Sunday, July 11, 2010

Tests Confirm It - Ampligen Works!

I have waited 6 full months to be able to say this, and the day has finally arrived. So here it is: I know without a shadow of a doubt that Ampligen works. As I finish my 24th week of Ampligen, I can say with confidence that this amazing drug has performed "as advertised," and then some.

I know this not only because of the numerous physical and mental tests I take at the clinic that tracks my progress and improvement,  but most importantly for me, I know Ampligen is working because of my own, secret test. Let me explain.

Over 6 months ago I arrived in this city after enduring a cold, cramped 16-hour overseas flight, barely able to walk from the plane to the baggage claim. My deterioration in health had gotten so bad I was barely able to get out of bed, so I came here as a last resort, leaving my home half a world away believing that this "experimental drug" called Ampligen was going to give me my life back.

Because of the flight, by the time we arrived at the hotel, I was really sick. Ears ringing, glutes and legs aching, all I could think about was getting into bed with the lights off. As we scuffled along to the elevators, we passed a baby grand piano in the lobby. With hope in her eyes, my wife asked me "do you want to play a few bars, sweetheart?"  I shook my head no, and managed to mumble a weak, sad, "No. I really can't right now," and continued into the elevator. Had I had any surplus energy, I would have cried, seeing the look in my wife's eyes.

You see, until recently, no matter how sick I felt, my wife knew that I could always play the piano, and it would cheer me up. And cheer my wife up too.  But over the past few months, even that joy was taken from me, as just sitting at a piano bench hurt my butt. And the act of thinking about chords hurt my head.

All of us who fight this disease have varying degrees of limitations as a result of our infirmity. By reason of the insidious nature of the viruses that activate and invade our brains and our central nervous systems, pleasures we used to enjoy are stolen.  We're on the lower leg of Maslow's hierarchy of need, and survival occupies all of our energies, with the disease slowly but surely stripping away all the rest.

After a while, if you've been sick for years, you end up forgetting what "normal" life is. Gone are the days when we'd walk to the market. We no longer workout at the club, because exercise like that makes us pay big time the next day.  We don't cook that favorite recipe anymore, because standing at a stove for that long is impossible.   We don't play the piano anymore, because strangely, we can't remember the chords and our fingers have lost dexterity. Studies show the disease is actually eating up our brains,  as evidenced by lesions.

That's what happened to me. The last time I tried to play one of my favorite Bossa Nova classics, a couple months before we came to the clinic,  I couldn't get it together. I was in the wrong key, my mind was frazzled, I couldn't remember the chords. So I quit, frustrated. As I stepped away from the keyboard, I made a vow to myself. "If Ampligen works like they say it does, someday I'll be able to play this song again, without mistakes. THEN I'll know everything is going to be all right.

Because of the documentary film "The Buena Vista Social Club" I knew that music in the brain had a special "place" and that music memory, and finger memory could survive periods of inactivity. 

In that awesome award-winning film by Wim Wenders, guitarist Ry Cooder tracks down an aging pianist in Havana named Ruben Gonzales, who was world-renowned before the revolution. But after Castro and communism took over, jazz clubs were closed, pianos were sold, and pianists like Ruben had to find work in other ways. In 1996 Cooder brings Gonzales to an old venue in Havana where there is still a working, almost in-tune upright piano. Because of Castro's prohibition and Gonzales' arthritis, it had been years since Ruben had played the ivories, and he looked tentative. But with Cooder's encouragment, Ruben sits down, places his weathered hands on the keys, and just starts playing like it was the 50's again. No mistakes. No hesitation. The voice over on the film goes on to say "Ruben played like that for hours, non-stop, as if nothing had changed."

It's been obvious to me over the past few weeks, that things have been improving greatly in my body. I walked 5 blocks to the market this afternoon. I am now back at the gym, doing exercise every day, and I'm able to stand at the stove and cook again. 

Yesterday at the clinic they shared with me that all their tests showed I was making great improvement. From the results of my latest blood work, the physical exam, and numerous other tests, Gwen my nurse had no problem telling me that the Ampligen was working. 

But I had one more secret test she didn't know about that was still pending.

Back at my apartment, turning on my vintage 1977 Fender Rhodes that I had shipped here on faith, I sat down on the hard stool, flicked on slight vibrato, closed my eyes, and felt the 9th chords by memory. Whether it was physical memory or muscle memory I can't be sure. All I know is, for the next 15 minutes, my aging fingers found enough of the right keys to musically transport me to Havana, and my soul warmed. 

As I watched my own hands find chords and keys that just a few months before were evasive and confusing, I knew. My health was returning. The Ampligen was working. 

Everything was going to be all right.


7 comments:

  1. I've followed your progress with great anticipation. I've been on Ampligen twice and each time I got my LIFE back, although I overdid it and probably because of XMRV, or ???? I'd slowly fall backward over the years. I am desperate for Ampligen again and reading your post brought me to tears. Tears of joy for you and happiness that someone else has experienced this great drug.
    My best wishes to you. ENJOY! It's quite a change, isn't it? Amazing what happens as you slowly get your life back. I haven't lost all that I gained initially, thankfully, but a lot of it and I'm grateful for what I did receive.I was actually able to go back to work for a few years.
    Blessings,
    Linda Barossi

    (for some reason I have trouble posting to this and find that my posts disappeared? I wish to give you my private email should you ever want to discuss Ampligen and HOW can we get this drug approved. It is lindab016@sbcglobal.net) hoping this one goes through!

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  2. What a wonderful update! I can't tell you how thrilled I am to hear of the sudden progress made and positive results you have had with Ampligen! My dad is currently in treatment and so finally hearing some good result is so encouraging!

    Blessings and keep hanging in there, it can only get better!

    Tali

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  3. Thanks for the update and for the wake up call you gave me today.l Knew my bride was sick but i did not understand just how sick she was until you pointed out to me today to get myself educated on her illness and quick. This woman is the love of my life and right now as she lays in the other room with a core temp of some where over 100 my heart aches to help her but i cannot do anything except understand. I have seen people in cancer treatment and aids treatment and this ampligen treatment really out does both of them . My bride is so sick she can not move. Her treatment of yesterday has her so sick she is in such pain and there is nothing i can do but stay away from her and if she calls get her water or refill her ice bags which she has all over her chest to cool her down. My house is 68 degrees and i am freezing b ut she is hot. Sick and just plain in so much intense pain that pain pills are a waste of time to take.

    i do not know why this medicine is not approved except that it takes someone really and i mean really sick to take it or to tolerate the treatment however after 23 years of my wife being sick and spending hundreds of thousand of dollars on every treatment that we have read about Ampligen seems to be making her reappear however slight a glimmer of that beautiful smile rears it head after about 3 days of rest from treatment Then it is Iwo Jima all over again as the ampligen invades that virus and kills it off slowly but surely.
    Tbanks again for all that you do to inform us mates of the illness. We suffer too as we lose our loved ones and we get frustrated adn angry and just plain out mad about why our other half cannot talk to us or love us or act decently for a change without a grimice on their face/ While we try to help them we have to realize that a big deal for them is getting out of the bed to go to the potty and make it back again without running into sometnhing or falling down from exhaustion from that long 10 foot trip they have just had to make.
    God Bless you and thank you you are a wonderful man Keep those posts coming adn please let me know when youo fianlly run thru the field in those white drawers ok my friend That is a memory shot i def want to see . I pray one day my bride and i can tip toe thru the tulips again hand in hand with her well and me admiring this grand mother of 5 and mother of 6. I am going to get myh bride back adn i cannot wait to bewith her again. It has been a long and lonesome journey while waiting for her to come back to me. I have to fight self pity and then i see how sick she is and i feel selfish for even thinking of myself. My job 1 is now to try to understand her and to help her get well and free her from this awfully sick body. Through the miracle called ampligen.

    Gods
    Richest
    Blessings my friend

    Leather Neck

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  4. The Government daren't licence Ampligen, except as an experimental drug, as that would be tantamount to admitting that the immune-modulator drug actually works - for a disease that they still promote as a psychiatric, "all-in-the-head" mental disease. Opening up this subject would destroy the CDC's paradigm and many reputations, jobs, tenures, grants etc would be lost. They actually don't care two hoots about the illness in sick people - that's not what they're interested in, only their wallets.
    There is a drug similar to Ampligen, with a similar effect. Doses wear off and have to be repeated every few weeks. BUT it's available, as it's licensed for treating lymphoma and non-Hodgkinson Lymphoma. It's Rituximab (Ritulan). But like Ampligen it has to be given intravenously, and it's quite expensive. Google "rituximab buy" to find out.

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  5. This is the first time I have seen your blog Kelvin - my husband and I are so thrilled for you - I have ME and he is a big Fender Rhodes fan! Very best wishes to you and your wife and to the other commenters on here.

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  6. The thing about Ampligen is - not even the drug company that manufacturers the drug is certain how or why the drug works. They have ideas why it works, but no solid research studies exist to back up theories.

    Ampligen isn't being kept off the market because "they" don't want those of us with the illness to get better. It must be noted, Ampligen works for some, but not all patients.

    In the late 1990s, one of my husband's colleagues asked if he could talk with my husband ... he knew I'd been ill with EBV-triggered CFS for a long time. My husband's colleague's brother was terribly ill. My husband's colleague was afraid for his brother's life - his brother had gotten much better while on Ampligen, but when they (his family) had to stop the drug, due to the expense of the drug, the patient had gone downhill rapidly. The patient was much worse after stopping the drug than he'd been before he started it.

    Since the manufacturer can't explain how or why Ampligen works, we have to wait for research to be done - and vetted by the scientific research community. There have been MANY Ampligen guinea-pigs over the years.

    I don't understand why the company that makes the drug doesn't do the research so it can be widely sold. Unless/ until they do that, chances of "the rest of us" (who can't afford thousands of dollars per treatment) won't get the drug.

    I wish you well, Kelvin. I, too, play piano - Classical/ New Age in my case. It, along with friendship and laughter, is "the best medicine". I understand.

    I hope Ampligen continues to help you!

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  7. What a crock of shit! Google Ampligen in the Pink!

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