Polish man wakes up after 19 years in a coma

[gadgetlady 4]

meat was rationed and huge petrol lines were everywhere," Grzebski told TVN24, describing his recollections of the communist system's economic collapse.

"Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin."

Grzebski awoke to find his four children had all married and produced 11 grandchildren during his years in hospital.

He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him.

So was he alive and did his life have value for the 19 years he was in a coma?

What an amazing wife and family this man has. What an example they set, and would that we could all love those around us as profoundly.

[DerickM 1]

I wonder how he feels about Poland having a king?

[Sunta 4]

So was he alive and did his life have value for the 19 years he was in a coma?

If he feels his life had value for those 19 years he was in a vegetative state, good for him. I'm glad he had the choice to issue a directive about his care before he fell into the coma so his family knew his wishes to be kept on life support.

As for me, no thanks. All of my friends and family know my wishes and they know to pull the plug immediately should I fall into such a state. I would rather be at rest than be forced to be kept in a vegetative state for 19 years, or even for two years.

[gadgetlady 4]

All of my friends and family know my wishes and they know to pull the plug immediately should I fall into such a state. I would rather be at rest than be forced to be kept in a vegetative state for 19 years, or even for two years.

Good for you. I'm glad you've made that clear to your loved ones and they're willing to give up on you.

[gadgetlady 4]

Here's a more detailed story, found at Comatose man wakes to changed Poland - Wonderful World - MSNBC.com

WARSAW, Poland - A railway worker who emerged from a 19-year coma woke to a radically altered Poland and thinks "the world is prettier now" than it was under communism, his wife said Sunday.

Gertruda Grzebska, 63, said that for years she fed her husband Jan carefully with a spoon and moved his body to prevent bed sores.

"For 19 years he did not move or say anything," Grzebska told The Associated Press by phone. "He tried to say things, but it couldn't be understood. Sometimes we pretended we understood." "Now he spends his days sitting in a wheelchair, and last weekend we took him out for a walk in his wheelchair," she said.

"He was so amazed to see the colorful streets, the goods," she said. "He says the world is prettier now" than it was 19 years ago, when Poland was still under communist rule.

"I could not talk or do anything, now it's much better," Jan Grzebski, 65, told TVN24 Television in a weak but clear voice, lying in bed at his home in the northern city of Dzialdowo.

"I wake up at 7 a.m., and I watch TV," he said, smiling slightly.

Wojciech Pstragowski, a rehabilitation specialist, said Grzebski was shocked at the changes in Poland — especially its stores: "He remembered shelves filled with mustard and vinegar only" under communism. Poland shed communism in 1989 and has developed democracy and a market economy.

‘This is my great reward’

Despite doctors' predictions that he would not live, his wife never gave up hope and took care of him at home.

"I would fly into a rage every time someone would say that people like him should be euthanized, so they don't suffer," she told local daily Gazeta Dzialdowska. "I believed Janek would recover," she said, using an affectionate version of his name.

"This is my great reward for all the care, faith and love," she told the AP, weeping.

"He remembers everything that was going on around him," she said. "He talks about it and remembers the weddings of our children. He had fever around the time of the weddings, so he knew something big was taking place."

Head injuries plus cancer

In 1988, when Poland was still run by a communist government, Grzebski fell into a coma after sustaining head injuries as he was attaching two train carriages. Doctors also found cancer in his brain and said he would not live. Grzebski's wife took him home.

Last October he fell sick with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized again, Grzebska said.

Doctors' efforts led to the first signs of recovery.

"He began to move and his speech was becoming clearer, although I was the only one to understand him," she said.

Intensive rehabilitation brought more effects.

"At the start, his speech was very unclear, now it is improving daily," said Pstragowski, who predicted his patient would soon walk. "I am sure that without the dedication of his wife, the patient would not have reached us in the (good) shape that he did."

What an amazing and beautiful testament to the love these two people share for each other.

[TommyO 5]

Some would make a statement like "give up on you' where other's might say 'let you go" either way words such as these tell us much about the people who use them and little about those they speak of.

[OH Juli 15]

Just an aside, Gadgetlady- under your name it says "looking forward to life" I can appreciate that. Life is/will be different when the weight is lost, but it makes me think you are not living in the moment and enjoying life today.

That's rather sad.

[Sunta 4]

Good for you. I'm glad you've made that clear to your loved ones and they're willing to give up on you.

Actually I consider myself blessed to have friends and family who respect me and who would fulfill my wishes despite what their own desires and interests may be.

[lisah25 3]

Good for you. I'm glad you've made that clear to your loved ones and they're willing to give up on you.

I find that an interesting way to phrase it. We don't know how willing anyone's family is when they follow a directive. They may not agree at all, but feel that they must honor someone's choice.

Personally, I don't want to be in such a state either. I'd rather go on to what I believe is next.

[lisah25 3]

What an amazing and beautiful testament to the love these two people share for each other.

I find it amazing what happens in a coma. Some people do report being aware, and in his case it sounds like a "light" coma if he could be fed from a spoon.

And I agree, it is a testament to their love. I do think we need to be careful though to judge all situations by this one. Sometimes love is letting go of someone.

[gadgetlady 4]

Just an aside, Gadgetlady- under your name it says "looking forward to life" I can appreciate that. Life is/will be different when the weight is lost, but it makes me think you are not living in the moment and enjoying life today.

That's rather sad.

I'm sorry you misunderstood. I'm actually not sad at all. I love life. I just love it more when I can enjoy the things that I can't currently enjoy: biking and swimming with my kids, dancing with my husband, and the like.

[gadgetlady 4]

To those of you who think once you're in a coma you should be "let go": who knows, when entering a coma, when one will come out of it? It may be two days, it may be two months, it may be two years, or it may be 19 years. When does your family pull the plug? Minute #1? How do they know you won't awake at minute #2? The doctors told this woman her husband would never awake. If she had become discouraged and pulled the plug at 18 years and 364 days based on their telling her over and over that it was a lost cause, how sad that would be.

I don't have any objection to any of you telling your families and loved ones to "give up on you", "let you go", "pull the plug", "let you slip away in peace", "euthanize you", or whatever you'd like to call it (it's all the same thing regardless of the words we use). For my family and my decisions, I know would never give up on my loved ones and I know they would never give up on me.

[lisah25 3]

To those of you who think once you're in a coma you should be "let go": who knows, when entering a coma, when one will come out of it.

Actually, to my mind the question is less "when" then "if". I think, and I could be wrong, that one reason cases like this get so much press is that they are rare.

For me, the line will be once my doctors agree that there is no brain function, and machines are keeping me alive. I'm not sure that was the case for this man, since his wife was feeding him with a spoon, and he reports awareness of events. I also read in a link that he tried to communicate at times.