In this morning's
Oregonian, front page, is the story of David Bocci, a 42-year-old graphic artist who is recovering from a massive stroke:
Moments later, two women noticed a man in sunglasses crouched beside a '93 Saab. Was he trying to break in? The man leaned awkwardly against the car door.
Are you OK? one of the women called. No reply. They edged closer.
"You could tell he was in trouble," recalls Kimberly Campista. "You could see him trying to speak, but nothing came out."
She put her hand on Bocci's shoulder as he collapsed backward. She and another passerby helped him lie down, propping his head on a phone book, while her co-worker called 9-1-1.
For David Bocci, the next two days are blank.
Why is David's story unique? Read on....
For stroke victims, time is of the essence in treating the blockage. In David's case,
The source of the clot lay upstream, in the carotid artery on the left side of David's neck. Something -- possibly a forgotten injury -- had nicked the inside wall of the artery, causing an eddy in the flow. A blood clot formed. Eventually, a fragment of the clot broke off and sailed up into the brain, where it lodged above David's left inner ear.
Immediate treatment for such a stroke is a potent clot-dissolving drug called tPA, a high-tech Drano for the brain. New evidence suggests that the drug works better when applied directly to clots rather than intravenously.
But two obstacles loomed. The clot-busting treatment, not yet federally approved, required the signed consent of David or his guardian. And it had to be done within three hours of the stroke.
"Time is brain," goes the catch phrase for stroke treatment.
The doctors explained the options and urgency to David's longtime partner, Chris Bidwell, and David's sister, Teri Gellos, who had rushed to the hospital.
Bidwell spoke up. I'm David's husband, he told the doctors. The two, who live in Northeast Portland, had been together 15 years and had recently married -- first in Canada in October 2003 and then in Portland on March 4, the day after Multnomah County pronounced same-sex marriages legal.
The hospital's eight-page consent form described a risky but possibly lifesaving procedure. Chris skimmed the fine print and asked Teri, a critical care nurse, what she thought.
Sign it, she said.
...
David became the first Oregon patient to undergo the direct clot-zapping stroke treatment -- and his case marked the first known instance in Oregon in which a same-sex spouse gave consent to approve a potentially lifesaving treatment for an incapacitated patient.
Okay, all you far-right fundies at places like
American Family Association, tell me again now--how is David and Chris' marriage a bad or threatening thing? And tell the next same-sex partner of a stroke victim why s/he shouldn't have the right to sign for treatment for a person who should legally be considered a spouse.
Sending positive thoughts David's way this morning....