Takayasu arteritis
The final diagnosis showed Liz had contracted the dreaded Takayasu arteritis. I knew we were in for something horrible, how horrible only time would tell. Abu is cold in the winter, the night temperatures dip to around 0 to -5 C. This cold climate and the fact that Liz was in real misery did not help us in any way. Intense pain was experienced by Liz. The pain would begin around midnight and drain her very soul till early parts of the morning, the painkillers only worked for a short spell. I found that If I stayed awake reading or doing some work on the computer it kind of helped her to drop off into an undisturbed sleep. Her pain seemed to haunt her between midnight and 2 a.m. I found that staying awake around this time seemed to help, so this became a regular feature for me for months to come. In the beginning, I thought it was a psychological factor that was causing Liz this extreme bout of pain, but it was far from the truth. The pain was genuine and it began to manifest in its true and ugly form. Her little toe, the one she had banged had turned blue-black, the excruciating pain now was becoming intolerable. I was at a total loss, physically and mentally drained, I knew something had to be done and done fast as this situation could not go on forever. Dr.Sharma who was monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis said that she was heading for gangrene. "GANGRENE" On hearing this word my very being froze. It's like telling a patient that he has cancer. How was I to break the news to Liz, and break the news soon was imperative, because any delay now would be curtains for Liz. With a heavy heart, I approached her bed and was on the verge of telling her that her condition had gone from bad to worse when my mobile rang and I heard Dr.Sharma's voice. He told me an extremely competent surgeon, Dr Anand. Subbarayan was down from the Maldives on a holiday, here in Abu and was a close associate, and he had agreed to see Liz on Dr Sharma's request. I went to Dr.Anand's residence immediately and picked him up. On the way, I told him the story of Liz, and what hell we folks were going through.
�Dr Anand Subbarayan Liz's Mentor
First off, I am not a physician. I am an herbalist. I am not prescribing treatment here but instead will tell you what I would do in that situation. I would ack the afflicted area with 5 pounds of onion & salt as a drawing poultice for 4 hours. Then, I would soak the afficted area in strong Marshmallow Root (1 oz of root per 16 ounces of water. bring to slight boil - let simmer for 20 minutes--then let the root soak while cooling down) Tea...the temperature of the tea should be as hot as I can stand it for & I would soak it all day long at hour intervals. Drinking the tea will also speed up the process to clear out toxins. I would also add a blood cleansing herb like Burdock (also good for the skin) - or Yellow Dock the drinking tea & drink it 3x a day. I would keep this process going until I was healed.
ReplyDeleteLeslee Dru Browing
Medical Herbalist