I am sore and unsteady today. My feelings are more of sadness, thinking too much or maybe not too much of my brother Al. But, I changed my mind about blogging tonight after reading a dear friends post tonight. Her name is Sheri and here is here website.
http://sheridegrom.wordpress.com
Her post brought back the hole in my heart caused from the overly medicated state my brother became from medications with his MSA. I knew years ago that Al may die an earlier death than so-called normal people. This is true of so many that are mentally challenged.
I asked myself why bother. Why go back into details of my brother. It won’t bring him back. In fact, it places those sad memories on the front burner of my brain. I then knew that the reason I wanted to write was because I felt drawn to speak up on Al’s behalf for anyone who has a terminal illness or an illness that is ongoing like what I have; Diabetes.
In our Western world, doctors pump pills and patients usually take them without questions. We tend to lean on the idea that if we don’t pop pills, we can not be healed. We take so many antibiotics that our bodies can no longer fight infections as well, as it becomes immune, therefore causing what we have today known as Super Bugs.
The biggest Super Bug we have at this time is MRSA.
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Staphylococcus aureus (or informally referred to as “Staph”) manifests itself in many ways, but is probably most famously known as “flesh-eating bacteria”. About 25% to 30% of the general population is colonized with Staph in their nose or on the surface of their skin, but if it finds its way beyond the skin barrier, it can cause a variety of infections, ranging from minor skin infections, including pimples or boils, to more serious infections that can lead to fatal outcomes, such as pneumonia or sepsis.
For many years, penicillin and methicillin were considered excellent treatments for Staph infections. Strains of Staph that are resistant to methicillin were first observed in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. However, in recent years, community-associated MRSA has become more prevalent. A recent article in JAMA estimated that in 2005, MRSA infected nearly 9,000 Americans, in whom 1 in 5 infections were deadly.
My brother was definitely very ill with MSA. It was a rare disease with no cure in sight. I don’t blame any doctors; for all they know how to do at this date is prescribe pills or liquids and patches for pain.
Again I repeat, each pill we take causes some level of side-effect. There are medications that can cause death. Even with my Diabetes, some of my medications slow down my metabolism, which keeps us diabetics on the heavy side. What we need is a medication that speeds up our metabolisms, helping us to lose weight, therefore keeping our sugar levels under control.
My brother was put on heavy-duty drugs to try to keep the pain away, but the high price he paid was a sooner death. Medications to help pain cause other infections. They can change the heart beat, cause UTI’s, even make our brains go hay wire.
If I could have had more choices in Al’s level of care and I had an abundance of funds, I swear after seeing what he suffered from side-effects, I would have moved us to a state where Marijuana was legal.
Sure, he was going to die, but just maybe he could have had some sort of normalcy during his months remaining. Instead what I saw was a brother who saw flowers dancing on the floor, or uncontrollable laughter or tears.
If I get a terminal illness, I don’t want to use the rat poison that is in Chemo Therapy. I want to try other countries ways of treating illnesses, without all the pill popping. There is herbal and Chinese, really there is so much more out in the world than what we see in front of our noses.
I guess I am done posting. I want you to understand if I need a medication or you need one, I agree with going to the doctor, but a terminal illness; now that is the topic I am talking about.
I will always remember what my dad said three days before he died of Multiple Myeloma; which is; Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer that is caused by malignant plasma cells that proliferate in the bone marrow and produce abnormally high amounts of a special protein.
He said he would have turned down the chemo and lived out his days with a natural outlook. No chemo, no tiredness, or vomiting, or weakness. He said he would have traded all that in for just a few more months of feeling better. I agree with him, after I took care of him and saw how he suffered, and worse yet, died anyways.
I know that seeing so much illness in my career, I don’t really want to know what is going on with me. I am afraid that I won’t enjoy my life. I will become obsessed with how I feel, doctors, medications. I would rather try a natural healing and enjoy my kids and grandkids to the end.
Who I am 