Almost 30 years ago I almost died while performing my duties as a Firefighter. My lungs were heavily damaged and I struggled for every breath. There were a lot of weird symptoms like cough syncope. When a good coughing fit would hit me I’d pass out like a puppet with cut strings.
The problem with getting hurt on the job is that you fall into the Workman’s Compensation system. That sounds good -until you realize the main job of Workman’s Comp doctors is to find a way to deny your claim. You’d think that getting hauled away from a fire scene in an ambulance would be proof enough. Between the doctors and private investigators they tried every avenue they could think of to prove my lung issues were not job related.
While that was going on I couldn’t refuse any medical treatment, no matter how uncomfortable or unlikely they’d help. They tried their best to patch me just well enough to send me back to work. When that couldn’t be done they stopped trying to treat me. Of course this is an over simplification of a process that took many months.
Once I was able to choose my own medical care I started the long road to recovery. Some of it was unconventional, like taking lessons from a martial artist on how to strengthen my lungs. That really helped. A good part of my lung care is avoiding a long list of chemicals that cause bronchial spasms. On a day to day basis right now you’d never know I’d once lost almost all my lung function.
Now that I’ve gotten older there are other conditions that crept out of the woodwork. I’ve learned which treatments to avoid and what helps. I’m happy that I’ve a doctor who’s willing to work with me. He says I’m the oldest on the job injury survivor he’s met so I must be doing something right. Even though I’m overweight my blood pressure and blood tests are good.
Too often I see people just accept whatever the doctor wants to do. They make mistakes too. A number of times doctors wanted to treat a wound condition as if I have diabetes. Those treatments actually make my condition worse. I guess they just assumed an old fat guy had diabetes, even thought I’ve normal blood sugar.
Do I know more about medicine than doctors? Of course not. Do I know more about the body I’ve lived in for over six decades -hell yeah!
-Sixbears
Ah but do you have clogged arteries and poor circulation ? I do , and don't have diabetes. Yet poor circulation in my lower limbs does cause similar affects to wound healing times.
ReplyDeleteMeaning that treatment is many times of a similar method.
For some strange reason I have poor circulation where I drove a pickaroon into my leg. Same leg I smashed with a sledge hammer. Huh. The wraps they use for diabetes cause open wounds in my legs instead of healing them. Just keeping it elevated helps a lot.
DeleteThe best care starts with Self Care. From the center of the sphere we reach out to meet the rest of creation.
ReplyDeleteYa got that right.
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