Saying No to the Culture of Death

Woe is me, why did I have to fracture my coccyx again?Since that fateful day when I slammed into the edge of the pool I have been in quite a bit of pain. The good news is that I can sit down for longer periods at a time, so long as the seat is not made of wood. 

We have just celebrated Christmas and that means going to Midnight Mass, but we have to be early to ensure that we get a parking spot in an appropriate place and of course there are Carols that precede the Mass for about 30 minutes. The wooden pews are not very friendly to my situation. So I greeted people at the door and wished them a Merry Christmas. This only adds strain to my back and feet, but I have to weigh up the situation and make my own decisions. The following morning I attended the 9.00 am Mass as I have been doing for several years. So, I get there early and greet the people at the door. I was also one of the readers but I let my partner carry in the Sacramentary and then he did the prayers of the faithful. In that way I did not have to mount the steps too often. Then, because there were not enough Ministers of the Eucharist I helped with that particular role, which is not so bad because I am moving around to the back of the church before moving to the front again, and that means that I am not standing still.

My exercises in the swimming pool are going well and I am trying to do as much as I can to ease the possibility of muscle spasm. However, nothing can stop the pain that comes on when there is a change of weather, especially in this Sydney humidity. Lately I have noticed the overwhelming pain in my back and feet a few hours prior to the start of the rain. I can be fine and then suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue I am in shocking pain and barely able to walk. Sometimes this causes my legs to feel a little on the weak side and when this happens I use my walking stick. Once the rain comes I am normal again.

This sensation is nothing new because I experienced this when I lived in Townsville for a year. What is new is the level of pain around the sacroiliac joint due to the stress and the strain that is brought about by the humidity. It hurts!! Now of course, all of the progress that I have made with my feet in the past two months has been stalled and I am back to very painful feet. I wonder if that has anything to do with the amount of walking that I have been doing since about mid-November. This week I achieved 10,000 steps three times in a row. On Thursday I managed over 11,000 steps plus my time in the hydrotherapy pool, which brought my total activity level to over 14,000 steps!! However, my feet are telling me that this is more than they can tolerate. They are aching like one thing, so I assume that the arthritis is active. This is no doubt a sign that more rain is on the way today. I am aching because of the increase in humidity levels here in Sydney. My back has not taken too kindly to the wooden seats again today but at least it is not hurting all that much.

One of the disadvantages of hurting where one has to sit down is that speed bumps and driveways have become a real pain. I have to go at a crawl to get over the speed bumps without jolting my bottom. It is the same with the driveways. It does not take much to cause pain when entering into a driveway, and I am talking about excruciating pain that causes me to wince and want to cry out from the shock of that pain. Surely the situation can only get better in the future, but until it does get better I have to get used to these pain levels.

If I thought that the wooden pews in the church were bad, then the plastic seats that are to be found in the hall are all that much worse. I cannot sit on the plastic seats for more than about 10 minutes at a time before the pain in my lower back begins to really start nagging. It is impossible to attend any function in the church hall, even though I have gone BYOC (bring your own cushion). I have a waffle cushion plus a round cushion placed together in a bag and I take that with me when going to Mass, but it does not provide relief inside the hall.

It happened for the first time 30 years ago. I discovered that leather soled shoes and synthetic carpets do not mix when I slipped on some stairs on my way to work. I was only 22 and I was about to have the most painfully excruciating experience, because I could not sit or stand, and I could not lie comfortably in a bed in order to get some sleep. I could not lie on my back and I could not lie on my side, because the pain was too much. I did not know that I had fractured my coccyx for a few months after the accident. To add insult to injury I found myself in hosptital for physiotherapy treatment instead of going on a honeymoon. It took 25 years and three children before we had a honeymoon. The original fall was probably the trigger for my sacroiliitis which was slowly taking hold over several years. By the year 2000 I had to admit that I had an allergy to wooden seats and I had to start using a cushion in order to sit on the pew in Church.

Now, it seems that I have done it again. I was home alone, and walking around our swimming pool, when I bent down in order to test the water to see if it was warm enough for me to get into the pool and start doing my exercises. I lost balance. The next thing I knew, my left foot was in the water and I had to try and steady myself so that I did not end up in the water. I went backwards, and my bottom slammed into the concrete edge of the pool. The pain, a very familiar pain, was excruciating. I was flat on the ground, and I had to get up without assistance and walk inside the house. I then contacted the medical centre, and then changed out of my wet clothing, got into the car, and headed off to see my doctor. The drive was very painful, and as I was waiting I could not sit down on the seat. In the end I was placed on the bed in the first aid room, lying flat on my stomach and waited until the doctor was ready to see me.

The next morning I was still very stiff and in a lot of pain, but I managed to drive to church, picking up the oldies on the way. My elderly friends were wonderful because they helped me in an extraordinary way. After applying ice packs to my butt, by Tuesday morning I had a very big bruise on the left side. I was very sore, but I managed to go to the hydrotherapy pool. This time I found swimming to be quite difficult, and even walking was hard. I should add here that going up the stairs has also been a very painful exercise. I have been using some very thick cushions so that I can at least be comfortable as I am sitting down. By Friday I was starting to loosen up, but that was about to change again on the Sunday.

It happened in the afternoon and I was home alone. I had just emerged from my bedroom after having a nap, and I was in my stockinged feet. Well, it seems nylons and synthetic carpets do not mix. I slipped and went down the stairs. I just howled with the pain from the fall. I ended up with yet another bruise on the left side of my butt, adding to the spectacular bruise that already existed after the previous fall. Once again I was stiff and sore because of the fall. I could not bend down. So back in the pool I was doing more gentle exercises in order to help to mobilize the muscles and ligaments.

By Friday, I was back to see the doctor for a review of my condition. Since the treatment will not change, and I was given the option to get an x-ray to confirm that there was a fracture, I decided that it was safe to assume that I have a small fracture in my tailbone and this has been placed on my records. I am still having trouble getting up the stairs but it is not as bad now. I can sit for a longer of period of time, so long as I am not sitting on a wooden seat. I had another good workout in the hydrotherapy pool, and found that I get a lot of benefit by lying back in the water and letting my legs float. I have found that I am automatically squeezing my buttocks, thus exercising the muscles that had gone into spasm as a result of the injury. At least this time around I am more aware of the injury, and I am working on the healing process immediately, rather than months down the track.

I was a latecomer in following the Terri Schiavo story, and I admit that when I finally began to take the story seriously, I was shocked over what I had discovered. Therese Marie Schindler-Schiavo was brain damaged as a result of a yet unexplained event when she suffered a deprivation of oxygen to her brain. My original focus concerning this story happened to be the issue of the claim that she collapsed because she was bulimic. However, there is sufficient evidence, even without the autopsy findings to put paid to the myth that Terri collapsed because of bulimia.

I find that most ignorant people who have an agenda that includes the promotion of euthanasia on demand continue to believe the lie that Terri had suffered a heart attack due to a low potassium blood count. The people who continue to believe this myth have not taken the time to do the research. They really have no idea about the true circumstances surrounding this case. These are the people who are so ignorant that they also believe the lie that Terri was "brain dead". Terri was classified as neurologically awake. She was not brain dead. She was aware of her environment. She recognized her parents and she responded to them. Some of her nursing staff reported on the way that she laughed at their jokes. Terri's brain damage was severe, and over time, if therapy had not been withdrawn, there was the chance that Terri could have continued to improve, just like men and women all over the world who have suffered brain damage due to having a stroke. The autopsy report stated that Terri's heart muscle showed no signs of damage to to a heart attack, thus one of Michal Schiavo's many lies was exposed by the Medical Examiner.

Prior to the DNR signs first going on to Terri's charts Michael Schiavo sued two of Terri's doctors caliming that they failed to diagnose bulimia. One of the doctors settled out of court and Michael Schiavo received $250,000 under false pretenses. The records that this doctor held were examined and he was exonerated of any wrong doing. In other words, Michael Schiavo should have returned the money that he had received as compensation from this doctor because the charge of neglect was not proved.

When Dr. Thogmartin recorded an open finding regarding how Terri Schindler-Schiavo ended up with severe brain damage, he left the way open for further investigation if anything new became available. Now, it seems that one of the missing documents has been found. This document relates to the investigation of Dr Prawer who was exhonerated as far as the medical review board is concerned. Michael Schiavo has not paid back the $250,000 that he was awarded by way of settlement with Dr. Prawer. The issue that needs to be investigated is whether or not Schiavo and his lawyers knew that Terri did not have bulimia and that he and his lawyers deliberately misled the court into believing the  story that keeps doing the MSM rounds. 

There has not been adeqate investigation in this case. There has been too much in the way of a cover up when it comes to how Terri collapsed in the first place. It is time for Michael Schiavo to be charged with the murder of his late wife, Terri. He lied to the courts with regard to her wishes, and Terri became the victim for those who want to introduce euthanasia on demand.