I am still here over a year later, but have found friendships that I will never forget, knowledge to help others, and hope that one day there will be a cure for us all.
I tried to fix this up a little bit, but each time, I would lose the whole message almost 6 times now, so I am sending it as is. Tired of messing with it. Also the show never aired as Skip said the DEA stepped in and would not let it be aired.
At Sat, 22 Apr 2000, Hchalm@aol.com wrote:
>I wanted to let everyone know that I won half of my battle, and that was
>finding a doctor to treat my pain for adhesions. Not more than 4 weeks ago I
>too sent my message of needing help, feeling alone, depressed, scared and not
>knowing how to help myself, to the Adhesion message board. In finding The
>International Adhesion Society, I found everything I needed. I found
>knowledge, courage and the strength through all the wonderful people here to
>do battle for myself and I won. In finding the site ASAP American Society Against Pain http://www.widomaker.com/~skipb/skiphome.html and sending my plea for a doctor I was contacted by a
>representative for Maryland and given a name of a doctor in Virginia who is a pain management specialist. I saw him Tuesday, 4/18, and he was wonderful.
>He new and understood about adhesions. I did not have to prove myself, begor plead. He put me on a pain management program, and I am now able to be
>more active and enjoy my life more until I can have my surgery. Below are
>e-mails from the state placement rep for Maryland to myself and also from
>Skip Baker, the President of ASAP.
>
>Dear Helen,
>
>I'm so sorry to hear of your pain. You are not alone and I hope I will be
>able to help you. I suffer from FMS (Fibromyalgia) which is a muscle
>syndrome if you don't already know about the condition. I believe that
>chronic pain is chronic pain and all chronic pain needs to be taken seriously
>and treated the same by DR's. Unfortunately there are too many DR's out
>there that don't agree.
>
>Anyway, I am going to give you the name of a WONDERFUL, caring Dr. He has
>been my Doc for over 2 yrs now and without him, I would either be in bed
>screaming in pain or not here at all. I truly owe him my life. He is
>located in Centerville, VA. I know that may sound like it is far from you
>but for the relief you will get, I'm sure you will find that it's not far at
>all. From Baltimore I think it would take you no more than an hr. He will
>need a referral from another doc before an appt will be made but if you
>absolutely cannot get a referral, Iet me know and I may be able to help you.
>I have a wonderful relationship with him and have sent him many many patients.
>
>Below you will find the information you need to know.
>
>Dulles Pain Management Center
>DR Joseph Statkus
>Dr. Stephen Whittman
>13890 Braddock Rd
>Suite 106
>Centerville, VA 20121
>Tel # 703-449-8720
>Fax 703-449-8745
>
>Best of luck and hope to hear from you soon.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Terri Clayton
>ASAP
>MD State Placement Rep
>
>This is from myself to Skip Baker at widowmaker: ASAP
>
>Dear Skip:
>
> I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I suffer from adhesions
>that have placed me in the category of chronic pain. I too sat here for
>days crying and trying to figure out what I was going to do because I could
>not find help from my OB/GYN with proper pain management. I was being
>allowed to take one tylox per day for chronic pelvic pain due to adhesions,
>and being scolded for that. I was also told this was my last prescription
>and I would have to go to a pain clinic. After finding your site and being
>contacted by Terri Clayton and getting in touch with Dr. Statkus in VA I have
>hope that I will not have to suffer in unmanageable pain.
>
> I just wanted to let you know that I posted your website in the
>International Adhesion Society website, for those people (and there are many)
>experiencing the helplessness that I felt in trying to find adequate pain
>management and dealing with doctors that tell us to take 4 advil and deal
>with it.
>
> Thank you, thank you once again for your campaign on finding caring doctors
>to treat chronic pain.
>
> Helen Chalmers
> Baltimore, Maryland >>
>
> From Skip Baker to Helen Chalmers:
>
>Thanks Helen. You can give them either of these URLs to get to my web
> page if you will:
>
>http://www.widomaker.com/~skipb/skiphome.htm.html OR:
>http://www.actiononpain.org may be the best one as long as the link is
> always in place. There will be Lord willing, a special program this
> summer on TV about this awful "Pain Crisis" caused by the DEA. Check the
> web page for the time and channel. I don't know how long it will take
> them to put it all together but they spent all day here filming
> Saturday. I'd like to use your statement about "One Pill a Day" next to
> my pointing that out on my page. So many doctors write for exactly that
> amount: "30 pills per month" and I used to get those too. What torture!
>
>To everyone out there that is suffering with pain and cannot find a decent
>doctor to help you please, go to the above website; there is help!!! If I
>can assist anyone in anyway, please feel free to e-mail me. Thanks to Bev
>and Helen again for assisting me and giving me the strength I needed in this
>journey, that unfortunately, we have all found ourselves in.
****Helen**** Chalmers
-- Helen Chalmers