When I first had my Mirena taken out, I crashed HARD about a week later...then again two months after that. I had awful insomnia, debilitating anxiety attacks, adrenal attacks, problems breathing, couldn't think, constantly dizzy, my hands wouldn't work sometimes, you name it. It was around this time that I forced my General Practitioner to run the silicone blood test. As I'm sure you remember from my previous posts, he thought I was crazy for asking, told me that it was pointless...yada yada yada....I forced him anyway, got the results back, and YEP....elevated silicone in my blood. You know that whole story.
When I hung up from that phone call with those results, I was in shambles because I was told, basically, that there is nothing that you can do for that. "Silicone is a permanent synthetic, and you will have to go elsewhere for any sort of treatment because I (GP) don't even know where to start with that."
I felt so alone...and scared to death. I was getting sicker by the day, and I now have proof of blood poisoning with nobody willing (or now. in my mind, even ABLE) to help me get better.
Of course, I then do what many do, and I called my mom bawling my eyes out. Yes....even in my mid-thirties, I just need my momma sometimes. :-)
(This is where I should explain that I live in Arizona now--after I married my husband--but I lived in Kansas up to that point, and my family still lives there.)
After telling my mother the results, she told me that she used to teach with a woman who, if she remembered correctly, had a son who was a doctor who dealt with "naturopathic healing". She had no idea if he was in the area, but she would check and get back with me.
Hardly any time passed when she called me back and said, "He's here....just ten minutes away. He said that he really thinks he can help you."
I lost it. Hope. Thank you, GOD. I had been praying SO HARD.....
This is where the "God thing" just blows me away. My mother used to work with his mother years ago, and even though my mom is now retired, she was able to track him down. That's not it....it gets cooler, so hang with me....
Every other year, we fly to Kansas to my family's house for Thanksgiving. When I received my blood test results, I was only a couple of weeks from flying there for the holiday. My husband had to work until right before Thanksgiving, but I was going to take my kids and leave ten days earlier to be able to spend some additional time with my family. I was going to be there for three weeks total.
When my mom called Dr. J and learned about how he thought he could help me, he brought up the detox.
My mom let him know that I coming here in just a matter of days, and she wanted to get me in right away to see him. She asked how long it would take for this detox.
His answer: A 21-day detox. That's right....three weeks exactly. The exact amount of time that I was going to be right there, in that state, right by his office. Hello? God thing??? Come on, that is just pretty amazing.
I guess you would say that the rest is history. I walked in his office, he told me that I was right about what was wrong with me (first time I heard that from a doctor), he told me that he could help me get the silicone out (first time I heard that from a doctor), and I'm sure that was followed by me crying like an idiot. Honestly, I was so sick at that point, I don't really remember a lot. I just remember him saying, "If they can get the poison in, I can get the poison out." Hearing that, and finally hearing a doctor say that he believed me, I had hope again....something to hold on to. He told me that it would take some time because a detox helps your own heal body heal itself from the inside out. It's not like a synthetic pill that will just numb your symptoms 20 minutes later. I told him, "I'll wrap my head in a cow uterus and stand on my head for four days straight if you tell me it will make me better." Luckily, I learned that Dr. J had a sense of humor, too, so he just laughed and told me that it wasn't going to be quite that bad. :-)
I still just shake my head at the whole thing. I can't believe it. I told my mom that God might have had a reason for putting her in that little school where she taught with this other woman....and it could very well have been because, twenty years later, this woman's son was going to help save her daughter.
Since then, Dr. Jennings has not only continued to help me, but he has since continued to learn more about what has happened to us and now reaches out to so many other women who have also been poisoned by this terrible device. He was an answer to prayer. We need more doctors like him.
I was talking to him once about how frustrated I was that so many women were getting destroyed by this thing, and it seemed like I was barely making a difference with my piddly little blog here. More and more were getting sick--and far faster than I could reach them. For every one woman who read it, there were probably 200 who had a Mirena inserted that same day. He asked me if I had heard the poem about the starfish. I hadn't. I've since looked it up, and here it is:
Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."
His point to me was that, even though it seems like I can't really make a difference compared to how many of us are getting so sick from the Mirena, it could mean a huge difference to that one woman who was possibly reached in time to get her life back. It was a nice reminder.
Thank you, "Dr. J", for that kind reminder....but even more so, for throwing me back in the ocean. It made a difference for this one.
