R.I.P. - Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Wow.

Her show Fashion Police aired their Emmy special and she had this happen like two days later. She was supposedly having some procedure done on her throat, but I question if it wasn't more plastic surgery. It was not being done at the hospital and she had to be rushed to the hospital when her heart stopped.

I liked Joan Rivers a lot.

I will be curious to see if Jerry Lewis has anything to say. He came out publicly and wished she was dead, several months ago.

Honestly, of all the celebrity deaths recently, this one has me in tears. And I think what happened should not have happened (JMHO).

Per what I saw reported on TV she was having a scheduled endoscopic procedure on her throat. A physician said "when we passed the camera to take a look, her vocal cords closed and she stopped breathing. We called EMS and she was transported to the hospital."

This bugs me so much, wondering: Did they have resuscitation equipment there? How quickly did they know she was in trouble? Did they start CPR quickly? Surely the answer is yes, but I haven't read or seen anything on TV that addressed this specificially. How long was she without respirations and heartbeat? Did they overdose her on versed or whatever moderate sedation was used? She was 81, and it wouldn't be unheard of for someone of this age to be very sensitive to the medicines. The very few blurbs I heard on TV (and it was certainly kept very quiet) indicated she was on life support at the hospital, and in a medically induced coma, "to allow the brain to rest." When there were no further reports of progress, and when Melissa Rivers issued a statement "we are all with her and considering options" I pretty much felt that her condition was grave and the consideration was of continuing or removing life support.

The procedure was done at an endoscopy center, which is very standard. We have our colonoscopies and EGDs (to view/treat the esophagus, stomach, duodenum) done in endoscopy centers, not hospitals. They are supposed to have resuscitation equpiment.

A live taping was scheduled for this week, with one of the big fashion events. Last week on Fashion Police last she looked amazingly fabulous.

Nobody made more jokes about Joan's many plastic surgeries than she did. A clip from one of her documentaries was of her showing her many little gray file drawers containing "my jokes", like the old time library card drawers. Can you imagine?

Mattel's corporate earnings took a dive upon hearing the news of her death. They stated nearly 20% of their earnings came from the plastic used in her surgeries....

She will be missed

We saw her perform last year at the Borgata in AC. She did two shows in the same night, which is amazing for an 80 year old.
She was extremely funny.

Another class act gone - I think very few of today's comics have the ability to keep it up into their elder years....

I regret not seeing her. Tickets sold out very quickly and I wasn't quick enough.

She may have had lots of plastic surgery, but thankfully she didn't get her lips injected where she would look like a blowfish. I thought she was very quick witted and very entertaining. I periodically would tune in to Fashion Police and loved her commentary.

I never liked the woman. She was willing to be cruel, ruthless and to really hurt people in an effort to create "shock value". Then, when someone would be equally cruel towards her, she would cry foul, then whine like a little school girl.

From 1969