I just watched a slide show on Medscape (medical website) :

The Year in Medicine 2010: Slideshow

that reviewed the 25 greatest medical highlights from 2010. I was really disappointed by the lack of true medical advancement we seemed to have made in the past year. I thought this was a golden age for medicine and new discoveries. It is interesting that I think medicine advanced a lot this year because of my personal experience with the new MS procedure-- the Liberation Procedure. The standard medical world does not even acknowledge this new procedure which gave me my body and life back. No mention in any standard medical journals. The Medscape survey included the new MS drug Fingolimod. They proclaimed this was a giant step forward because it is the first oral drug for MS (as opposed to injectable). It is not that it works better; it is just easier to take. Not very earth-shattering in my opinion.

Things are hectic for everyone right now and I’m no exception. I have fallen back on my blogging to work on Christmas projects. Today I decided to go to an MS meeting, not something I have done in a very long time. I was invited by a friend from the CCSVI Locator group who lives close by. We had never met in person and communicated only a few times on the internet . I didn’t know what to expect or how I would be received. My plan was to sit, listen and speak only if spoken to. Except for the person who extended the invitation, I was the only person who had the CCSVI angioplasty procedure. A year ago, I would have felt right at ease with a group of people who were using wheelchairs, walkers, canes and crutches. Now I felt out of place. Rick came with me and we sat down out of the way. It was awkward for about two minutes, then everyone began to welcome us and introduce themselves. My friend Roy and his wife came in right before the meeting was to start, and of course I didn’t know him from Adam, until one of the members of the group gave me a heads up. There wasn’t time for chit chat before they began the meeting. Someone had brought a couple boxes of Avonex with her to share.

The truth can't set anyone free if the story is never told. Sometimes abstaining from telling the truth is more damaging than an actual lie. In another arena I would speak about sins of "commission" as opposed to sins of "omission". Withholding a truth that causes pain and suffering to others by our silence is no better than participating in the wrong doing itself. I believe we are witnessing something akin to this by those who are in a position to make a real difference in the acceptance of CCSVI and refuse to do so. The doctors who treat Multiple Sclerosis had to at some point believe in what they were doing. At least some of the support groups were started by people who envisioned a better life for those of us who live with a cruel and unyielding disease.

Neurosurgeon Wants Patients to Think Twice before Signing on to a Medical Tour for CCSVI

by Patrick from CCSVI Clinic

Dr. Anand Alurkar has performed literally thousands of interventional and diagnostic angioplastic series of intra and extracranial procedures in the past 10 years. He has also been following his patients on a long-term basis to determine his own evidence as to the result of removing vessel occlusions.