Friday, June 8, 2012

The coaching of Klein

I have recently been blessed with two different "coaches". They both came around at the same time, and I have met and worked with them both as of today.

The women are what is called "life coaches". One is just starting out; she is doing a "practicum", or "staage", and needs a few subjects to practice on. I did that, too, when I was becoming a doula. So, I decided to call her and meet her (after a friend recommended her- thanks O.S.!). She is a lovely woman, and lives nearby. She gave me homework, which will be hard to carry out, and as of now haven't yet. But I will, B'eH.

The other one is quite different. She calls herself a "medical coach". She works with people who are going through life, or feeling stuck in life because of ongoing medical problems. This one I "met" today... in quotations because it was through Skype that we met. I hope to meet her in person next week. She lives in Jerusalem, and I just wasn't able to make it there today. I have had a hard week. I'm going down on the dose of Fentanyl patches, and it is difficult for me with side effects and increased pain. (more on that in end paragraph).

Meeting her today (in the Skype session) was very very good. I feel that she *understands* me because she, herself is dealing with multiple sclerosis. She has many clients with ongoing medical issues. I assume, cancer and Parkinson's disease patients, among others. This world is so hard to understand if you aren't in it. You can *know* lots of information about the person, but to really "get" the person, being in it is the only way. It has felt very lonely at times, even though I have a great family and wonderful friends. I hang out with friends, laugh with friends, but there is so much about these issues, and this way of life that separates me from everyone else. So having a medical coach is kind of a relief for me in a way. I do have a wonderful therapist for three years now, but that, too, has it's limitations.

While talking with the medical therapist today (her name is Shulamit), telling her about the book I want to write but cannot get off the ground, she had an amazing suggestion to me about how to get started that I hadn't thought of. It makes so much sense, but I never thought of it, and neither did the writing mentor I have had a few sessions with. So that was great. Also another thing which I found great was that at the end of the session when we had to wrap up, she started using a meditative approach which doesn't work well with me. When I made her aware of that, she immediately switched to another technique which was *perfect* for me. I really liked that.

In the second paragraph up there I mentioned I was having increased fatigue and pain. That is a bummer in a big way. If you remember, last week when I saw Prof. Meller, the exam was pain-free, so he directed me to start going off the Fentanyl. I reported back to Dr Z (pain doctor) about that, and we started doing that on Sunday. By Tuesday I was feeling fatigue, and dizziness. By Wed night the pain set in, and today, Thursday, I slept *all day* (except for the hour and a half meeting with Shulamit. I went right back to sleep after that!). I have so much pain, both nerve pain *and* joint pain. This is bad news, meaning maybe I can't go off the Fentanyl at the moment, and that my thigh joint isn't doing as well as we had hoped. It was so bad today I considered using the crutches again (if I were to travel to Jerusalem. I am so glad I decided not to go). But the increased nerve pain, that is what shocks me-- was the Fentanyl helping the nerve pain? It had been theorized that it was the Lyrica that was helping with nerve pain (and not so well at that). Maybe they go hand-in-hand with each other. It is actually the nerve pain which is much harder to tolerate. It goes from my upper thigh all the way down to my knee.  I don't  know- pain science is such an unknown field. Did one drug help *boost* the efficacy of the other? Who knows. What I do know is that if this continues through next week with the increased pain, I'll put a call into Prof. Meller and ask for his opinion as to go back up on the Fentanyl or not. I so want (and medically need) to go off these meds.

But this life isn't so much about what we *want*, is it?

I hope these coaches will help me feel on track with myself again... and help me to get to the business of writing my book... on the days which I can.





1 comment :

  1. great move Sarah! Hashem sent you the right people at the right time.

    Are you coming to America?

    xxxooo Dev from NJ

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