Lady Zaidie, i would take a cold over death any day. I can remember watching my mother get blood after her hysterectomy when she was first diagnosed with cancer (she'd lost a lot during the op due to being on blood thinners for an unrelated but potentially fatal heart condition) and she got visibly better and stronger by the hour. Perhaps that's not the case for everyone, but she can't be a rarity or the practice wouldn't continue surely? Blood protocols improve constantly, and though obviously there are risks to receiving blood, there are risks to NOT recieving any too. I agree the "give em a pint" mentality is fairly pointless, especially after childbirth when we have more blood ANYWAY, but in cases when it is blood-donation or death, rather than blood donation or chlorophyll for a fortnight, i definitely think it is a risk worth taking for me.

Sunflower i'm not actually very worried about dying, but i am very concerned about leaving my daughter without a mother when she is only 3, about leaving my partner alone to fight over who raises her with my XP... I am completely confident they could cope without me, but i believe i owe it to them to try as hard as possible to stay with them. I also feel that it is a natural state of life to reject death and fight it. My mother had completely accepted that she would die, and was unafraid of death but just before she lost consciousness for the last time she rose from bed screaming for her mother and for us to help her. The "death rattle" breathing so many display before death is the combination of adrenalin and powerful electrical impulses from the dying hindbrain forcing the lungs to go on breathing even when the point of no return has passed. Even when the mind accepts death the body does not. Since i feel the only part of me i might keep some of after death is my mind, i also see the point of this life being related strongly to my body, and so i would honour the physical self's need to fight to live as long as i could.

Bx