[Magdalen] Prayers please...

[Grace Cangialosi]

For Alice, my good friend of 46 years, who has not wakened from a medically-induced coma after two weeks. She suffered a massive heart attack April 18th, went from an urgent care clinic to the ER to the ICU. They inserted a breathing tube and put her into a coma. She had severe injury to the mitral valve, and they hoped to stabilize her enough to replace it, which they did last Thursday. But she still hasn’t wakened, and they don’t know why. All tests have been negative. Her son sent an update today suggesting that folks visit and talk to her; I’m going up tomorrow. We’ve known each other since our kids were in nursery school together; I taught piano to two of her kids and performed her second wedding and her daughter’s (only) wedding.
She converted to Judaism after her second marriage, and I’m going to contact a rabbi friend here to ask him for some appropriate transliterated prayers and/or psalms to read to her.

A little while ago my daughter, who knows the situation and once dated Alice’s oldest son, said, “I know this sounds terrible, but if it was you...we’d be done!” It took me a minute to realize what she was saying, and then I said I agreed. In fact, I don’t think I would have opted for the valve replacement at her age...she’s 79. Even if she does pull through, her quality of life is likely to be very poor.

I feel for her kids having to deal with this. There are four of them, and her son said they met with the medical team this morning, and now it’s just a waiting game. Their dad died a number of years ago.
I was a hospital chaplain for 8 years, but these situations are much harder when they involve friends or family.
Thanks for listening—I didn’t mean to go on so long.
Grace