My extenuated experience with illness has time and again revealed to me instances of great charity and introduced me to people of remarkable goodness. What happened on our flight proved to be the workings of the Holy Spirit. Upon entering the aircraft my mom sparked up a conversation with Joanne, the head of the flight attendants, and inevitably mentioned how we were flying to receive medical treatments in Switzerland. The truly compassionate woman offered to move me up to first class in the middle of the flight in hopes that it might give me the chance to sleep for a few hours before my first day in the Klinik. Joanne not only extended such a generous gesture, but came back at the end of the flight to have a lengthy discussion with me mom and to assure me that she was going to follow my blog. She even vowed to try to put me in touch with her friend who is a doctor in case he might be able to assist us in discovering more about my rare conditions. My heart was warmed as I landed in Zurich….and that is a good thing because the rest of my body might not be warm for awhile. In the whirlwind of goodbyes, I accidentally left my coat at home in our kitchen. In the past handful of months, just in my daily life, it’s sadly become more evident than ever, how greatly the lack of sufficient blood flow to my brain hinders my ability to think properly.

Upon arriving at the Klinik, I first had a panoramic X-ray of my jaw taken at the Paracelsus Dental Office. They are very concerned here with any type of toxic metal that might have been glued to my teeth, via fillings or oral surgery. Last spring I had my four impacted wisdom teeth removed surgically at CHOP by a wonderful doctor from the Hospital at the University of Penn (HUP). I, also, had a bilateral tonsillectomy preformed at Lankenau Hospital in the beginning of this past summer. The ENT reported after the surgery that he was ultimately thankful he had agreed to do the operation on a somewhat “high-risk” patient, because of how deeply and chronically infected my tonsils looked once removed. He admitted there was far more extensive damage from repeated insults of bacterial disease than he possibly could have seen without having gone in surgically.

We next met with my “quarterback” doctor here in Switzerland, Dr. Rupp. He is technically a oncologist, but is well trained in many fields of medicine, in particular, autoimmune conditions such as RA. He practices medicine passionately and theatrically, all the while complimented by his heavy German accent. Although Dr. Rupp traveled around the globe studying the body and health- much of his time was spent in Asia learning the art of Chinese Medicine. After our initial exam and what felt like an interrogation, I am beyond depleted. Let’s just say Dr. Rupp has a bigger than life personality! He made many off-the-cuff remarks on how unfortunate it was for this “perfect storm” to hit so early in life. Unfortunately, the Klinik very rarely sees patients this critically ill at such a young age.

I wrapped up this exhausting day with Heartrate Variability Testing, pulse measurements, helpful in quantifying the degree of Autonomic Nervous System dysfunction. Finally they did vital blood analysis under dark field microscopy, examination of a drop of blood freshly extracted from the earlobe useful in visualizing the inner terrain (“milieu” as everyone here calls it) and determining the functionality of the blood cells. In addition this technique, a vital instrument in biological medicine, allows us to gauge the states of the RBCs, WBCs, endobionts, and plasma via abnormalities of shape, size, or movement. Ultimately, it is helpful for viewing any developed structures such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. My blood was a “hot mess”, as you can see from the visual report below….

I wish I had the energy to share more, but I’m jet lagged and wiped out from my first day at the Klinik. Gute nacht!

As a result of traffic caused by the funeral of the NYPD fallen hero we almost missed our flight….again. However, also as a result of nearly every policeman and woman in the city attending the funeral of Officer Liu, we didn’t get pulled over to receive a speeding ticket on the way to the airport. After all the passport chaos and traffic drama Mommy and me are finally boarded on the plane at JFK airport waiting to take-off for a slightly delayed 7 hour and 40 minute flight to Zurich, Switzerland. I have no doubt in my mind that my mom will sleep from “wheels up” until “touch down.” For me, the chronic insomniac, I hope there are some good movies.

I’m wearing my prescription compression stockings in order to prevent any syncope episodes during or after the flight. Every time I go to take them on or off, which is inevitably a ten minute long process, I am reminded of the dear woman at the pharmacy who spent an hour instructing me on the proper technique. I try to take comfort in them being nice and “snug as a bug in a rug” because the better job they do at compressing the blood vessels in my leg, the less likely it is I will pass out.

Aaaand now the flight attendant is very convincingly counseling me to put my cell phone into airplane mode. To us a safe flight, and to all a good night….

ps. Mommy wanted me to include this comic strip she found in the New Yorker to lighten the mood!

I must tell you, it took a team of frieNDs to make it possible for me to arrive in Switzerland on time for treatments starting Monday morning. Because of how rapidly my disease was progressing and how quickly my symptoms worsened this fall I was forced to come home from school very unexpectedly. So unexpectedly in fact, I wasn’t able to pack up my dorm room for myself. Thankfully with the help of Matt Robinson, Jack Kowalik, Lauren Janek, and my sister the majority of my things came with her on her drive home for Christmas break. Unbeknownst to us at the time however, my passport was lost in translation. Grace Guibert swooped in and saved the day! She generously agreed to drive with her dad to meet our friend and an Exeter Property Group guy, John Toukatly halfway in between South Bend and Chicago, so that the passport could travel with Tim Walsh, another Exeter employee, out to the East Coast in the morning. We can’t thank you enough Gracie and Papa Guibert!