Mona Alahverdi ( Aarhus, DK) interviewed to MS Society of Denmark about MS & her Liberated life.
Interview Of : Mona Alahverdi
Interview By : Peter P. Christensen
Interview Web-Link :
"Liberated Mona"
The magazine has followed Mona Alahverdi since she decided to go to Poland and to undergo an intervention due to a narrowing of a vein in the neck. A condition called CCSVI, which has set the world of Sclerosis at the other end .
Text by Peter P. Christensen
"Have you Sclerosis?" Mona Alahverdi leans back in her chair and smiles slightly. It is the last question, she gets one and a half hour long interview. She sits in an armchair in the house in Skødstrup and have been told about it last month's experiences. "No ... I have no more. I do not think so. I've had it, but now it's out. Now I have to train my body up again. " This article is based on several interviews with Mona. Experiences, change in her condition and conclusions are her own.
Background
In September 2008, the Mona went back to her home country Iran to see if she could get better there. At that time, she lived six years with the diagnosis sclerosis. She had tried beta interferon-treatment had no effect and she would try something else. In Tehran there is a large Sclerosis Center, who offered her intensive physical training five days a week. After three months in Iran end her residence with her own words she "to Iran in a wheelchair and homes with toxic". She went home with a feeling that she could do something to get better, that she herself might influence the disease.
Back in Denmark went the better in the beginning, but from spring 2009 it began to go worse. In the summer she was at Sclerosis Center Ry, where she trained and became better, she did not think it was enough and in the big picture was still downhill. December 2009 Mona spent on the Internet. Here she read about Paolo Zamboni and state CCSVI. At first thought she was not on it, but the more she read, the more sense it began to provide for her.
Around the turn of 2009-10, she decided on surgery. She tried to get time to scan in some of Zambonis teams but waiting times were too long. She came up with several places in Poland, where surgery is carried out but here it was waiting times too long. Mona rang 3-4 times each day to Dr. Kostecki from a private hospital in Tychy near Katowice in Poland, while she chatted with her Danish doctor who told her about risk and uncertainty about surgery in Poland. Mona considered long, but decided that she would be scanned. If the scan showed constriction, she would be ready for action.
Here comes the magazine in contact with Mona.
1st March 2010 - Mona get time in Poland
Mona speaks with Dr. Jacek Kostecki. In her words, he succumbed to her many phone calls. He has a hole in the calendar. She will have time to scan the 23th March. If her throat, she can get surgery.
12th March 2010 - the first interview - 11 days to Poland
Mona explains over the phone that she should be off to Poland and that she did not think she has time to wait for "evidence of interference". "Basically, it can only get better. I have Multiple Sclerosis. I have not so many opportunities. If I can just get one hour of freedom, then it's worth it. I am willing to take chances, "she says.
19th March 2010 - 4 days to Poland
Mona said from Aahrus that she is ready for departure. When asked whether she is nervous about the risks of an operation not recommended by the Danish experts, she replies: "I know that has reported one death, but I believe in destiny. If I die, so was the way it should be "
23rd March - departure to Katowice, Poland
Mona travels to Poland with her mother, Sally. At the airport they will be fetched by an interpreter who also works as a driver. They have purchased a package solution to approx. 32,000 crowns, which includes scanning, perhaps. interventions, hotel and transportation. They reside in a hotel in Tychy, and Mona is uneasy. She has not slept in two days and her only thought is "Let me have the throat!". Already in the evening becoming Mona scanned. She's throat. Even a big one, says the doctor. She gets time for action four days later - and start immediately on blood thinners. "I was very tired - and excited. I almost fell on by exhaustion, but also of joy. "
24th March - Poland
Scan to double check and filling out various forms. The next day spent shopping in Katowice with Sally, Mona's mother.
27th March
Mona remembers days clear: She had been hospitalized in the morning. There were four who had surgery, and Mona came in at number three. Surgery can be done with angioplasty or stents. "I would not have stents. Before me was the one received stents, so I was nervous that they would give me stents. When I came in, I took my ipod on. I could still not understand a word of what they said. I was stunned local (balloon expansion is via the groin, ed.). I noticed twice a warm feeling through your body, "says Mona, explaining that the surgery took 50 minutes.
28th March. Day 1 as "liberated Mona"
"I woke up refreshed and well rested. I was checked for blood pressure and talked with the doctor. At noon we went back to the hotel. Sunday afternoon I discovered a small blood stain on the quilt. My mum rang the doctor, who stood with us ten minutes later. The blood was the blood-thinning medication, and he changed the dressing, "says Mona. Interference against CCSVI called by many "liberation" procedure (emancipation process, ed.) After surgery Mona Sign with "liberated Mona." Mona and her mother waiting knowingly few days in Poland, before flying home, because she just had surgery. Days used for sight seeing. Four days after surgery they fly home.
Changes after Poland
"The first thing I noticed was the warm fingers and toes. I have not seen in several years. My fingers were pink and got the color back. Then stop my hand shaking. I got a plastic Cup filled with tea and I drank it. Previously, I should have a big mug only half full, because I shook. I did not think about it, but my mom saw it and was totally flabbergasted, "you drank it?" She said, "explains Mona and says that her spasms are down to one tenth of what they were before. Balance is also improved.
4th May - more than one month after Poland
Mona is sitting in the house in Skødstrup outside Aarhus. She explains the change, she has registered. "My balance is much better. My body is not so heavy anymore. Now I can work out a long time. Before I could only train for 20 minutes. Now I can train in one hour and ten minutes. I have been more fresh and sleep less at night. My bladder works better. I had three relapses in autumn 2009. I have not had anything since the surgery, "she says.
Mona explains that she believes that the very existence of the psyche. That believing in something of great importance for the outcome. She smiles, then next question is whether her improvement not now also be due to the psyche.
"Yes, some of it, but some of the things I have seen, can not therefore be explained by the psyche," she says.
To Paolo Zamboni not talking about surgery as a cure for sclerosis affects not Mona. "For me it has worked. Sclerosis is an individual disease. For some it will not work, but it has worked for me, "she says.
20th May - six weeks after surgery
Mona coach still intense. Improvements are still the same, she explains. Now she bikes in second gear - weeks before it was without gear.
Future
Mona is now worried that restriction comes back. It will be an eternal restlessness in her. All in all, she is nervous about long-term impact. Everyday life goes with intensive training. "I do not know," she replies to the question what the future brings. But she believes that every one should be offered to scan in Denmark, all with sclerosis should be able to scan in the Danish health system. About the surgery she says:
"It is not safe, it works for everyone, but it works for me."
About Mona Alahverdi
Mona is 30 years. She was born in Iran but came to Denmark as nine years old. She has a degree from Aarhus Business School and an NLP training .. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis as a 23-year-old After training, she worked at TDC, since in a software company, and after she received an NLP training, but 26-year-old, she took early retirement. The magazine follows Mona Alahverdi going to see how her condition develops. Read more in the magazine in future.
You can follow Mona's life on her blog: http://worldballons.blogspot.com/
