There are few things I dread more than having to venture into the city to go to a medical appointment. Perhaps because I’ve now spent the bulk of my adult life sitting in a waiting room because of my desire to have children who are either born broken or born with a tendency to try and slice off their digits at every given opportunity.
I’ve done my time with the medical establishment. Which is why it seems a cruel hard fate to know that today I have to make the long drive into the city, pay for parking, wear one of those ugly hospital gowns that never seem to snap shut properly and therefore flash everyone in the room with a delightful view of my arse crack and then lay down on what is basically a metal coffin and listen to the obnoxious clanging of the MRI machine as it takes pictures of my back fat.
It’s going to be awesome. And I’m so not shaving my legs for it.
To say I’m not really excited about my afternoon appointment is a bit of an understatement. Especially since I’ve been down this road before more times than I can now count and it leads to surgery, more pain and me walking around stooped over a bedazzled cane as my dad offers to give me an enema.
(For some reason the man is obsessed with fecal regularity. Especially mine. As a postoperative gift, instead of the typical flowers most daughters get, he brings me a box of stool softeners. I wish I were kidding.)
Let the good times roll!
However, as pessimistic and irrationally cranky about my own experiences with the medical establishment and my mucked up back, I have nothing to say about the treatment my children (dead and alive) have received in their short little lives.
We are blessed with a fabulous children’s hospital and surrounded by expert medical peoples who go above and beyond the call of duty to ensuring all my children keep their digits while ensuring my youngest lives to see another day.
Jumby’s life hasn’t been the easiest, starting from the day he was born prematurely and weighing one pound four ounces. My kid was as big as a block of butter. He survived his size and the plethora of health issues that happen when you are born a micro preemie.
He survived the abuse he received thanks to the medical establishment and he fights daily to overcome his existing disabilities. (For those of you who are unaware, he’s legally blind, deaf, developmentally disabled, and quadriplegic who eats through a tube and will remain diapered for the rest of his days.)
But Jumby is awesome. Regardless of all his impairments, this kid just keeps on thriving. He has a sense of humour that is inspiring and spreads more joy than a diseased tick can spread Lyme disease.
But life isn’t always easy with him (understatement of the week alert!) and there are times I’m rendered exhausted by the sheer enormity of what it means to tackle this many disabilities at once.
This most happens when Jumbster is having a bad day with pain and spasms and there is nothing we can do to help him medically other than love him through it.
It can sometimes suck.
I’d move mountains to make his life (any of my kids’ lives) better. Pain free. Healthy.
Even if that mountain was medical marijuana.
And that is what I’m yammering on about in my latest Momversation video. Which I hope you will take the time to watch.
Brazen
This is a tough one for me. I think there are a lot of things to be considered. I have an uncle who was born with cerebral palsy, he lives with pain every day, about the only thing he has never had an issue with is his lungs, it would be hard to make a medical decision that could potentially harm the only organs that work correctly. My oldest (age 12)has a heart condition and my youngest(age 4) suffers from migraines, if there was a way for it to help that didn’t jeopardize thier lungs I might consider it if nothing else had worked, but can’t see me having them inhale smoke into thier healthy lungs.
Kara
Medical marijuana is available in Canada in pill form – no need to smoke it.
rebecca
or you can eat it.
Nic
I’m an adult pain patient with a ridiculously vague diagnosis and an even more vague concept of when my condition will improve (probably never). I am actually drug tested regularly by my physician — she has to make sure I’m *not* on marijuana before prescribing me opiates and a whole (un)goodie bag of non-narcotic medications. It’s the craziest thing in the world to me because it just seems, if anything, to be BACKWARDS. “First we try the PLANT FROM THE EARTH, then we try the synthetic opiate made in a laboratory.”
Chris
You are a good Momma! I would do the same if it were my kiddo and I thought it help.
Nothing wrong with that!
Happy New Year. Love your blog!
MFA Mama
Huh. I have read stories of parents trialing medical marijuana for kids when more conventional treatment measures have failed to produce the desired outcomes before, and am certainly all for natural solutions to intractable medical problems, but I’ll freely admit that “marijuana” and “child” are not words that I can see in such close proximity without feeling a little uneasy. Probably this is more my own prejudice in that my dad was kind of a drug dealer and I grew up hating that the answer to “can we go to the playground?” was often “no, I’m too high to drive you” and “can I have a friend over?” was often “no, they parents seem like narcs.” Still, thinking about this in the context of the Jumbster, given that nothing else has worked for him, makes me think that maybe in some cases it’s not such a bad idea. I mean, the little guy’s probably at pretty low risk of juvenile delinquency or using MMJ as a “gateway” to bigger, badder drugs (I jest; I’m not so sure I buy the “gateway drug” theory)…more than anything I personally feel about the substance or have read in my (very limited–fortunately none of my children currently have any conditions that would warrant my researching this) I know you to be A GOOD PARENT, and if you said “hey, MFA Mama, I decided to put my kid on MMJ” I’d just take it in stride, because if you’re doing it I assume it’s in his best interests. Thanks for the thought-provoking post, and hey I hope it turns out that this is a viable treatment option that can be a life-changer for your little man. He deserves a break!
rebecca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z0VUsak2o9E
rebecca
would those parents give their kids morphine if they needed it? as far as I’m concerned morphine is heroin…ya? I’d rather give my kid a herb, even one that makes them feel kinda funny and *giggle* more (who wouldn’t want to giggle more!) than get them hooked on heroin!
Suzy Smith
Without a doubt, if I had a child who could use medical marijuana I would give it to them. There are ways of ingesting it other than smoking it, and I would use one of those.
If it were legal, I would use it myself, as recommended by a doctor to me, as I am a chronic pain patient who is on narcotics. I would much rather be able to control it with marijuana rather than with the drugs I am on.
As it is I am drug tested to make sure I am not taking any none prescribed drugs and to make sure I am taking the prescribed ones, and not selling them! Sadly that is required due to the number of people who fake things to get prescriptions, then sell them.
Catherine
When my son was 19, he started vomiting. He literally couldn’t keep anything down, or do anything because even the slightest movement might make him vomit.
He dropped out of university, and we started trying to figure out what was wrong. A YEAR AND A HALF later, we had a diagnosis: Chronic vomiting syndrome (complicated by low body sodium because of all the vomiting). Yeah, thanks, we kinda knew that.
At 6’4″, he weighed 145 pounds. We thought he was going to die.
We looked into medical marijuana, in pill form. A month’s supply was going to cost $600. Simply not possible. (We’re self employed, and though we live in Canada and didn’t have to pay for all the specialists we visited, we don’t have a drug plan that would have covered the medication.) Unfortunately, smokable medical marijuana was almost as expensive (at least, that’s what we were told, we didn’t look into it too much)
He was already smoking a joint every once in a while to help him eat and keep it down. I wasn’t thrilled, obviously, and his (5) siblings know very well that Mom will tear their heads off and beat them to death with it if they engage in illegal activity, but in this case, I was all for it. Anything to keep my kid alive, including running the slight risk of going to jail for it.
For the record, J is 24 now. He’s a healthy (skinny) weight, skin tone is good, he has a job, is planning to go back to school once his fiance graduates this spring, and only occasionally feels queasy. But it’s still a concern.
Catherine
And I’d still be in favour of his smoking a joint if it keeps him healthy.
supermommy
I am all for using marijuana for medical treatment. There is proof that it works for a ll types of ailments, more effectively than “conventional” prescriptions. Since it comes in pill form, no need to jeopardize perfectly pink little lungs.
If it would keep your child pain free, seizure free, nausea free, who in their right mind could/would dispute it.
Elizabeth
ABSOLUTELY. You know your kid better than anyone else. You have to deal with watching him suffer day in and day out. No one else can live your life or Jumby’s for that matter. You do what you feel is best for him.
And speaking of your back problems…I’ve had severe arthritis since I was about 15. I’ve tried every treatment out there (including joint replacements) and have a cabinet full of narcotics but you know what? I like pot the best when the pain gets too intense. I’d rather use something that’s grown from this earth, that’s been around forever and a day, than I would some mind numbing synthetic. It’s illegal where I live but it’s a chance I’m willing to take. I don’t do it often but I’m glad to know it works when I really need it. Please, make sure to take care of yourself, too. You can’t help your kids if you’re out of commission. Jumby’s pot might just help you, too.
I can’t picture you trawling some dark alley, looking for your connection. I can picture you doing whatever it takes to help your kidlet.
Bless you and hang in there. We’re all rooting for you.
Mitzy
Marijuana is a very effective pain reliever. I’ve taken it for pain before and it works great. Shame on anyone that judges you for choosing this path. I would do the same thing for my son, as you are considering for yours. You are a good mother; don’t second guess yourself. Do what is right for your son and your family.
Chris
The little boy on the Discovery Channel Weed Wars episode was given CBD (Cannabidiol) by his father in liquid form. This is a component of cannabis, it does not make you feel “high” like smoking pot as it has no THC in it. Please state the facts correctly.
Tami
I would absolutley give my child cannibis if it would help his pain. I applaud YOU for seeking other methods to help your son.
Catherine Burden
Yes, I would definitely give my child medical marijuana if it would help. I don’t believe there is an argument here, because you do what is right for your child.
ERO
Tanis,
The debate over the use of marijuana for medical purposes usually leaves me a little puzzled. The issue is not usually a debate of efficacy. Pretty much everyone can recognize that marijuana works well to take the edge off of pain (smoked, swallowed, full strength or diluted). Have you noticed that these arguments usually become moral in essence? Somehow, the fine residents of the status quo have deemed marijuana as an evil because it is not created and administered by dudes in white coats. There is a new self-righteous attitude that causes seemingly normal individuals to take the position that “any drug that is prescribed = good, clean, acceptable” and anything outside of that realm = quackery, dirty, and BAD…daresay hippie.
Just an observation.
I hope, whatever methods you employ, that your little man gets some relief.
Catherine
Elizabeth; you said “I can’t picture you trawling some dark alley, looking for your connection.”
If you’ve got a kid in high school, or KNOW a kid in high school, you totally don’t need to troll the streets. The kids all know where to get it, and how much you should pay.
Julie
My dad is a gastroenterologist.. I get stool softeners too. Metamucil, usually.
TwoBusy
God, I love the context into which you placed the whole medical marijuana topic — not as a discussion of the drug per se, but as an expression of “I have a child in chronic and terrible pain, and I will leave no stone unturned in trying to help him. Any other concerns, rationales or attempts to impose some kind of morality are completely irrelevant.” And I love the growing ferocity with which you made your case.
The day you came into Jumby’s life was the greatest day of his life. Matched only, perhaps, by every day since — when he’s been the beneficiary of the ferocious love and commitment you and your family bring to bear 24/7.
Awesome.
nancy
Heck, yeah, I’d give it to him! In fact, I was considering finding some reefer for my late mom, who in her later 80s, dropped below 70 pounds. Granted, she was 4″10″, but still, she was malnourished and had no appetite. I was going to sprinkle it on her food and tell her it was parsley if she asked. You do what you need to. You are the best mom.
Oh, and my dad was obsessed with bowels too, his whole generation was, you were going to die if you didn’t poo on schedule. oh, dear.