A Health Related Crossroads

I'm at a crossroads of sorts in my meandering health care journey and I'm searching for opinions to help me settle on my own.

I suffer from a number of chronic conditions. Some of which can be mildly to moderately painful and negatively impact my quality of life (and therefore the quality of life of those with whom I live). Some of which I was told at a young age, were considered something I'd just have to live with for the rest of my life. Some of which I was recently told there was nothing that could be done by our medical system, other than some forms of surgery to control the symptoms. (I'm not fond of treatments that mask symptoms but do nothing to treat the underlying condition.)

Enter alternative medicine.

I've investigated and experimented with a variety of alternative health care providers, with mixed success. Until last spring. I hit the jackpot with a healer with whom I resonated. She worked wonders on a number of my issues. I had long pain free spells.

She also told me, that if left untreated, my condition at that time would lead to cancer within 10 years. Based on everything I knew about my body and the human body in general, she had my serious attention.

After seeing her every week in the spring and summer, I was transitioned to every two weeks. In December I was told that I was "almost done" and would be transitioning "soon" to once a month, maintenance. (Which was a relief because the appointments were, what I considered to be, expensive.)

And then, before Christmas, she passed away. Some of the benefits I had previously experienced were starting to dissapate.

I panicked and scrambled and found one of her teachers, who agreed to take me on as a patient.

I have been seeing the teacher every week for close to three months now. While I'm noticing improvement overall (and significant changes in one specific area of my health), the effects weren't nearly as "magical" as with the healer who passed on. And the appointments are costing me two to three times as much as they did last year.

I've told this healer, that as of Date X, I will have run out of funds for treatments. He has said that I should call him when I have more funds and we can pick up again. In a perfect world, he said that after Date X he'd transition me to every other week appointments and we'd likely be "done" after about three months.

A family member has recently stepped up and offered me the funds to "finish" with this healer, commenting that I had a young family and you can't put a price on health. "No strings attached."

I don't know what to do.

I can't help but feel that this treatment is costing too much. Both financially and time wise. (It's a scramble to get to the appointments and leaves wM in a less than optimal position and Mr. M. with extra weight on his shoulders.) I could use a break from the grind.

I also know that if I don't continue on now, when I go back, it may take an extra month or more of treatment to get me to where I was when we left off. More money and more time, in the long run.

What would you do?

Today I Am Grateful

That there are people close to me, who are supportive of my healing journey. No matter how meandering and ridiculous the path may be!

Today I Am Grateful

That my 10+ year old beater car is still holding up.

*fingers crossed*

Last Week I Tried To Make The World A Better Place

By volunteering in wM's classroom.

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I was pleasantly surprised at how attentive and well mannered many of the children are. I was also horrified as I saw some behaviours that, left unchecked, are likely to lead to bullying. (And yes, I informed the teacher.)

And then there was the little girl who picked up the wooden ruler and raised it as if to hit one of her classmates. While she was reprimanded for the behaviour, my heart sank for her. I can only imagine how she learned about that.

Today I Am Grateful

That my car brakes work.

Three times today, I am incredibly and truly thankful for those brakes.

Last Week I Tried To Make The World A Better Place

By patching a pair of otherwise perfectly good jeans. (It seems I'm not the only one in the patching game these days.)

I wonder what it says about me, when the already patched jeans that I'm wearing were in worse shape than the "for dirty odd job" jeans that I just patched. (The pairs switched roles post-patch.)