Okay. So if you could start by telling us your name and where you're from.
Okay. I'm Janet Southerland. This
is my husband, Gordon and we're from Nova Scotia, Canada.
How long ago were you diagnosed with MS?
Well diagnosed in 1985, in Montreal. When I had an MRI machine, MRI test but I already had little symptoms that came once in a while, until the end of late 1999, 1998, I broke my leg and then things seemed to go downhill somewhat and I had to retire from teaching.
Could you tell us a
little bit more about the symptoms that you have prior to your procedure, prior to the CCSVI?
Well mine is my walking. In the last couple of years, my left side went numb and it affected my walking. My walking was affected before that only because I had broken my leg, so that put me back. But my main reason when I heard about the CCSVI. I was very excited because we had had several people in the area that I live in Nova Scotia had gone to Poland.
Two men have actually gone to Poland and had excellent results. And so they were really promoting the procedure of CCSVI. And actually even known to the Government of Canada to get Canada to look at the importance of doing it. But our country doesn't seem to be wanting to progress and get the procedure started so there have been thousands of people have to go elsewhere in order to get this treatment. We cannot wait for five to ten years before our government will give us the opportunity to have it.
What was the procedure like, and how long did it take?
Well it was, basically, I
had two balloons in my angioplast procedure, and it was over an hour long.
Over an hour long.
Did the doctors explain what was going on during your treatment?
During my treatment?
Yes, very much so. I was very pleased with the way they explained it, even beforehand, before the procedure, and the post procedure as well.
Dr. Morales was excellent, super, and highly recommended. He was a wonderful doctor, yes.
What was the first
thing that you noticed changed after your procedure?
After my procedure?
Well, the first thing was my feet finally started feeling warm again. My husband actually said, "Oh my goodness, your feet are warm!"
They've always been cold, my extremities, my hands and feet. Now I'm finding I'm too warm and so that was the first thing. And the second thing was that I was able to, I was getting into the fight where I couldn't raise my left hand and my right arm was somewhat, but now I can raise them up as high as can be, which I'm really happy to do, and I'll be able to do my, to style my hair again finally.
And this is after how long? When did you do the procedure?
Two hours.
My procedure was done yesterday,
and I would say it was.
I would say when she came back
to the room, maybe a couple of hours following that
Following that.
And
then all of a sudden, I saw her with her arms in the air like this.
Yes.
And I said, "Wow".
Yes.
So it happened very quickly.
What was your impression about the hospital? I know we hear so many things on the media about the hospitals in Mexico. What was your impression on Angeles Hospital?
We definitely recommended this. One of the best
State-of-the-art facilities.
State-of-the-art facilities.
Right.
And we'll
certainly, when we go back, recommend it to anyone in our area.
We found I think too, the staff very helpful, and very supportive, and any time that you want something or requested something, you go to them and they're just super in getting back to you.
Fantastic.
If there was one more thing that you could say to those people searching for this alternative, searching for the CCSVI procedure. If there was something that you can say to those patients who are in need of a lifestyle change like you're going to have, what would it be?
Wow.
Wow.
I know the procedure
is very expensive for many people. I know we are finding in Nova Scotia, there is a strong - not just Nova Scotia, but New Brunswick, another province in Canada, they're having many fundraisers for people who can't afford the CCSVI procedure.
And so they are having wonderful fund raisers for people who need it right away. And so I think we're going to see more and more people helping each other get here. And we certainly liked the idea of coming to Mexico instead of Europe. It was nice to be on your own continent. And we found. Who was, I mean Dr. Angie.
Dr. Janis Gruska, extremely good, and she was the one that we coordinated this whole procedure visit with and she was just tremendous.
She kept calling us back and saying, "Any more questions you have now?" And it just made our trip here much more inviting and to have someone support us like that, coming from as far away as we did, the east coast of Canada, and that in follow up to Jan's remark. If people can find a way to have the procedure done just to improve that quality of life somewhat, do whatever you can.
If there's family members that can help you go forward with it. It's so important to try to do that to just improve their quality of life for the people who have the MS.
