My daughter Megan’s story

If you haven’t known me for more than 4 years you are not aware of the incredible challenges that my 16 year old daughter has been through.

She got sick in 2008 with pneumonia, that was followed up with mono, this essentially destroyed grade 6 for her

She got sick in 2009 with extreme menstrual bleeding and fatty liver disease essentially making grade 7 a right off.

She got sick in 2010 with extreme vertigo and spent 10 months in a wheelchair. She almost attended no days of school in grade 8.

Doctors, and family members did not hide that they thought this was all in her head and that she was just trying to avoid school .

Her self esteem was as low as it could be with people calling her a liar and thinking she wanted to be sick

She was put through to grade 9 without completing any real schooling in grade 8. Megan was certain they had given up on her too.

Megan got healthy in June 2010. A ton of work with my holistic coach Brandon Krieger , osteopath Jason B, and Megan hated the extreme healthy foods that she was forced to eat.

But in the end , nothing any doctor has done for her made any difference. Osteopath and holistic eating did the trick.

She entered grade 9 and we ensured her first semester was light. She took applied french, academic math, drama and art. No one had any expectations and honestly I worried she would get sick again in September.

She insisted on getting help from my Aunt Pat all through the summer,she wanted to be prepared for grade 9 math and megan worked extremely hard. It helped that my aunt believed in her and slowly but surely Megan’s confidence was rebuilding.

Megan worked hard on homework, she asked to see my aunt whenever she felt insecure about a math concept. My aunt constantly told her she was doing well and that all Megan needed to do was to take the time to read the question properly before she started working on it. Mistakes she was making were small ones all related back to not reading the question correctly.

Grade 10 started in London Ontario and Megan was only able to manage a month before colds and flu’s started attacking her and she doesn’t heal from those for 2 -3 weeks. She had to once again move to home schooling and online learning. She worked hard and did very well in the credits she was able to accomplish.

Megan struggled so much over these years with low self esteem and no hope for her future. She was terrified that she would be unable to be a functional adult and unable to ever have a normal life. She got so upset about how far behind she was in school. That was so heart breaking for me to hear said she couldn’t hear me yet.

Fast forward to Spring 2012 and I got asked to be a food revolution ambassador for Jamie Oliver. I needed to create a one day event. Megan was in singing lessons and enjoying them. I decided to have the Britown Music school perform during the kids event and i challenged Megan to Sing a song she was learning. She sang her heart out and life started to change!

My daughter Megan actually started flourished! She decided that she wants to be a lawyer, she wants to be accepted to the best schools for University. Her plan is to become a big part of her high school when she returns in September. This is huge for her, she was not in school last year due to her health and lack of sleep. She is fighting back and I could not be prouder of Megan! She is saying Screw you to her health issues and insisting on having the best life she can. She is volunteering for the Anti bullying coalition, she wants to fight for civil rights and her big goal now is to work at United Nations. I am her biggest cheerleader and I will be cheering for her all the way to the top!

Fall 2012 and Megan started Grade 11 with a very positive attitude and got involved in choir, a play, social justice committee, and on and on. Her grades were amazing and she was well liked by all her teachers. She got to participate in WE DAY in Toronto and that just inspired her more.

January 2013 Such a sad change Megan fell down 12 stairs and broke a toe. This would be a simple thing for other people but because megan doesn’t heal it took 3 months to even start healing. Once again stuck at home doing courses online. Once again feeling defeated.

She has another issue somewhere in her body that ensures she doesn’t heal for ages. I will take the xrays from this broken foot and ask to see a specialist to start looking into her lack of healing.

You are an incredibly smart girl with a great support system in my aunt pat, Grandpa Stan and your brother and me! You will continue to shine you will continue to flourish and I am incredibly proud of my baby girl! You prove everyone wrong and you rock and your life will shine no matter what health issue tries to take you out!!

Good news and Bad News

I will give you the good news first:

My incredibly smart Megan has been exempted for 2 of her 4 classes for exams for her first semester. Megan worked to complete her English Essay on Romeo and Juliette she sent that to her English teacher on Monday and today she received the news that she will not need to write that exam and she finished with 89%. Megan was also at the top of her Science class and her science teacher has also exempted her from that exam. Math and French will be handled in the 2nd semester and Megan should be ok for her grades with missing this time at school. Her Vice Principal, Guidance counsellor and teachers are all routing for her success! I have been touched and happy with every conversation with her high school. They are very supportive and are giving Megan some much needed reassurance.

Megan is also making lots of friends on Tumblr. They are all over the world and they all exchanged christmas cards this year. Last night she worked on making homemade valentine cards to send each of them and it was good to see her enjoying that arts and craft moment!

Now for the bad news:

Saturday I took Megan back to the Emergency Department because she is still at the same level of pain she was on January 2nd when she fell down the 12 stairs and broke her foot. The emergency room doctor did another x-ray and determined that Megan’s break is not healing at all. Usually a broken bone will start to develop calluses around the break 10 days after the injury and we were far beyond that point. They put her on Tramadol for pain and referred us for urgent appointment at orthapedic clinic.

The Tramadol gave Megan the best sleep she has had in years the first night. but did not relieve the pain at all. By the 2nd day it stopped helping her sleep so its pretty clear Tramadol is doing nothing for Megan.

Wednesday January 30 was our urgent appointment with the orthapedic clinic at Victoria Hospital in London Ontario. On the way to the car on crutches Megan lost her balance and fell on a muddy incline. Luckily she did not hit her head or land on her foot but it hurt the foot as she had to move it and had to get back up with pressure on the foot. I finally got her to the car and to the hospital. I have to comment that that fact that you have an appointment at 2 pm and don’t get in until 4 pm is a very poor setup for a clinic. This was the same issue when we were there on January 9th. They show no respect for the patients time and in this day and age they should be able to properly plan out closer times for actual appointments. So we finally got into to see the resident and he had a look at the xray and asked about her underlying health issues and we told him about non alcoholic fatty liver disease. He showed a lot of interest in that so i explained it. But when it came to megans foot he really only said do you smoke? NO he asked about eating and she is now eating correctly and lots of fresh foods again. He said come back in a month. Thats it , thats all for a 2 hour wait. They will do NOTHING for her broken foot or her pain.

TO be completely honest the last month was not the best eating for us. I was exhausted working 10 hour days and coming home to help megan and take care of Toby too. I bought a lot of frozen lasagna’s and sheperd’s pie and chicken pot pie etc to make dinner a quick prep. This past Sunday I made a double batch of Spaghetti with lots of veggies and whole wheat pasta, prepped for Beef Stew for Monday night and prepped for Stirfry as well. Megan is drinking a glass of milk everyday and is taking calcium and Vitamin D as supplements too. I am now looking at other supplements and lotions and whatever else I can find to help her heal this bone faster. How much of her life is she supposed to put on hold for a broken toe! So any ideas to speed up healing would be appreciated as this is craziness after 4 weeks she is still in extreme pain and not able to put any weight on that foot. This girl has been through enough in her life already!

My Experience with Hospital for Sick Children – Toronto, Ontario

My daughter has been sick since 2008. She was 12 years old when her life changed for the worse. Initially it was a bad case of Pneumonia that took 3 rounds of strong anti biotics to clear up. Then she got Mono and that took another 8 months of her life. We were dealing with pediatricians, blood tests, ultrasounds, and family doctors. In 2009 she started bleeding for her menstrual period and it was excessively heavy.  She went to her first gynacologist and she was put on birth control pills to control that bleeding. Through this 2 year time period all I ever wanted was to get Megan to the Hospital for Sick Kids where they would actually care about her and find the root cause of her health issues.  It was my dream, it would be the answer for us.

In 2010 Megan lost her ability to walk. She had extreme vertigo. She looked like she was drunk when she walked, I took her to the emergency department at Markham Stoufville hospital and she was completely ignored. We waited 4 hours and she still was not brought in to be diagnosed.

We took her to Sunnybrook hospital the next day and they actually treated her wonderfully. But because she was a child they transfered us to the Hospital for Sick kids and I thought YES we finally have a chance to have Megan looked at by this world class hospital!  We got Megan into a Wheelchair as she was not safe walking when she was catching herself on walls and could possibly injure herself.

All of my hopes and dreams were coming true for Megan. The doctors at Hospital for Sick Kids would surely look at Megan and work hard to help her get healthy. I don’t know how to describe in words what this meant to me, but it was very positive. I was sure we would finally get answers.

Our first doctor in the Hospital was an Ear Nose Throat doctor who tested Megan thoroughly for any ear issues that might be causing the dizziness. He could not find anything specific but he was very interested in Megan’s case and refered us to the Consultant Clinic where he said we would get an experienced Pediatrician who could pull all the doctors necessary for Megan to get diagnosed.

At the hospital for Sick Kids you can’t help but notice all the kids with burns, cancer and other serious medical illnesses. In reference to the way those kids are treated I give Sick Kids an A+.  Megan felt strongly that those kids deserved the attention of the doctors and she has cut her hair twice in the last 2 years to donate to kids with Cancer undergoing radiation.  So we totally respect the hospital for that work.

We finally got to meet our consult team . An old friendly doctor who fully analyzed Megan’s walk and I felt good, this doctor would take a hold of Megan’s case and fight for her, thats what I expected and hoped for.

We were scheduled for a consultation with Neurology and megan had an MRI, and a Cat Scan. The Neurology department didn;t find anything wrong in her results either. They decided to put Megan on a drug that might stop the dizziness. Megan took that drug for 3 weeks and got no results so we stopped that one.

The Pediatrician then suggested we bring Megan in for a week so that doctors could review her case and run any other tests while she was in the hospital.

Again I felt hopeful, surely with Megan in the hospital we would get answers. Our pediatrician forgot to mention he was leaving for Africa and would not be in the hospital while Megan was there. He had left instructions for Neurology, Psychology, and Physiotherapists to review her case in his absence.

I slept on a couch with Megan for a few nights that week. It was not easy being at home knowing she was lying in a hospital bed.

I very rarely saw any doctors with Megan that week. They did not run any tests on her other than testing her balance by making her do exercises in her room. I was getting concerned and things got worse when the psychologist came in to see Megan and suggested that we try putting her on Zoloft to settle her nerves and possibly resolve the dizziness. I cried and tried to make it clear that Megan had been told this was in her head a lot over the last 3 years and the last thing I wanted Sick Kids hospital to do was confirm that by putting her on an antidepressant.

My heart dropped at this point. I realized that the doctors were not on our side and they had no idea what was wrong with Megan. I do not feel that we ever truly had a doctor there that knew what was wrong with Megan and the reaction to patients that doctors can’t diagnose in Ontario is quite frequently to put them on anti depressants and say its all in their head.

I had higher expectations of the hospital for sick kids. I had been there as a child due to a kidney disease, my sister had been there for childhood illnesses. My sisters children had epilepsy and other stomach issues that were properly diagnosed and treated at the hospital.

Were they really sending Megan home with Anti depressants and a pat on the head. Yes thats what they did. I took her off the anti depressants after 3 weeks when they made no difference to her dizziness or her mood for that matter. 

We went to follow up appointments at the hospital but my mindset had changed, I knew they just wanted to see that this was in her head and they were not really trying to find the answer anymore.

We moved to the holistic side and changed Megan’s food to a very strict diet, We had her see an osteopath, We took her off the birth control pill and 3 months later she was able to get out of the wheel chair and walk again.

I wish I could say that I was happy with the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto. Sadly my experience tells me that they are great for kids that they can put into a silo of a specific disease. But as soon as you are a mystery patient they don’t treat you with respect or consider your case serious.

We now live in London Ontario and its 2 years since the hospital for Sick kids experience. It still exists as a knot in my stomach of disappointment, of breaking my heart.

We are giving London Ontario doctors a chance to diagnose Megan now.  Megan is still bleeding constantly and its been 2 years now. Megan sleeps 3 hours a day, Megan catches any cold or flu and holds on to it for a month instead of a week. Megan does have a diagnosis of Non Alchoholic Fatty Liver Disease but that is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. I will not be going in with blind hope to the doctors in London. My expectations are low. If they cannot find out what is wrong with Megan I won’t freak out. We will just take her to the Cleveland Clinic in the states and hope that they will be able to find the root cause of Megan’s health issues.

I wrote this for the Toronto Star who wants to do a story on Hospital for Sick Kids. I hope that things change in the future for kids like Megan and they will take them seriously.

 

Michelle

Roller coaster ride in finding doctor for Megan!

I am so tired of doctors in general. They make me sad, they make me feel like I can never get the right answers for Megan. I moved to London Ontario in July 2011. This was a fresh start for Megan and I after 3 years of being talked down to by doctors and being told its all in her head. Megans life since 2008 has included the following realities that doctors have no answers for:

1. She has been bleeding constantly since 2009 with her menstrual cycle. With birth control pills its basically spotting every day, and then when her pill ends she deals with extreme bleeding that makes her wear 2 pads at a time.

2. Extreme Vertigo in 2010 that had her in a wheelchair for 10 months. She was 13 years old and in a wheelchair!

3. Colds and Flus that impact Megan take 3 – 5 times longer to recover from… you and I might be 5 days she will be 15 days.

4.Insomnia – This week Megan is getting 1 hour sleep per day. This is as bad as it gets but she averages 3 – 5 hours. 5 hours is a GREAT day!

5. Liver pain is there as a good reminder if she eats anything bad. Her liver tells her quite clearly. Sometimes its nausea and sometimes she looses her appetite.

6. Extreme dryness and redness on her arms.  Constant battle for Megan. Any creams or lotions tend to make it worse and make it sting.

She is a SICK kid. She is homeschooled due to these issues.

 

I have been trying to find a family doctor since July. Initally I started via the HealthConnect program in Ontario that is supposed to match you up with a doctor. So far that has resulted in NOTHING.

I tried finding the list of family doctors accepting patients and then we end up on a list never to hear from anyone. I call and follow up and there is never a good answer !

A friend in London recently talked to a family doctor in London about Megan and she was given the name of a Hepatologist in London that actually focusses on Fatty Liver Disease! This was perfect! But then found out that because Megan is 15 she is not eligible to be seen by this doctor. We were pointed to the Pediatric Gastroentologists!

The Pediatric Gastroentologist read about Megans symptoms and said he has seen 100 cases of Fatty Liver Disease and none of them with megans symptoms. They suggest we start over with a pedicatrician and search for the root cause

I have done nothing but try to find a doctor who will treat Megan with respect and truly look into her case uniquely in Ontario. So far I have gotten no where!

I am ready to burst into tears and Megan is scared that she will never get a doctor that care! She is cynical after The Hospital For Sick Kids in Toronto didn’t help her. They even put her on anti depressants at 13! We do not need more doctors patting us on the head and saying that this is all in her head. This is her reality EVERY DAY!

What do I have to do in order to help my child? Why won’t a doctor take ownership and truly focus on finding out whats wrong with her?

We are in Canada where Medical care is free. But its looking more and more like I will have to take her to the States to get the attention she needs.

She is 15 years old with a chronic illness and this is no way to leave a child to live!

Please if you are in London share this story with your doctor and ask if they will take her case on and help her! I just need 1 doctor to truly be there for her!

Thanks

 

Michelle and Megan

Why I am so proud of Megan

If you haven’t known me for more than 2 years you are not aware of the incredible challenges that my 14 year old daughter has been through.

She got sick in 2008 with pneumonia, that was followed up with mono, this essentially destroyed grade 6 for her

She got sick in 2009 with extreme menstrual bleeding and fatty liver disease essentially making grade 7 a right off.

She got sick in 2010 with extreme vertigo and spent 10 months in a wheelchair. She almost attended no days of school in grade 8.

Doctors, and family members did not hide that they thought this was all in her head and that she was just trying to avoid school .

Her self esteem was as low as it could be with people calling her a liar and thinking she wanted to be sick

She was put through to grade 9 without completing any real schooling in grade 8. Megan was certain they had given up on her too.

Megan got healthy in June 2010. A ton of work with my holistic coach Brandon Krieger , osteopath Jason B, and Megan hated the extreme healthy foods that she was forced to eat.

But in the end , nothing any doctor has done for her in 2 years made any difference. Osteopath and holistic eating did the trick.

She entered grade 9 and we ensured her first semester was light. She took applied french, academic math, drama and art. No one had any expectations and honestly I worried she would get sick again in September.

She insisted on getting help from my Aunt Pat all through the summer,she wanted to be prepared for grade 9 math and megan worked extremely hard. It helped that my aunt believed in her and slowly but surely Megan’s confidence was rebuilding.

Megan worked hard on homework, she asked to see my aunt whenever she felt insecure about a math concept. My aunt constantly told her she was doing well and that all Megan needed to do was to take the time to read the question properly before she started working on it. Mistakes she was making were small ones all related back to not reading the question correctly.

We had a scare in November when Megan had a fatty liver scare again. A cold over christmas too…Each little thing triggers a deep fear in me now. I need her to continue to be healthy.

In November Megan’s mid term report card came home and it was brilliant. She was flourishing in all classes. Drama 74% Art 96% French 93% and math 75%. She was so happy and I was so proud of her. Tears in my eyes with the clear effort by megan and the incredible efforts of my aunt pat in helping her get there.

Friday Megan brought home her final report card for Semester 1.

Her final grade are

Drama- 77%

Art 92%

French 87%

Math 74%

What an incredible accomplishment Megan. You are an incredibly smart girl with a great support system in my aunt pat and your brother and me! You will continue to shine you will continue to flourish and I am incredibly proud of my baby girl! You proved everyone wrong and you rock!

A glimmer of hope on a day to remember

Saturday June 5, 2010 goes down as a huge milestone date in my daughter’s life. She woke up at 8 am and realized she didn’t feel dizzy, she pinched herself, laid herself back down, tried a few steps and then came into my room…mom I  can walk! I am fast asleep and certain that was a dream so i rolled over and cuddled my pillow…she said MOMMM I can walk , I am NOT dizzy!!

After 9 MONTHS of constant dizziness that has had her wheelchair bound , there was no way we were prepared for this. Doctors did nothing to help her, she lost a year of school , she lost any social contact with friends.

We had a huge hug and i got up, she was giddy and excited I was in shock! She wanted to go out right away..so we got dressed and headed over to Golden Griddle for a buffet breakfast so that she could practice walking for her meal.

We both were confused looking at the last 9 months and trying to figure out what change could have made the extreme dizziness go away? Was it the Osteopath treatment on Wednesday, the change in foods, the focus on exercise, coming off the birth control pill 3 months ago? Nothing jumps out as a specific reason for this miracle. Lots of my friends have been praying for Megan, possibly this is as simple as God giving us a glimmer of hope.

We drove to http://gethealthywithmichelle.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpmy stepdad’s apartment to surprise him, we NEVER just show up,  and he is not a morning person, so when we rang his buzzer at 10am his reply was “WHATS WRONG, ARE YOU OK?” Told him he needed to let us up. Megan and i giggled on the elevator ride, knowing he was very confused.  We knocked on his door and megan hid around the corner….he opened the door and looked so concerned, i told him we have a surprise and he noticed Megan standing still…WOW , then she walked in and we told him about her miracle.

Megan called her dad to surprise him, we went shopping at the mall , not having to push megan in the wheelchair was a great break for me lol…Megan loved being able to walk…it was hurting her leg muscles and we realized we needed to take it easy on the walking today.

We went to Tuckers Marketplace for dinner with her brother , and my stepdad as a celebration for Alex’s birthday last week and a celebration of Megan’s ability to walk again. Another buffet for Megan to walk back and forth for and just a wonderful evening…

By the time we got home Megan’s legs were exhausted and she was very tired. She still did her exercises and refused to give up even though she was in pain.

I had been fighting a cold myself and had an invitation to go out dancing…I was so tempted to just stay home and settle in after the busy day celebrating Megan’s walking!

Megan looked at me and said Mom just take some cold medicine and go out to enjoy yourself.  So I drugged myself up and got dolled up for a night of dancing. My sweet friend Louis picked me up and we met up with some other great ladies and danced the night away…

Truly a perfect day with a perfect ending…  Sadly this morning Megan woke up dizzy again but there is nothing that can take that day away and I KNOW its hope and she will have more days like this one coming up!!

Creating a special Prom!

There has been so much sadness and fear for Megan since September when she lost the ability to walk. One day glowing with pride and feeling certain she would make the honour role for her Grade 8 graduation! The next day head spinning and bouncing off walls!

Yesterday morning she faced  and conquered a needle phobia in order to complete a test for Wilson’s disease . Very proud of her and thankful to the full waiting room for letting her get into the test before them. However, after she did the blood test bravely Megan encountered her first seizure..her head rolled back, her eyes rolled back, her head and body started convulsing. Extremely scary to watch as a parent for a whole minute. Then she fainted for 5 minutes and is feeling light headed and off today.

I know that my daughter only wanted one thing, she wanted the ability to walk up on stage to get her grade 8 diploma. That could still happen but I am not counting on that in order to make that day special for her!

I want to make this graduation a day where she feels like a princess. I want to find someone to do her hair, her makeup, make a dress for her so that she doesn’t have to fight with traditional sizes that never fit her right or make her feel pretty!  Flowers, decorations for her wheelchair, shoes, photographs to capture a beautiful girl on a perfect day! I have  photographers  offering their services..a friend who will take the train from hamilton and spend the night to do her makeup on the day of her prom, and I will focus on finding as many ways as possible to make that day one she never forgets! If you know of any way to help me with these items I would really appreciate it, after losing my job I can’t afford to financially make this all happen but I am hopeful that the world of social media can bring together a caring group to make this perfect!

Hugs and thank you to anyone who can help!

Michelle

The View from the Forest

I am living with many challenges that are impacting my focus and my healthy choices. Losing my job 3 weeks ago, doctors at sick kids rolling their eyes at my attempts within Alternate medicine world. Ex husband who jumps on that bandwagon and completely believes this is all in my daughters head. A 90 year old grandfathers whose body is ready to give up the battle of life. A broken wheelchair that has essentially kept my daughter stuck at home while we wait for a replacement part.

My focus has to be on finding another job. This is the right focus and I am finding lots of job listings that are a good fit for me. I am likely applying to 5 or more a day. I am well aware that each time i send a resume , mine is one of 100′s that have arrived that hour for the same job. It’s not easy to stand out.

I do feel like I am lost in a forest, trees in my way, no clear path for my future.

But lets look at some positives

There are LOTS of jobs available

I am making the right decisions for my child

The wheelchair part is now in and is being installed today!

My grandfather is 90 !!!! He has lived an amazing life and his spirit will always be with me!

Also in the last week there was someone i want to talk about who brought me smiles and special moments

Kirsten is an amazing woman that I met while working at Canadian tire, we carpooled for 4 months and spent 2 hours a day sharing life and stories and challenges .  Little did I know I was spending time with a woman who would become part of my foundation of best friends. I took my daughter to dinner their Saturday night and Kirsten’s autistic son came up to my daughter and gave her a hug. This is unusual for him. He does not usually get comfie with people that quickly. Kirsten’s fiance was also very supportive of my daughter telling her she is beautiful, talking to her about history and geography and possible future careers.  This night was perfect and will be a regular occurrence now!! Kirsten did something yesterday that touched me deeply. She honored me with a request to become her maid of honor (Babe of honor), I am thrilled to stand beside this couple and support a good marriage, one that they have fought for and have persevered through lots of challenges. Thank you Kirsten you mean the world to me! See her blog on WordPress as she prepares to run to raise funds for Autism. Wear Blue on Friday to support the cause!

http://runningforautism.wordpress.com/

I know I am not actually lost in the forest. Everyday I am placing another stone on my path. I do not know where its going, where it will lead. I just need to have faith that its taking me to a better future!!

Hugs

Your Friend and CHFI blogger

Michelle

follow my blog at

http://blog.rogersbroadcasting.com/real-life-health/ and

http://gethealthywithmichelle.wordpress.com/

Venting to prevent emotional eating!

venting

I have to get this out, the stress I felt after the appointment at sick kids yesterday is creating havoc internally. I went into this appointment hoping that the new symptoms that megan is encountering would spur them into taking actions for further diagnosis with the hope that there are now indicators to point at the root cause. Purple spots of dizziness that blind her and are not related to migraine headaches, they disable her for a minute or 2 and then it clears and she can continue to make her way to her room with the dizziness. The light headedness when she turns her head left to right on top of the dizziness is also brand new. The dizziness prevents her from walking without wall or chair or person support and it has been ongoing since September. Other illnesses have proceeded this for the last 2 years!

The reaction by Sick Kids Hospital was not one of concern, it was wow megan you lost a little weight and you look happy. She is on antidepressants so yes she is coping better with this illness but she is far from happy, she does not speak up and correct them she just sits and stews and i know she is thinking they doesn’t understand her at all and she is right.

His suggested plan of action…. get her eyes checked by an optometrist. That was IT!

I waited for a moment hoping to hear him say and we need to get her looked at by neurology again , but he didn’t say it. So I asked if we needed to have her seen by them and he said we can do that and is following up with a referral back to the doctor who saw her in December while she was at the hospital.

I know that if I had not said anything IT would NOT have happened. This creates problems because its clear that I am also viewed as panicking and that they are only doing these things to appease me! BULLSHIT if i am not the advocate for my child NO ONE else will do so. My ex just sits there and all actions make it clear he thinks its all in her head!  So with the doctors not pursuing the lines of investigation it once again reinforces in my ex that Megan has this all in her mind and i am just encouraging her BAD behaviour.

I am so sick of fighting this battle on my own, Sick Kids hospital should care more than they do and should be fighting just as hard to get megan healthy as i am.

When will I ever find a doctor who takes Megan seriously and truly fights on her behalf to get answers!

So how has this effected me, well tears are in my eyes, I could absolutely go pig out on something to try to calm my nerves but this time i will not. I am writing this out so that I can move on and keep fighting the battle that I am captain of, I will not let this derail my efforts to get myself healthy, never again will i give that ability to those in my life that disappoint me!

My Reason for getting Healthy!

My 13 year old daughter has been wheelchair bound since September 2009, this is the latest in 2 years of undiagnosed health issues that have plagued her. 2 years ago she came down with a bad case of pneumonia…started to recover and then was hit with another 3 months of mono….she was struggling with a lot of pain and exhaustion , occasional fainting and dizziness and in december 2008 they diagnosed her with fatty liver disease. February 2009 she started her first period and it ran constantly until August 2009. No reasons found for that either… back to school in september 2009 and week 2 she is hit with extreme dizziness, i mean bouncing off walls no ability to balance herself EVER. She was looked at by ear, nose throat specialists, neurologists, and a special pediactric team at sick kids…she spent a week in december being looked at by as many doctors as possible at sick kids and they have NO idea what is wrong with her. All tests come back clean and her body is not providing any traditional clues.

All through this 2 year period i have been so emotional, fighting doctors and systems that cannot help my child. I know now I have to start looking outside the traditional medicine sources and look to alternative medicine for answers.

A friend of mine donated a wheelchair to megan so that we could stop renting one, she also let me know about a program she is part of called shrink a thon. …where we get people to pledge support of 1 – 5 dollars per pound and that money is put towards a charity or special cause.

well my daughter will be a cause for this, there is no better way for me to feel motivated or focussed on losing weight. If i can earn money to pay for alternative treatments and diagnosis for my own child this way I am committed to it. I am 41 years old, I must be 265 lbs at this point. i have high blood pressure and I am on anti depressants….its time and if I can be blogging my progress regularly i know that is an additional motivator and i can be providing updates on my daughters progress as we go!