Oh, perfect.  What an amazingly sardonic sense of humor.  Wish I could write
like that!

Don's description of a urinary tract infection is exactly right.  David
almost dies from the sepsis that he contracted after DBS surgery.

Bev
----- Original Message -----
From: "rayilynlee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: What paralysis is like/Reed


># 144 Tuesday, May 9, 2006  -  ATTACK OF THE DREADED CANDIRU
>
> There are legends of a singularly vicious little fish in South America
> called the candiru, which is said to swim up the urine flow of nude
> bathers,
> entering their bodies. The inch-long member of the catfish family erects
> its
> spines, locking itself into place, after which it drinks the blood from
> its
> victims...
>
> Natives are said to fear them more than piranhas, and recommend a salve
> made
> from two plants, the Xagua plant (genipa Americana, according to
> Wikipedia)
> and the Buitach apple, to kill the fish, and dissolve its remains. Those
> ingredients, by the way, may one day have value in the treatment of kidney
> stones. Other remedies are more strenuous.
>
> Photographs reveal the fish as a toothpick-sized creature, translucent
> (essentially invisible in the murky Amazon River), and a powerful swimmer.
> It makes a living by swimming into the gills and body openings of fish and
> mammals, after which it does indeed drink their blood. Its affect on
> humans
> is not clear. One scientist who picked up a living candiru claimed it
> instantly tried to burrow into a small cut on his finger. References to
> the
> strange fish are found in many places, including Urology 1(3):265-267,
> (1973), and a book by Steven Spotte, (Candiru: Life and Legend of the
> Vampire Catfishes, 2002), which I just ordered from Amazon.
>
> Whatever the truths about the candiru, a similar intrusion up the urinary
> tract (minus vampiric aspects) happens every day to paralyzed people.
>
> If the bladder does not work, catheterization is required: either
> permanent
> (indwelling) or by multiple-daily insertions.
>
> The catheter hose is thin, hollow, flexible. After lubrication it is
> threaded (either by the patient or an attendant) deep into the body. The
> other end of the hose connects to a plastic bag, hung on the side of the
> bed, below the level of the person being helped.
>
> Gravity takes over, and the bag begins to fill.
>
> The inconvenience can be dealt with: just add a couple hours of wasted
> time
> to the schedule every day, for something most folks take care of in
> seconds.
>
> The expense and infections, however are something else. Single-use "cath
> kits" can cost $8-10 dollars apiece-so how many times can we afford to
> urinate today?  Imagine a pay toilet in the airport where hurried
> passengers
> had to come up with a ten dollar bill.
>
> To stave off bankruptcy, many paralytics re-use the same catheters,
> boiling
> the tubes, and soaking them in vinegar.
>
> Under such circumstances, urinary tract infections (UTIs) are almost
> inevitable.
>
> Sometimes a UTI merely slows down or stops a person for several weeks,
> making them dizzy, exhausted, with massive headaches, spasticity, or other
> individual symptoms.
>
> But it can be far worse. Here is a letter from a friend, printed with
> permission:
>
> "Last month, my 34-year old paralyzed daughter got a urinary infection
> that
> spread to her kidneys.  She developed what is called Systemic Sepsis.  The
> infection spread throughout her body and was in her blood stream.
>
> "The infection caused her lungs to fill with fluid and she fought for
> every
> breath.
>
> "She was in ICU for 8 days fighting for her life.  She was so tired and I
> thought I was going to lose her. Miraculously, she pulled through.
>
> "I want the people who oppose stem cell research to stop and think about
> her
> and millions of others like her who would benefit from this kind of
> research.  Please understand that spinal cord injury is much more than
> just
> not walking...
>
> "Sincerely,
>
> "My daughter's Mom."
>
>
> There are Congressional battles coming up, during which certain
> politicians
> will take lofty stands on what they call the immorality of stem cell
> research. They will say it is wrong to use cells to try and cure
> paralysis,
> even if that prohibition means paralyzed people will never have a chance
> at
> normal life.
>
> I wish there was a way such legislators could understand the impact of
> their
> vote: what it means to have the hope of cure denied.
>
> Maybe they could volunteer to be handcuffed and hogtied for a couple
> weeks,
> so their every need must be taken care of by others. Of course, they would
> have the advantage of knowing that someday they would be released. And,
> being powerful folks, they would have all the attendant assistance they
> need. Paralyzed people have no such assurances.
>
> A single day being paralyzed would not be long enough for them to
> understand. It takes a while for the realization to sink in, this is
> permanent. The first few days of paralysis can actually be fairly
> comfortable: friends gather around, lots of visiting: often no pain, (yet)
> and you haven't tried to resume your previous occupation. But then maybe
> you
> try to play checkers with fingers that won't close. Or you try to balance
> a
> key into the lock, and the key drops and you cannot reach from your chair
> to
> the floor.
>
> Imagine our hogtied leaders struggling with the activities of daily life.
> To
> make it realistic, they could get novocaine shots like at the dentist's,
> to
> numb their fingers.
>
> What would they feel like, trying to catheterize themselves for the
> restroom, using just the insides of their wrists, because they had no
> grip?
>
> They would realize these are not one-time heroic struggles: not like
> climbing Mt. Everest, posing for pictures and then going home.
>
> The mountains of paralysis must be climbed every day-- in addition to
> whatever else your life entails.
>
> There is no way for a non-paralyzed person to ever fully understand. The
> closest I can come to it is when I am lying on the couch, and my body
> stiffens up, and I want to shift position-what if I could not? What if I
> had
> to just lie there and wait, until somebody came to turn me over?
>
> Permanent paralysis, I would not wish on anyone.
>
> I am not that cold.
>
> But I have to admit, I might not weep too much, if some of the enemies of
> research ignored the no-swimming signs, and took a quick skinny-dip in the
> Amazon River.
>
> And if one of them did, and the legend of the candiru turned out to be
> true.
>
> Now, let's see, Senator, what was that remedy? Some plants, I think-oh,
> yes,
> the Xagua plant, and the Buitach apple.
>
> What's that? You want me to get you some?
>
> But I like vegetables, you see, and those are rare plants. It would be
> wrong
> to pick them, don't you agree? Vegetables are a form of life, are they
> not?
>
> And as a pro-life person, I am not sure my conscience allows me to
> research
> your cure.
>
> By Don Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com
>
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