The United State of Grief
Steven D. Passik, Ph.D., is a Pennsylvania-based pain psychologist. I’m proud to call him a friend. He is a giant in the field of pain medicine, but that doesn’t make his family members immune to the problems that other chronic patients face.
Steve lost his mother on September 14, 2016. He’s given me permission to share this part of her story here.
The Grief of Chronic Pain
Aside from when I broke down while giving my mom’s eulogy, I must admit I haven’t been all that emotional since she died. Perhaps, it’s just the unreality of the finality and I am simply numb. Don’t get me wrong, I do get choked about the little things; like when I realize I won’t ever again get one of her silly emails forwarding me (and 400 other “Fran-atics”) some joke she had laughed at which used to come about 3-4 times per week. When people have expressed their sympathies to me I have been grateful, but I have felt as if after I thanked them that they were searching my face for signs of more grief or more immediate hurt. When they couldn’t necessarily find it, I think they probably chalked it up to my having said that she was old (not necessarily chronologically – 84 – but in diabetic years) and had been suffering. People seem satisfied with that and we both agree that she is “in a better place.”
Certainly, there is a sense of relief, which both my dad and I admit to, that she isn’t suffering anymore and that having to deliver her total care has ended for him. This care was something she would have died way sooner without and I think she knew it and it was also something for which she was, I am sure, grateful. She was often too humiliated at needing it though, to be able to express gratitude. She was often irritable due to her limitations and combined with the shame she felt she was often unable to exchange even the kinds of pleasantries with my dad that you would to a stranger for caring for you. My relief also came from not having to watch these painful dynamics play out between them.
The real reason for my experience is not that I am a Vulcan. Not numbness either. Nor is relief primarily responsible. The truth is my mother had been lost to me for so long that when people have acknowledged the loss recently it often felt like they were talking about a loss that happened long ago. Not unlike if someone had come up to me and said, sorry about your grandma (who I lost 44 years ago).
Chronic pain had long since taken her from me.
In fairness, the hearing loss compounded her absence sometimes as much as the pain itself. But if she had not been frozen in place by unrelieved pain making every step and interaction a tortured effort, I would have shouted till the pictures she had painted in her younger days shook on the walls to engage her in more activities. Not only did the pain make her unable to leave the house, even to go to dinner in a restaurant with us, the pain made her unable to draw or paint anymore too. While I know she had her pleasures as I spoke of in my previous blog – from the Mets, to Facebook, to a bowl of ice cream at night (damn the torpedoes) – she could no longer hold a brush or pastel long enough to express herself artistically.
The Thief of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain was a thief, stealing her identity from her and in turn stealing her from us. I am waiting for these pain filled memories to fade as I saw happen so often in grieving family members of my cancer patients who had died, and give way to memories of happier times when she was a force to be reckoned with. Seeing what happened to my mother has further steeled me in my pain advocacy. I am angry and hurt that my mother’s medications were taken from her and she from us. In my rage and grief I want to call out and discredit every over simplified “solution,” every law, every bit of rhetoric that distorts the truth, dishonors her and threatens to bring the same loss and pain to other people and their families. I want to expose those who purposely stain pain management, who seek to humiliate pain practitioners and people with pain.
I am not alone in feeling this way. For so many on the anti-opioid side of the raging national debate also have staked out their positions because of loss.
The United State of Grief
Some of the most vociferous among the anti-opioid advocates have lost children. Others have lost spouses and siblings and assorted family members. They have lost friends too. Indeed, it is not since the early days of the AIDS epidemic that people of a certain young demographic have known as much loss as some young people in the New England area have known in the past few years due to opioid abuse. Advocacy is, therefore, deeply personal to them, as reflected in the fact that when they have created foundations and charities to enable their efforts, these often bear the name of their lost loved ones. In their lost ones’ names they want to change the state of affairs. They want to dedicate their every remaining day to honoring their child’s memory by calling out and discrediting every over-simplified opioid-based message, every overly liberal law, every bit of rhetoric that they feel distorts the truth, that dishonors their lost one and threatens to bring the same loss and pain to other people and their families. They seek to expose those that they believe bring death and destruction to the lives of innocent young people and their families.
We are all of us on both sides of this debate, united in our grief.
This is a remarkable fact, for we are otherwise more divided than red and blue states, agreeing on very little. There is however something very important to understanding this about one another – that we are all ethical people, motivated by real humanity and empathy and fighting for the good of others in the name of those we have loved. So if we all believed this, would the effort to shame one another or leaders on both sides of the debate cease? Would we listen better? Would we be less apt to question one another’s motives? Would we temper our efforts?
I am sure that my advocacy is not so extreme that I would want to remove all recently erected barriers to opioids to help some and discount possibly harming others. Would an anti-opioid advocate admit that it doesn’t honor their loved one’s memory to fight so absolutely against opioid availability that they are causing pain and suffering in people like my mother. In the name of a person who died is inflicting pain and loss that mirrors what the person and their survivors experienced really the goal?
I am not only steeled in my advocacy. I have also been made more acutely aware of the amount of loss and grief that is running through us. I suppose I have been very emotional since my mother died after all. We all need to recognize this about ourselves and I am pretty sure if we do and begin to work together, one-sided approaches will be the causalities, not people with pain nor people with problems of drug abuse.
Then we will all be in a better place.
Purchase my book, The Painful Truth: What Chronic Pain Is Really Like and Why It Matters to Each of Us (available on Amazon), or read a free excerpt here.
Find me here:
Twitter
Google+
Amazon and Facebook
Finally a wise psychologist who believes that pain is real, not “all in the head” and that chronic pain patient ARENT addicts.
Every month,as my appointment to see my pain management doctor draws closer, I get a huge pit in my stomach. Will this be the visit where he explains to me how scared he is over the thought of the DEA revoking his medical license? So scared in fact that he breaks the news,he no longer feels comfortable prescribing certain opiates. The same opiates that have allowed me to live agony-free. Not pain free. But enough that i no longer contemplate ending my pain ridden life. However, after witnessing law abiding doctors petrified the DEA will find some way, any way, to shut them down,take away their medical license,ruin their lives that took them many years,dedication,and hard work to build, I may have to go back to contemplating which will be the easiest way to end my life. To be continued…..
Using anti-opoid laws to stop abuse is like killing a fly with a shotgun. You may kill the fly (or not) but there is a hell of a lot more collateral damage.
There are Soooo True FACTS within these Pledges and Oaths from Victims of Negligence and Unreal modalities that surface toward The Unconscionable thought process “That Good People” With ” Good Medical Diagnosis” , “Good Medical Cause” be Deprived of Some Relief from there Suffering from there ***Qualified Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopath D.O. or other Very Well Trained And ***Qualified Medical Professionals , The Hippocratic Oath of The Real Doctor of Medicine , Doctor of Pain Management” Doctor of Oncology” ALL Treating Doctors*** “TO HELP , NOT HARM” and to even Fathom To A Microscopic Dot of thought process even a thought That these ***Very Very Well Trained Medical Professionals*** are ALL Just Simply Stupid Ignorant People That Beat The Books in Studies and Medical Exams and Lectures Over and Over In The University Medical Schools , Just to have The United States of America Government Agencies , Tell Them They Don’t Know (What There Doing) that IS Unconscionable ! To even have a nightmare x 1000 that The United States of America Our Government Agencies , Our Country , Be so Naive as to The Real Addicts / Fools of Opiate Mis-use and Abuse It Is literally “Unbelievable” . For Our United States of America Government Agencies To Pray that Good People With Good Medical Diagnosis , and Good Medical Cause Be Neglected from Medical Care From there Health Care Providers i.e. Doctors (Is Not Even In Any Medical School or University ) Training Prodigal) .
The REAL Dope Addicts and Dope Abusers Are going to Always Continue to use illicit Opiates illegally or otherwise No Matter WHAT Our U. S. Government Agencies Does . They have for hundreds of years .
But to Totally De-Face Tear Out The Minds and Hearts Of OUR Well Trained Doctors and Well Trained Medical Professionals To The Point of Out Right Fear of Loss of Medical Licenses and other Fears of there Medical Life Long Careers , Don’t Treat Your Patients Or You’ll Loose ALL That You Ever Studied For In Medical Schools and them Stupid Universities through ALL Them DOZEN + Years , “That IS Just “Unconscionable” to think that The United States of America would do that To There “Great Cum laude Graduates” and Medical Degree Doctors and ALL Medical Professionals . “TOTALLY “UNCONSCIONABLE” .
Are there BAD Doctors that Prescribe Opiates For ‘NO Good Medical Cause or Diagnosis Reasons” ?? Absolutely , “There Always Has Been” , “AND THERE ALWAYS WILL BE” , just Like there are BAD People in ALL Professions on This Earth .
But I would wager That “The Highest Percentage 98% of The Medical Community of M.D.’s D.O.’s NP’s , Doctors , NP , P.A.’S , and Medical Personnel” “ARE WAY ABOVE VERY GOOD WELL TRAINED Doctors” “THAT HAVE GREAT MEDICAL JUDGEMENT AND GREAT MEDICAL COMMON SENSE ” AND GREAT SKILLS” “TO HELP , NOT HARM” There Patients .
I , AM , A “CHRONIC PAIN” SUFFERER OF 30+ YEARS , SO I DO HAVE A SMALL INSIGHT AND OPINION OF ALL “THE GREAT WELL TRAINED MEDICAL STAFF OF MEDICAL DOCTOR’s , ANP’s , D.O.’s and “The Medical Professions” AT LARGE .
“In The Beginning” Opiates were NOT The First Drug or Treatment To Use , Other Medications “WERE ALWAYS TRIED FIRST’ AND FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME” , BEFORE ‘OPIATES” WERE THEN “A MUST TRY OF TREATMENT” AND WITH “GOOD MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS” AND “WELL THOUGHT OUT MEDICAL PLAN OF ACTION OF TREATMENT” ALONG WITH “GOOD PATIENT DOCTOR RELATIONS” OPIATE DRUG TREATMENT” WORKS FINE FOR SOME PEOPLE OTHERS IT MAY .
“THE PROBLEMS START WHEN THE “NOT GOOD FAITH PATIENTS” DRUG SEEKER’s DRUG ADDICT’S’ BEGIN TO APPROACH AND INVADE “THE GOOD DOCTOR’s” AND DECEIVE “THERE DOCTOR’s TRUST IN THEM” THEY SALE THERE MEDICATIONS WHICH IS UNLAWFUL , INSTEAD OF TAKING THEM “MEDICATIONS” FOR “THERE MEDICAL CARE”, THEY DECEIVE EVERYONE THAT IS “GOOD” !
THERE WITHIN IS WHERE “THE CHRONIC PAIN PATIENT SUFFERER” IS LABELED LIKE “THE DECEPTIVE” DRUG ADDICT DRUG SEEKER” TOTALLY BLACK AND UNFAIRLY !
AND “GOOD DOCTOR’s ARE LABELED “DRUG PUSHERS” TOTALLY UNFAIRLY” !
“HELP , NOT HARM” IS ONE OF “THE GREATEST SLOGANS” EVER TYPED ON PAPER !
Well now ALL Doctors of Medicine , Doctors of Osteopath , and MOST ALL OTHER Doctors in The Medical Community Have “NOW” “Quit There Medical Practice” Of Treating “CHRONIC PAIN Patients SUFFERERS” that they Studied Very Very Hard To Even Obtain ” A DEGREE TO PRACTICE” IN A FIELD OF STUDY TO “HELP” ALL MAN KIND , IN THE FIRST PLACE . THAT TO ME IS “UNCONSCIONABLE” .
Im 44 yrs old and have been in chronic pain since I was 16. I was started on opioids only AFTER failing every single other option known to the medical community and many experts. So, Ive been on extended release morphine [or an equivalent] for just about 14 years now.
I never ever failed a drug test or a pee test, nor have I ever taken more or less than directed, nor have I even so much as missed an appointment in those same 14 years. I saw the exact same physician for 12 of those years. I have not ever once given them ANY reason to take my meds away as Ive always followed the law/rules of my state.
I saw my same physician for only 12years of the 14 its been now, because my doctor, bless his heart, understood pain and chronic pain, and how it robs people of their lives. He was a pain clinic specialist, a MD, and well respected in his field and our community for 20+ years. Yet, as a DIRECT RESULT of prescribing ME my pain pills [either the extended release morphine, or else the fentanyl patch, when I was pregnant], my highly respected, highly reputable, highly revered by ALL patients physician, was turned in to the medical board in our state for prescribing opioids. I found out a few months later that the North Dakota medical board actually stripped him of his medical license.
And for what? What did he do that was so horrible as to strip him of his entire life’s work??? He simply continued to act on behalf of chronic pain patients like myself, writing scripts for us and giving us at least some quality of life in so doing.
Keep in mind he practiced at an actual “Pain Clinic”; was an expert in Pain Management; a MD, and had more than 25 years experience at the time he was so unjustly robbed of his life’s work.
THIS IS SO HORRIBLY WRONG!
Now, then I am stuck seeing someone else in the very same office where I saw him for over 12 years. This provider is not an MD, but rather a PA. This provider tells me that I can no longer have the medications I have been on for the past 14 years, and that the doctors insist I am to stop them entirely “due to the CDC Guidelines that came out in March 2016”.
I understand completely that there seems to be a lot of opioid abuse in the USA. I get that. I also understand that those people who are abusing the opioids are NOT getting their drugs from me! I TAKE MY MEDS! I NEED THEM TO FUNCTION AT ALL! I would also bet my life that these addicts are also NOT getting their drugs from my fellow chronic pain patients. OUR LIFE DEPENDS on them. Without my meds, I have ZERO quality of life. I cannot work. I cannot drive. I cannot take care of my home nor my children who need me. I can no longer shower myself, nor wash my own hair. I cannot get dressed without help. I cannot do many activities of daily living without pain medication. So, due to the fact that my PAIN will keep me from living life, I keep my meds under lock and key. There isnt a chance in hell anyone is going to get one of my meds!
Therefore, it should be clear, that by taking away CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS’ opioids, you in fact are NOT making a difference in the addiction rate or death rate from folks addicted to opioids. Nope, we take our meds, and we prove it with pee tests month after month. So, the CDC is not making the slightest bit of an impact on the addicts’ deaths, and yet ARE SEVERELY NEGATIVELY AFFECTING pain patients’ lives around the country. Look it up- there have been many many suicides since pain folks have been denied their usual pain meds. It began happening a couple of years ago, but- since March 2016, there is a huge influx of pain patients who have been in so much pain that they ended their own lives just to get relief from the pain.
So, tell me this. WHY is the life of that addict worth more than MY life, or the life of my fellow chronic pain patients??? The bottom line is- your guidelines have simply traded an addicts’ life for a chronic pain patients’ life.
Who died and made YOU God? [I say this to the people who made the CDC 3/2016 guidelines] What the hell gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? Last I checked that is up to God Himself, and its our job on earth to aid others, to be there for others, to serve others, to do whatever we can for others…. this would include treating chronic pain patients fairly with respect and with dignity, and allowing them the meds that work for them- whether its an opioid or not.
It is a well known fact that we lose thousands and thousands of lives in this country every year from alcohol- related accidents and incidents. [The numbers are far greater than the number of folks currently addicted to opioids, by the way]. Yet, have we taken alcohol away from EVERYONE because of the folks that abuse it and cause accidents and deaths from abusing it??? No. No we sure dont.
Well, why not? I mean this is the exact same thing we are talking about here. This alcohol that some folks abuse and/or become addicted to is no different than my opioid medications. No different. Yet, there is a liquor store every other block in cities all over this country! We have commercials on tv which advertise alcoholic beverages! We have leaders in our country like senators who we see in the news all the time due to being drunk and disorderly or for a DUI. These are leaders of our country!
Now then, do you have to piss in front of a stranger/nurse before you can purchase a bottle of wine or a 12 pack of beer for the family bbq this weekend??? Do you have to have your name and other personal details documented for the government’s “Federal Prescription ALCOHOL BEER and WINE Registry”, to alert the government as to just who bought alcohol today?
Do you get choose for yourself which product in that liquor store you would like to purchase, or does some dictator TELL YOU what you HAVE TO BUY and DRINK??? Does that dictator also tell you HOW MUCH alcohol you may have today? “No, you cant have a 12 pack sir. Nope, not a 6 pack either; you’ve bought too many alcoholic beverages lately, so Im only going to let you buy 2 cans of beer today”. Or tell you, “No, you cannot have that whiskey, all you can have is beer”.
Does anyone out there have even a clue????? PLEASE, PLEASE, SOMEONE HEAR ME! I speak for chronic pain sufferers all over this great country. We have the right to choose for ourselves whether we want to take a risk by using a specific pain medication. We have the right to choose for ourselves whether or not a certain medication is helpful, based upon our trial of it, and whether or not it even helps our pain at all. We DESERVE to be treated with dignity and respect, and not like a 3 year old child. MY BODY= MY CHOICE If a chronic pain sufferer tries everything known to possibly help, and they finally come up with an opioid that relieves some or most of their pain, they DESERVE the opportunity to purchase it!
I mean, really….who are you, any of you, to think that you have ANY right whatsoever to decide how I LIVE MY life or how I treat MY CHRONIC PAIN? Do YOU have to live in THIS body?? Then you DO NOT have jurisdiction in this BODY of mine!
Lastly, I just have to put this out there in case not all of you are aware. The CDC Guidelines that were put out March 2016 were NOT meant for patients that are going to a specific kind of place such as a Pain Clinic and seeing a pain specialist. Not at all. The guidelines clearly state that their intention was to apply these new rules to family practice doctors or primary care doctors; NOT Pain Clinic doctors/patients. CDC is wanting these types of doctors to stop prescribing opioids for more “acute” types of pain.
Oh, another thing I find rather interesting–The new CDC guidelines went out as a “SUGGESTION” only. It does not state ANYWHERE in the document that ANYONE “HAS TO” implement the guidelines. It truly doesnt! So why do you suppose that these pain clinic doctors were so darn eager to cut people off from their medication???
Im in too much pain to continue on this, Im sorry. Hopefully I wrote clearly enough that it makes sense to somebody out there who has some power to do something for us. I can hope.
Take care all of you. Know that you are not alone in this. May God richly bless each one who reads this webpage.
Im 44 yrs old and have been in chronic pain since I was 16. I was started on opioids only AFTER failing every single other option known to the medical community and many experts. So, Ive been on extended release morphine [or an equivalent] for just about 14 years now.
I never ever failed a drug test or a pee test, nor have I ever taken more or less than directed, nor have I even so much as missed an appointment in those same 14 years. I saw the exact same physician for 12 of those years. I have not ever once given them ANY reason to take my meds away as Ive always followed the law/rules of my state.
I saw my same physician for only 12 years of the 14 its been now, because my doctor, bless his heart, understood pain and chronic pain, and how it robs people of their lives. He was a pain clinic specialist, a MD, and well respected in his field and our community for 20+ years. Yet, as a DIRECT RESULT of prescribing ME my pain pills [either the extended release morphine, or else the fentanyl patch, when I was pregnant], my highly respected, highly reputable, highly revered by ALL patients physician, was turned in to the medical board in our state for prescribing opioids. I found out a few months later that the North Dakota medical board actually stripped him of his medical license.
And for what? What did he do that was so horrible as to strip him of his entire life’s work??? He simply continued to act on behalf of chronic pain patients like myself, writing scripts for us and giving us at least some quality of life in so doing.
Keep in mind he practiced at an actual “Pain Clinic”; was an expert in Pain Management; a MD, and had more than 25 years experience at the time he was so unjustly robbed of his life’s work.
THIS IS SO HORRIBLY WRONG!
Now, then I am stuck seeing someone else in the very same office where I saw him for over 12 years. This provider is not an MD, but rather a PA. This provider tells me that I can no longer have the medications I have been on for the past 14 years, and that the doctors insist I am to stop them entirely “due to the CDC Guidelines that came out in March 2016”.
I understand completely that there seems to be a lot of opioid abuse in the USA. I get that. I also understand that those people who are abusing the opioids are NOT getting their drugs from me! I TAKE MY MEDS! I NEED THEM TO FUNCTION AT ALL! I would also bet my life that these addicts are also NOT getting their drugs from my fellow chronic pain patients. OUR LIFE DEPENDS on them. Without my meds, I have ZERO quality of life. I cannot work. I cannot drive. I cannot take care of my home nor my children who need me. I can no longer shower myself, nor wash my own hair. I cannot get dressed without help. I cannot do many activities of daily living without pain medication. So, due to the fact that my PAIN will keep me from living life, I keep my meds under lock and key. There isnt a chance in hell anyone is going to get one of my meds!
Therefore, it should be clear, that by taking away CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS’ opioids, you in fact are NOT making a difference in the addiction rate or death rate from folks addicted to opioids. Nope, we take our meds, and we prove it with pee tests month after month. So, the CDC is not making the slightest bit of an impact on the addicts’ deaths, and yet ARE SEVERELY NEGATIVELY AFFECTING pain patients’ lives around the country. Look it up- there have been many many suicides since pain folks have been denied their usual pain meds. It began happening a couple of years ago, but- since March 2016, there is a huge influx of pain patients who have been in so much pain that they ended their own lives just to get relief from the pain.
So, tell me this. WHY is the life of that addict worth more than MY life, or the life of my fellow chronic pain patients??? The bottom line is- your guidelines have simply traded an addicts’ life for a chronic pain patients’ life.
Who died and made YOU God? [I say this to the people who made the CDC 3/2016 guidelines] What the hell gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? Last I checked that is up to God Himself, and its our job on earth to aid others, to be there for others, to serve others, to do whatever we can for others…. this would include treating chronic pain patients fairly with respect and with dignity, and allowing them the meds that work for them- whether its an opioid or not.
It is a well known fact that we lose thousands and thousands of lives in this country every year from alcohol- related accidents and incidents. [The numbers are far greater than the number of folks currently addicted to opioids, by the way]. Yet, have we taken alcohol away from EVERYONE because of the folks that abuse it and cause accidents and deaths from abusing it??? No. No we sure dont.
Well, why not? I mean this is the exact same thing we are talking about here. This alcohol that some folks abuse and/or become addicted to is no different than my opioid medications. No different. Yet, there is a liquor store every other block in cities all over this country! We have commercials on tv which advertise alcoholic beverages! We have leaders in our country like senators who we see in the news all the time due to being drunk and disorderly or for a DUI. These are leaders of our country!
Now then, do you have to piss in front of a stranger/nurse before you can purchase a bottle of wine or a 12 pack of beer for the family bbq this weekend??? Do you have to have your name and other personal details documented for the government’s “Federal Prescription ALCOHOL BEER and WINE Registry”, to alert the government as to just who bought alcohol today?
Do you get choose for yourself which product in that liquor store you would like to purchase, or does some dictator TELL YOU what you HAVE TO BUY and DRINK??? Does that dictator also tell you HOW MUCH alcohol you may have today? “No, you cant have a 12 pack sir. Nope, not a 6 pack either; you’ve bought too many alcoholic beverages lately, so Im only going to let you buy 2 cans of beer today”. Or tell you, “No, you cannot have that whiskey, all you can have is beer”.
Does anyone out there have even a clue????? PLEASE, PLEASE, SOMEONE HEAR ME! I speak for chronic pain sufferers all over this great country. We have the right to choose for ourselves whether we want to take a risk by using a specific pain medication. We have the right to choose for ourselves whether or not a certain medication is helpful, based upon our trial of it, and whether or not it even helps our pain at all. We DESERVE to be treated with dignity and respect, and not like a 3 year old child. MY BODY= MY CHOICE If a chronic pain sufferer tries everything known to possibly help, and they finally come up with an opioid that relieves some or most of their pain, they DESERVE the opportunity to purchase it!
I mean, really….who are you, any of you, to think that you have ANY right whatsoever to decide how I LIVE MY life or how I treat MY CHRONIC PAIN? Do YOU have to live in THIS body?? Then you DO NOT have jurisdiction in this BODY of mine!
Lastly, I just have to put this out there in case not all of you are aware. The CDC Guidelines that were put out March 2016 were NOT meant for patients that are going to a specific kind of place such as a Pain Clinic and seeing a pain specialist. Not at all. The guidelines clearly state that their intention was to apply these new rules to family practice doctors or primary care doctors; NOT Pain Clinic doctors/patients. CDC is wanting these types of doctors to stop prescribing opioids for more “acute” types of pain.
Oh, another thing I find rather interesting–The new CDC guidelines went out as a “SUGGESTION” only. It does not state ANYWHERE in the document that ANYONE “HAS TO” implement the guidelines. It truly doesnt! So why do you suppose that these pain clinic doctors were so darn eager to cut people off from their medication???
Im in too much pain to continue on this, Im sorry. Hopefully I wrote clearly enough that it makes sense to somebody out there who has some power to do something for us. I can hope.
Take care all of you. Know that you are not alone in this. May God richly bless each one who reads this webpage.