9920

Date

Author

Location

Indications

June 12, 1997

Lee McIntosh

Edmonton, Alberta CANADA

Pain

12 June 1997

I am writing to thank you for your generosity and thoughtfulness.  When we first met in regards to my company The Canadian Journal of Clinical Medicine-Medical Scope Monthly we discussed many aspects of medicine and the journal itself.  Over the course of 3 months we spoke frequently via telephone discussing business matters regarding your company and mine.  Your openness, sincerity and relaxed manner allowed me the opportunity to speak with you personally about my health and the numerous difficulties I was experiencing on a daily basis.  Where most individuals would merely listen and offer the occasional advice you took it upon yourself to send me the Alpha-Stim 100.  I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my past, present and the goals of the future, for this seems fitting due to your generosity and kindness.

As you know, on August 11th, 1993 I underwent a surgical procedure known as Anterior Sphincter Muscle Repair.  I underwent this surgery to correct bowel incontinence due to childbirth in 1990.  In order for  the surgeon to perform this surgery an incision is made between the vagina and the anus.  The surgeon then cuts throughout the soft tissue, muscosa, and muscle laying it back in order to reach the anterior sphincter muscle.  This surgery is so painful that the surgeon uses two anesthesias, one being general and the other being a epidural (spinal).

For the first 24 hours after this procedure was performed, I was  literally unaware of my surroundings.  Although several nurses informed me of episodes where I would wake from a drug induced sleep and suddenly begin crying and screaming out in pain and as sudden as this would  come on, I would loose consciences yet again...

On the second post-op day, two nurses helped me out of my bed.  The intensity of the pain was unbelievable.  I cried for the first time in my life from the soul, breathing became labored, and sweat poured from me as I made the descent from the bed to the floor, from the edge of the bed to the doorway and with much coaxing and encouragement the nurses held me upright and  practically carried me to the sitz bath across the hall.  The sitz bath would be a blessing to me I was told.  The pain would be less intense, the constant ache would be alleviated for a time, oh how I would  enjoy this.  I personally knew the sitz bath.  I knew of the benefits after all, I have given birth to four children, the first in 1982, second 1990, third 1991 and finally the fourth in 1992.  I was also  very familiar with the benefits from a medical stand point as I was at that time a nurse for 8 years.

It took several minutes for me to lower myself into the sitz bath.  The pain became horrendous and a high  pitch scream sounded somewhere off in the distance as I placed my bottom in the sitz. The sitz bath height (lower that a normal seat) had proved too much, for the incision from the outside-in, or the inside-out blew wide open either way I now no longer had a perineum.  Blood came gushing out of me in copious amounts, the nurses were pushing alarm buttons and hollering, everyone it seemed was moving in a fast forward  motion...except for me.  I had known I was in hell when I tried to get off the bed to come to this bath, and instead of backing up and leaving Satan's domain, I had gone into the center and could not find my way out, I did what anyone would do in my situation, I decided to leave my body.  It was some time after that when I opened my eyes to find several medical personnel crammed into the stiz stall.  A nurse and  intern were holding me in the sitting position.  I heard words that at first seemed to be that of a foreign language, it took several minutes to comprehend what was being said to me.  It appeared that due to a  shortage of wheel chairs I was to walking back to my room aided by several people and what they needed was my assistance. While the intern began repeating this information to me I found myself staring down between  my legs and watched as my blood flowed freely and quickly out down the sides of the sitz commode and onto the floor.  This just wasn't real I told myself. This is a nightmare, I'll wake any minute and I'll be in bed, no commotion, no blood, no intense pain.  I had convinced myself of this and decided that because it was a bad dream, a very bad dream, I could do whatever I wanted, after all, it wasn't real, I'd wake  up.  I'll humor them, and so I decided that I'd go along with the speakers of the dream.  With their aide and my count of three I stood.  Again, I hear this scream off in the distance, who ever was making this noise I surmized, must surely know the hell in which I am in as well.  Then came my first step, and intense pain beyond my wildest dreams, and the sound, that unmistakably agony filled scream came yet again  from far off in the distance.  There we all stood, rooted to one spot, it was the look on the faces of the nurses in front of me that told me the scream off in the distance that I had heard belonged to me.  A nurse I had worked with for several years began to weep uncontrollably and was removed from the room.  The journey from the sitz bath to my final destination took 1 hour.  It was exactly 40 feet in distance.  When we reached the doorway of my hospital room I begged for a reprival.  We stayed in that spot for a very short time.  I turned my head to look for the child that sang a song down the corridor.  A small child was walking down the hall towards me singing, I am gonna see Daddy, oh how happy I'll be, she sang this repeatedly.  She was carrying flowers for her dad.  Our eyes met, I felt  myself smile, and instead of smiling she stood still and stared, her mother quickly picked her wee child up and went into her husbands room.  It was at this point the intern and nurses encouraged me to continue the journey back to bed.  As I turned around I lowered my head only to witness what the beautiful child was seeing, my gown, my body, the floor where I stood was  covered in blood.  A nurse was working diligently behind the group of us to mop the blood off the floor.  In the days, weeks, months and years to follow I would cry thousands of tears, entertain the thought of death, and think of that wee girl with the  flowers for her Daddy and what a shock it must have been for her.

I was wrong about something else too.  I had yet to reach the middle of Satan's domain the would come in the days and years ahead.   Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was about to embark on a trip that would alter my life, my children's life and in return I would learn to adapt to severe chronic pain throughout my body, muscle spasms so severe I have coined the term "Muscle Seizures" since these were no ordinary muscle spasms I would experience in various parts of my body, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, migraine like headaches, infections in the  kidneys, the bladder, and elsewhere plague me, limited range of motion, chronic fatigue syndrome and be subject to bowel incontinence of great proportions, bladder incontinence, nerve damage, fibromyalgia and the list goes on.  I would even learn how to sit different ways during my recovery. For the first 6 months I could sit in a certain manner and when self granulation would make progress I would find myself relearning the  fine art of "TO SIT", this continues to present day.  I would also learn to accept those things that I took for granted in life, like picking up one of my children, sitting on the floor, squatting, riding  a bike, swimming, downhill skiing, mowing the lawn, washing my floor, vacuuming, doing the dishes, taking the steps running, and I would say good-bye to my favorite sport of weightlifting and any other sports for that  matter. Walking would become a task that proved many times to be unobtainable since the pain would become unbearable. What hurts me the most is the fact that I am a single mom of four beautiful children.  When I arrived home after being hospitalized for over a month, my two youngest were in diapers, homecare nurses and aides would potty train them, pick them up and hug them, swing them high in the air and all I could do in those instances was sit and watch. Many nights I have cried from the soul and prayed to GOD to hear my prayers and beg him to shed light into my hell, open the door and let me out. Then I  would weep uncontrollably because even GOD seemed to not be able to hear me. Was I too far into the depths of Satan's torture chamber for anyone to hear?  Would my voice go unnoticed for all eternity?  I have throughout the last five years thought of ending it all. But for the logical me, this is a cowards paradise, and being a single mom of four children I had no business being a coward. I turned to a Christian friend during fellowship one afternoon and wept uncontrollably and for the most part I was incoherent.  But, the Lord had chosen this person to remind me the "He does not always give us what we want  but rather what we need."  At the time I remember asking why I would need to feel such intense pain, and pure unadulterated hell on a daily basis.  Her answer was "I know not why He does what He does, rather I accept and learn to adapt."  LEARN TO ADAPT.

When I met you Dan, it was as I said due to business matters not personal. Our business relationship soon turned to friendship as the calls  were exchanged back and forth.  At this time, I had been through biofeedback trying to reteach the bowels to function properly and thusly limit the bowel incontinence that plagued me.  I had been to see over one hundred practitioners of which would accept the initial appointment, learn of the damage to my body internally and externally and after the examination would bolt out of the patient room always saying the same  thing, "yours is a case that is truly horrendous, unbelievable and complicated and very interesting.. but I must say this is defiantly out of my league, I must therefore turn down your request to have me as your physician and refer you back to your family physician."  Then came you Dan and your remarkable Alpha-Stim 100.  You sent the Alpha-Stim 100 directly to my office.  At the time of receiving it,  I  had been walking one block.  It took me two years to be able to handle that one block.  My homecare assistant would then help me get into my wheelchair and return me home.  I was proud of my work.  After all, I was doing what most would dare not to attempt. To you, the reader, it seems inconceivable that it would take a person two years to walk one block.  But, to me I might as well have climbed a  mountain.

That first day was to prove to be a turning point in my life. I read and re-read the instruction booklet, and placed the electrodes in the appropriate places and began the journey home.  For four months I felt little difference and often consulted with you in regards to the method in which I was using it. You encouraged me to continue on, for there was a lot of damage and my body needed time to adjust.  One Saturday morning, six months after being treatment with the Alpha-Stim 100, I ventured out do my one block walk and found myself doing four instead!!!!  I still required the wheelchair to get  home.  But imagine 3 1/2 years after the fact I was doing four blocks!!!!  I use the Alpha-Stim 100 to control the fibromyalgia from chronic muscle pain to migraines.  I also found that by using the Alpha-Stim 100 I can control the sciatica pain I experience in my lower back and legs.  This compact machine enabled me to walk four blocks, take the stairs three times a day instead of once a day, either prevent a migraine headache from occurring or at the very least lessen the pain. Dan, I thank you each and every day for having had the insight to take the journey into the unknown, to forgo pleasure and endure long hours of research and development and above all to be persistent in the pursuit of developing a unique and versatile piece of equipment that an individual can carry with them where ever their day takes them.  Your determination and insight have changed by life dramatically.  In the year 1997 I will undergo numerous surgical procedures.  At the time that I write this letter to you I have undergone knee surgery to remove  bone chips and cartilage from past sports.  On April 16th, 1997, I underwent open abdominal surgery to repair the bladder, urethra, and to alleviate the dysfunctional uterine bleeding.  I am now preparing for the next surgical procedures, colostomy, anterior sphincter repair #2, neurological repairs, plastic surgery (minimum of 6 it is currently being estimated to rebuild the perineum) and finally to remove the colostomy to see if the second anterior sphincter muscle repair worked.  The surgical procedures mentioned will take place over 1997 and into 1998.  I have 11 practitioners working to rebuild me, all of which are surgeons  in different specialty areas of medicine.  I have one piece of equipment that can be utilized anytime of the day or night and provides me with constant patient care that can be unmatched by any before it, its called the Alpha-Stim 100.  On behalf of all patients and medical personnel I thank you for the endless research and dedication you have shown in the past and continue to show presently.

To those of you who read this letter I wish you well in all that you do.  It is my sincere hope that you too feel the relief and success that I have experienced in my daily life since I met Dr. Dan Kirsch and begun using his invention, the Alpha-Stim 100.  Let the light shine into your world.  Provide yourself with a peace of the mind, utilize the Alpha-Stim 100.  And always remember that it takes time for your body to adjust and  adapt.  To you Dan, I thank you and may all that you do be as successful as your Alpha-Stim 100.

Best wishes to you, your wife, and the patients to come.

 

Lee McIntosh
CEO/Editorial Director
Canadian Journal of Clinical Medicine

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