Deep doo-doo time for baby cobra

[sunvalleylaw]

Congrats on the good news!

[mrmudcat]

Thats great pie !!!!

[Tig***]

That's cool! A great step in the right direction for her. I hope things start lining up this way with her health, too.

[piebaldpython***]

UPDATE: Baby Cobra (BC) is essentially relegated to using a wheelchair or a walker (if she's having a good day). She is unable to work or go to school. Her concentration and attention are shot-to-hell due to her constant pain. American medical treatment ain't cutting it.....and the FDA won't allow the procedure she needs......a ketamine coma like the one she had in 2008 in Germany.

So, we are road-tripping it yet again and will be going to Mexico for another ketamine coma with a wonderful doctor in a progressive modern hospital. We will be there about 5 weeks. This is all out-of-pocket as insurance won't cover an "experimental procedure" in a foreign country. We leave the USA on 09/05/13 and expected return date is 10/07/13.

So, prayers and lots of mojo are needed and appreciated.

BTW, the ketamine coma in Germany worked great for BC......until a State-side doctor didn't do a lumbar puncture correctly on her in April 2012.

[Tig***]

This is so sad. BC and your family have my prayers, mojo, and sincere empathy.

[tjcurtin1]

Jeez, Pie, I'm so sorry to hear about this turn. Sincere good wishes to you and the family for a successful treatment.

[kidsmoke*]

Thank you for keeping us apprised. Really do care, and continue to be humbled by your perseverance. Hoping it's succesful! your girl is the same age as my son. I simply can't imagine having the stones to fight the fight as you are. Cheers, brother pie.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thinking about your family and hoping this will resolved soon, in a GOOD way.

ditto. I hope the therapies you can find will help.

[duhvoodooman***]

Hope that the ketamine treatment works for her! Positive thoughts beaming your way!

[mrmudcat]

Pie sorry for what your going through ,but as you and me have discussed there is no such thing as giving up!!Peace & Love Fo-Sho Godspeed!!

[Robert****]

Sorry to hear this. I sincerely hope things will improve.

[piebaldpython***]

Baby Cobra update: My wife wrote this and I copy/pasted it:

We head home to Philly tomorrow. Alessa is feeling good and is anxious to get home to her many pets. Leaving Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico is bittersweet. Alessa received another chance at having a normal life here. The hospital care is outstanding! The doctors, nurses, technicians, office staff, etc. are wonderful and kind. We leave here full of appreciation and gratitude.

Living in a hotel for over a month isn't necessarily ideal. However, this is a beautiful, clean, and very lovely hotel. The entire staff has been wonderful. They have been so kind and patient with us as we stumble our way through Spanish. They are so helpful and friendly in every way. We'll miss them.

Besides that, I could get used to someone coming in and putting fresh sheets on my bed, giving me fresh towels, cleaning the room and emptying the trash cans on a daily basis. What's not to like about that?! LOL! Plus, a wonderful breakfast buffet awaits us every day here!

We've even gotten to know the priest who says Mass at the hospital chapel and the nun who helps him. She picked Steve at the last two Masses to take up the collection...just like he does at home! They pick people who are at Mass to do the readings. Since we can't read Spanish, collecting money offerings is easy in any language! LOL!

However, the time has come for the adventure to end. I just want to click my heels together and say "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

[tjcurtin1]

That sounds like real good news, Pie - best wishes to you all for a healthy and happy return home, and to Baby C for continuing good health.

[marnold***]

Good to hear! Hopefully there will be smooth(er) sailing from here on out.

[sunvalleylaw]

Best to you all!

[Tig***]

Good news indeed! I'm glad things are looking up for your daughter. She's due for some pain free living.

My Dad lives in Mexico and has received some pretty good medical care, as well as some pretty crappy care. It really depends on the hospital and doctors, and larger cities like Monterrey have the better.

Personally, most of the people I've met in Mexico have been admirable in character and quite happy. I'm glad you guys had such a pleasant time during an otherwise challenging trip.

[helliott***]

This is great news. Good vibes and hugs from Ontario coming your way. And your wife is a great storyteller, too, in case y'all didn't know that.

[piebaldpython***]

As most of you know, the whole Mexican coma episode was a rousing success. We figured when we boarded the plane in Monterrey, that later that night, we'd be home in Philly and Baby Cobra would continue to be pain-free and well on her way to recovery. Unfortunately, IT hit the fan and we need more prayers. Here, in my wife's words, is what IT is. After that is a short blurb from BC, with her views on things. Thanks for all the prayers…………PBP

To all those who have been following Alessa's Mexican Coma Adventure, I want to thank you for being so interested and so caring. I also want to ask you for more prayers for Alessa.

Due to the damage done to Alessa's wheelchair in the Dallas / Forth Worth Airport by American Airline's baggage handlers, and the fact that she needed to ride in her wheelchair through the airport, she now has nerve pain down her left leg and up the left side of her back and shoulder. The nerve pain was completely gone when we left Mexico.

We arrived home at 3:30 yesterday morning after spending a good deal of time in the American Airlines Claims Department.

Her wheelchair is a Quickie custom made rigid wheelchair made exclusively to reduce any sensation due to bumps and vibration, which greatly affects anyone with RSD/CRPS. She can't use a regular wheelchair because she feels every sensation along the way, which aggravates RSD/CRPS.

We always give explicit directions as to how the chair has to be handled when we travel. This wheelchair has been to Germany, Florida, California and Mexico without a scratch being placed on it due to the excellent care given to it by baggage handlers and supervisors who worked for Lufthansa, Southwest and American Airlines on the way to Mexico.

Then all hell broke loose when we landed in Dallas, Texas! A baggage handler is supposed to bring the chair right to the door of the plane so it's waiting for Alessa. I got off the plane early to meet the baggage handler so I could put the attachments on the chair so that it would be ready when Alessa came through.

As a result, I was able to witness the man drag her chair up the steps from the tarmac. He dragged it the way a child would drag a teddy bear by one arm. I screamed for him to stop. He kept coming. The woman at the top of the stairs asked me if I expected him to carry it over his head. I said that I expected it to be carried, not dragged. It's lightweight and he just destroyed it! She then told me to file a claim if I wanted to.

Alessa rode in the wobbly chair through customs, through getting our luggage, through depositing our luggage for the next flight and then through security and up to the gate. I explained again how the chair needed to be treated.

A man was assigned to carry her chair down to the tarmac. I told him it was already damaged from mishandling. He assured me that it would be handled properly this time.

I sighed and went to my seat on the plane. The next thing I know, Alessa's pointing out the window of the plane. I look out and there's her wheelchair with no one around. The man who was "handling it" had disappeared. The next thing we saw was another man grab her chair and toss it through the air where it landed on it's side on the conveyor belt. By this time, I'm screaming and banging on the window.

The cabin crew must've thought a crazy person was losing her mind on the plane because the whole crew appeared at my side asking what's going on. I laugh as I type this because I really was feeling pretty crazed at that particular moment!

They called the ground crew and had a supervisor come and escort me down the steps to the tarmac so that I could show them how to put her wheelchair in the luggage compartment of the plane. If it wasn't for the reason that I had to be there, I might've enjoyed the experience of seeing where the luggage goes that nobody normally gets to see.

By this time, however, the damage had been done.

American Airlines sent a man to Alessa's house today to evaluate her wheelchair. He's hoping that they'll get her a new one based on his recommendation. He was extremely nice and understanding. He said his full time job is repairing all the wheelchairs that the airline destroys.

Alessa said she has a lot of muscle soreness and nerve tenderness today. The air travel by itself is taxing on her body without the added problems from the damaged wheelchair.

She has an appointment with her neurologist on Monday. She hopes that she'll be feeling a lot better by then. I'm sure that between her Philly doc and her Mexico doc, they'll decide if she needs ketamine boosters here in Philly and come up with a plan.

Please pray that she'll be okay! She just went through so much to try to gain remission and was doing so well.

Thanks again for your prayers, kind thoughts and words of support. We appreciate it more than you know. Hugs to all...xoxo...


Mrs PBP


Now, a few words from BC about WheelchairGate:

Today is apparently "mobility device repair and replacement day" around here. The wheelchair repairman was amazing and is pushing the airline to fully replace the chair. He is also stating that I am the FINAL judge as to whether the chair is fixed properly - Not him, and CERTAINLY not the airline.

And I'm apparently a "child size" in walkers.
I definitely needed a pediatric walker. The adult size was much too big. The smaller walker is still pretty large, so I wonder what ACTUAL kids do.

I WANT them to replace the entire chair. The REAL question is whether the airline will pay for it upfront, or try and replace parts piecemeal only to replace the entire chair in the end.

[Robert****]

What a story. I hope all goes well - warm thoughts sent from a chilly morning in Canada!