Dr.John Pharmasists or Medical Doctor?

One of the many things that sucks about dealing with the physical issues of having numerous abdominal surgeries is the different medications that I need to take. It is hard to find the right balance of medications to control the unbearable pain and be able to function so you can be a loving father and husband, and work so you can provide for your family. In order to achieve this I also take medication to counter act the side effects of the three different pain medications. So, is it fair that my Pharmasist, who calls himself Dr. John makes me feel guilty every time I pick up my medication?

John works for a well known national chain and somehow has transformed his Pharmasist license into a medical degree. I have heard him tell customers that he won't give them their medicine because he doesn't want to loose his license. Several times he has made me wait 24 hours for my medication stating that it was the law. Maybe he is correct but he doesn't need to make patients feel worse than they already do. Every time I go to the pharmacy, I pray he is off because I don't want to pretend to be his friend or feel like I owe him an update on my condition just so he won't hold back the medication that I need to function in life.

The major pharmacy chain that Dr. John works for needs to teach their Pharmasists how to treat their customers with compassion and kindness. He needs to learn that most of his customers or at least this one would rather not be on these strong medications. We're not drugs addicts, we are loving and caring human beings that just want to enjoy life. Dr. John, if your first thought when meeting your customer is protecting your license, then maybe you should go into a different field.

You Are My Sunshine!

When I met my lovely wife, she had two pugs named Sunshine and Angel. Sunshine was tan and always seemed old and grumpy. She snored so loud that I didn't know how anyone could sleep in the same house with her. The only time Sunshine got off her dog bed was to go to the bathroom or eat.

When my mass came back and my health was getting worse in March and April 2013, my relationship with Sunshine changed. She could somehow sense that I was in bad shape. I spent most of my days on the couch and Sunshine would start sitting and lying next to me. Sunshine watched over me and she greatly moved me and filled my heart with warmth, courage, and positivity.

Over the last couple of years, Sunshine became my dog. She became more active and playful. She was a happy 14 year old pug. Unfortunately, time caught up with Sunshine and she became sick with a terrible cough and she could barely walk. Our beloved Sunshine passed away this week. I know she is in heaven and out of pain. I will always cherish my brief time with her and how she comforted me in my time of need.

Why Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized in Florida

I grew up in a sheltered environment in a Long Island middle class suburb in the 1980's. The town I lived in was predominantly white with Christian and Jewish white collar families. It was understood that you went to college right upon graduation to obtain a good professional job, and that pot was bad for you. This was the height of the Nancy Reagan, "Say No to Drugs Campaign ". If someone smoked cigarettes, let alone pot, you were considered a derelict or a "dirt bag ".

My first year of college was the first time I was exposed to pot. One of my hall mates was known as the campus dealer and would invite me in for a hit. I would always pass thinking my brain would explode or I'd turn into Cheech Marion if I got near the stuff. Needless to say, I surrounded myself with like minded people and thought the only exception to my way of thinking was if someone was terminally ill with cancer, even though I did not understand why pain medication would not suffice for them. I was young, altruistic, and naïve.

When I met my wife at the end of 2012, I was at the lowest point in my life. I had three operations related, to cancer and had a mass on the lower left lobe of my horseshoe shaped kidney. Scar tissue covered my abdomen and intestines, which caused me great pain. She opened my eyes to the fact that a doctor had me hooked on Colonipin and helped me get through the painful three week withdrawal from this drug that was not helping me but slowly killing me.

Two months later, I had a third cancer operation where my mass was successfully removed but the scar tissue was not. It was too high risk to do both procedures at once. After seeing me suffer through taking medications for pain and other medications to help offset the side effects of those medications for pain, my wife asked me if I would be opposed to trying marijuana, if it became legal for medical treatment, in order to see if it would help. Of course my old prejudices came back, but after suffering a few weeks more I told her “what do I have to loose”? I decided that I should do some research on the subject as I was afraid of the example it would set for my children, not to mention I didn't want to eat all of the Doritos in Orlando.

After reading and watching many news reports on the topic, I voted for the legalization of medical marijana in the State of Florida in the past election and very disappointed it did not pass with the required number of votes. I was coming to the realization that I would have to try and deal with the FDA approved pill cocktail that my doctors prescribed for me. On Sunday, June 7, I watched a Dateline special on NBC about children and adults who suffer from various horrible debilitating diseases. I saw their families fighting for the right to give thier loved ones medical marijana in their respective States. 

It got me thinking, "Why not Florida?" There are 23 States that have approved the use of it for medical purposes, so why not the Sunshine State or the entire country? After all, science is based on facts, or so we were taught in school. The science is the same for the 27 states that have not approved of its use for medical treatment as the ones who did. Many Americans suffer from from illnesses and the aftermath of illnesses like myself, some much more than me. As Thedore Roosevelt said, "In any given moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."  Well, legalizing medical marijana for the suffering is the best thing we can do

Why Can't I Feel Normal???

I first got diagnosed with renal cell cancer in 2007. It was a shock that I will never forget. I went numb throughout my whole body. When I met my surgeon, Dr. Phillp Spiess form Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa, he said that he would remove the mass from my left kidney, cutting through my abdomen, and I should make a clean recovery and there was less than a 10% chance a mass would come back. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of my long road of dealing with the aftermath of having a Stage 2 carcenoma.

A year after my operation, I developed several hernias along the surgical incsion line, from my rib cage to right below my belly button. Fun right? Operation #2 commenced and a year later, Operation #3 after the repair failed. The thing is that all of the slicing and dicing did not cure the unbearable pain that I felt.  What is worse than the physical pain is the psychological pain. You go doctor to doctor, CT-Scan after CT-Scan and all they could say was that I had scar tissue built up, but that shouldn't cause you this much physical pain. I was lost and depressed.

After a while, I felt people got sick of hearing about my issues. I felt like a "Debbie Downer".  Hell, if it was cancer or I was going through chemo or radiation, then I had a "legitimate" reason to feel the way I felt. I had never been so alone in my life. All my pain walked down a one way street and I was living in the dark cave of forgotten patients, who just want to be treated like a human, not a victum, not a number, not a lottery ticket to bill insurance, and not a fraud. When I reached rock bottom mentally, God gave me a gift, an angel to guide me, to believe in me, most of all to love me.

Fast forward to 2015 and two years removed from a 4th operation to remove a second mass on my kidney. Happily married to that beautiful angel and we had a boy, we named him Evan. Life can be mean and knock you down, but God has been gracious. I am still running the same race. When will it end?!? The cancer may be gone, but my fight to be "normal" continues...and I am determined to win.