Medical Ozone Therapy Personal Testimonial Part Two

Continued from Part One Here ....Medical Ozone Therapy Personal Part One

At this point, I was at a loss as to what to do and still had no clue from anyone why this was occurring or what had even started it. Doctors would endlessly speculate one thing or another, the most reasonable suspicion was that I was suffering from Thrombophilia. This news, I received from a Hematologist who had speculated based on the reports but could not be certain unless I was to undergo some outrageously expensive tests. The one thing that he did tell me was that there was no cancer...at least! In any case, I had to go to specialists to figure out why and what to do about it because the prognosis was not that good. Apparently there was no way to recover from what was occurring and Thrombophilia whether acquired or genetic is permanent. As those of you that have been in similar situations can attest to, what goes on in your mind when you are given a death sentence is inexplicable at best; I was in complete and utter shock. Is that it, I had thought, all I get on this earth is 58 years of life, too short, I am not ready, can't be, just some of the thoughts that speed by like a train in your head. let alone the thoughts about those around you that love and care for you.

For those that do not know what Thrombophilia is, just click on the word, it will go to a link for you. I will talk about this more later but so that you know, once diagnosed, one needs to be on Warfarin so as to stop the creation of clots. For me, it was a rather high dose at that. So yet, another bit of great news, now I have to take rat poison as well, just dandy, I thought. No use in denial, let's try to do the best we can, I have a young family and need to take care of this, if not for me, then for them. Strange how the motivation comes in but it does, to some it may be a different one but we all seem to have a reason for survival at first and really just want to do what we think is best given our set of circumstances. in the beginning, I notice that there are two mechanisms that kick in, the survival one and the one that says, what's the use and you go from one to the other. You tend to question everything including yourself, sometimes you withdraw and do not want anyone around, sometimes you want to enjoy every minute, it is certainly a very trying time and one that most people would not understand if they did not go through it. I did not understand it, but I certainly do now!

On to the next step, I wanted to find specialists in abdominal diseases, went through quite a few, looked at experts in their field, went and sat down with them and discussed options, probabilities and scenarios. Most, if not all, would not accept what had to be done, too risky they said. We have no clue what this is, they said. We don't know the causative factor, they said. All this sound familiar to any of you? Finally found one that looked at my paperwork and tests and said that surgery must be done but I would have a 50/50 chance of survival. 

A couple of days later I met with the surgeon directly, a brilliant surgeon who had been trained in the UK and actually teaches abdominal surgery. I thought to myself that he must know what he is doing and we sat down and discussed what needed to be done. I found him positive in his skills at surgery but not of my outcome. After reviewing my records and scans, he said that it was difficult to see what was going on as there are so many intestines and a CT scan will not show if there is a blockage or a stricture. They do however suspect it is a stricture that needs to be corrected. What he would do is go in with three holes, called a laparoscopy and try to remove the stricture, should not be hard to do, he said.  He continued, "That of course only solves the problem with your intestines and not any other issue." So, even if I survive the surgery, I still have the problem? "Yes, he said and as well your portal vein is blocked and even though you have collaterals that have taken over you will have an issue of ascites in your abdomen." What??? For how long? "Well, for good, that will not go away, veins do not un-block and there is nothing that can do for that." So, i will have a belly full of water all the time? "Yes, I am afraid so." BUT...Here it comes I thought. First, he said, we have to hospitalize you since you are on warfarin and put you on heparin until your INR subsides. Then you have to have an IVC filter installed so that you do not have issues during surgery or rather lower the possibility of an issue. This was just getting better and better, I thought. O.M.G., that hit me like a brick! Tears and a cry that I have never had engulfed me, that was it I thought, it's over!

The questions in my mind started to flow, what is the possibility that I may not survive, I wondered? With a smile he said, "Well, I will do the best I can but I am only human." Great I thought, not really what I wanted to hear. So, off to the hospital room I went, once again and on the IV's, but different ones. This time there was a twist though, apparently my stomach had become distended and there was a need to take out what contents they could, mostly fluid but it was necessary because it was not going to go far. The course of action is to stick a tube through your nasal passage down into the stomach and let whatever is in there either drain or be sucked out. If any of you had to have this done you would not need anyone to explain the discomfort and torture of this procedure. Tried as he may, the skilled surgeon could not make it work, it just did not want to go down, gagging, tears, pain, and it was one of the most awful experiences I had ever been through. Finally, giving up and dispensing with the torture, I was sedated and the tube was implanted. Talking was weird, in fact, it was all weird, can't swallow right, something intrusive in both your nose and throat. Certainly one of those things that you cant explain unless you go through it.

The days went by in the hospital, of course i could not eat any solid food, so I was put on nutrition which consisted of these drinks with God only knows what is inside. They kept bringing me food and it was incredibly yummy, my kids would eat it and at least enjoy in my place. I was monitored every few hours, blood was drawn and we waited for the INR to go down, I looked like a heroin addict due to all the needle pricks and at one point my veins were so collapsed that they had to call in an anesthesiologist to find a vein. During this time I lost 30 kilos or 66 pounds, that would be  almost the weight of my son who also noted that my stomach looked like a yoga ball or as if I was nine months pregnant. My wife, my dear wife, i can only imagine what went on with her in those days. She had later told me that she thought that was it; I can only speculate what this did to my family who were with me whenever they could be, closer now than we have ever been. Nothing was a priority anymore, this sickness ad taken over all our lives. My wife and kids even slept with me in my hospital room, going back and forth from school, college, the house and my side. We were all spent and all looked pretty bleak for this family.

Finally, after five days of what seemed an eternity of torture, it was acceptable for me to have an IVC filter installed. I was fortunate in that I had the best cardiovascular surgeon available doing this procedure, again, one that teaches cardiovascular surgery and technique. First we had to do an ultrasound to check my veins. While we did an ultrasound I asked the technician to check on my right leg because for a long time it was prone to edema, he did and to his amazement and mine he said that that the main vein in my leg was so solid that it felt like concrete. When you discover that you are sick and begin to focus on your sickness instead of the many other pressures of everyday life you begin to dissect your time on this planet into little sections and notice things that you really never gave any thought to, this was one of them. He also said this has been an issue for a long time and that it was completely blocked from my pelvis down to the end of my leg and had been for a while. How long I asked. He said, many, many years...Now things were starting to make sense, the lightbulb went off in my head!

To be continued...

NOTE: Since I started with this story, I have had many people asking questions about ozone therapy, medical ozone and so on. Also, questions about why, what and everything in-between. Please wait until you read all of it, I believe that most of the questions will be answered.