People die every day from MS. It's true. The reason you don't hear much about these deaths is because of semantics. When you are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis it is considered an incurable disease. When you die, an autopsy may or may not be preformed. Regardless, the outcome is the same, once you are labeled with MS, it doesn't matter if the neurological damage stops your heart from beating or your intestines close up not allowing food in, death will always be listed as "Died of Natural Causes." Therefore the claim that MS rarely kills is a blatant lie, everyone with MS will die, the aggressiveness disease just dictates how fast it will kill you.
No one know what causes MS, or how it actually functions. Over the last 150 years, there have been two theories that are completely unrelated from two different branches of medicine. The original theory is that MS is a disease caused by vascular malformations blocking or disrupting blood flow from the brain allowing the blood to oxidize leaving trace elements of iron in the brain causing neurological damage. The second theory to emerge is that MS is an auto-immune disease. Meaning for some unknown reason the body's immune system starts to attack the insulation called myelin that covers the nerves. Neither are correct nor are they wrong, although this last year has proven some remarkable headway into the vascular side with the use of venous angioplasty by clearing obstructions and relieving some symptoms and possibly slowing or stopping progression.
Multiple Sclerosis is one of the hardest known diseases to accurately diagnose. The disease can have over 50 different symptoms associated that can come and go at anytime. Symptoms can be as minor as a small patch of itching skin to a suicidal level of pain. Symptoms may persist for weeks or months, then suddenly stop for years. Also making diagnosis difficult are the number of other disorders that mimic many of the MS symptoms. These include Lyme Disease, ALS, stroke, as well as many others. Therefore the diagnosis criteria is a nightmare as you first need to rule out all the other disorders it could be.
It is said that women are more than double than that of men in having MS. This I also don't think is entirely accurate. This is more likely due to mindset. Males of our species grow up with a slightly different doctrine than our female counterparts. "Suck it up and be a man." As children we are taught not to whine about minor aches, pains, or discomforts as it may show a sign of weakness. I myself went for years with my hands falling asleep every time I tried to hold on to a vibrating steering wheel. I ignored it. It got worse.
For the most part, MS patients are the biggest liars in the world. They will try to walk, talk, and act normal just like everyone else. At least in the beginning. This is not a bad thing. It is only bad that they try to hide what is happening to them in an effort to appear normal to others. The good thing is that they also hide it from their loved ones. MS patients also have very evil thoughts when they hear the words, "Well you look so good", or "Maybe you just need some rest." Another lie that is hard to get them to admit to is wishing their disease on anyone else. It happens. It really is okay to be yourself now. They no longer lock us up in insane asylums for having this disease like they used to.
MS patients get called names. Unfortunately, most of the name calling comes from friends and family members and starts even before you are diagnosed. I hear that in some instances, the name calling stops after the diagnosis, but not in my case, so I just take that as a rumor. Some of these names will be "lazy", "useless", "hypochondriac" and many more.
Every person with MS has an "expert" that knows exactly what they need. Again this is usually friends and family and sometimes it can be very contradictive. You should eat this or not eat this. You need to exercise, you need to rest more. The best thing to do is tell these experts to "shut up and leave you alone". The information they provide is useless to you and you won't get in trouble for being mean to them. (This is covered below with "mood swings.")
The scariest aspect of MS is that any part of the body that is controlled by nerves (try to find one that isn't) can be affected. Imagine if you will that the meylin sheath covering the inferior anal nerves and or the inferior hemorrhoidal nerve becomes damaged. It can happen. These nerves are extremely important in the human body as they are the nerves that distinguish the difference between a fart and a poop. Nothing more needs to be said.
The medications they give us are actually doing more harm than good in most cases. A lot of the chemicals used in our medications are classified as carcinogens. The side effects of these medications can actually be worse than the disease and yet have never been proven to be effective. In some cases, these drugs actually caused the deaths of patients during clinical trials, yet are still approved. For example, one well known MS drug therapy for some reason also contains very high concentrates of phosphorous which actually causes neurological damage on top of liver and kidney damage.
The number one drug that has proven time and time again to be most effective is illegal for MS patients everywhere in the world, except Canada. Since Canada has the highest incidents of MS in the world, this is good for Canadians, but sucks for everyone else. Health Canada has approved cannabis for MS patients. Of the 60 known medicinal compounds in cannabis, over half can be directly beneficial for symptom relief and disease management. Some of these benefits are from the CBD's in the plant that act as vasorelaxants, antispasmodics, neuroprotectives, and analgesics. It works and there is no chance of overdose.
As a patient you will also be called and treated with two new nanes. Guinea pig and cash cow. Doctors will provide you with experimental medications in an effort to make you feel better while making them more money. The drug therapies that are approved for MS have a very high price tag. The newer therapies are costing $50,000 per year. This make an MS patient a very lucrative commodity. Because of the competition of other drug manufacturers, sales representatives resort to incentive programs for doctors and clinics that prescribe their medications. When your MS doctor suggests a medication that you refuse, he isn't getting mad because you don't believe it will work, he is mad because he is making nothing off you.
You would also think that a person with MS would have a place to turn for help. Sadly, this is also not true. Each country has a Multiple Sclerosis Society in one form or another. These organizations collect donations and do fund raising in the hopes of one day finding a cure. Their executive positions are very well paid careers. The majority of the money they collect goes to administration costs. The majority of the rest is used for advertising, and donations to pharmaceutical research in the form of grants. The last thing they would ever want is a cure for MS. For them to say otherwise is a lie as a cure means they will be unemployed. With the remarkable results by using angioplasty on MS patient's veins, you would think the MS Societies of the world would be embracing this as the most remarkable advancement in 70 years for MS patients. Sadly, evidence is showing that the societies sat on and deliberately hid a neurologists paper written in the 1970's that stated MS is vascular in nature and could be corrected. The societies' new tactic if you question this on their online forums, you will be banned and the question deleted. Ignoring the truth does not make it go away.
Having MS is not the end of the world. You may wish for it at times, but it really isn't. You can also have a lot of fun with your MS. My favorite saying when someone wants me to do something that I don't particularly care to do has become, "I'm sorry, I'll be sick that day." MS can get you out of anything including jury duty. Doing this is actually more beneficial for your health than you may think. The most common trigger for MS relapses and flairs is stress. If you have to go to some function that you don't want to be at, you will become stressed. Stay home and your body will thank you for it.
Although the cognitive impairments may prove to be disheartening and disturbing at times, you can still have fun with it. Especially if you have kids around. I myself successfully convinced a 10 year old that it is only logical to keep your liquid dish washing soap in the refrigerator. I still have no idea why I kept putting it in there. But I have a friend that keeps putting her laundry into the dishwasher. It happens, have fun with it.
You can also have a lot of fun with "mood swings" It is no wonder we get them. Our bodies and brains are wreaked with neurological damage. We are treated as outcasts and malingerers. With MS you can actually say all the things that you would never have said before because someone might think badly of you. So when you are standing in front of your doctor and he says something stupid, make sure you tell him so. Say what you want, when you want, and to who you want. If they don't like it and you feel bad, blame it on the mood swings, you can't help it as they are actually brought on by other people's stupidity. Plus keeping it bottled up in you just adds to the stress that is killing you.
With an MS diagnosis you are given two choices. You have to decide which path to take. You can take the "curl up and die" attitude which would be just accepting that you are going to suffer and die, or you cling to that last hope that that pharmaceutical which is actually killing you faster, will eventually work. Or you can take the "fight back" attitude. This one may take a bit more effort but will be well worth it in the long run. This includes not listening to someone with a hidden agenda, researching information and double checking all that you find, and understanding your own disease. Then and only then, you will be able to make an informed decision on what form of treatment you want to attempt.
Guess which choice I took?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Open Letter to the Nova Scotia MS Clinic
Feb 27, 11
Dr. Verandar Bahn
Dept. Head NS MS Clinic
Dear Dr. Bahn,
I would like to bring to your attention that my life has been threatened by one of your clinic's doctors.
If at anytime you think the content of this letter is insulting or condescending, please rest assured that this is a pale comparison to how I was treated at your clinic on Thurs. Feb, 24 by neurologist Dr. Richard Leckey.
I never asked for this appointment, my requests for an appointment with you were ignored last fall when I was dieing. Therefore, the bill for my consulting services and travel expenses to attend this meeting will be sent by postal mail.
Dr. Leckey was insulting and condescending, but what concerns me more is his statement of not knowing what stenosis is. His credentials are now questionable as stenosis is covered extensively in your first years of medical school. Dr. Bahn, I learned stenosis in my military first aid training. Or possibly Dr. Leckey was acting that way he was to impress the uninvited guest to that meeting, that I can only assume to be a pharmaceutical representative. Regardless, it was unacceptable. If Dr. Leckey does in fact know what stenosis is, then he blatantly lied to me. This is also not the first time I have been lied to by a neurologist from your clinic.
I have also had the displeasure of meeting neurologist Dr. Alex MacDougall who told me that, “it would be impossible for me to have MS as the disease does not cause pain and only affects females”.
Your clinic doctors are obviously not qualified to be practising medicine in this country. And you Dr. Bahn, are guilty of misconduct yourself by purposely modifying medical documents on a patient that wanted to travel for the CCSVI procedure. You did a very good job of assessing her as being much healthier than she actually was. Unfortunately, those records do not coincide with your previous observations. So that patient and her husband are anxiously awaiting her next appointment with you.
It is all fine and good for you and your doctors to make your own rules, besides being treated the way I was, I have been denied aftercare by Dr. Richard Leckey because I left the country to save my life. This is a direct contradiction to what was said to us as patients by our Health Minister and is a direct threat against my life. As much as it pains you, you do not have all the facts and we know it as well as you. Your agenda now is to try to rake in as much money as you can off the backs of the sick and suffering people in this province while you still have time. Congratulations on being awarded two new clinical trials that should help with that.
Unfortunately, I am the person that exposed what the Novartis Gilyena sales reps were saying to and about MS patients. You can read it on my blog here http://savemarcelnow.blogspot.com/ as well as this letter and plenty of other tidbits proving that you do NOT have the MS patients' best interests at heart.
This new wonder drug that you are now going to push on the people of this province is responsible for the deaths of two people in their clinical trials. At a yearly cost of $50,000 per patient, and almost 3000 people suffering with MS in this province, you stand to lose a lot of money if the CCSVI treatment is allowed to be performed.
What this has boiled down to is a difference in Religious beliefs. You and your neurologist friends think you are God. Even other doctors bow down to your arrogance while secretly laughing behind your backs. Dr. Bahn, you are no god. You are nothing more than a man profiting off the sick and dieing while standing behind a glass wall.
As a person living with a fatal form of MS, I will not be treated the way I was treated by your doctor. I have bowed down, begged, and pleaded for help from the Health Minister and people like you Dr. Bahn. I have received nothing. That ends now.
As a person living with a fatal form of MS, I will not be treated the way I was treated by your doctor. I have bowed down, begged, and pleaded for help from the Health Minister and people like you Dr. Bahn. I have received nothing. That ends now.
Last November while at death's door, I, with the help of many friends, snuck out of this country to get a procedure that you condemn in an attempt to save my life. This was a calculated risk that paid off. I am still alive and getting stronger everyday. The Health Minister sent me a confirmation letter of her denying my compassionate request, with that, she gets the $12,000 bill for my procedure. Her refusal to even acknowledge my request will be her political suicide. You, on the other hand, may be facing criminal charges.
You and your doctors think the people in this province are uninformed. Rest assured you couldn't be more wrong. I would expect your doctors to start having more visits similar to what happened Thurs. The MS patients worldwide are banding together to teach others of the lies and destructive actions you and your colleagues are pulling.
Seventy years ago, the Neurological Societies convinced some obviously ill informed people that MS was an auto immune disease. You have had 70 years to prove that, and all you have proven is that you give us drugs that kill us and at best case are no more than 30% effective for less than 10% of the people using them for our progression. Even that is subjective. The poisons you were feeding us weren't killing us fast enough, so you moved patients that didn't know better into trying chemotherapy treatments. Everyone of those patients is doing worse and will die. Chemotherapy actually kills more people than cancer, but is a great source of revenue for you. The offer made to me was for “high” doses.
We as patients have tried the diplomatic approach with you and the Health Minister. We have asked for meetings, we have shown proof, yet you continue to ignore and insult us. As well as insult other doctors for having the decency to help us. We will not stand to have our lives threatened and jeopardized for your personal greed. You should consider the hundreds of patients that have left or are leaving for treatment as the rock that is going to break your glass wall.
If Dr. Gerald Mckean and the other vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists in this province that are qualified to perform the procedure continue their cowardly actions of not standing up for us as patients because of fearing a bunch of misleading neurologists, they will be dealt with accordingly. Thanks to the actions of you, your doctors and the Honorable Maureen MacDonald, the time of diplomacy has ended and if you won't help us, it is time for you to step down.
Dr. Bahn, all we as patients have ever asked is to be heard. The Hippocratic Oath states that a doctor is to do no harm. Dr. Bahn, ignoring us will kill us. Those of us that have had the treatment have for the most part, regained some quality of life and dignity. More and more are getting better everyday. Some of us like me, are now able to live a bit longer with our families. But we still have MS and we still need help.
We need proper follow up care such as venous ultrasounds to ensure proper blood flow is being maintained and monitoring for blood clots. This is already done in this country for patients that have had the same procedure for non-MS related issues. When we complain, we do not need a drug. We need you to listen to us as it is the drugs that we are complaining about. We know CCSVI is not the answer, but the benefits have more than proven it to the patients that you should be following and tracking those of us that have had it done. Above all, we need you to start treating us with at least the respect we deserve as humans trying to stay alive.
We need proper follow up care such as venous ultrasounds to ensure proper blood flow is being maintained and monitoring for blood clots. This is already done in this country for patients that have had the same procedure for non-MS related issues. When we complain, we do not need a drug. We need you to listen to us as it is the drugs that we are complaining about. We know CCSVI is not the answer, but the benefits have more than proven it to the patients that you should be following and tracking those of us that have had it done. Above all, we need you to start treating us with at least the respect we deserve as humans trying to stay alive.
Marcel Gignac
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Gilenya (Fingolimod) - New Oral MS Drug... "Warning"
For the last few weeks, I have been working hard at avoiding stress in an effort to get better. I literally have tons of snow to move and it just keeps coming. So I am forced into exercising my body while giving my brain a much needed rest. Well the stress came back yesterday.
As most people with MS know, before Dr. Zamboni came along, the biggest news to hit for MS is the development of new oral drugs to "help" control the progression of MS. This is important as up to this point the Disease Modifying Drugs (DMD's) have been either self injections or intravenous drips monthly in a hospital or clinic. These drugs actually do more damage than good in the long run due to their toxic nature. The side effects for most would be comparable to getting the flu. Not very fun when you get to feel like that 3 times a week.
After years of using these drugs, most have found little benefit. At most, 30%. They claim this as a good thing while ignoring that 70% actually got worse or died. Tysabri, the newest of the DMD's has been pulled for being linked to causing PLM, (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) a potentially deadly brain infection. Then obviously with enough money passing hands, it is again allowed to be risking peoples lives.
So the pharmaceutical geniuses decided to come out with a pill that could do the same thing as the rest of the poisons. Well, with 2 deaths during their clinical trials, they succeeded with their goal. At least the PLM wasn't identified until after trials, this new one we already knew would kill you before it went to market. Luckily for some of us that have been able to get the CCSVI treatment we won't have to worry about being poisoned to death.
For the last few years, I have been stressing that we as patients are nothing but "cash cows" for doctors and pharmaceutical companies. A lot of people have a hard time believing this. I have even been openly attacked for saying such things by people that trust their doctors and they poisons they are fed. Of course these people have never bothered to verify or even ask if a drug is safe. They just take it and when they die they blame it on God. Probably why so many doctors think they are God, they are doing His work... prematurely of course. So for the people that believe the crap they are fed I am more than happy to share the following.
Yesterday I was sent a link to a message board thread on the pharmacafe.com website. This website is set up for pharmaceutical reps to.... well... basically discuss how to screw over other reps and patients. An MS patient looking for information on the new drug, Gilenya, and found something much more disturbing than just an unsecure message board. So in an effort to promote honesty, I will share some of the gems posted by the reps that visit your doctors. Also important to note is these cowards post as anonymous for their own safety.
The conversation is in regards to a story here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-19/doctors-prescribed-novartis-gilenya-ms-pill-13-times-citi-says.html?cmpid=yhoo, that showed the dismal failure out the gate of the launch of Novartis' new "Wonder Drug".
Just some of the interesting things they say when they don't think anyone is watching. But of course, MS patients will always speak up.
The drug costs more than any of the other drugs. It is not covered by insurance. And it CAN kill as proven in their own trials. And they will keep pushing it with lies just like every other drug they sell.
So for the ones that still believe that the pharmaceutical companies are in it for you and not the money, you should seriously rethink the rest of your life. You can die a slow suffering death brought on by poisons and toxins. Remember, Ibuprofen is made of known carcinogens. Do you think they care what you take as long as they make money? The next option of course could be suicide as this would prevent some long term suffering as well as free up valuable breathing space. Or, you could grow a brain and see what these people are doing to you. Get off your anti-depressants. The reason they push the pills on you is to shut you up.
The entire thread can be found here http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?t=441892&page=2, and I will forewarn you that the MS patients have taken it over. But you can find gems like....
As most people with MS know, before Dr. Zamboni came along, the biggest news to hit for MS is the development of new oral drugs to "help" control the progression of MS. This is important as up to this point the Disease Modifying Drugs (DMD's) have been either self injections or intravenous drips monthly in a hospital or clinic. These drugs actually do more damage than good in the long run due to their toxic nature. The side effects for most would be comparable to getting the flu. Not very fun when you get to feel like that 3 times a week.
After years of using these drugs, most have found little benefit. At most, 30%. They claim this as a good thing while ignoring that 70% actually got worse or died. Tysabri, the newest of the DMD's has been pulled for being linked to causing PLM, (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) a potentially deadly brain infection. Then obviously with enough money passing hands, it is again allowed to be risking peoples lives.
So the pharmaceutical geniuses decided to come out with a pill that could do the same thing as the rest of the poisons. Well, with 2 deaths during their clinical trials, they succeeded with their goal. At least the PLM wasn't identified until after trials, this new one we already knew would kill you before it went to market. Luckily for some of us that have been able to get the CCSVI treatment we won't have to worry about being poisoned to death.
For the last few years, I have been stressing that we as patients are nothing but "cash cows" for doctors and pharmaceutical companies. A lot of people have a hard time believing this. I have even been openly attacked for saying such things by people that trust their doctors and they poisons they are fed. Of course these people have never bothered to verify or even ask if a drug is safe. They just take it and when they die they blame it on God. Probably why so many doctors think they are God, they are doing His work... prematurely of course. So for the people that believe the crap they are fed I am more than happy to share the following.
Yesterday I was sent a link to a message board thread on the pharmacafe.com website. This website is set up for pharmaceutical reps to.... well... basically discuss how to screw over other reps and patients. An MS patient looking for information on the new drug, Gilenya, and found something much more disturbing than just an unsecure message board. So in an effort to promote honesty, I will share some of the gems posted by the reps that visit your doctors. Also important to note is these cowards post as anonymous for their own safety.
The conversation is in regards to a story here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-19/doctors-prescribed-novartis-gilenya-ms-pill-13-times-citi-says.html?cmpid=yhoo, that showed the dismal failure out the gate of the launch of Novartis' new "Wonder Drug".
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 Re: Gilenya in trouble already?Don't forget, 13 Rx = $650,000 a year. First week is meaningless. Know how long it takes to get an appointment to see your neuro? Think general neuros want the waiting rooms filled with patients before they even get a grasp of monitoring and how to do it? We'll find some way to screw it up (like every launch), but this drug will make $$, and any rep who can't make a great bonus on this initial incentive plan is an idiot and should be made to trade places with any CV or neuro or Fanapt rep waiting for the ax to fall.... |
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| Re: Gilenya in trouble already? I along with many collegues are not seeing the Rx's come in. These doctors are as frightened as they comen many more are not writing than are. And the folks that are writing a lot are very few and far between. Not hitting the panic button yet, but for a drug so anticipated no one is using it. MC tiers is not helping the situation either, but that's no excuse at the end of the day. And here come all the barrage of your a loser comments. I know, I know. But that doesn't change the fact nationwide this med is currently sluggish at best. |
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| Re: Gilenya in trouble already? This is what you get, when you hire a bunch of idiots who know nothing about the MS market, reimbursement nor biologic therapy. I bet you, all 13 pts were from clinical study centers. Gilenya is priced 10% to 15% higher than Tysabri, and Neuros make money off its infusions. Next, over half the sales force has never sold MS products, let alone Biologics. But that's Novartis for ya, greed always rules the day. |
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 Re: Gilenya in trouble already?Quote:
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Just some of the interesting things they say when they don't think anyone is watching. But of course, MS patients will always speak up.
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| Re: Gilenya in trouble already? Quote:
No wonder the drug isn't selling. What gives anyone the right to charge nearly $50,000/year for a drug regardless of its cost, to develop, orphan status, marketing expenses, doctor payoffs, etc. And you wonder why the medical care, insurance, pharma, biotech are so screwed up. Something is terribly wrong. |
The drug costs more than any of the other drugs. It is not covered by insurance. And it CAN kill as proven in their own trials. And they will keep pushing it with lies just like every other drug they sell.
So for the ones that still believe that the pharmaceutical companies are in it for you and not the money, you should seriously rethink the rest of your life. You can die a slow suffering death brought on by poisons and toxins. Remember, Ibuprofen is made of known carcinogens. Do you think they care what you take as long as they make money? The next option of course could be suicide as this would prevent some long term suffering as well as free up valuable breathing space. Or, you could grow a brain and see what these people are doing to you. Get off your anti-depressants. The reason they push the pills on you is to shut you up.
The entire thread can be found here http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?t=441892&page=2, and I will forewarn you that the MS patients have taken it over. But you can find gems like....
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| Re: Gilenya in trouble already? Quote:
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We are all Cash Cows.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why Do We Need Clinical Trials For CCSVI?
Am I the only one having a problem with this?
Clinical trials are designed to test the effectiveness and safety of pharmaceutical products. It also serves as a great way to make a lot of people a lot of money. The cost to bring a drug to market through trials range to about $100 million. When you are a patient in a clinical trial, you essentially give up your rights as you are taking these drugs at your own risk. If you die.. the only outcome is that the drug "might" be considered unsafe. It doesn't mean it won't go to market, it just means they may have to add a couple more warnings to the label.
As a patient in a clinical trial you become nothing more than a guinea pig for a pharmaceutical company. The only difference, you have to go home and feed yourself, while the actual lab animals used for testing get to be fed by their handlers.
Clinical trials for surgical procedures to be allowed is unheard of. How many patients went through clinical trials for heart transplants before other patients were allowed to get new hearts to be able to live? Where are the results of these studies? I can't find them. Nor can I find any results for clinical trials for angioplasty, any transplants, venoplasty for diabetics, appendectomies or even tonsillectomies. It is unheard of for a surgeon to need a clinical trial to do an operation to save someones life.
So my bigger question would be, "Who is the stupid ass that even mentioned the words 'Clinical Trail' for CCSVI?
The CCSVI procedure is the same procedure used in hospitals around the world every day. A wide range of patients need and receive the simple angioplasty procedure. The same procedure that I had done in my jugular and azygos veins. And I lived. Actually, I got much better. I never got cured and I never got fixed. I got better.
The world runs on greed. It is a sad fact and a lot of us refuse to admit it. But it's true. It is no secret that MS is big business. A life long incurable disease that causes major suffering. A pharmaceutical companies dream. An endless supply of guinea pigs. It is no secret that the Neurological Societies of the world have taken the medical world by the throat displaying some of the most outrages God complexes ever seen. It is also no secret that the CCSVI information came out just before the clinical trials for several oral MS medications were to be released.
For MS patients, Disease Modifying Drugs (DMD's) such as Rebif, Avonex and all the others need to be injected. A major complaint for these patients is adverse reactions like flu symptoms to injection site issues such as scarring. After about 20 years of complaining, the pharmaceutical companies started to develop the same poisons in a pill form. These are the kind of drugs that cost a $100 million to run trials on. The cost of these drugs are no different than the cost for the injectables and in some cases they are more expensive. The payout for these drugs will exceed $ trillions. Or so they thought.
Then along comes a vascular surgeon in Italy who was tired of seeing his wife suffer from this disease. I have no doubt that he read the theories about MS possibly being a vascular condition. They have been around for almost 130 years. Even German Neurologists suspected this, but had no way to prove it. Until Dr.Zamboni comes along thinking outside the box. He found a way to image it so it could be seen. Though not yet perfect, major obstructions/constrictions can be seen. He showed he could see blood not properly draining from the brain due to anomalies to the veins returning blood back to the heart. Then he figured out a way to correct them. And it worked.
Since then, literally thousands of MS patients have had this procedure done. There have been very few complications. Although a couple have actually died and that could be upsetting, until you see the results of what killed them. They died because their doctors at home refused to treat them because they had a simple angioplasty procedure. So it wasn't the procedure that killed them, it was their own greedy doctors that did it. Regardless, this procedure has killed a lot less than heart transplants did until they got that right. The procedure is safe, it's our politicians and greedy doctors that are trying to kill us.
The Clinical Trial for CCSVI is a cash grab. Researchers will make a ton of money in grants. The researchers that are running these trials for the most part are running them to prove they don't work. This could be a stall tactic to allow time to generate more revenue for the losses about to be incurred. It could also be designed to fail from the beginning. There is no way that a DMD would go to market if the facts were presented honestly. A trail that shows 30% may have had some improvement looks a lot better than the 70% of patients experiencing no change/worsening/dieing of disease/drug. So it is easy to leave out the 70% who got worse or died. Regardless, it is still greed driven.
But the greed doesn't stop there. Now MS patients are flying all over the world and paying upwards to $25,000 for a simple procedure that could be done at home for less than $5000. And $5000 is being very generous as the cost in Canada is closer to $2500. Patients are also finding out that some of these clinics doing these procedures are not all the end all to be all. Some find they are paying $15,000 to only have one side done then need to return in a couple months with another $15,000 to get the other side done. Medical Tourism has always been a great cash cow. Now they get to add MS to their portfolios.
I did find one Clinical Trial for a surgical procedure. It was actually done the same way that we as patients are asking for. They didn't take a bunch of patients and controls run them a bunch of tests on them. They went to the patients that had the procedure done. Then they used the data to find the BEST surgical procedure to achieve the BEST results. The results were, no change regardless of the procedure method and the surgical condition was Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
There are literally thousands of MS patients worldwide that have had this procedure done. They are all screaming to be heard that this works so others don't have to suffer. Their doctors and politicians refuse to listen. We as patients know this works. We also know it is not a cure and we still need help. But our doctors refuse to listen to that also.
Clinical trials are designed to test the effectiveness and safety of pharmaceutical products. It also serves as a great way to make a lot of people a lot of money. The cost to bring a drug to market through trials range to about $100 million. When you are a patient in a clinical trial, you essentially give up your rights as you are taking these drugs at your own risk. If you die.. the only outcome is that the drug "might" be considered unsafe. It doesn't mean it won't go to market, it just means they may have to add a couple more warnings to the label.
As a patient in a clinical trial you become nothing more than a guinea pig for a pharmaceutical company. The only difference, you have to go home and feed yourself, while the actual lab animals used for testing get to be fed by their handlers.
Clinical trials for surgical procedures to be allowed is unheard of. How many patients went through clinical trials for heart transplants before other patients were allowed to get new hearts to be able to live? Where are the results of these studies? I can't find them. Nor can I find any results for clinical trials for angioplasty, any transplants, venoplasty for diabetics, appendectomies or even tonsillectomies. It is unheard of for a surgeon to need a clinical trial to do an operation to save someones life.
So my bigger question would be, "Who is the stupid ass that even mentioned the words 'Clinical Trail' for CCSVI?
The CCSVI procedure is the same procedure used in hospitals around the world every day. A wide range of patients need and receive the simple angioplasty procedure. The same procedure that I had done in my jugular and azygos veins. And I lived. Actually, I got much better. I never got cured and I never got fixed. I got better.
The world runs on greed. It is a sad fact and a lot of us refuse to admit it. But it's true. It is no secret that MS is big business. A life long incurable disease that causes major suffering. A pharmaceutical companies dream. An endless supply of guinea pigs. It is no secret that the Neurological Societies of the world have taken the medical world by the throat displaying some of the most outrages God complexes ever seen. It is also no secret that the CCSVI information came out just before the clinical trials for several oral MS medications were to be released.
For MS patients, Disease Modifying Drugs (DMD's) such as Rebif, Avonex and all the others need to be injected. A major complaint for these patients is adverse reactions like flu symptoms to injection site issues such as scarring. After about 20 years of complaining, the pharmaceutical companies started to develop the same poisons in a pill form. These are the kind of drugs that cost a $100 million to run trials on. The cost of these drugs are no different than the cost for the injectables and in some cases they are more expensive. The payout for these drugs will exceed $ trillions. Or so they thought.
Then along comes a vascular surgeon in Italy who was tired of seeing his wife suffer from this disease. I have no doubt that he read the theories about MS possibly being a vascular condition. They have been around for almost 130 years. Even German Neurologists suspected this, but had no way to prove it. Until Dr.Zamboni comes along thinking outside the box. He found a way to image it so it could be seen. Though not yet perfect, major obstructions/constrictions can be seen. He showed he could see blood not properly draining from the brain due to anomalies to the veins returning blood back to the heart. Then he figured out a way to correct them. And it worked.
Since then, literally thousands of MS patients have had this procedure done. There have been very few complications. Although a couple have actually died and that could be upsetting, until you see the results of what killed them. They died because their doctors at home refused to treat them because they had a simple angioplasty procedure. So it wasn't the procedure that killed them, it was their own greedy doctors that did it. Regardless, this procedure has killed a lot less than heart transplants did until they got that right. The procedure is safe, it's our politicians and greedy doctors that are trying to kill us.
The Clinical Trial for CCSVI is a cash grab. Researchers will make a ton of money in grants. The researchers that are running these trials for the most part are running them to prove they don't work. This could be a stall tactic to allow time to generate more revenue for the losses about to be incurred. It could also be designed to fail from the beginning. There is no way that a DMD would go to market if the facts were presented honestly. A trail that shows 30% may have had some improvement looks a lot better than the 70% of patients experiencing no change/worsening/dieing of disease/drug. So it is easy to leave out the 70% who got worse or died. Regardless, it is still greed driven.
But the greed doesn't stop there. Now MS patients are flying all over the world and paying upwards to $25,000 for a simple procedure that could be done at home for less than $5000. And $5000 is being very generous as the cost in Canada is closer to $2500. Patients are also finding out that some of these clinics doing these procedures are not all the end all to be all. Some find they are paying $15,000 to only have one side done then need to return in a couple months with another $15,000 to get the other side done. Medical Tourism has always been a great cash cow. Now they get to add MS to their portfolios.
I did find one Clinical Trial for a surgical procedure. It was actually done the same way that we as patients are asking for. They didn't take a bunch of patients and controls run them a bunch of tests on them. They went to the patients that had the procedure done. Then they used the data to find the BEST surgical procedure to achieve the BEST results. The results were, no change regardless of the procedure method and the surgical condition was Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.There are literally thousands of MS patients worldwide that have had this procedure done. They are all screaming to be heard that this works so others don't have to suffer. Their doctors and politicians refuse to listen. We as patients know this works. We also know it is not a cure and we still need help. But our doctors refuse to listen to that also.
Friday, January 7, 2011
How Many Have Ignored This As Well?
I spend a lot of time online. I have no choice because I am always searching. Sometimes, things just appear that catch my attention. The following is a letter that was posted online that I received permission from the author to share with you. When I read this letter I actually smiled, and I am sure most of you won't. But after you read the letter, I will explain why I am smiling.
When I was a young man, (Well around the age of 8 years,) I remember one summer afternoon, I was playing with my Tonka trucks on the front yard with one of my friends. Then, out of nowhere, a town police cruiser pulled over a middle-aged man driving a big blue car. The sirens & bubbles really caught our attention because we spent most of our childhood watching the show COPS on television. We walked over to the very end of the yard where we weren't allowed to go any further, to watch the interesting situation.
The police officer walked to the drivers side door of the big blue car, and started asking the man questions, I couldn't quite hear what they were discussing due to the loudness of the busy street, but we had a front-row seat to see what was happening. After a few minutes, the policeman opened the door and was telling the man to step out of the car, the man did not hesitate, and it looked like he was very cooperative. Standing on the side of the road, the man seemed very embarrassed. As the police officer searched through his car, he noticed the two of us watching what was happening and nicely waved to us with a big smile on his face. As kids, we were told to never talk or communicate with strangers, so we just starred at him blankly.
We changed our attention over to the police officer again, who was looking through the trunk. All of a sudden, the police officer gets out his weapon and points it at the man, immediately the man raised his hands in the air and knelt down on the pavement. The police officer walked up to him (still had his pistol pointed at him) & handcuffed the man, and made him lay on his stomach. The officer walked to his car, and started talking on the radio. After five minutes, two other police cars were on the scene. The officer who pulled the man over, showed the other policemen what was in the trunk.
By this time, the traffic had calmed down & we could hear what they were saying. One of the officers, pulled out a big bag of marijuana from the trunk, I didn't know how much there was in the bag then, but now with a little experience I'm positive that he had about a half pound. The officer put the bag on the hood of the man's car & lifted him off of the pavement, they stood him in front of the car and asked him "Sir, what are you doing with this?" He replied "It's my wife's medicine."
The officers, after they shared some words, they started pulling him to the police car, I remember the look on his face as he shouted "You can't take her medicine! She needs it! Don't take her medicine!" They tossed him in the back of the cruiser like he was a murderer, the officer slammed the door closed & drove away. As the car drove a few feet in front of us, the man looked at us, with tears in his eyes. The other officers took the bag with them, and left. Later on, a tow truck picked up his car and that was it.
I'll never forget that experience, the man was kind and respectful but the police treated him like dirt. They took his wife's medicine, which the couple worked hard for & the police just threw it away, leaving the husband with a jail sentence & the wife with pain & sadness.
This needs to end.
-Adam J. Carpenter, New Brunswick.
***Adam is a high school student from New Brunswick, Canada.
Sadly this is a tragic story all way round. An 8 year old child witnesses a man humiliated and treated like a dangerous criminal. The man was not guilty of any crime, unless trying to save a loved one has become against the law. And many of you are probably not smiling after reading a story like that.
Now, I will explain why I am smiling. This was written by a high school student. He saw this atrocity with his own eyes and it affected him. Whether he knew it at the time, he now realizes that he never should have seen anything like this. At his young age he actually understands. He's brave enough to come forward. Now imagine how many have also seen or known of these atrocities yet continue to ignore them,
So of course I'm smiling, he's our future. We may still have a chance.
When I was a young man, (Well around the age of 8 years,) I remember one summer afternoon, I was playing with my Tonka trucks on the front yard with one of my friends. Then, out of nowhere, a town police cruiser pulled over a middle-aged man driving a big blue car. The sirens & bubbles really caught our attention because we spent most of our childhood watching the show COPS on television. We walked over to the very end of the yard where we weren't allowed to go any further, to watch the interesting situation.
The police officer walked to the drivers side door of the big blue car, and started asking the man questions, I couldn't quite hear what they were discussing due to the loudness of the busy street, but we had a front-row seat to see what was happening. After a few minutes, the policeman opened the door and was telling the man to step out of the car, the man did not hesitate, and it looked like he was very cooperative. Standing on the side of the road, the man seemed very embarrassed. As the police officer searched through his car, he noticed the two of us watching what was happening and nicely waved to us with a big smile on his face. As kids, we were told to never talk or communicate with strangers, so we just starred at him blankly.
We changed our attention over to the police officer again, who was looking through the trunk. All of a sudden, the police officer gets out his weapon and points it at the man, immediately the man raised his hands in the air and knelt down on the pavement. The police officer walked up to him (still had his pistol pointed at him) & handcuffed the man, and made him lay on his stomach. The officer walked to his car, and started talking on the radio. After five minutes, two other police cars were on the scene. The officer who pulled the man over, showed the other policemen what was in the trunk.
By this time, the traffic had calmed down & we could hear what they were saying. One of the officers, pulled out a big bag of marijuana from the trunk, I didn't know how much there was in the bag then, but now with a little experience I'm positive that he had about a half pound. The officer put the bag on the hood of the man's car & lifted him off of the pavement, they stood him in front of the car and asked him "Sir, what are you doing with this?" He replied "It's my wife's medicine."
The officers, after they shared some words, they started pulling him to the police car, I remember the look on his face as he shouted "You can't take her medicine! She needs it! Don't take her medicine!" They tossed him in the back of the cruiser like he was a murderer, the officer slammed the door closed & drove away. As the car drove a few feet in front of us, the man looked at us, with tears in his eyes. The other officers took the bag with them, and left. Later on, a tow truck picked up his car and that was it.
I'll never forget that experience, the man was kind and respectful but the police treated him like dirt. They took his wife's medicine, which the couple worked hard for & the police just threw it away, leaving the husband with a jail sentence & the wife with pain & sadness.
This needs to end.
-Adam J. Carpenter, New Brunswick.
***Adam is a high school student from New Brunswick, Canada.
Sadly this is a tragic story all way round. An 8 year old child witnesses a man humiliated and treated like a dangerous criminal. The man was not guilty of any crime, unless trying to save a loved one has become against the law. And many of you are probably not smiling after reading a story like that.
Now, I will explain why I am smiling. This was written by a high school student. He saw this atrocity with his own eyes and it affected him. Whether he knew it at the time, he now realizes that he never should have seen anything like this. At his young age he actually understands. He's brave enough to come forward. Now imagine how many have also seen or known of these atrocities yet continue to ignore them,
So of course I'm smiling, he's our future. We may still have a chance.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
A Candid Chat on MS, CCSVI, Cannabis, and More.....
This is what happens when I get bored and start to ramble. I apologize that it is in 5 parts, but it is also being used in clips and sound bites by a few other people for projects in the works.
1-5
2-5
3-5
4-5
5-5
This is the information that the healthy people need to stay healthy and the unhealthy people need to get there.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Even I Can Be Amazed
This isn't really an update. It isn't even a story with a happy ending, nor a sad ending as the story is far from over. Nor is this an excuse for not updating more on my MS and recovery from the CCSVI procedure. Actually this isn't even about MS. But it does explain why I haven't been updating as much as I and others would like.
I have no job. I have no money. But I do have a thirst to keep people from suffering. I should have become a doctor but I didn't. (Probably would have had my license pulled for caring about patients.) So I help by passing on knowledge and contacts. I am a consultant. I consult to a number of patients, groups, and doctors.
I do not sell drugs. I don't even give them away. I help patients and their families secure a safe supply, and I provide the information on how to best administer. I work with the patients and their doctors on filling out the required paperwork for Health Canada as well as educate.
A week before Christmas I was contacted by email about a patient needing some assistance and the referral came from a doctor I work with quite often. The one requesting my help was her husband and I will call them Mr. and Mrs. H. Mrs. H. was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring. She underwent a double mastectomy and 30 different radiation treatments. This fall during the last of the radiation treatments she was advised that she also had a brain tumor that was spreading rapidly. The morning I was sent the email the family were just advised that there would be no way that she would make it home for Christmas and being that their family lives overseas, it might be time to start making some of those calls no one wants to get.
Quickly I realized I wasn't going to have a very good Holidays if she was suffering. By Monday morning, Mr. H had all of the paperwork filled out and signed by both his wife and a doctor and were sent priority rush to Health Canada. On the Sat. Mrs. H. had her first ever medicated cookie. Then again on Sunday, then again on Monday when I got a call from Mr. H. that his wife was doing much much better as she was eating again and joking with the nurses, and they expected her to be home by Wed.
So the family that was told they better start calling the rest of the family on Friday brought their mother home on Wednesday so she could spent Christmas at home with her family. Even I was stunned. Her husband told me that she was a strong woman, but I was still shocked. And of course extremely excited and happy for the family. But I have also been around long enough to understand the Prednisone "Superman Effect" and any drug including cannabis can do this. If you get relief from pain, you may just feel like Superman, but you will hurt yourself if you are not careful.
I wished them well, made them well aware that even though she felt good, she had to take it easy, and made arrangements to meet with them at their home today. Except things never work out as planned. Instead of getting to meet her at her home, I am rushed off to the hospital to meet her.
Over the Holidays the one thing I hoped wouldn't happen, happened. She started to taste the medicine. I can totally understand how she feels. As much as I love the baked goods, the underlying flavor reacts with my gag reflex, and it happened to her. Because they didn't want to ruin my Holidays, (grrrrr) they decided to wait until today to tell me that she stopped eating the medicine and was back in the hospital.
We got to the hospital, and were met by a nurse that informed us that she did not have a very good night and that they have called in her doctor because it doesn't look good. Her husband and I went to her room and I found me. Or basically what I looked like a few months ago. I have lived with so much pain that I know pain and better yet, I know when someone else is in pain. My heart ripped. Unable to sleep, unable to be awake, and unable to keep even a sip of water down. I more than know what that is like. I also realized that there was no way we would be discussing whether she wanted to try the same medicine in a different form.
Except her husband asked her, and her fear was not being able to keep it down and whether or not it would react with the high doses of morphine they were pumping into her. First and foremost, I never push anyone to do anything. Even in distress, a patient should have a choice. We left to bring me home so he could go back to be with her. On the way out we meet the doctor on the way in, that drags us into a private meeting room.
I will call this doctor, Dr. B. because we have a few of them here. Dr. B proceeds to tell Mr. H. that it is very bad and they are pretty much out of options. Dr. B. and I had met before one time when I was the patient in distress, and he found out that I could help myself better then he could, but still insisted I was wrong. I have been given that prognosis by a doctor and it is devastating. The one thing I am thankful for is that it was given to me and not Chrissy. It was much easier on her for me to tell her than someone else. So I spoke up.
Pretty much word for word I said the following....
"I know how you doctors in this town feel about Rick Simpson and his claims of curing cancer, and anecdotal or not, the man regardless of his approach is proving to be right. I will not make a claim that it will cure cancer as I, no matter how many times I have been told I have it, do not have cancer. So I can't make that claim. But I do know pain and I know what it can do for pain, and I can back that up with Dr. Marc Ware's study that proved that more is better to remove pain. Narcotics do not remove pain and you as a doctor know this, you also know that the mechanism is designed to trick the brain and nothing more. Cannabis removes the pain. We are not asking you for permission, nor even a prescription as it is already secured. We are informing you that this will solely be her choice. My purpose is to not cure her of cancer but to make her more comfortable. We can do this with cannabis, and the other medicinal benefits of the plant can go without saying while knowing there will be no reaction with anything you prescribe. Will there be a problem with this?"
His response.... "Do we cut back on the morphine then?"
And again it is her choice. I explained that if it works for her pain then she will let them know that she doesn't need the morphine. We quickly discussed some signs that should be watched for and I was taken home. Mr. H. returned to find out his wife had a great chat about her using cannabis to see if it would help with the pain to at least help her be a bit more comfortable. She said he basically gave her his blessing to go ahead and try it.
That in itself could be the end of a story with an amazing ending, but of course, the show always goes on. I just got off the phone with Mr. H. I think if he could have gotten through the phone he would have kissed me. I gave Mr. H. the idea this morning to wait for about 10 minutes after a shot of morphine to see if she could keep a small sip of water down, if so another sip with a small dose. Well, just before noon she did. Mr. H. sat and watched her and right on schedule at about the 45 minute mark she started to change. She melted into her bed and rested. Then she woke up, and from the sounds of it proceeded to eat them out of house and home.
Each dose will last 4 to 5 hours. Mr. H. was on his way back in to see her to give her another one and to grill her about how she felt after the first, with plans for another one at 10. You have to bow down to a man that loves his wife this much. Better yet, Mr.H wants to be there for when Dr. B. goes in again. To see if he wants to change that shitty prognosis yet.
So like I said, this story is far from over. Mr. and Mrs. H. still have a long hard road ahead of them, and we can only hope we still have time to pull off a miracle. But take it from someone that has been there.... when you can no longer eat, you no longer have the strength or will to fight. As long as she keeps eating she at least has a fighting chance. Stay tuned, this story is far from over and that is why I have been so busy. I really am out there trying to do my part.
I have no job. I have no money. But I do have a thirst to keep people from suffering. I should have become a doctor but I didn't. (Probably would have had my license pulled for caring about patients.) So I help by passing on knowledge and contacts. I am a consultant. I consult to a number of patients, groups, and doctors.
I do not sell drugs. I don't even give them away. I help patients and their families secure a safe supply, and I provide the information on how to best administer. I work with the patients and their doctors on filling out the required paperwork for Health Canada as well as educate.
A week before Christmas I was contacted by email about a patient needing some assistance and the referral came from a doctor I work with quite often. The one requesting my help was her husband and I will call them Mr. and Mrs. H. Mrs. H. was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring. She underwent a double mastectomy and 30 different radiation treatments. This fall during the last of the radiation treatments she was advised that she also had a brain tumor that was spreading rapidly. The morning I was sent the email the family were just advised that there would be no way that she would make it home for Christmas and being that their family lives overseas, it might be time to start making some of those calls no one wants to get.
Quickly I realized I wasn't going to have a very good Holidays if she was suffering. By Monday morning, Mr. H had all of the paperwork filled out and signed by both his wife and a doctor and were sent priority rush to Health Canada. On the Sat. Mrs. H. had her first ever medicated cookie. Then again on Sunday, then again on Monday when I got a call from Mr. H. that his wife was doing much much better as she was eating again and joking with the nurses, and they expected her to be home by Wed.
So the family that was told they better start calling the rest of the family on Friday brought their mother home on Wednesday so she could spent Christmas at home with her family. Even I was stunned. Her husband told me that she was a strong woman, but I was still shocked. And of course extremely excited and happy for the family. But I have also been around long enough to understand the Prednisone "Superman Effect" and any drug including cannabis can do this. If you get relief from pain, you may just feel like Superman, but you will hurt yourself if you are not careful.
I wished them well, made them well aware that even though she felt good, she had to take it easy, and made arrangements to meet with them at their home today. Except things never work out as planned. Instead of getting to meet her at her home, I am rushed off to the hospital to meet her.
Over the Holidays the one thing I hoped wouldn't happen, happened. She started to taste the medicine. I can totally understand how she feels. As much as I love the baked goods, the underlying flavor reacts with my gag reflex, and it happened to her. Because they didn't want to ruin my Holidays, (grrrrr) they decided to wait until today to tell me that she stopped eating the medicine and was back in the hospital.
We got to the hospital, and were met by a nurse that informed us that she did not have a very good night and that they have called in her doctor because it doesn't look good. Her husband and I went to her room and I found me. Or basically what I looked like a few months ago. I have lived with so much pain that I know pain and better yet, I know when someone else is in pain. My heart ripped. Unable to sleep, unable to be awake, and unable to keep even a sip of water down. I more than know what that is like. I also realized that there was no way we would be discussing whether she wanted to try the same medicine in a different form.
Except her husband asked her, and her fear was not being able to keep it down and whether or not it would react with the high doses of morphine they were pumping into her. First and foremost, I never push anyone to do anything. Even in distress, a patient should have a choice. We left to bring me home so he could go back to be with her. On the way out we meet the doctor on the way in, that drags us into a private meeting room.
I will call this doctor, Dr. B. because we have a few of them here. Dr. B proceeds to tell Mr. H. that it is very bad and they are pretty much out of options. Dr. B. and I had met before one time when I was the patient in distress, and he found out that I could help myself better then he could, but still insisted I was wrong. I have been given that prognosis by a doctor and it is devastating. The one thing I am thankful for is that it was given to me and not Chrissy. It was much easier on her for me to tell her than someone else. So I spoke up.
Pretty much word for word I said the following....
"I know how you doctors in this town feel about Rick Simpson and his claims of curing cancer, and anecdotal or not, the man regardless of his approach is proving to be right. I will not make a claim that it will cure cancer as I, no matter how many times I have been told I have it, do not have cancer. So I can't make that claim. But I do know pain and I know what it can do for pain, and I can back that up with Dr. Marc Ware's study that proved that more is better to remove pain. Narcotics do not remove pain and you as a doctor know this, you also know that the mechanism is designed to trick the brain and nothing more. Cannabis removes the pain. We are not asking you for permission, nor even a prescription as it is already secured. We are informing you that this will solely be her choice. My purpose is to not cure her of cancer but to make her more comfortable. We can do this with cannabis, and the other medicinal benefits of the plant can go without saying while knowing there will be no reaction with anything you prescribe. Will there be a problem with this?"
His response.... "Do we cut back on the morphine then?"
And again it is her choice. I explained that if it works for her pain then she will let them know that she doesn't need the morphine. We quickly discussed some signs that should be watched for and I was taken home. Mr. H. returned to find out his wife had a great chat about her using cannabis to see if it would help with the pain to at least help her be a bit more comfortable. She said he basically gave her his blessing to go ahead and try it.
That in itself could be the end of a story with an amazing ending, but of course, the show always goes on. I just got off the phone with Mr. H. I think if he could have gotten through the phone he would have kissed me. I gave Mr. H. the idea this morning to wait for about 10 minutes after a shot of morphine to see if she could keep a small sip of water down, if so another sip with a small dose. Well, just before noon she did. Mr. H. sat and watched her and right on schedule at about the 45 minute mark she started to change. She melted into her bed and rested. Then she woke up, and from the sounds of it proceeded to eat them out of house and home.
Each dose will last 4 to 5 hours. Mr. H. was on his way back in to see her to give her another one and to grill her about how she felt after the first, with plans for another one at 10. You have to bow down to a man that loves his wife this much. Better yet, Mr.H wants to be there for when Dr. B. goes in again. To see if he wants to change that shitty prognosis yet.
So like I said, this story is far from over. Mr. and Mrs. H. still have a long hard road ahead of them, and we can only hope we still have time to pull off a miracle. But take it from someone that has been there.... when you can no longer eat, you no longer have the strength or will to fight. As long as she keeps eating she at least has a fighting chance. Stay tuned, this story is far from over and that is why I have been so busy. I really am out there trying to do my part.
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