Showing posts with label Living with Chronic Pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living with Chronic Pain. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Cell Therapy - Miracles for Modern Agers


Just received the news I have arthritis - which sounds minor, but its not. Suddenly everything makes sense - the deterioration of my back, the pain I fight, which seems to come in on waves of multi-level layers. At times I've been unable to hold a pen or pencil...weird disruptions in muscles - fire balls shooting through areas of body - traveling, nothing consistent.

The docs are once again passing me around because of other things - no one wants to take responsibility to treat, just in case some standard medication kills me I guess, haha. So I'm trying to make it work with Tylenol. So far, can't even get an anti-inflammatory, only offers of surgery.

I have come across one interesting treatment: Stem Cells! These cells are harvested from the illiac crest (the inside of the hip area) and then injected (not that simple, lots of steps in between) into the affected joints. No mention of embryos, hooray! This confirms what I've been reading about our own bodies being marvelous sources of stem cells to treat ourselves, should they be needed.

This would explain why the back surgeon was going to pack the area of my back he wanted to fix with the bone marrow & bone from the illiac crest. How cool is that! "H" is incredibly bored when I regale him with facts I glean from medical research and is irritated when I'm right.

It's because men's brains are arranged like tidy boxes and ours (women) run amok like a Machiavellian subway system all at once, criss-crossing, and constantly moving. Eh eh.

Soooo - I feel peace - conquered worse - just a nuisance, a bump in the trail of life. I'm still going to boogy, paint, and garden and probably irritate a few more people! I've become a student of chronic pain, and sometimes conquer it for a few weeks here and there and then I begin bragging about feeling so well. So, I tell IT, so what! So damn what!!! And so there!

I know what to do - all the alternative to medicine things.

I've been studying anti-aging medicine. I would highly recommend Suzanne Somers book, "Breakthrough." She postulates that since the medical world can keep us alive into a ripe old age, well, then, why not feel good till we die? Why get sick, crippled, and debilitated when there are so many ways to prevent it such as hormone treatment (which is quite controversial since some of the hormones are considered "performance enhancing" - well, ya, living is sort of a performance, isn't it?) and supplementation, radical diet changes and exercise.

It is beyond me why attempting to maintain an organic, toxin free, diet and water supply, and supplementation is considered extreme? Anti-aging medicine is still considered extreme, while slowly dying of preventable disease is not extreme. The very wealthy, all very quietly are able to obtain all the treatment they need IF they are so inclined to stay healthy and active until death. Maybe the fight against the "performance enhancing" medications is really a form of euthanasia? Sick, demented? Aw, just stick em in an old age warehouse, who needs 'em?

I'm now beginning to understand the things that used to irritate me with my grandma, whom I dearly loved. Her fading sight, short temper, (although it was rumoured to always being that way), complaints of pain she could barely stand, weakness of body - she really should have moved in with us so she could have had regular meals. It got so I had two houses to clean, two laundry duties, two yard duties, for many years - but it was ok. Now, I'm grateful I was able to do it. Ya never know till ya walk a mile in their shoes - so they say.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The Road of Self Discovery


Frida Kahlo, one of my favorite painters - so full of pain, yet determined to live. Mysterious, but shockingly revealing and honest.

Do we ever find ourselves? No, we just keep looking, but we find a bit here, a piece there, we find the glue, and we find hope and knowledge and God and the joy of discovery, the joy of becoming, the joy of life on the path(s) we walk. We just need to be looking, that's all.

I had the procedure today - about five injections along my spine. It was creepy - I was scared, but the doctor was so sweet - greeted me with "I want to be in Wyoming fishing the Shoshone." I wish he could go there soon. The shots went splendidly, but I woke up bat-wacky and when I tried to stand up, my legs were - gone. Scared? You betcha - since I had to sign a paper stating that I understood paralysis was a possible side effect. Well, the drug that made me so very sick in a few moments after wakeup only bought the immediate to mind, "Gee, I can't stand up." They hustled me back to the table and I then couldn't breathe, wanted to barf badly, and was mulling over the meaning of "I can't stand up, my ass and on down are paralyzed.

After some wonderful medical adjustments from the recovery room nurse who was fabulous, my tummy settled, air came back to my lungs, and gradually I could move my legs - an extra long recovery ensued, my butt was the last to thaw out so it was kind of humorous in way, and then I was better than when I went in.

So, now home with instructions to not lift for two weeks anything more than a gallon of water, rest, rest, rest for 48 hours. I will miss the boy's class birthday party, but will be ready for the magnetics party Friday night.

So what about discovery? I thought about painting, my passion along with my family. The information I received made me realize that living with chronic pain is just that -- living with it. It does not mean putting life on hold "until I get better." It means doing life NOW. It means coping with frustration, depressions, hopelessness, anger at oneself because it takes three hours to do a 20 minute task, anger and sadness and despair because those who are supposed to help you sometimes/often won't. So what is the option - yes, options! Home Health Care for assistance - why expect my family to take the brunt - yeh, call a social worker and explain - get a network going and LIVE, darn it, just LIVE - and learn to love better. Getting rid of negative thinking is not the total answer - its another piece of the puzzle - and a knowing I am part of not only my family, but my community as well, and maybe even a receiver (of tax dollars) and not just a giver. And my family will learn from all this in the process, (hopefully). That's where my job is to pray. And love.

And believe God will take care of me (and my family) - the people who are helping me with the magnetic treatment are Christians and not charging me anything - that HAS to be a piece of the puzzle. God does things in ways we don't expect - we want everything to work on OUR PLAN....and it seldom does. So the adventure unfolds.

Joni Mitchell paints - Frida painted - and had social lives - friends, lovers, family, love, pain, angst, achievement - so can I. No more waiting.

I need to go get prone now - will visit all tomorrow in spurts - and Pup, I miss you, I often wonder if you are disillusioned with us "adults" in all our messy lives - but you know, life just isn't perfect, we deal with it as best we can. Love is the most important component of life...its that love that keeps us going despite all its imperfections, disappointments, failures..........and I'm sending you love tonight through this.......