Coronavirus covid 19 john hopkins https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus World health organization declaring a Global Pandemic on 11, March 2020, everybody’s world including my own was about to get turned upside down. I know because the VA is currently is shut down because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. There is no BFA or Mindful Warrior, but I still have my PACT Team in this case it is my Dietician, Pain and Comfort, Psychologist, Whole Health Coach and my Primary Care I was able to stay in touch with them through Secure Messaging, telephone and video conference. The team knew that I did not want the pain to get back to the way it was in the beginning. I did not have the team back then , that I have now. I do not want to regress, but it did.

Sometime in the middle of March, we had some branches break from some of our trees during the winter, when we had an ice storm. I managed to get the big stuff picked up after the storm.and put it on the trailer so we could later haul it to the township dump. Little stuff was frozen to the ground and have to wait until spring. I was almost done raking that little stuff when this pain came over me in my right side. Straight down from the armpit, just below the rib-cage. The Saginaw VA Hospital was closed , because the Saginaw VAMC has Palliative Care that was the reason for closing. So going directly to the Urgent Care was out of the question. So I Thought. I called tele nurse and to my surprise she set me an appointment for Urgent Care. Right flank, under the rib-cage, straight down from the armpit. On a scale of 1 to 10, pain level was an 8. Ultrasound found no kidney stones much to my relief and no Gallstones. Much more going on.

We have regressed, and I was frustrated and disappointed. It was a real sucky feeling, just knowing that everthing, all of the work done by everybodyto that pont was thrown out the window. Between my knees and whatever it is that was bothering me, this is taking pain management to a whole new level. All that the VA had taught me was how to deal with pain in one area of the body. Between the pain and customers coming into the store not knowing what a mask is used for, or just self centered and did not care. They were also using the store for family gathering, catching up on what is going on. I was ready to buy a sailboat rated for the North Sea. Fill the thing up with groceries, laptop and do some serious writing. A power pack, converter and one of those briefcase solar panels from Harbor Freight, I would have been set. Set sail out in to Lake Superior and watch the mayhem and chaos happening on shore, from my sailboat. Only person I would talk to, would be the Radioman at the Coast Guard Station. Would have been fine with me at that point. I spent a whole summer in the middle of Custer National Forest as a Fire Lookout, near Ashland Montana. 72, Miles NE of Sheridan, Wyoming I would have been ready for that exercise in Social Distancing. Radioman on the other end probably would would have gotten tired of me talking at some point I would need human contact. Radio would have helped me though. My pain and anxiety level at this time was through the roof.

Throughout this whole Pandemic, I was in touch with my Primary Care, Pain and Comfort and Psychologist. Well I called my Pain and Comfort Specialist and my Psychologist, telling them both all that is going on with me, just unloading it all. in and Comfort and Primary Care were telling me that the Director said as long as I had another appointment I could receive Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA), but I could not come in specifically for BFA. We were on the phone for about 1 and 1/2 hours some days with my Pain and Comfort and Psychologist, discussing what I learned in Mindful Warrior and Yoga and what was going on with me. They suggested that I do Mindfulness, which is a huge step above Yoga and Mindful Warrior. Mindfulness was done by teleconference, it was every Monday for ten weeks. I was taking acetaminophen 1.5 grams two times daily. That is three grams, good to go we are under the four gram limit before it starts to effect the liver. My Pain and Comfort Specialist also sent two CD’s Mindfulness meditation for Pain Relief. She also sent me a Play Away, a MP3 Player type of thing. This had Minute Meditations on it. guided imagery Meditations to relieve Stress and enhance wellness. This was my daily regimen. I still use it a lot. Just like my tens unit, on my days off two times daily when I get the opportunity. Being busy at work helped take my mind off of all that was going on, with the exception of the anxiety bothering me, I call the tele nurse about the pain if too bad and call pain and comfort that I have an appointment labs, then call and schedule a same day appointment for pain and comfort. In the middle of April Primary Care ordered a Ultra Sound showing no gallstones. After that ordered a HIDA Scan. At this point I was gettinga sence that my Primary Care had an idea of what is going on. I was finally able to schedule and recieve BFA, finally, getting the primary tool in my Pain management toolbox.Now I was relieved, my Dr. seemed to have an idea of what was going on.https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hida-scan/about/pac-20 Hepatobilary Iminodiacetic Acid, (HIDA)+

With no Gallstones, now I am left wondering what the heck is going on with me. Talking with my Primary Care Doctor, at this point he was thinking that I had Biliairy Dyskinesia. He was telling me that I had 17% use of my gallbladder. The gallbladder stores a digestive enzyme called bile. The prefix dys” means abnormal or not working properly. Therefore, the word, biliary dyskinesia means the abnormal movement of the gallbladder, most commonly because the muscles that squeeze bile out of the gallbladder are not contracting properly.  My Primary care doctor was working with the VA to out source my care to a local hospital that has a Gut and Intestinal Track, (GI Track) Doctor. Everything was cleared by Community Care, in May I met the GI Track Doctor and was scheduled for an Endoscope in June. Doing research the HIDA Scan and Endoscope are part of the steps for Gallbladder Removal. Everything was clear, making sure and ruling out anything else it could possibly be. The GI Doctor sent my packet to the Surgical Team to evaluate my case. the Surgical team evaluated my case and scheduled surgery. In July I met with the Surgeon who was going to remove my gallbladder. (Cholecystectomy) On 11, August 2020 my gallbladder was removed, in and out the same day. With the exception a few side effects after the operation. I felt a whole lot better.

With this experience I learned that with the help of a support team and the tools The main tool in my Pain Management tool box is BFA Battlefield Acupuncture. I have acquired knowledge, tools and a PACT Team. Through the years since, they helped me manage my pain. I do not know where I would be without the tools, knowledge and the team. I do know that my mind would probably be in a different place without them.

With this i learned

With no Gallstones, now I am left wondering what the heck is going on with me. Talking with my Primary Care Doctor, at this point he was thinking that I had Biliairy Dyskinesia.TheGalt

Chronic pain is defined as being pain that lasts a long time. In medicine the difference between acute and chronic pain is 3 and 6 months, some use 12 months as a marker, 12 months is a long time when dealing with chronic pain. A popular alternative definition for chronic pain not involving an arbitrary fixed duration is” pain that extends beyond the expected period of healing”. Debilitating is a good word to describe what is going on. That is a better definition. It effects you mentally, emotionally, physically. It in some ways takes over your life. It is always there. There were days before acupuncture that I just did not want to do anything at all Acupuncture gave me some control over the pain, instead of before where it was controlling me. With acupuncture length of time between visits can be different for each Veteran. For me it depended on the time of year I have gone as long as 5 weeks and as short as 2 weeks .

My days of running when I was in the Army caught up with me and all of those 5 and 10 mile PT runs . Also part of my experience included a ruck sack, along with a radio on some long walks with all of that weight being carried . Knowing what I know now I would still do it all over again, No regrets. I first noticed I was having issues with my knees was in October 2015 when I got home from Montana after spending the summer out there as a fire lookout. Every week I had to carry 12 gallons of water up 4 flights of stairs. This is about 96 pounds of water. I brought it up to my Primary Care Physician during my annual physical. That winter it seemed to have gotten worse. I had a hard time walking standing especially for long periods of time. With some trips to the VA Hospital in Detroit we found out I was losing the cartilage in both of my knees. At that point I was trying to find a study that was using stem cells for re growing cartilage, but could find none they were either done or in the middle of the study. I knew about stem cells through reading and research. They tried cortisone shots. All in all I believe it was 4 shots in each knee. The only thing I got out of that was weight gain, 5 pounds per shot. 40 pounds. For my personal regimen for pain management was 1 gram of Acetaminophen is only offered in 500 milligrams as needed daily. I wanted to take Ibuprofen because I could get 800 milligrams, but I could not take Ibuprofen because it is filtered through the kidney, I have one, because I am a Living Kidney Donor. On 21, August 2000 I donated my left kidney to my best friend. and my Dr. did not want to tax the only kidney I had. Acetaminophen is filtered through the Liver, I have to be careful with that as well. Anything above 3 grams and you could damage the liver. My first Primary Care Dr. taught me to research, and be an informed patient.

The middle of June 2016, I am at my whit’s end dealing with this chronic pain, I am at 3.5 grams of Acetaminophen, not sleeping, and irritable. I think it was 03, July 2016 I have had enough, so I went to the Saginaw VA Hospital to urgent Care, wondering what the hell I am doing there as I am waiting to be called. I am thinking, I do not know what to expect, I just know I have had enough. I am called, the nurse takes my vitals, asks me a bunch of questions, then leaves the room to probably fill the attending Dr, in on what is going on with me. Dr. Joseph walks in, she is calm and soothing as she talks and asking questions to me. Somewhere in the discussion I compare Chronic Pain to Torture, because in both cases you will be willing to do just about anything to get it to stop. She smiled in agreement. Then she asks me what I thought about Acupuncture, I told her I really do not know much about it but I have heard of Acupuncture, I am willing to give it a try. I am willing try anything at this point. She explained to me that this is Battlefield Acupuncture done in the ear, 5 points in each ear for controlling pain. Battlefield Acupuncture, that was self explanatory for me considering all of the gear that is worn by the modern soldier on the battlefield these days. After about the third point I could tell that it was starting to work, after the fifth point I hugged her, I was so happy I cried the pain for the first time in three weeks, was bearable. after that I was getting it done most of the time every 5 weeks and as little as 2 weeks since then up to 2020. This was the beginning of my journey.

As I had said before I had gained weight while all of this was going on with me , In 2017 I was at 235 pounds, it works out to about 5 pounds a shot. 4 pounds of pressure is on both of your knees for every pound of weight you are carrying, my weight was 235 pounds, that is 940 pounds of pressure on each knee. I worked with my Primary care and we came up with a plan. It was three fold , one was obviously was weight management, physical therapy and the other was knowledge based. I signed up for the MOVES class, after about a year and half I lost 45 pounds. The VA had this thing what they called the Pain Tool Box that was powerful information there. that was about 6 weeks long, then there was Pain School that was 10 weeks long some more powerful information. Then there was this thing where there was a Pharmacist, Psychologist, Physical Therapist and somebody else. Later on i found Whole health. I was doing all of this trying to wrap my head around what is going on in my body and head and how they both deal with pain. Physical Therapy was very intense, we did different exercises, then at the end of the session they did this laser thing on my knees. There I received a Tens Unit and some stretches I had to do at home. Tai Chi and Yoga really helped a lot. Through Yoga and Tai Chi and meditation. Then mindful Warrior. let it get that far.