Sunday, July 29, 2007

Pete Wilson Follow-Up

Someone replied to my earlier post about Pete Wilson's "eerie premonition" of his death with the following:

Steve, I've "grown up" with Pete Wilson's broadcasts also. This is sad news! His monologue is a reminder that we must listen to our inner voice, over and above all else, and have the courage to trust what we here.

This is how I replied:

I think you're right, Kathy. We need to listen more closely to our "inner voice." As I listened to KGO on Monday morning, a nurse called in to say that, in her experience, a disproportionately large number of patients who've expressed high anxiety over upcoming operations have ended up dying from them. Several KGO staff members reported how profoundly anxious Pete was the day before his surgery. They had never seen him like that before.

Of course, one wonders whether this anxiety was the result of some kind of paranormal premonition or presentiment of impending death or simply a more natural response to an upcoming operation, and maybe the anxiety caused or contributed to the death. Pete Wilson speculated in his Wednesday monologue that his anxiety might have been caused by his advancing years and by a fairly recent bout of severe food poisoning that almost killed him.

In any case, I wonder what one is to do when his "inner voice" warns him about an upcoming surgery. Should one forego the surgery? Pete Wilson's surgery was elective. He could have avoided it and languished in hip pain that prevented him from playing his beloved golf and doing other things he enjoyed, but he would still, presumably, be alive. But should everyone heed his inner voice and avoid surgery that, instead of causing death, might significantly improve one's quality of life?

I don't know.

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