April 17, 2005
Our Incredible Healing Experience in Tulum, (Yucatan) Mexico
We just got back from the Yucatan and Freddie is off Oxycontin and is walking without crutches or a cane!!! It was an incredible experience.
April 7, 2005
Freddie and I flew to Tulum to work with the Mayan curandero Daniel Pool at Cabañas Copal, part of the EcoTulum resort. Daniel was highly recommended to us by Bobbi Spurr, our alternative doctor who supported Freddie when he got off the highly addictive Oxycontin pain medicine last September.
When Freddie fell off the ladder on December 14, 2004 and badly fractured his pelvis, the doctors put him back on Oxycontin and of course after a while his addiction returned and his pain persisted.
After his last visit to the surgeon who had patched up his broken pelvis with hardware that looked like screws and chains and nails, Freddie learned that the space between his left hip and the pelvis was closing too much and that he was worse than at the time of the last x-ray and that he may need a hip replacement. The doctor also suggested that Freddie wean himself from the crutches he had returned to after he finished performing in the play, Duende Makes a House Call. During that play which we both performed in last March, Freddie began to use his cane instead of the crutches and probably overdid it, because after the play he was in so much pain that he had to return to the crutches.
So when we last saw Bobbi Spurr, Freddie was on crutches, in almost constant pain, addicted to the painkillers and unable to bear the pain of stopping them. In addition to that, he was depressed about the possibility of another surgery and about not being able to walk very well. Bobbi had recently returned from Tulum where she had "discovered" Daniel and had experienced some incredible healing of her own, and she highly recommended that Freddie also work with Daniel as soon as possible. She thought that Daniel might be able to help heal Freddie and to help him get off the Oxycontin. I was skeptical about even a Shaman helping Freddie to get off that heroin-like drug because I had seen how difficult it had been other times when he had tried to just decrease his dosage. But we figured, at worst, it would be a nice vacation by a warm ocean. At best it could be a miracle.
The next morning I scheduled the reservations for our journey. Freddie’s son and family visited us just before our trip. The last time we had seen them, in November (pre accident), Freddie had been off Oxycontin and was feeling great, even running with the kids and not taking a wheel chair at the airport. This time they saw him back on addictive prescription drugs, hardly able to walk, in bed a lot because of the pain, and depressed.
It was under these conditions that we left for Mexico for one week on April 7, 2005. Freddie had to use a wheel chair at the airport and crutches to walk.
We arrived at Cabañas Copal on Thursday night and were taken to the partial ocean view Palapa cabana that Bobbi had recommended. The path was mainly sand with some large rocks changing the footing underneath. It was about a five-minute walk and Freddie could hardly make it, even on crutches. After we had laboriously walked back to the restaurant for dinner, we realized that Freddie could not stay there; the walk was too difficult and we were afraid that his condition would worsen. I went to the office that night and they assured me that they would do something the next day. Horrified, we returned to our Palapa and lit the candles (there is no electricity), crawled into the white mosquito net tent, which enclosed the bed, and went to sleep to the sounds of waves crashing and the wind flapping the Palapa palm leaf roof.
On Friday, at 9 AM Freddie had his first appointment with Daniel. We had scheduled four appointments each, Freddie’s at 9 and mine at 10.
Daniel is a humble Mayan man, 50 years old, whose knowledge comes to him through dreams. Not "formally" trained, he works guided by his spiritual force, which he refers to as God. He prays before he starts and then does deep muscle massage, chanting and toning, and many Shamanic techniques for spiritual cleaning.
While Daniel was working with Freddie, I went to the office to see about changing rooms. Everything was filled but they might have a closer room available the next day, although it didn’t have an ocean view. I looked at it and its location was good. But later that day, as Freddie sat in front of our Palapa on a chair looking at the ocean and smoking a cigarette, he realized that already it was getting easier to walk and that perhaps he might be able to stay in that cabana. He had managed the short walk down the stairs to the beach and it seemed that walking was getting a little easier.
The next morning, Saturday, after his second treatment with Daniel, Freddie balanced on his two feet and Daniel suggested he start to use a cane instead of the crutches. Freddie decided that we could stay in our beautiful partial sea view cabana because he could now manage it. Later that day some wonderful new friends, Chris and Christine, whom we had met at the resort, went to Tulum and returned with a cane for Freddie. That evening Freddie and I walked down the road to some open-air tented shops that appear when they open and then dematerialize when they close. We found the prices cheaper than in city pueblo of Tulum!
Sunday was Daniel’s day off so Freddie and I decided to go to the Tulum ruins nearby. Freddie took his new cane instead of the crutches. When we arrived we discovered that there was more walking than we had expected. We rested several times along the way. After we saw the ruins, which were situated on a flat, hot and dry mesa, we descended down three flights of steep stairs (that luckily had rails) to a magnificent white beach with blue, tranquil water. I went swimming first and it was so calm and beautiful and refreshing that I insisted that Freddie try it. He hobbled into the water with his cane and got wet and loved it. Then we made our way home, resting often. I was concerned that Freddie wouldn’t be able to make it or would re-injure himself with so much physical stress. He was totally exhausted by the time we arrived home.
After resting in the afternoon, that evening Chris, Christine, Freddie and I walked very slowly to a restaurant five minutes down the road to hear some fusion Flamenco and have dinner. Freddie’s walking was slow, but he did it.
But later, Freddie was in a lot of pain and went back to the crutches. At that point he felt that the treatments might not have worked. His mood was sinking again.
Monday morning after his treatment with Daniel, Freddie again felt great. He was back to the cane and there was light in his eyes. We spent most of the day at the beach. Our friends Christine and Chris left for Playa del Carmen. They gave us some beautiful flowers they had had in their room. As we rested in our Palapa, we could see the blue and green sea changing colors. We had two views of the sea from the comfortable king sized bed. In the morning, following Christine’s example, I was able to take some ocean sunrise photos from just outside our window. We were so glad that we hadn’t changed cabanas. Freddie put on a nicotine patch because he had decided to give up cigarettes. He also did not take any Oxycontin that day because he was not feeling pain! It was incredible, a hope.
I booked us a fifth appointment for Tuesday, which had been the day we were going to skip.
Monday night was a difficult night. Freddie couldn’t sleep, but he had gone so far in being off the Oxycontin that he persisted. We had brought some Subutex, the withdrawal drug, with us, but he needed to be off the Oxycontin for about two days and to have "his hair standing on end" before the Subutex would work. If he took it too early it was supposed to cause worse withdrawal symptoms. He tried a little Subutex and promptly threw up.
Tuesday his appointment wasn’t until noon so we waited at the beach. And luckily, after that appointment, Freddie’s symptoms again decreased. That evening he tried the Subutex again, even though his "hair was not standing on end" and it worked.
After his appointment on Wednesday, our last full day, Freddie was walking a little without the cane. Daniel had given him a special liniment to use and take home with him. It seemed to help. Since Freddie was feeling much better after this last appointment and the sea was calmer that day, I suggested that he try swimming. I helped him into the water, navigating past occasional rocks and he swam a little and then I helped him get out. It was incredible. And he loved his swim.
Thursday we left. That night, back in Soquel (Santa Cruz), Freddie experienced some pain and he was worried. He took a hot tub and went to bed.
The next morning he was still in pain so I suggested that he try a Tylenol, which he didn’t want, so he tried a buffered aspirin instead and then used some of Daniel’s liniment. A little while later he walked down to the studio to see the new deck and Freddie realized that he was no longer in pain. Each day we are home he feels better. Even by Friday he was walking without the cane. Today is Sunday and he feels more and more clear each day. Yesterday he washed some dishes. Today he is making breakfast. He hasn’t been able to do any of this since he fell off that ladder and fractured his pelvis.
The treatment is holding. Freddie is not smoking cigarettes. He is still off the Oxycontin and is past the "iffy" stage. He pain is minimal and he is walking without the cane, although still slowly and carefully. The treatments with Daniel have been a miracle. We are both totally grateful and in awe.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Now at home almost a week, I notice Freddie’s guitar playing brightening as he becomes more clear and his fingers are less inhibited from the heaviness caused by the Oxycontin. Freddie is alive and happy again. As he said, getting off the Oxycontin felt as if someone had taken a plastic bag off his head. And I have my partner back. I had forgotten how much fun we can have together. We are having a wonderful time just being together in this new state. We sit on our front porch in the sun and eat off flowered china on plastic lace placemats on the green wrought iron filigree table. We look at the ocean in the distance over the valley and its trees. Up close we look at Moroccan pots with flowers, birds in birdbaths, pots of geraniums, and trees and more flowers on our redwood deck. A brown, clay Chimenea keeps us warm on cold nights when we want to be outside.
The feeling of peace is hypnotizing and we just sit there, enjoying life and being grateful at how incredibly lucky we are.
Marianna Mejia
April 17, 2005
To see our photos please go to: http://flamencoromantico.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Tulum2005&page=1
To see more photos taken by Christine and Chris, please go to: http://www.lvx23.com/vacations/mexico05/mexico05.html
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