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.
http://savemarcelnow.blogspot.com/2011/01/even-i-can-be-amazed.html?spref=fb