Please make allowances for any presumption,
though at least one colleague has independently conceived something of
this vision.  Depicted is one immobile, immersed in clear, silent,
cold liquid, arms crossed around a smallish silvery metal package
embedded in the chest, and smiling.  A descriptive title might well
be, "Cryonically Suspended AIDS Victim Bears His Mother's Brain."
 
Often during the few days from that Monday through Thursday, and
especially during those most harrowing, most awesome twenty hours, I
said, "It will be something like a miracle if this happens."  Michele
argues eloquently that a miracle is precisely what it was, and one in
which Noel Sullivan's efficacy participated.  We had relinquished our
hopes for immediate healing, but Michele contends that, many being the
mansions and varied the paths of this magnificent cosmos, a true
miracle is not a one-sided intrusion into our realm from without.
Rather, it applies creatively and with great surprise-instilling
novelty the most advanced tools and perspectives.  How better to
suggest that agency than to smooth this way that may join Mother and
me more intimately than ever before into a marvelously intricate and
structured mutual project, one not totally unprecedented, but
significantly so in its pioneering aspect, and a compromise that may
earn us very much indeed!
 
In her holiday card to Mother, Michele wrote:  "I believe in miracles,
angels, saints, the intervention of loved ones in heaven on our
behalf--but I know the most healing of all these is love."
 
Last November, before I realized that Mother was ill, a good and very
supportive friend of mine told me she had just learned that, as a
result of blood transfusions some ten years ago, she had been infected
with HIV.  In solidarity with her and her Jewish heritage, I copied
onto a greeting card a few words in Hebrew from the Song of Songs.
After Mother's suspension, I noticed that I'd written notes--names of
family, friends, doctors, phone numbers, and thelike--pertaining to
Mother's condition and case on the sheet of paper on which I'd
calligraphed a draft of the Biblical quote and which now seemed
fortuitously to function as a headline for the entire project.  It is
a half stich of verse 6, chapter 8, and in my English it reads:  "For
[at least as] strong as death is love."
 
But hail!  You, the fragile glory of animalhood!  You, belly that
kindled and held me, portal that birthed me, breasts that fed me, arms
that held hugged me, eyes that bathed me with sorrow and love!  You,
somber morbid tissues and organs, terrible in your desperate plight!
You, sweet, clean, vibrance of wholesome ones, unremittingly and
faithfully laboring to the very end!  You, tragic beauty of their
whole corporate truth!  You, radiant convoluted mutually hemispheric
intricacies of that flaming crystal, glistening, as if newborn, in
light for the first time, your incandescent sparks dimmed after almost
three quarters of a century, whither her essence is withdrawn, and now
cherished, abides!  In fellowship and through our tears did you
counterparts within me, and as we do again right now, silently shout
with provisional joy.
 
Traveling in this consequent sea of uncertainty and buffeted by its
problematic hazard, yet the chart smoothed out and the course
illumined from what seems the glowing lodestar of a real hope, I begin
the more distinctly to discern the details and the weight of the
awesome task I have undertaken.  And so, I salute all you
collaborators and interested parties, nod tentatively and wistfully to
you, Noel--dear Pseudo Uncle and True Brother, mightn't you be there
with a wholesome, soulful miracle for me?--and fix on life and the
future.  Meanwhile, dear Momma, albeit it metaphorically (I plan to
"go neuro"!)  I hold you close to my heart and start the job of
nursing you back to health; and I cherish this grief, to relinquish it
and be consoled only to realize that greater joy, now perhaps presaged
by the tentative blessing which I do surmise may henceforth tinge all
my days.  In remembering you, and them, and this, may we all be
blessed.  And let us say:  "Amen!"
 
After Poem of Emily Dickenson
by Jerry White
 
Stilled in our Chronostatic Chambers--
Unwarmed by noon and
>From midnight no chill--
Bide we staunch prospects of Resuscitation--
Rafter of Liquid--and Roof of Steel!
 
Grand go the Years--in the Crescent--above us--
Worlds scoop their Arcs--
and Firmaments--row--
Emblems--decay--and Tyrants--surrender--
Soundless as dots--on a Disc of Snow--

--
 (Edgar W. Swank)
SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005  Silicon Valley, Ca


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