It's only the beginning

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Tiggy the klinik's homeless cat

“You become a magnet for what you want by simply asking the universe.”