Was watching a program yesterday about the great man and it was saying he only has one cheek muscle now working and he uses that to communicate.

This got me and the g/f talking, what if the only muscle he had working was a bum cheek rather than a face cheek? Would he still give lectures? Or would it be considered to strange for him to be literally talking out of his ass?

We also pondered what questions we would ask him if we meet him. My g/f said she would ask him how many paradigm shifts he has had? I misheard this and thought she said how many paralyzed shits has he had.

It was also interesting to see that he supervises PhD student and they often meet up for lunch. If he is able to meet people for lunch does this mean he has bowel control? I would presume that he is at low risk of farting and shitting him during these meetings. So, how does motor neuron disease affect your anal control?

Also, does anyone know if, that is it for him in terms of communication once the cheek stops working? I can foresee that the cheek will stop working just as he works out the unified theory of everything. He would die a very pissed of man if was the case.

Also, how are his lungs working as surely these are muscles? What about blinking and eyes movement are they still in his control?

Also, how will he ultimately die?

This got me and the g/f talking, what if the only muscle he had working was a bum cheek rather than a face cheek? Would he still give lectures? Or would it be considered to strange for him to be literally talking out of his ass?

..... I misheard this and thought she said how many paralyzed shits has he had.


Wow, what a pair of intellects. :rolleyes:

Such a novel and interesting approach to Lou Gehrigs disease.

I'd think that a micro chip implanted into the brain would be a better way to give more relief to those who suffer theis unbearable condition. If a microchip were to be made that could tie directly into a PC then they could only think about what they wanted to say instead of having to move anything. ;) :)

I'd think that a micro chip implanted into the brain would be a better way to give more relief to those who suffer theis unbearable condition. If a microchip were to be made that could tie directly into a PC then they could only think about what they wanted to say instead of having to move anything. ;) :)

Done
A multi-institutional team of researchers has found that people with long-standing, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movement and these signals can be detected by a microchip embedded in the surface of the brain, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and converted into actions — enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks.

http://www.mtbeurope.info/news/2006/607021.htm

Thanks, good news again.:)

I think someone tried to avoid a hang-over by staying drunk.

It was also interesting to see that he supervises PhD student and they often meet up for lunch. If he is able to meet people for lunch does this mean he has bowel control?"Meeting for lunch" for Hawking is merely a social activity. He never eats in public or even with private visitors. His nurse spoon-feeds him, and he has demurely implied that it is a rather sloppy procedure that he does not want to share with anyone.I would presume that he is at low risk of farting and shitting him during these meetings.This far into the illness I'm sure he has to have urine and feces bags, so there's no chance of leaking. I have a friend who is nowhere near this far gone and he has them. As for flatulence, I would imagine by now his caretakers have found the right diet formula to minimize that.So, how does motor neuron disease affect your anal control?Anal control is autonomic with optional conscious override, just like breathing. Therefore we neither soil our beds nor asphyxiate while sleeping, or even unconscious.Also, how are his lungs working as surely these are muscles? What about blinking and eyes movement are they still in his control?Motor neuron degradation will eventually reach the more primitive levels of the brain. Many people in nursing homes require tube feeding because their bodies can no longer perform peristalsis, and diapers or waste bags are far more common than that. The lungs can stop working, requiring a ventilator. The heart can stop beating, which might or might not be correctable with external stimulation.

If these conditions are due to degeneration rather than a disease attacking a specific organ, then since it implies that the degeneration has worked its way down from cognition all the way into the animal brain, conscious brain function has almost certainly already--mercifully--ceased.Also, how will he ultimately die?This is why you should have a "living will" specifying how far your caregivers are authorized to pursue the concept of "heroic life-saving measures." Once you have permanently lost your cognitive powers--even the quasi-conscious ability to dream--"you" are not there any more. All that's left is a lump of organic matter whose metabolism can be kept functioning for an amazingly long time by modern technology.

Doctors and nurses are accustomed to these hard decisions so if your body is in a hospital they might "pull the plug" at what you and your family consider a reasonable moment. But medical personnel have spent their entire lives learning to find new ways to keep people alive, so that does run against their training and feelings and it won't always happen that way. Nursing homes are far worse, because they derive their income entirely from keeping bodies alive regardless of what's going on in the heads that are attached to them. My mother had a "no tube feeding" order in her chart but they just went ahead and did it anyway. It was going to take us considerable effort and legal expense to make them stop. Fortunately for her and all of us she died before that happened.

There's also the liability angle. As a friend of mine in the medical profession points out, "No facility has ever been successfully sued for keeping a patient alive, but many huge judgments have been awarded for letting them die." It's time to set a precedent!

No one should be forced to permit his body to be kept "alive" beyond a reasonable limit of irreversible degeneration which he has specified. It causes incalculable grief for his loved ones to endure this open-ended half-life as a shriveled shell with no sense of closure, it's an expensive process that dissipates the estate he expected to leave to his heirs, and it degrades his memory.

Stephen Hawking is a very rational thinker who's had years to consider the implications of his condition. Hopefully he has made the necessary arrangements to allow his body to die once the part of him that he values most highly--his mind--is gone. I would imagine that some countries have more reasonable laws about it than the USA and he has directed his staff to make sure that he is in one of them when the time comes, so he doesn't become the next Terry Schiavo.

Cheers Fraggle, very interesting. I have never thought of the body as such a fine structure of muscles with different levels of functioning before.

Like you said I am sure he does have a living will, it would be interesting know what it said. It's weird when he does die although you know its coming it will still be a shocked as for all his fragility he does also seem indestructible.

It's weird when he does die although you know it's coming it will still be a shock as for all his fragility he does also seem indestructible.When he was first diagnosed his doctors gave him three years to live. That was in 1963. He's now 66, older than me.

Apparently ALS does not affect cognition, so he won't lose his mind. Normally it does not affect the autonomic nervous system so his heart will continue to beat. The Wiki article says that most ALS patients die of breathing difficulties because the lung muscles weaken. I don't understand this since: A. breathing is an autonomic function which is not supposed to be affected by ALS; and B. ALS affects the motor neurons, not the muscles themselves. Oh well, Wiki is by definition imperfect.

Patients normally retain control over their eye muscles, which probably explains why he operates his computer that way.

In any case, 90% of ALS patients die within ten years of diagnosis. Hawking has far surpassed that, he has become a guru in his profession, and he has achieved fame because of his determination to communicate with laymen. He does indeed seem indestructable. But he's already at an age where death would not be remarkable for a person in good health. Many people I knew only lived into their 70s. He has beaten the odds many times over and civilization is the richer for it.

I think if his breathing starts to fail he will be provided with the most advanced ventilator ever built.