One Door Comes Unhinged, Another Door Opens: How Alternative Care Found Us.
How our view of health care changed in six weeks
In 2009, my husband and partner in business and in life became very ill. A fall on a chair initiated a string of events that changed our lives forever. He first complained of severe pain in his back and neck. A customer at our Austin coffee shop traded chiropractic adjustments for coffee, but the pain worsened with each chiropractic visit.
He then began experiencing pain in his knee, the next day in his foot, then his hands, the next day his elbow. Within two weeks, he couldn't walk without help, and had numbness in his feet. An ER doctor drew a remarkable amount of fluid from his knee. Each visit to the urgent care clinic, ER, and doctor's office had the same result: doctor scratches head, runs tests, writes prescription for narcotics to help relieve the pain, and sends Duane home.
Four weeks after the initial fall, Duane was 30 pounds lighter and couldn't walk. He was taking heavy narcotics that helped him sleep a little, but he was visibly and audibly in extreme pain. As a wife, mother, and business owner, now down a major contributor to the business. I knew I was failing on all fronts. I had taken a second job to try to cover bills, my kids' grades were falling, the house was a mess, the fridge empty, and I had no idea how my wonderful children were even doing. It was a very dark, tumultuous time.
Alternative care? Not an option. Not even on the radar.
Like a knight on a white horse, my mother and father in law drove to our Austin home from Montana to help. As Duane's condition continued to worsen daily, I was working 6:30 am to at least 8:00 pm. We were so thankful for mom and dad, Don and Sandy. They helped with the business, fed us, took care of the kids, and brought Duane to see the doctor every few days.
Duane then began to turn yellow and was really getting horrifyingly thin. He was losing two pounds per day, and really did not have much less to lose. I was tracking every calorie he ate, and we were getting 3,500-3,800 calories into his sedentary body daily. We were all so scared. He made two more trips to urgent care, was told he did in fact have liver damage, but was again sent away with another prescription for narcotics. WHAT??!! Liver damage and freakish weight loss - treated with narcotics? Isn't there some kind of doctor's oath that says "first do no harm"? How much longer can he go on losing weight and only gaining terrifying symptoms?
Read the rest of Duane and Tiffany's "Alternative Care: A Gift of Urgency" story here.
How our view of health care changed in six weeks
In 2009, my husband and partner in business and in life became very ill. A fall on a chair initiated a string of events that changed our lives forever. He first complained of severe pain in his back and neck. A customer at our Austin coffee shop traded chiropractic adjustments for coffee, but the pain worsened with each chiropractic visit.
He then began experiencing pain in his knee, the next day in his foot, then his hands, the next day his elbow. Within two weeks, he couldn't walk without help, and had numbness in his feet. An ER doctor drew a remarkable amount of fluid from his knee. Each visit to the urgent care clinic, ER, and doctor's office had the same result: doctor scratches head, runs tests, writes prescription for narcotics to help relieve the pain, and sends Duane home.
Four weeks after the initial fall, Duane was 30 pounds lighter and couldn't walk. He was taking heavy narcotics that helped him sleep a little, but he was visibly and audibly in extreme pain. As a wife, mother, and business owner, now down a major contributor to the business. I knew I was failing on all fronts. I had taken a second job to try to cover bills, my kids' grades were falling, the house was a mess, the fridge empty, and I had no idea how my wonderful children were even doing. It was a very dark, tumultuous time.
Alternative care? Not an option. Not even on the radar.
Like a knight on a white horse, my mother and father in law drove to our Austin home from Montana to help. As Duane's condition continued to worsen daily, I was working 6:30 am to at least 8:00 pm. We were so thankful for mom and dad, Don and Sandy. They helped with the business, fed us, took care of the kids, and brought Duane to see the doctor every few days.
Duane then began to turn yellow and was really getting horrifyingly thin. He was losing two pounds per day, and really did not have much less to lose. I was tracking every calorie he ate, and we were getting 3,500-3,800 calories into his sedentary body daily. We were all so scared. He made two more trips to urgent care, was told he did in fact have liver damage, but was again sent away with another prescription for narcotics. WHAT??!! Liver damage and freakish weight loss - treated with narcotics? Isn't there some kind of doctor's oath that says "first do no harm"? How much longer can he go on losing weight and only gaining terrifying symptoms?
Read the rest of Duane and Tiffany's "Alternative Care: A Gift of Urgency" story here.
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