Joan Rivers 'stopped breathing' in surgery

[Irisha]

I know there are people who do not like Joan Rivers and I understand that. I met her one time at one of her shows. She had K. C. & The Sunshine Band as her warm up band. It was a dinner show and I simply had to get up and go to the Ladies Room. Of course she said, "Hey! Hey! Where are you going? The show is not over! What is your name anyway?" It went on for several minutes and I was mortified but went along with it.

After the show, one of the backstage people came over to me with an absolutely gorgeous live flower arrangement and told me Ms. Rivers wanted me to have it. It was nicer than the centerpieces on the tables.

Joan Rivers can be crude and even seemingly rude, but she has been a very hardworking as well as nice person, IMO. Maybe I'm a little twisted (LOL), but I think she's really funny.

I'm so afraid she has suffered brain damage and afraid she is on a ventilator that the family will have to decide whether or not to turn off.

MOO

<mod snip>, I rank her with Rosanne, no class, but more money. Did you forget what she said about the 3 Cleveland captives for 10 yrs? Her humor isn't funny anymore, and hasn't been for along time.<shrug>

 

[jjenny]

Resting comfortably seems to me a bizarre way to describe someone who is unconscious, but what do I know.


"Joan Rivers has been unconscious since she was rushed to a hospital Thursday morning suffering from reported cardiac arrest, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/joan-rivers-unconscious-rushed-hospital-source/story?id=25181737

 

[mck16]

If she is in a medically induced coma, sounds like she is on a vent. jmo

 

[neverletgo]

Joan Rivers On Life Support But Family Still Hopeful
8/30/2014 12:03 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

Snipped:

According to our sources, the family will have to decide in the next couple of days whether to keep the 81-year-old on life support. We're told the family remains hopeful that if they do decide to turn off the machines, she will make a turn for the better and fight through it.

http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz3BuI63u6I

 

[animlzrule]

Her documentary: A Piece of Work (2010) is excellent. One of the hardest working people ever in show business. If this medical crisis proves to be her end, I think she'll be furious she didn't go out in a much more spectacular fashion! And she'll be laughing harder than anyone at all the jokes that will be told at her expense.....

 

[redheadedgal]

if she was in surgery, wasn't she under general anesthesia and intubated? how do you stop breathing then? machine failure? i can't see surgery on vocal cords done while a pt. is awake... maybe i'm wrong...

 

[CHERIE.T]

oh no, praying for her daughter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...port-machine-legendary-comic-fights-life.html

Joan Rivers family face agonizing decision over whether or not to turn off life support machine as legendary comic fights for her life

Sources close to Rivers, 81, have said that the television host is reliant on machines to stay alive and that the family will have to decide in the next few days whether or not to turn the machines off.

 

[arielilane]

Ms. River lived her life under her own terms and paved the way for female comedians. She is a hard worker. I admire her work ethic.

I remember the time her husband committed suicide. Who knows perhaps she made a joke about that as well. I'm not giving her a pass, just that her style of comic relief can be abrasive. Perhaps her comment brought awareness to the Cleveland case that someone otherwise may not have heard about the case.


She is still a very funny lady and her Fashion Police show is wonderful to watch.

My prayers and thoughts are with Joan, Melissa and Melissa's son.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Joan Rivers remains comatose

Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY 6:18 p.m. EDT August 30, 2014

Comedy legend and fashion police commissioner Joan Rivers remains in serious but stable condition.

Rivers, 81, has been in a medically induced coma at Mount Sinai Hospital since going into cardiac respiratory arrest during outpatient vocal cord surgery Thursday in New York...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/08/30/joan-rivers-medical-condition-update/14861247/

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

if she was in surgery, wasn't she under general anesthesia and intubated? how do you stop breathing then? machine failure? i can't see surgery on vocal cords done while a pt. is awake... maybe i'm wrong...

As far as I can discern from various media reports, Ms. Rivers was undergoing endoscopy that is a diagnostic procedure and commonly performed on an out-patient basis. Some years ago, I accompanied my mother to the out-patient wing of a local hospital for the procedure to determine the cause of bleeding in her digestive tract. Mom was not sedated but was given a local anesthetic to ease discomfort and/or sensation from the scope that was guided down her throat and into upper digestive tract.

 

[Intermezzo]

As far as I can discern from various media reports, Ms. Rivers was undergoing endoscopy that is a diagnostic procedure and commonly performed on an out-patient basis. Some years ago, I accompanied my mother to the out-patient wing of a local hospital for the procedure to determine the cause of bleeding in her digestive tract. Mom was not sedated but was given a local anesthetic to ease discomfort and/or sensation from the scope that was guided down her throat and into upper digestive tract.

So has it been reported if it was Vocal cord surgery or and EGD procedure (Esophagogastroduodenoscopy/ upper GI scope)
Some reports I have read so far have said she underwent a routine throat procedure others report routine throat to fix her vocal cords????

I work as a Endoscope Tech at a local hospital were I live.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Video report re: Rivers' condition and procedure that may have been performed.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/Re...99652/Comcast/Today_in_Video/?cid=hero_sf_TIV

Note: When my mom had the outpatient procedure, she was in her late '70s. There was never any suggestion that the endoscopy should be done in a hospital (although it was the outpatient surgery center at the hospital). I was in the room with Mom during the entire procedure and watched the video screen of the endoscopy. Fascinating!

 

[AlwaysShocked]

If whatever procedure was being performed had to do with the vocal cords, would it not then have been a bronchoscopy as opposed to an endoscopy? They were not examining the esophagus and the stomach, which would be an endoscopy. They would have been examining the trachea and larynx.

Perhaps they are just using the term "endoscopy" in a generic sense to describe the use of a flexible tube with a camera on it. But technically, if it is going down into the trachea it is a bronchoscope.

These devices also have a tool that allows for removal of polyps. So that may have been the "surgery".

Often for these types of procedures, full out anesthesia is not used. A type of sedation called "IV conscious sedation" is used. Two drugs, Versed and Fentanyl are administered. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid (stronger than morphine) with a side effect of depressing breathing - which is a side effect of all opioids. The Versed relaxes the patient and also causes amnesia for the procedure. During a procedure using IV conscious sedation the patient often "drifts off", but they are "arousable" and when asked, for instance, to turn onto their side, they will arouse and do so.

Reaction to the medications used for anesthesia is one of the risks involved with any procedure. It does not happen often, but it does happen. Plus a patient in their 80s would be at a higher risk for this to happen.

So sad.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

http://www.gastroenterologistnewyork.com/

 

[newone]

Ms. River lived her life under her own terms and paved the way for female comedians. She is a hard worker. I admire her work ethic.

I remember the time her husband committed suicide. Who knows perhaps she made a joke about that as well. I'm not giving her a pass, just that her style of comic relief can be abrasive. Perhaps her comment brought awareness to the Cleveland case that someone otherwise may not have heard about the case.


She is still a very funny lady and her Fashion Police show is wonderful to watch.

My prayers and thoughts are with Joan, Melissa and Melissa's son.

I agree she can ''rub people the wrong way with her comments'' but she was a trail blazer.....women were to be cute, seen and not heard...when she was a 'pretty young thing'.....and I read her book about how devastated she was when Edgar suicide and the mess she had to endure and the intensity of the grief of her daughter, challenges with that in addition to making a living. She is a very hard worker - and for that I totally admire her tenacity. I did catch one of her radio shows where she had a very intelligent and enjoyable interview with a female physician who had been disowned by her very wealthy father. Throughout the interview her comments illuminated that she did support and admire women who overcame much opposition to make their own way in this dog eat dog world. (MOO)

 

[Isabelle]

A procedure involving any structures of the throat can cause a vagal response which slows the heart, among other things. If the heart is so predisposed, a slowed rhythm can cause the wrong part of its electrical system to take over with the worse resulting in ventricular fibrillation where the heart does not have any output leaving the body without oxygen. With no output the blood is most like to clot because it is not moving.

Another problem that can result from a procedure in areas of the throat is compression of the jugular veins and/or carotid arteries causing a stroke. Believe it or not there are instances where this has happened with neck resting in shampoo bowl in a beauty parlor. Kind of scary!

 

[neverletgo]

Joan Rivers' celebrity friends take to Twitter to pray for her recovery as her family face agonizing decision over whether or not to turn off life support machine
By James Nye for MailOnline and Snejana Farberov
Published: 16:29 EST, 30 August 2014 | Updated: 08:38 EST, 31 August 2014

More snipped from link in CHERIE.T's post:

Joan River’s E! colleagues and a host of famous well-wishers took to Twitter Saturday, sending prayers to the formidable comedian as she remained in a coma and on life support.

Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne, Rivers' Fashion Police co-hosts, expressed their love and support for their stricken friend.

'Praying for @Joan_Rivers and @MelRivers,' Mrs Rancic wrote Saturday morning. 'Even though Joan's the strongest woman I know, every single prayer counts. I love you, Joan.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...port-machine-legendary-comic-fights-life.html

 

[neverletgo]

Busy as always: Joan Rivers is pictured here at a press event in New York City on Wednesday evening for her book, Diary of a Mad Diva. She is currently in a medically induced coma at Mount Sinai Hospital after she stopped breathing during vocal cord surgery

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...port-machine-legendary-comic-fights-life.html

 

[neverletgo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...port-machine-legendary-comic-fights-life.html

 

[neverletgo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...port-machine-legendary-comic-fights-life.html