What an incredible first day; I don’t even know where to
begin maybe with the fact that I woke up at 5AM and couldn’t go back to sleep
so I colored for 3 and half hours. While my mom slept comfortably. I guess I will start with Mom and I
arriving late on our first day for the shuttle and missing it. Mom’s watch was two minutes to slow and
apparently the Swiss are extremely punctual. After the fact Irene and Christian, the owners of the
extended stay hotel, told us to arrive 5 minutes early every single day because
the Swiss are so punctual.
Everyone here is so friendly, so Irene called a taxi for Mom and I. Let’s just say missing the shuttle then
having to pay 8 Swiss Franks is not a great way to start the day.
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| The front view of the Klinik |
By the time we arrived at the clinic, we were greeted by
receptionists, handed a book full of appointments for the upcoming month, and
then headed to the dentistry building for a panoramic X-ray of my mouth. When arrived to the dentist, I was
instructed that I would need to take my daith piercing out, but the thing is I
have never taken it out before.
Let’s just say it took a pair of pliers and my mother’s strength to pry
this earning out of my ear.
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| Day 1 schedule |
After the quick panoramic X-ray of my mouth, my Mom and I
went on a little walk in an attempt to kill nearly two hours. After our walk it was lunchtime and we
met some of our new friends down at the Restaurant before we met with doctor.
The bonus of staying at the Hotel Santis is that everyone is affiliated with
the clinic so if I see them at the hotel during meals it is a good chance I
will see them at the clinic during the day. As everyone knows it is nice to see a familiar face when
receiving treatments, but it is even nicer seeing someone familiar when
everyone speaks different languages.
And you are homesick for your native language.
One quick side story there was a little Indian boy in the
dentist office and he was in tears.
All he wanted was his Mommy, he had a peripheral IV hanging from his arm
and he just looked like he was in so much pain. I started crying, we had to leave the room because it was
heart breaking. I later saw him
during my infusion and he did seem a little bit better.
After eating a pureed vegetable soup, I was headed to the
first doctor appointment with Dr. Oatmeier. During my one-hour appointment, he said without a doubt he
could help me. He almost laughed
when I asked; he said complicated cases are nothing new to him. He did a physical exam and he could
tell I was bloated; he said I had lots of “flatulence.” Well obviously I look 6 months pregnant
so if he didn’t notice then we would have lots of other issues. He didn’t take me off any medications
yet or introduce new supplements.
I would just kill for some Swiss chocolate right now. All of the food here smells delicious
so I am hopeful by the end of the trip I will be able to eat some solid
food. Maybe even a croissant. But anyway back to my appointment, he
got a comprehensive view of the past 23 years of my life. Then asked a few questions to my Mom
about my birth and her pregnancy with me.
I guess all of trivial things have contributed to my current state of
health. We reviewed my dental
X-ray. The only thing he saw that
could be an issue is my wisdom teeth being impacted. The wisdom teeth sit on the intestinal meridian so it may
benefit me to have them removed as soon as possible. The issue is it is so much cheaper stateside; however I
don’t want to be putting in all of this effort then
After my meeting with the doctor we headed downstairs to the
darkfield microscopy. However the
doctor never showed; apparently they double booked him so that appointment was
moved to Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM.
After my appointment was cancelled we headed to a different building to
meet with a woman named Barbara who was going to go over my month long schedule
and answer any questions we have.
I just can’t say it enough that the Swiss are so friendly. That appointment didn’t run over; the clinic
scheduled an hour and I only needed 45 minutes so I headed up to the infusion
department for my mystery infusion.
It is not really a mystery I just forget everything they
told me was in it. But I do know
the two infusions I had were filled with B complex vitamins, magnesium, folic
acid, and other essential vitamins.
I was there for a while because they couldn’t figure my port out. They had to draw several vials of blood
and the nurse in training needed the head nurse’s assistant when drawing my
blood. My port was being finicky
and was being resistant as the nurse tried to flush it. It was my day to have my needle changed
however they didn’t know which size needle I needed. Thank god I brought two needles from home with me so I can
have them change it the next time I am there. I was supposed to be tested of heavy metals too but there
was no time so that will need to be fit in somewhere.
Because it took the nurses so long to figure out my port and
start my infusions, I was going to miss my last appointment of the day, which
was with the dentist. The dentist
agreed to stay late so he could see me.
I picked up my IV pole with two IVs on it and rolled myself across the
parking lot to the dentist. Before
I tell you about my appointment with the dentist, let me just say when I saw
him he was easy on the eyes. He
has a thick British accent and looked so dreamy. He said my teeth looked like I take good care of them. The only thing he was concerned about was
my wisdom teeth especially since they are seated right on the intestinal
meridians. He said he couldn’t
guarantee that it isn’t causing me issues. Mom isn’t too keen on having the surgery here for financial
issues; it is much cheaper in the states. My fear that I am going to do all
this work then go back to the states and relapse after the surgery and then I
feel like I will be at ground zero.
We left it at we will discuss it with my doctor and see what he says.
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| Lab work |
After the dentist I rolled my IV pole back to the infusion
department where they de-accessed my port and told me they would reaccess it
tomorrow. Without my knowledge the
last shuttle of the day left, however the nurse called the shuttle back and I
was able to hop on the shuttle at 5:50 with Anna from Berlin who also missed
the earlier shuttle. I know that
seems early for those who work long hours but 10:15-5:50 wiped me out. I knew the last thing I should do was
take a nap even. though that is all I wanted to do. I forced myself to stay awake in the hopes I would sleep
through the night. I went to
dinner around 6:15 the pumpkin soup was very good. I just would kill to be eating what everyone else is,
however I know it is not an overnight process. I didn’t become this way overnight. After dinner Mom and I went into the
sauna for 23 minutes. At first we
didn’t have it heated right, but then that heat started pouring into the sauna
and before you knew it, Mom and I were sweating.
After the sauna I took a quick shower to rinse off. I must say being de-accessed and
showering was heavenly. I was dead
asleep by 9:15pm then I woke up at 1:15am which is when I decided to re-cap my
whole first day. Feel free to ask
questions, I feel like I am a guinea pig for all of my friends, but I had to
try something different. I was
dying in the states. I needed hope
and I know I came to the right place.
For pete’s sake when I asked the doctor if he could help me he said of
course. No doctor has ever said of
course like he did because I am a complicated case. But this is the place for those cases. Another piece of hope has been talking
to patients and hearing their success stories. Two ladies I have met are here for cancer and they have seen
dramatic decreases in their cancer markers. Another lady came here for lyme and she is now in
remission. Life doesn’t get much
better than that
Tomorrow my day is jammed pack starting at 7:30am with the
darkfield microscopy (rescheduled from yesterday), colonics, appointment with
Dr. Kimbles, heart rhytmogram, cardio sonic diagnosis, oxygen IV, and last but
not least local hyperthermia. I
have some draining days ahead of me, please keep me in your thoughts over the
next few weeks.
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| Tiggy the klinik's homeless cat |
“You become a magnet for what you want by simply asking the
universe.”
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