by tracybergeon » Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:11 pm
Hi, I just have to share the amazing turn around we have seen in my mom. My mom was diagnosed with MS in the 80's. She suffered for many years and actually spent nearly 14 years in a nursing home suffering late stage effects of this disease. I became her guardian in 2011 with my dad's failing health and we found out during this time she was suffering from up to 20 seizures a day and spent some time in the hospital getting it diagnosed and treated properly. During this time we found out she had sleep apnea so in August of 2011 we went for a sleep study to get it properly diagnosed. At this time my mom was obese, she had horrible acne on her face, she was non cognitive, non communicative, she could not swallow well and her diet was thickened (even her liquids were thickened). We went the next morning for her sleep study results and found out that she had such a severe form of the disorder that she needed a bipap machine. The nursing home would not take her back because of the liability of this machine as it was one step below a respirator. We spent 12 days in the hospital waiting for this news and then arranging what would happen next. I was told by doctors that my mom had months to live because she could stop breathing and never start on her own at any time. She was basically a vegetable at this point not able to think, comprehend, breath on her own enough to support life and it was so sad that she was going to die at anytime. We brought her home after we heard the nursing home could not take her back and from the point we brought her home we put her on the McDougal diet. I started pureeing fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. We started giving her lots of water to drink as well. In the nursing home her food was so dull and ugly looking, full of fats, salt and who knows what else. I looked at the ingredients on her pre-thickened juice they gave her and could not read half the ingredients. Within a month of living with us on this diet she was already showing signs of improvement. She had been put on hospice when she first came to live with us and within 6 months she was off her bipap machine, off oxygen and maintaining levels on her own, talking up a storm, laughing, smiling, pulling memories from her past, remembering names of family, feeding herself, off pureed foods and chewing normally and had lost about 20 pounds. Her face was all cleared up and she looked great. We bought a wheelchair van to transport her and she started getting fresh air, out for trips and she was enjoying life again! They kicked her off hospice at the 6 months mark saying she was not dying anymore. Now over 2 years later my mom is at a healthy weight of 135 pounds and healthier than she has been in 20 years. We still have progress to make but she continues to amaze us and we are now working on getting her feeling in her legs again and the feeling to go to the bathroom. These have been gone for over 20 years and she is regaining these feelings occasionally. I am new to this board so if I can figure out how to attach pictures I will do that, it is amazing to watch her transform.
