Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
This morning Mom and I went to meet with Dr. Blaney at the Stillpoint Project. We spoke about my symptoms, had an assessment of where I'm at and he even did a small treatment on my left hand where I've noticed a little bit of numbness on my pointer finger.
He explained the different approaches to MS by the traditional medical community and the Marshall Protocol, of which he follows with his own adaptations. It appears that the medical community treats the symptoms, while the MP treats the body as a whole preferably before the onset of symptoms. He explained further that minocycline is part of his treatment (so I wouldn't be taking my 50/50 chances through the trial) and that the importance of MRIs is overstated. Our brains are dynamic, and the lesions my heal and/or pop up elsewhere. Keeping track of them just for the sake of tracking them doesn't actually aid in the healing process. He was also encouraged to be treating me at such an early stage of possible MS, prior to the onset of irreversible nerve damage.
I left his office optimistic that I'll be in good, if expensive, hands.
Although most members of my family will be supportive of my decision to seek alternative care, I know there are certain people very close to me that look down on alternative medical treatment. They hold a very common view its practitioners with derision and minimize any positive results they hear about. I don't care. I need to look after myself, and to be honest, the mainstream medical community doesn't appear to have my best health interests at heart. I've just finished reading an article in Maclean's by Anne Kingston on Monday, June 25, 2012 about how Canada has let down MS sufferers. How sad that decisions regarding research and funding basically come down to political views and pressure from drug companies, rather than consideration of science or caring for a considerable sized group of Canadians suffering with MS. Frankly, I don't have time to wait for the medical community to get their heads out of their rear-ends. Pardon the crassness in my language - I'm not about to sit quietly and wait for the slowly turning wheels of medicine to help me.
After my meeting with Dr Blaney, Mom and I went to the Delta Hospital for #2 of my IV treatments. 3 1/2 painful hours later I was finally able to head to the office. The IV treatment is supposed to take no longer than 1 1/2 hours, so both Mom and I were terribly frustrated with having to wait so long. The IV was already in my arm, I just needed someone to hook me up and set up the drip. Crikey. When it turned out that my file had been overlooked, everyone who spoke to me pointed the finger of blame at someone else. Except that is, for the cranky nurse whom I inconvenienced by needing her to set me up. She just did her job in silence, then abandoned me.
After our trip to the hospital, Mom dropped me off at the office. I'm sure she was relieved to finally be rid of me. My temper had been tested at the hospital and quite frankly I don't think I was very pleasant to be around. I had initially wanted to spend the entire day at work, but I suppose life got in the way. Sorry Work. However, I gathered information, did my inventory, set up some Payables and piled a heap of files in my bag to take home.
I don't know about hospitals. I hear so much about overlooked patients, misplaced files, errors, irritable nurses. Maybe they are right: they do need more staff. Being a nurse can't be easy. But still, it's a job with a lot of responsibility. Someone needs to stop and at least communicate with the patient. "Sorry you have to wait. We're really busy now but we will get over to you as soon as possible." I think that could make at least some difference.
ReplyDeleteAs for so-called alternative medicine, I know people who work in acupuncture and other more, shall we say mysterious, forms of medicine. They operate small time and seem to be able to devote their energies and skills to each patient fully. It's not assembly line, politically influenced care.
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