The following is a true story, purely anecdotal and thus may not be considered relevant by some – especially those of exclusively scientifically oriented minds who concern themselves with theoretical purity (such as double blind studies) and consequently scoff at everything that is not up to their standards. However, what happened was relevant for the patient in so far as it indeed reduced some of the discomfort she had to endure in the last few weeks of her life. Because of this, the story is also relevant for me, and worth sharing. Everything that can help a patient is worth considering. It also may give the doctors among you a little food for thought.
In the photo you see a young woman in her twenties (the photo dates from the 1930s). When this same woman was nearly 91 old, she came under my care after she had moved to Goa explicitly because she wanted to die not in a hospital bed or in a nursing home, but in her son’s and daughter-in-law’s house. When I first met her as a patient, she was bound to a wheelchair and could hardly adjust her position because of lack of strength in her arms. Yet, she immensely enjoyed sitting on the elevated back porch, dreamily lost in the view of the Zuari river bay. She could sit there for hours. When in bed at night, like in the wheelchair she could also not turn, but stayed in the same supine position for many hours.
Inevitably, she developed bedsores.
An ozone generator and a cylinder with medical grade oxygen were available in the house. So I figured, what have we got to lose? I started treating her with ozone bagging the areas of her back, thighs and feet that were afflicted with the sores, after some of the prescription creams had failed to take effect. I also applied ozonated olive oil.
I was a little shocked over the success of the treatment. In those days I had only worked for a few months with ozone, mainly in a clinic in Bangalore. I did not have much experience to go by. And shocked why? Well, the sores on the heels went after two days of bagging and application of oil; the sores in the lower back disappeared after three days. The wounds had completely healed over. I could not believe it. If you know how difficult it usually is to treat bedsores, which I knew from my hospital days, you’d understand my initial disbelief.
I still remember this patient very well. There was radiance around her; some kind of deep inner peace. She also was the first patient that I treated without third party supervision. She was very appreciative.