Disaster - Medical Updates
UPDATE 24: "... we don't know much more than the doctors do at this point... surgery will continue into the next hour... updates then" Channel 10 is signing off their coverage, which probably means that Ha'aretz and Walla (who have been crediting just about every other story to them) are also going to slow down. Last updates: Half of Sharon's body is paralyzed. He is disoriented and having trouble speaking (we're not sure if this means that he's been taken off the respirator that he was on earlier - or how he could be out of anesthesia so soon, for that matter). The prognosis for a full recovery is not good, but his political career is almost certainly over. Ehud Olmert has assumed full control of the Israeli government.
UPDATE 25: (5:05pm PST) Channel 10 just cut in with their hourly update. Medical update: Doctors are still insisting that Sharon will live, but surgery continues into what is the fourth hour to relieve pressure on his brain. No word about the Prime Minster's mental state. Earlier, of course, the overwhelming political consensus was that Sharon's political career is over.
UPDATE 26: (5:25pm PST) Surgery is expected to end within the hour.
UPDATE 27: (5:26pm PST) Walla is reporting a statement by PM Sharon's spokesman: The surgery is proceeding "as expected" (we don't know what that means either), but he adds that the Prime Minister is "stable."
UPDATE 28: (6:05pm PST) Channel 10: "they thought that the surgery would end soon, but now they don't know when it will end… we don't know anything certain… all we know is what Gissin said… but [stability] doesn't really tell us much… all we know is that he's still undergoing the procedure…"
UPDATE 29: (6:06pm PST) Ma'ariv's Hebrew site has a ticker that just quoted officials "close to Sharon" saying that the first stage of the operation is over and that blood was successfully drained.
UPDATE 30: (6:50 pm PST) The scandal regarding PM Sharon being driven to Hadassah hospital instead of one nearer to his ranch has already generated a full article (still only the Hebrew articles though). Walla has an update on the Prime Minister's medical condition: grave but stable.
UPDATE 31: (7:05pm PST) Channel 10 hourly update: "at Hadassah... surgery expected to end soon... fifth hour of surgery... nothing new... they're closing the incision they've made into his head [confirming Ha'aretz's ticker that doctors are now cauterizing the wound]... relieved pressure... the results are starting to trickle in... but everything is still up in the air at this stage... the doctors will know more when he wakes up, so that they can gauge his mental state..." Then they played that Gissin clip again, with a new part we missed before: "in a democratic state, there are always contingencies for transferring power"
UPDATE 32: (7:45pm PST) Walla is now reporting information that IRIS Blog posted four or five hours ago - blood thinners given to Sharon after his last stroke were reponsible for this one: (crude tranlsation) Dr Shtreifler (sp?) the head of the neurological department in Rabin's Medical Center claims that the shots Sharon got 'definately did not help' his present condition. Another (anonymous) doctor said that there is a good chance that there is a connection between the blood thinners and current stroke.
UPDATE 25: (5:05pm PST) Channel 10 just cut in with their hourly update. Medical update: Doctors are still insisting that Sharon will live, but surgery continues into what is the fourth hour to relieve pressure on his brain. No word about the Prime Minster's mental state. Earlier, of course, the overwhelming political consensus was that Sharon's political career is over.
UPDATE 26: (5:25pm PST) Surgery is expected to end within the hour.
UPDATE 27: (5:26pm PST) Walla is reporting a statement by PM Sharon's spokesman: The surgery is proceeding "as expected" (we don't know what that means either), but he adds that the Prime Minister is "stable."
UPDATE 28: (6:05pm PST) Channel 10: "they thought that the surgery would end soon, but now they don't know when it will end… we don't know anything certain… all we know is what Gissin said… but [stability] doesn't really tell us much… all we know is that he's still undergoing the procedure…"
UPDATE 29: (6:06pm PST) Ma'ariv's Hebrew site has a ticker that just quoted officials "close to Sharon" saying that the first stage of the operation is over and that blood was successfully drained.
UPDATE 30: (6:50 pm PST) The scandal regarding PM Sharon being driven to Hadassah hospital instead of one nearer to his ranch has already generated a full article (still only the Hebrew articles though). Walla has an update on the Prime Minister's medical condition: grave but stable.
UPDATE 31: (7:05pm PST) Channel 10 hourly update: "at Hadassah... surgery expected to end soon... fifth hour of surgery... nothing new... they're closing the incision they've made into his head [confirming Ha'aretz's ticker that doctors are now cauterizing the wound]... relieved pressure... the results are starting to trickle in... but everything is still up in the air at this stage... the doctors will know more when he wakes up, so that they can gauge his mental state..." Then they played that Gissin clip again, with a new part we missed before: "in a democratic state, there are always contingencies for transferring power"
UPDATE 32: (7:45pm PST) Walla is now reporting information that IRIS Blog posted four or five hours ago - blood thinners given to Sharon after his last stroke were reponsible for this one: (crude tranlsation) Dr Shtreifler (sp?) the head of the neurological department in Rabin's Medical Center claims that the shots Sharon got 'definately did not help' his present condition. Another (anonymous) doctor said that there is a good chance that there is a connection between the blood thinners and current stroke.
