WOW! some really personal opinions on medical care.
First off Holisic and alternative medicine, is as much a miss affair as conventional medicine, so by all means consider them in any context that the qualified medical professionals around suggest.
Conventional medical care offers what we know and understand to work, thats why it is conventional, because it is understood, so it can quantified, where as other treatment cannot. That's how we got to where we are, through the centuries all medicine was holistic , superstitious mumbo jumbo. Then through study, research and understanding what and why things work they became part of the conventional and tha other stuff that could not, well became what we now call alternative medicine.
As we understand more about these alternative medicines and therapies, the more they will become part of conventional medicine. Acupuncture, meditation, oesteopathy, diet etc are all becoming part of conventional medicine because our understanding of such things is growing.
But in the end what we need is quantifiable diagnosis, treatment and care, and also a legal pathway to follow if any of it goes wrong. Remember in a court of law if something is not quantifiable then it is not admissable.
my situation
( just a small look into it)
As someone who has been through all points of what i have stated above, trust me you want to get this right, and quantified info is the way to do it, in the end all decisions will be yours and your only, because if there are any problems then the one fact that open for all to see was "it was your decision and your decision alone". Even if that decision was a no option decision, the fact remains it was your decision.
As someone who suffered partial paralysis, as the result of a broken neck ( right side weakend, right arm completley lost for three months, and left side weaked) i live and work with its effects on me every day as the nerve damage is now permanant. The medical profesion missed their window of treatment, and to hear that if treated properly there would be no real problems......well thats just one of those things. But i still have faith in conventional medicine even though they were unable to help me this time.
Yes i do use other approaches to keep myself healthy (because i have studied and have an understanding of such things) and i use treatments and ideas that are considered mumbo jumbo, but they do work for me, because they are for me specific and because i have the time and incentive to make them work....a luxury many do not have in life.
It is because of my own knowledge and the fact i did not listen to the medical advice around me that i am still able to play and my injuires have not crippled me worse, but that was because i knew they were wrong and it took time to convince them and prove they were wrong.
That is why the window of treatment was missed, because it took me over nine months to convince them that my neck was the problem, not my shoulder ( as they had diagnosed) and the A+E doctor got it wrong. Once this was proved by MRI and CT scan they then got on the case....but for me to late as the fracture was now healed out of line and compressing the main nerve into my arm. Because it is so close to my spinal cord, the decision to operate on it would be mine...chance losing what i had in order to try and gain some more. So if it goes wrong i maybe paralysed below the neck or if it goes right i may get some more use from my arm and hand....but its my decision.
But if i refuse this operation then any sort of legal settlement will be compromissed because i am refusing an opportunity to improve my situation and health. So the insurance company lawyers can prove that the level of injury i have is not their complete liability, because i have choosen not improve my situation therefore reduce the amount of compansation their client would be required to settle for. In this situation they could ask for up to 60% of any final settlement to be forfeit.
Like i said quantifiable info is what you need, but also trust your instincts, but remember the big picture of any decision you make, even the smallest of ones has the potentioal to make a difference.
I am as well as i can be, and make new ground every week, i am back playing and recording, but cut down on new work and touring, doing more teaching instead, and manage my problems to such an extent that no-one would ever know what i have been through.....but this is me because i have the skill, knowledge and most of all the will to do it.
