THE TRUE STORY OF...
interrupt the progress she was making. We prevailed upon her to extend her
stay by one week at least. But to no avail.
We couldn’t guess that she was back on morphine (procured from an-
other hospital) and dreaded nothing more than running out of it. At home it
would be plentiful. Her bowels couldn’t move because of it, but she could
take a laxative. Her appetite was gone because of it, but she could be fed by
IV. She didn’t aspire to a natural life, a secure life.
She was feeling very well the day before they left. But she was sailing
on a magic carpet of morphine, IVs, and supplements. It couldn’t last.
On May 9, they called from home by telephone. She was swelling, full
of pain, getting worse every day, and bedridden. Clearly going down hill.
Summary: It was not her fault for being addicted. (The medical profes-
sion has had 100 years to develop pain killers that are not addictive). It was
not his fault for yielding. He thought she had turned the comer and would
survive. She didn’t care. We respect them both. The tragedy is in the disease
and the current professional response to it. We must make every effort to
improve this.
Martha Berland
2/21 2/26 3/5 3/9 3/13 3/18
RBC 4.96 5.09 4.33 4.81 4.37 4.09
WBC 7,1 7,2 5,6 3,7 6,1 8,7
PLT 287 299 274 244 254 323
glucose 141 107 111 134 118 120
BUN 7 9 11 9 9 12
creatinine 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8
AST (SGOT) 24 38 45 58 51 37
ALT (SGPT) 16 23 27 32 46 24
LDH 189 177 184 251 247 154
GGT 42 58 47 49 86 67
T.b. 6.8 7.0 6.0 6.6 6.7 7.0
alk phos 76 104 85 65 106 98
T.p. 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.6 0.7
albumin 3.7 3.9 3.1 3.9 3.5 3.5
globulin 2.9 3.1 2.9 2.7 3.2 3.5
uric acid 2.9 2.8 2.2 2.9 3.6 3.1
Calcium 9.2 9.3 8.2 8.4 8.8 8.8
Phosphorus 2.8 3.1 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6
Iron 22 30 31 20 28 18
Sodium 135 136 137 129 136 135
Potassium 3.9 3.8 4.2 3.4 4.2 4.0
Chloride 104 99 101 111 100 98
triglycerides 86 95 8 verified 105 93 66
cholesterol 200 218 124 164 182 148