Hold on tight, time fly's

The new contender Costa Rica entered the ring on May 23rd, somewhere in cyberspace. That was where I found it, facebook, blogs, webpages, or twitters, somehow they have all merged together in a blur.

Well, It wasn't to long after that, that I fired off an email to my parents with the address for Passport Medicals website, www.passportmedical.com. May 24th I received an email that my parents were reading a lot about Costa Rica and both were very excited. May 25th my parents contacted Passport Medical with my dad's information, and they were told that someone would be in contact with them shortly. May 26th that someone from Passport Medical contacted my father and let them know that they had some cancellations and because my father had the scans done already they could book him into one of the two open spots. They were ecstatic, they asked some questions that they had and put off giving an answer until the next day.

May 27th was a very special day, I was bringing over the granddaughter for a three day sleepover. While I was there we discussed the proposed trip, the dates, pro's and con's of Costa Rica over the other countries. It seemed like this was the second best option after having the procedure performed in Nanaimo, which could be at least a year or more away. So while I was there, they booked their trip to Costa Rica.

In four days they went from reading about people going to get the Liberation Treatment in other countries, to being one of those people going to another country. In the room there was a sense of anxiety, relief, joy and anticipation all at the same time. Wow, that's a lot of money to spend. Man, how lucky are we, some countries have huge waiting lists. Geez, my dad might be with out MS soon. I pray everything goes smooth.

This will be a trip of a life time, a trip filled with hope.

The Rant, The Conspriacy

Don is left with some decisions, he has some abnormalities in the veins and questions on his mind.

The doctors at the False Creek Medical Center were less then fourth coming with information after the Victoria incident (which we believe was there doctors and patients that were reprimanded) We had many questions about the information given to us and little was given, in the way of a straight answer. We did feel comfortable enough with the doctors minimal explanation that the right side veins were not draining properly and that "Don is a great candidate for angioplasty in Poland" statement.

So that next question is wait or go. Normally when you are sick, you go to the hospital and the doctors there would treat you but with CCSVI you can't just go down to the hospital and have a surgeon perform the "Liberation Procedure", a simple Angioplasty on the narrowed veins in my fathers neck. The problem is, the Canadian Government (paid monkeys) and MS Society of Canada (more paid monkeys) have seen fit to shut down anyone wanting anything to do with this "experimental procedure". Case in point the two people have the surgery done in Victoria.

So why are doctors not allowed to fix this medical issue. If you had narrowed arteries you would get angioplasty. If your finger was broke, they would set it. Did the doctors not set broken fingers until they had enough research on how it would affect you down the road? No. So what is the hold up. In my opinion, the doctors, Ministry of Health and MS Society's are all run by pharmaceutical company's. Pharmaceutical company's fund all of them with billions of dollars, and if you don't tow the company line your funding vanishes. Drug company's make money selling drugs that "help" you with your problems. They don't sell drugs that can cure your problems. There is just no money in it for them, if they sell you a drug that cost them millions to research, test and produce they would lose there shirts if they cured you.

Ever wonder why there have been no major cures since 1952 when the first Polio Vaccine was invented? It could be that that was the time that drug companies were looking at profits more that people.

Sorry, back to stay or go. We can't receive the treatment in North America. The doctor's have to do there due diligence and research this "experimental procedure". Tack on the fact that no one that receives money from the drug companies will touch the research with a ten foot pole. As well, the MS Society who's money should be going to fund this research is run by the pharmacutical companies and is dragging there feet. Dragging there feet? Well, the MS society has generously donated 2.4 million dollars towards the research of CCSVI and the Liberation Procedure. Sound good, well look further. That 2.4 million is split 7 ways, making it less then $350,000 per research group.

Still sound good well the Michael J Fox Foundation just donated a single grant of 2.1 million to a single researcher or the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine just donated 5.8 million to a single researcher for there research.

Let's do the math, the $350,000 research grant divided by $2350 (the cost of the doppler and MRV scan) and you get roughly 149 patients in that research group. That is the number if you want to be scanned. If you want to be apart of a clinical trial that includes surgery? well i'd guess your looking at about 35 patients in that clinical trial (other country offering the procedure for about $10,000). Oh I forgot to mention that the 2.4 million dollars being given out by the MS Society is shared by the America and Canadian MS Society's with the majority of the money coming from the States, where the majority of the research will be done.

You can tell i'm not jaded about how our government is handling this at all :) Thank god there are countries out there that see a good thing and act on it. So where to go and get the procedure done. First up is India, the only problem with India is the huge waitlist. Second up is Poland, waitlist isn't as long but they sound a little stent crazy over there. Third, Fourth and Fifth up are, well, hmmm lets say not on the top of my bucket list of places to go, Bulgeria, Slovenia, and Kuwait.

Oh wait, we have a new contender. Costa Rica, it's close (okay not close but closer than India and Poland), it has a bussling cosmedic surgery industry going on and the wait list is minimal. By minimal I mean my parents phoned and left there information. In less then a week they had a return call, questions answered and booked surgery in someones cancelled surgical slot.

False Creek Medical Center

In the words of a great man, "if you do nothing, nothing will get better"


The first step in getting better is to find out if your sick and that is what we did. We booked Don into having a Doppler Ultrasound and MRV at the False Creek Medical Center. The experience was... hmmm... interesting. If you have been following the CCSVI avalanche of information you may have heard that two people received the "Liberation Treatment" in Victoria. That was shut down quickly and the doctors had there hands slapped. This happened just before Don's appointment, so things at the clinic were a little tense or tight lipped.


While waiting, we made friends with a couple from Ontario that were here for the same scans. The husband was wheelchair bound and not in great shape physically. His spirits seems high though and even higher after the doctor stopped his Doppler scan early. As the doctor put it, "there is no need to scan any further, your viens are exteremly narrowed". Off they went to get the MRV.


We've never been so happy to find out a complete stranger was sick and i'm sure they were bursting on the inside. Like I said, step one "be sick".


Well, now it was Don's turn. We get Don into the exam room, get his shirt off (not as easy as it sounds will a less then fully functioning left arm) and wait for the doctor. Waiting is painfully. It leaves you time to think. Will Don be as lucky as our new friend, what if they don't find anything, what if they do find something?


Act 2: The doctor enters the examination room. The Doc starts his examination, first ultrasounding Don's left side. The ultrasound machine flashs up some pictures and in my best medical opinion everything looked find. The pictures are black and white and definitely look better then an ink blot test. Now as you may have figured out, i'm am not a doctor. That being said the doctor said everything looked good and sounded good. Well, lets hope we have better luck on the right side.

Remember, we want collapsed viens, that puts some meaning, some reason for Don's MS and Ureka!!!! we have an issue. As soon as the doctor puts the ultrasound sensor on Don's right side of the neck you instantly knew something was wrong. Instead of a whirring sound like on the left side, the right side sounded choppy. The doctor also saw something because, in his words "Don is a great candidinate for balloon angyoplasty in Poland".

Some Background

This is going to be my test blog to see how this blog thing works.


I'm Greg and my dad has MS. This blog will be an attempt to keep family and friends up to date or how Daddy Don is doing, before, during and after his surgery in Costa Rica.


It's funny how life rolls along, almost in slow motion. Until one day a doctor from Italy and a TV station from Canada created a supernova, a supernova of hope. That was the start of a steep learning curve and a hurried attitude to get my father this new "Liberation Procedure".


Our learning curve would start with me finding an article, and sending it to my parents. Then an article a day, then two at a time, then up to six web links daily. Newspaper articles, video clips and blog addresses whatever we could find. The more we knew, the more hope that filled our lives and hearts.


At some point we came across a facebook page linking us with False Creek Medical Center. That's where this enter ends. Stay tuned....