Well today’s break had some good and some bad points – the
exhausted, sad, ‘unhealthy Dan’ was happy for the break – thrilled he didn’t
have to go out in the cold; the wanting to be ‘healthy Dan’ was like what the
hell, let’s get this done!!!
I am pretty sure the break is probably a good thing for my
brain. The treatment really is taxing. I keep forgetting rTMS is a medical
treatment, and is making physical changes to the chemicals in my brain, so one
should expect some residual effects. Speaking of side effects – all treatments,
medication, even surgical procedures have potential side effects. I have
suffered many over the years with all of the medications I have tried, but I
(knock on wood) have been very fortunate that mine were ‘seemingly’ short term
(accept maybe for the memory – but I’m still not sure the medications are
totally to blame). If one looks at even
the potential side effects of trying rTMS vs. those of other treatments (medication/ECT/etc),
it is a ‘no brainer’ doctors and patients should be trying it more. Many people
on medications have suffered permanent damage from those medicines, perhaps with or
without relief from their Bipolar. If you are sitting at your computer one day, with a few minutes of nothing to do, Google Bipolar Medication Side Effect
(yikes)…
So the NIH Adventure continued:
I must say that most of the days in NIH were a
struggle. I had to come off of ALL my
medication, and as I am sure you have noticed in my writings that even on some
medication I have “some” “issues” – so imagine that same guy on completely
nothing. I was also very homesick, I missed my family greatly. But then enter
these amazing people… I had the pleasure of meeting some people that understood
what I was feeling, and what I was going through. I found that strange at
first, and then very comforting. We were able to help each other, when the
other needed a push we pushed, when they needed a hug we hugged, when they
needed space we gave them space. There were so many days I just wanted to hide
in my room and do nothing, but these amazing people helped get me going and
encouraged me to participate in some great adventures.
I will speak more about the Ketamine trial and the NIH
facility tomorrow (or the day after), but I was thinking that today I might
just mention a couple of the fun adventures I was able to have.
I short shuttle and a short walk from the NIH main building
and you are at the “Medical Centre” Red Line Metro Station.
This amazing subway system can get you to some of the most
epic locations/monuments/site seeing destinations in the world the:
Smithsonians, Washington Monument, Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, and the White
House to name a few.
One of the adventures we went on was called DC Duck Tours –
“See Washington DC on the land and water with the most unique adventure of all
the DC tours out there. Traveling in original WW II DUKW amphibious vehicles,
this 90 minute tour will take you through the city of Washington DC before
splashing down into the Potomac River for the most unique ride and Washington
DC tour of your vacation!” The tour
starts at Union Station, an amazing piece of architecture on its own, the tour
follows many monuments, the Capital Building, and then the tour goes from
pavement to H2O. A short jaunt on the Potomac River provides views of the
Pentagon, and the Ronald Reagan International Airport to name a couple. Enjoy
these pictures…
The Duck
Union Station
The Pentagon
The Canadian Embassy
A little funny story to end today’s post:
So you know the saying, “when pigs fly”? Well even NIH can make this happen (with a
little help from the crazies), aka me and my American friends. J - sorry for the terrible camera operation and equipment
No pigs were harmed in the making of these epic videos
One of my new friends is a very sweet and generous person,
and before she left she gave us all flying pigs.
So you see………… if pigs can fly, well then anything is
possible!!!! So let’s get this treatment working …
Talk to you tomorrow………………….. (with a little luck and a lot
of work!)
No comments:
Post a Comment