Art Buchwald's Alive Again

[okarol]

Art Buchwald's Alive Again

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2006(CBS)

Earlier this year, humorist and columnist Art Buchwald, 81, went into a Washington hospice with every intention of dying. His kidneys were failing and he refused dialysis, a painful process that he had undergone before.

"I had 12 sessions and I hated it," he told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. "So I said 'this is not the way to live.' So I say: 'I'm going to go. I had a good life. I'm 80 years old and I might as well end it."

He prepared himself and his friends for his death, and over the following weeks, many people, including Sen. John Glenn, Jack Valenti, Ethel Kennedy and Donald Rumsfeld, stopped in to visit and say goodbye. The French Ambassador presented him the Legion of Honor for the storied he wrote about France during the 15 years he lived there. His story became the talk of the nation.

"I loved every minute of it," he said. "If I had my dialysis, no one would have known I was sick. Or I had a kidney problem and nobody would come visit me. Since I didn't take dialysis, everybody wanted to come and see me. And it was one of those things where 'you gotta see Artie." so pretty soon people in television and newspapers and on the radio all said, 'Hey, Buchwald's dying in a hospice. Go over there. It could be a good story.'"

But two weeks in a hospice extended to two months — and Buchwald's doctor told him that inexplicably, his kidneys had stopped failing.

Calling himself "a born-again columnist" Buchwald restarted his newspaper column while in the hospice. He even turned his near-death experience into a book, "To Soon to Say Goodbye" and has set out on a publicity tour.

To see more of Art Buchwald's story, tune in to CBS Sunday Morning, Sunday at 9 a.m. EST.

original: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/12/sunday/main2251487.shtml
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[PMP]

Sorry if this is a repeat.  I wrote one message, but I think it died in cyberspace.

Anyway, thank you for the heads-up about that CBS interview with Art Buchwald.  I'd heard about his dialysis story and wondered how he was doing.  I watched it this morning.  Isn't it amazing how he's regained kidney function!  Wonder how that happened.

Pat

[nextnoel]

Yeah, I heard an interview done with him while he was in hospice, and then later one done after he left and was out of hospice but still not on dialysis.  He sounded MUCH clearer in the second interview, which makes me wonder what medication he had been on.