INSPIRATION
The story I will tell you is nearly unbelievable. It is such an example of the body’s desire and ability to heal, that if I had not seen it happen, I would probably say it was impossible.
My story begins when my patient Marsha asked me if we would take a look at her sister Marla who had survived tongue cancer. For five years Marla had been feeding herself through a feeding tube that went straight into her abdomen above and to the left of the navel.
During Marla’s cancer treatment, the doctors said her tongue must be amputated for her to live. She had steadfastly refused because she wanted to be able to eat when she was cured.
Now her tongue and jaw were in so much constant pain that she needed opioids to survive. Because she could barely open her mouth, much less chew or swallow any pills. She had skin patches all over her body dispensing the numbing drugs.
Marla wanted to know if there was anything we could do to get her sister out of her pain and back to living again, instead of just surviving.
Although we can reduce pain and return patients to living full lives, the problems we deal with relate to the nerves, muscles, and bones. Low back pain due to disc problems are quite fixable, as are headaches, shoulder pain, and knee issues that we see every day.
I said we would take a look at her sister, but I did not hold out much hope that we could help.
Marla came to our office with her daughter Olivia, who was devoted to keeping her mom alive. Olivia told me what had happened to her mom, because Marla’s speech was unintelligible due to her mouth being barely able to open and her tongue hardly able to move.
I found a thin, almost skeletal body on my treatment table. She seemed to be just skin and bones devoid of any active muscle mass. Her pelvis was off and there was compensatory scoliosis much like we find in all of our new patients, but I wasn't sure that fixing any of those problems would be helpful.
It wasn’t until I was palpating her upper spine at the top of her ribs that I had a glimmer of hope. Pressure on the left side of the first thoracic vertebrae shot pain directly up into her jaw where all of her pain resided. More encouraging was when she was lying face down, and I started examining her neck. Again I was able to reproduce her pain pattern with pressure on the left side of the first cervical vertebra.
Eureka! Maybe we could help!
When I examined her mouth, jaw, and tongue, I was once again filled with doubt. Palpation under her jaw revealed a rock-hard swelling at the base of her tongue that everyone else believed to be scarring caused by her endless rounds of radiation therapy. I asked her to open her mouth, and she gave it her best, but only created a narrow crack perhaps a quarter inch at the most. What I saw inside was a tongue so swollen that it resembled a water balloon more than human flesh.
What we had at this point was that there were two areas of the spine that are known to innervate the head and jaw where it was possible to recreate her pain pattern with just simple finger pressure. It wasn’t much to go on but after a discussion with Olivia we decided to give it a try.
Innervate? Supply nerves.
First we began to level her pelvis and get her back on her feet. As we do with all our patients we encouraged her to walk 30 minutes each day. She was so weak there was no way she could walk that far in a single go so instead she would get up and walk for a minute or two and then repeat throughout the day until she was walking for 30 minutes total.
We kept working our way up to correcting her spine until we finally reached the areas that had referred pain up into her head and jaw. Gently we began working these trouble spots with slow, sustained finger pressure to remove the twist. We also used ultrasound to bring the swelling down around her sensitive nerve roots. Each treatment ended with pulsed ultrasound directly into her neck and jaw
Amazingly, it started to work! Her pain decreased, and her jaw and tongue started to move again. I could feel her muscles beginning to relax after being in spasm for more than five years.
Her walks started to be 30 minutes at a time and then expanded to many miles on the Bear Creek bike path near her house. She started to speak again and her words became clearer as she re-learned to use her tongue.
Soon she was fantasizing about eating again. Strangely, after so many years of not having anything in her mouth her taste buds were incredibly sensitive. Even yogurt burned at first but slowly she was able to chew and swallow food.
Freed of taking care of her mom full time, Olivia went back to living her own life again. First she became pregnant and then enrolled in nursing school. Marla became the caregiver for her new granddaughter while Olivia studied.
Being a grandma has helped Marla continue to heal. She reads to her granddaughter Jules every day, which continues to improve her speech clarity. When Jules began to eat solid food, Marla would give a Cheerio to her granddaughter and then eat one herself.
Marla’s pain continued to subside, and eventually she was able to get off the pain-killing opioids. She is now driving her little Toyota truck again. She acts as the head usher at her church every Sunday. She teaches classes and has been asked to give inspirational speeches about her recovery.
That seems fitting to me as I find her gusto and gumption most inspirational. I will never again doubt that the body wants to heal and will find a way if given a chance. I will always be inspired by the power of a healthy functioning nervous system to bring the body back from even the darkest places.