Post Office

Much thanks for a fair book review
   Hey, guys. Much thanks for the review [�Blame it on Vegas,� July]. I thought it was informed and fair � and that�s all an author can hope for.
Matt O�Brien 
Las Vegas

Don�t hassle with drugs when meeting death; just get it over with
   Regarding your news story �Dying High� [June], if anyone should need drugs during a person�s final days, it is the family and friends who are there watching, waiting and dealing with death. When someone is dying of cancer and they are near the end, which can take months to get to, it�s not an easy sight � radiation, chemo and all kinds of drugs takes a toll on people. Cancer destroys the hands and feet swell up with fluids while family and friends try to keep up spirits. As they watch and wait, a blood clot may come loose and stop the heart, then it�s over. If not, then when the organs start shutting down, the morphine drip starts. If not, then it�s a hospice.
   It�s difficult watching someone who was once independently tough laying in a hospital bed shot to shit. An old friend told me that he didn�t want to die in bed. If you�re going to do anything, you have to do it while you can, before it�s too late.
When you start to go, you don�t even know it. You adapt to the changes and your mind accepts it and compensates. The only thing that doctors can do is try to keep you as pain free as they can before it�s over.
   I told some of my friends that if they ever find out that they have some kind of killer cancer and there is no help and they are still mobile, before the pain gets too bad get a fast car, say goodbye, do about 130 mph and go straight into an abutment on the interstate to get it over with. Die doing something � save your family and friends all that they would have to go through. Forget all the other bullshit. The mortician knows how to make you look good.
   Furthermore, I looked over the June issue and I see that [Mike Zigler] finally has a nice smile on his face and the chicks in your magazine are looking great. I don�t know if they have anything to do with each other, but to me they are big changes � and good ones.
   When it comes to the report on UMC [�UMC on fire,� May], I didn�t see the name of the man who was running the hospital and his buddies, including Yvonne Atkinson Gates. Don�t let this go � put the fire on them.
Jesse Cayton 
Las Vegas