One Eye for the Straight Guy

By Dave Avran (30 March, 2008)

 

(The following story is a testimonial from one of Dr Wong Ang Peng’s grateful patients. You can view the original here. Hyperlink http://daveavran.blogspot.com/2007/11/spankers-back.html)

What a terribly difficult year it’s been. I have not blogged since Nov 2006 simply because my vision was reduced to 30% by cataracts.

I was involved in a freak accident while riding my Harley Davidson which resulted in a pile-up of 8 motorcycles. I went into a coma for 20 days. When I woke up, both my hands were stiff. The doctor dismissed it and said it would wear off. About two weeks later my feet grew stiff. A month later my knees went stiff and finally my back. I walked like a robot and felt as stiff as tree.

 

I spent around RM30,000 shuttling from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist, paying for the same tests over and over again at each different location because “we only trust our own equipment”. None of their methods or medicines worked.

 

One year later I ended up at University Hospital under the country’s top Associate Professor and Neurologist. He diagnosed that I had suffered an autoimmune episode triggered by the accident which caused me to suffer from Multifocal Motor Neuropathy with Conduction Block. In layman’s terms my own antibodies had attacked and damaged my nervous system, a very rare disease.

 

I was prescribed IVIG treatment, intravenous injection of human immunoglobulin which was very expensive and involved continuous intravenous injection of 90 bottles of human immunoglobulin over a period of five days. I repeated this treatment five times but it had no effect on me.

 

A year later the Associate Professor and Neurologist re-examined me and changed his diagnosis to Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and prescribed 90 mg of steroids per day. I was not told of the terrible side effects nor advised on my options, merely told that “there is no other medication as the drug companies do not find it profitable to research such a rare disease”.

 

I had been on this daily heavy dose of steroids since 2005 and after about a year I suddenly found myself putting on massive weight gain of around 60kg, developing steroid induced diabetes, glaucoma and cataracts. I was diagnosed as suffering from massive steroid toxicity.  Too late, I found out that the steroid did not repair my damaged nerves; it merely covered up my condition and allowed me to function "normally" under a false sense of security while my body continued damaging itself undetected.

 

I lost my high paying job as the General Manager of Malaysia’s most prestigious and exclusive members club. I lost my Fiancée. I almost lost my eyesight. I lost one and a half years of my life fighting the side effects of steroids.

 

In Nov 2006 my sister Moni "kidnapped" me from my apartment and took me into her home to look after me upon learning of my blurred vision. One of her fellow teachers Nancy Kaur introduced me to Dr Wong Ang Peng, who specialises in alternative medicine, and his assistant Ms Saroja.

 

Dr Wong made me gradually stop taking the steroids. Instead, he prescribed natural vitamins and offbeat cures like chewing raw turmeric after my meals and soaking up vitamin D from the sun for half an hour daily  As I reduced the steroids my body jammed up proportionally and it was only then that I realised the extent of the damage.

 

I became confined to bed for 8 months as my body jammed up. To make things worse, I could not see clearly, not even dial my hand phone or read text messages, check my email or read the newspaper. I had to depend heavily on my 13 year old nephew Amrin. Most of the time he obliged me without any complaint but occasionally If he happened to be in a foul mood he'd screw me up by saying he'd attend to me later. For eight months my life depended on the whims and fancies of a 13 year old kid. However, all said and done Amrin's been an angel and I bless him everyday in my prayers.

 

Try this simple experiment - close your eyes for 5 minutes and try to navigate your way around your house. Imagine doing that while you're in pain from a jammed up lower back, jammed up knees and numb hands and legs. Now imagine living that for eight months. I was forced to drop out of the social scene and hibernate.

 

It’s not been all bad, though. Being in this condition gave me plenty of solitude and I regressed into my mind, reliving memories and evaluating my life with the benefit of hindsight and a stone cold sober mind. Did you know that abstaining from alcohol makes your mind sharper, clearer and faster? I also found out who were my true friends as a few of them took the trouble to track me down and visit me, while some others kept in touch via phone. The majority however, couldn't be bothered to find out if I was still alive. It was mostly my blog readers who sent an avalanche of emails and sms-es demanding to know why I'd stopped writing.

 

I lost 66 kg in weight. I learned to be patient and to accept life as it comes, virtues that I had been sadly lacking in. Convinced by another of my sister's friends, I also went back to religion and started praying again. Nothing spurs you back to GOD so quickly like being in trouble.

 

I had my left eye operated on 26 Oct 2007 at the Selayang Medical Centre. I must commend the doctors and nurses for a job well done. They were dedicated, caring and truly professional, explaining in detail what they were doing at every step. However I was a little disappointed at the eye bandage removal. Perhaps I've been conditioned by television...but I fully expected the Doctor to carefully remove the eye patch and then I would blurt out in wonderment "I can see! I can see!".

 

It was 6am, 20 hours after my op and the staff nurse comes to my bedside and starts to fiddle with the bandage. I expected her to clean my eye. Instead she unceremoniously rips off the eye patch and asks me "Can you see me?". I went *blink*blink* and said "uhh yes" and that was it. Off we went to read the eye charts. I was photophobic for a while as everything was super clear and bright in my left eye. They had removed my original lens and replaced it with a synthetic one which returned my vision to normal 2020. Yay! No more contact lenses. My right eye was scheduled for 24 Nov 2007.

 

Having put on my wrap around dark glasses, I started to read the instruction booklet that came with my new lens. If you think I'm lying at this point, I don't blame you as I was equally incredulous. The first page goes like this: Thank you for purchasing an Alcon Acrysof Intraocular lens. Your Alcon Acrysof Intraocular lens will give you years of trouble free vision with minimum maintenance and care. You will be able to live a normal life and carry out sporting activities like swimming and playing racquet games. If you feel any eye irritations please refrain from scratching your eye with your finger as your nail may damage your new lens. Use the corner of a clean soft handkerchief. Do not attempt to remove your new lens on your own under any circumstances - consult a qualified eye care practioner.

 

At this point I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face and I had to stop for fear of damaging my brand new Alcon Acrysof Intraocular lens. My Mother called shortly after to enquire about my op and she was shocked that the patch was off so fast. "What's the first thing that you saw clearly after so long?" she demanded. "An ugly old China woman staff nurse" I answered truthfully. My poor Mother went ballistic. "You and your blasted China women! Sick and half dead also China women, China women! Can you for once forget about them ah?" she wailed pitifully. So much for honesty. I never learn, do I?

 

Yes, a sense of humour definitely helps to get you through hard times. So do family and good friends who stick by you in good as well as bad times. My biggest motivation to my amazing recovery is definitely the dedication, concern, care and love dispensed by Dr Wong and Ms Saroja. May GOD bless them and keep them safe as they fight for natural remedy education and a better quality of life for us and our future generations.   

 

 

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