William & Kate 3

[louisa05]

On 1/20/2024 at 1:59 PM, just_ordinary said:

I don’t think we can suspect KP to be as open about health related stuff as BP is/has been. Just because the older Generation is open about “minor” things or pregnancy related stuff that comes out obviously, doesn’t mean W&K will continue to do so. I can absolutely see them drawing a line there. They are known to be uber private. They carved out their own way with the media regarding the children. Maybe they are carving out a new way regarding their health- especially when it’s not about the person in the LoS.

@just_ordinary, BP has never been very transparent about medical issues. King George VI’s cancer was never revealed until after his death. We were never given details of Philip’s hospitalizations in his last years. And the Queen’s health issues in the last year of her life were only discussed in very general terms. 

[hoipolloi]

6 hours ago, louisa05 said:

King George VI’s cancer was never revealed until after his death.

The doctors didn't even reveal it to him.

Quote

The King, a heavy smoker, underwent a left total pneumonectomy in September 1951 for what euphemistically was called "structural abnormalities" of his left lung, but what in reality was a carcinoma. His physicians withheld this diagnosis from him, the public, and the medical profession. 

 

[Father Son Holy Goat]

7 hours ago, SoSoNosy said:

I thought Buckingham Palace had a lot of medical setup from the "olden days".  There was a scene in one of the earliest episodes of "The Crown" where they were embalming King George and Margaret (I think) went in and interrupted the process to say goodbye to her father.  The embalming equipment was a little disturbing, but they were focusing on realistic

Caitlyn Doughty did a react video to this scene, it starts at 5:43. 
 

She discusses the tools, what they are, how they are used, and why.

 

43 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

The doctors didn't even reveal it to him.

 

That’s ethically problematic, unless there was Alzheimer’s or something similar also going on. 

[GreenBeans]

37 minutes ago, Father Son Holy Goat said:

That’s ethically problematic, unless there was Alzheimer’s or something similar also going on. 

I’m not 100% sure, but I think that used to be viewed differently among many doctors. See this article about the topic: https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2013-apr-25-la-heb-physicians-terminal-patients-20130424-story.html

[Coconut Flan]

Times have changed.  My great-aunt's doctors were going to do the same.  I knew she would want to know so I told her lead doctor you tell her or I will.  It was a somewhat common theory for awhile.

[viii]

7 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

The doctors didn't even reveal it to him.

Royal doctors have always been slightly shady. Let's not forget the royal doctor that euthanized George V so that his death could make the morning headlines. 

[Alisamer]

15 hours ago, SoSoNosy said:

I thought Buckingham Palace had a lot of medical setup from the "olden days".  There was a scene in one of the earliest episodes of "The Crown" where they were embalming King George and Margaret (I think) went in and interrupted the process to say goodbye to her father.  The embalming equipment was a little disturbing, but they were focusing on realistic

 

I wouldn't be suprised if they have at least a basic ICU sort of setup. The White House does. 

15 hours ago, louisa05 said:

@just_ordinary, BP has never been very transparent about medical issues. King George VI’s cancer was never revealed until after his death. We were never given details of Philip’s hospitalizations in his last years. And the Queen’s health issues in the last year of her life were only discussed in very general terms. 

They are typically quite vague. It seems traditionally that's been the norm... in olden times the monarch was sent by God and even if they had issues they were if possible glossed over or euphemized, to the point that historians often have to look most closely at contemporary foreign writings or the writings of their critics to get an idea, and then when possible confirm via as much other evidence as is available - for example Richard III's scoliosis wasn't confirmed until they found his body in 2012. (Speaking of which, I hope either Charles or William gives in and allows DNA testing of the bones purported to be the "princes in the tower" since we now have Richard to compare them to!)

I feel like even the younger royals rarely share anything they can avoid sharing. Pregnancy is visibly obvious so that gets shared, and related stuff sometimes gets shared by necessity. 

But, like, a lot of stuff about Diana didn't come out until after the divorce, or even after she died. And we didn't find out about Harry's frostbitten dong until he told us about it in his book. Anything that doesn't happen publically and can be kept private mostly is. Each royal being their own person of course, and so some may be more private than others.

54 minutes ago, viii said:

Royal doctors have always been slightly shady. Let's not forget the royal doctor that euthanized George V so that his death could make the morning headlines. 

I immediately thought of that, myself. That was found out in the 1980s or so, right? When the doctor's diaries were released publically. He thought George V was going to pass soon, but probably not for a few hours, meaning his death would be announced in the less respectable evening papers first. So he helped things along with a bit of morphine and cocaine to make sure the king's death would make the morning papers instead. Without anyone else's consent. 

Edited January 24 by Alisamer

[viii]

14 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I immediately thought of that, myself. That was found out in the 1980s or so, right? When the doctor's diaries were released publically. He thought George V was going to pass soon, but probably not for a few hours, meaning his death would be announced in the less respectable evening papers first. So he helped things along with a bit of morphine and cocaine to make sure the king's death would make the morning papers instead. Without anyone else's consent. 

Yes, he wanted to preserve the King's dignity by making sure his death was in the morning headlines, as it should be (in his opinion) and to aid his suffering. He basically murdered a king, LOL. 

[FluffySnowball]

3 hours ago, viii said:

Royal doctors have always been slightly shady. Let's not forget the royal doctor that euthanized George V so that his death could make the morning headlines. 

Oh my God, I didn’t know. How horrible…

ETA: to aid his suffering is one thing and I won’t judge that because I don’t know enough about the circumstances, but for the morning papers… wtf?!

Edited January 24 by FluffySnowball

[viii]

Yeah, the doctor certainly had his own priorities that he put into practice without telling anyone. 

[SoSoNosy]

19 hours ago, VGL said:

Buckingham Palace is undergoing a multi-year renovation.  Even if the medical space still exists, the place is full of construction workers so I don't think it would make a good place for post op recovery.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.  I was just traveling down memory lane back to the olden days of British Royalty.

[tabitha2]

Per Wikipedia:

 

By 20 January, George was close to death. His physicians, led by Lord Dawson of Penn, issued a bulletin with the words "The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close."[118][119] Dawson's private diary, unearthed after his death and made public in 1986, reveals that George's last words, a mumbled "God damn you!",[120] were addressed to his nurse, Catherine Black, when she gave him a sedative that night. Dawson, who supported the "gentle growth of euthanasia",[121] admitted in the diary that he ended the King's life:[120][122][123]

At about 11 o'clock it was evident that the last stage might endure for many hours, unknown to the Patient but little comporting with that dignity and serenity which he so richly merited and which demanded a brief final scene. Hours of waiting just for the mechanical end when all that is really life has departed only exhausts the onlookers & keeps them so strained that they cannot avail themselves of the solace of thought, communion or prayer. I therefore decided to determine the end and injected (myself) morphia gr.3/4 [grains] and shortly afterwards cocaine gr.1 [grains] into the distended jugular vein ... In about 1/4 an hour – breathing quieter – appearance more placid – physical struggle gone.[123]

 

 

[viii]

You might want to add the following paragraph 🙄

Quote

Dawson wrote that he acted to preserve the King's dignity, to prevent further strain on the family, and so that George's death at 11:55 pm could be announced in the morning edition of The Times newspaper rather than "less appropriate ... evening journals".

 

Edited January 24 by viii

[VGL]

Kate was released from hospital today,

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I"ve lost all sense of time...how long was she in for?

[TN-peach]

20 minutes ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I"ve lost all sense of time...how long was she in for?

14 days according to an article I saw.  That is a really long time to be in a hospital post-surgery.  There are so many major infections and illnesses in hospitals especially the drug resistant kind.  They really try to get people out quickly.  Whatever she had was serious.  I hope she is recovering well physically and mentally.  Because both recoveries are going to be hard for anyone no matter what their social station is life. 

[viii]

I'm hoping once she's recovered and is back to work she might share a few more details. It's not any of our business, but I'm still curious since she was in for an abnormally long time. 

[Father Son Holy Goat]

I hope she gets good rest at home.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

So she did have a long stay after all. So many people were saying they just said that in case but really expected her out sooner. 

I can't imagine how sick you have to  be to stay in hosp that long these days. Especially when it's not an issue of having reliable care at home.

[Coconut Flan]

I've been quiet about this, but I have a surgery soon where I've been quoted up to 14 days as the probable stay..  With complications it will go longer.  Mine is also major abdominal surgery.  I'm not up to giving details about why and such for mine, but it's likely she had an intestinal issue and sometimes they don't like to go back to work quickly after surgery.  My guess is she went in and the surgeon was expecting to do it laparoscopically and found things worse than expected and had to convert to open which can easily add a week or more.  The initial surgery may have been planned more as exploratory so could have been same day and then she'd be off work a week or two.  Then things changed which would explain the day after surgery announcement.  

[Mama Mia]

34 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

I've been quiet about this, but I have a surgery soon where I've been quoted up to 14 days as the probable stay..  With complications it will go longer.  Mine is also major abdominal surgery.  I'm not up to giving details about why and such for mine, but it's likely she had an intestinal issue and sometimes they don't like to go back to work quickly after surgery.  My guess is she went in and the surgeon was expecting to do it laparoscopically and found things worse than expected and had to convert to open which can easily add a week or more.  The initial surgery may have been planned more as exploratory so could have been same day and then she'd be off work a week or two.  Then things changed which would explain the day after surgery announcement.  

I agree. I had an unexpected emergency surgery that involved this. Especially  if there are medical appliances involved, needing some sort of external ostomy  (often temporary for a year or so) and adjustment and healing from all that — it’s a long, hard, process. Physically and emotionally. And definitely one most people wouldn’t want to have play out in the public eye.  Going in for something planned for laparoscopic internal repair or exploration and then having to go external, with the full open incision, or just more complex due to complications or damage makes a lot of sense.  And they would definitely want to avoid having her youngest jump on her, or having to walk up lots of stairs.

[Loveday]

6 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

I've been quiet about this, but I have a surgery soon where I've been quoted up to 14 days as the probable stay..  With complications it will go longer.  Mine is also major abdominal surgery.  I'm not up to giving details about why and such for mine, but it's likely she had an intestinal issue and sometimes they don't like to go back to work quickly after surgery.  My guess is she went in and the surgeon was expecting to do it laparoscopically and found things worse than expected and had to convert to open which can easily add a week or more.  The initial surgery may have been planned more as exploratory so could have been same day and then she'd be off work a week or two.  Then things changed which would explain the day after surgery announcement.  

I hope all goes well with your surgery and recovery!🌼

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

On other websites people talked about various situations they had with abdominal surgeries that have lengthy recoveries. All of them sound absolutely awful. I'd never heard of most of those options/situations. 

I wish no ill on Kate and hope she's having a good recovery. She's very lucky that she can take the time and has lots of help.

@Coconut Flan I hope you have a speedy recovery and heal well. 

[SoSoNosy]

My mother went in for a fall, but they decided to do a simple abdominal surgery she had been needing; that surgery had nothing simple involved, so she was in the hospital for several weeks and some rehab time later because she was elderly and needed to get her strength back.  

 

[Father Son Holy Goat]

Wills is back at work. https://people.com/prince-william-returns-public-duties-kate-middleton-recovery-8558692