After being a nurse for 23 years, I landed a wonderful position at Alternative Medicine Integration of Florida in 2004. Different then any other position I have ever held, it allows me to integrate traditional and alternative healing methods to assist low income clients that suffer from chronic pain. As any nurse knows, patients come and go in our lives. However, sometimes one will attach to your heart. There is nothing you can do other then recognize that sometimes we are put in each other’s lives for a reason beyond our own understanding. That is the case for Sam, who says that I gave her back hope and faith in a world that she thought forgot all about her.
It was March 7, 2005, when Sam first called our office inquiring about the program. She explained that she has progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), chemical sensitivities and severe cluster migraines. She heard about our program from a local MS support group that I visited and thought that perhaps we could help her.
After a few questions I ascertained that that she was not eligible for our program. After she heard this she became very hostile. I glanced over at my caller I.D. and quickly wrote down her number and placed that note on my bulletin board. She then slammed the phone on me but not before accusing me of being just like everyone else and not caring about her.
I was bound to prove her wrong. I tracked her every month and by May 2005 she showed up as eligible for services. I called her back and she immediately apologized for her behavior during our last conversation. I told her that I felt that it was her pain that was speaking to me that day, and that in fact it was that pain that would not let me give up on her.
She reluctantly accepted acupuncture as her choice for pain management and says her life changed with that decision. I assisted her with nutritional choices, journaling, stress reduction and guided imagery. She soon discovered that her muscle spasms and crushing cluster migraines reduced in intensity, duration and frequency. She became more active and was out of her home in her motorized scooter again enjoying life.
She is now actively volunteering in the community and helps me facilitate a pain management support group. She jumped at the chance to “tell the world” how I changed her life when John Weeks, editor of the Integrator Blog, called asking about patients he could interview for his integrative website. She and I frequently talk about the day that she came into my life. She says that I changed her life. The funny thing is that I feel the same way about her. We both have a renewed sense of hope and faith in a world that can often be described as unforgiving.
