Our Angel is Flying Away

On Monday we had a chiropractor appointment and when I opened the door I knew something wasn’t right. I can’t explain it but looking back the energy was wrong in the room.

We were handed a letter as we walked in to wait for Dr Alison our chiropractor and a sense of dread spread over me, I sensed what was inside and I didn’t really want to open it. I didn’t need to read much more than one line to have my worst fears confirmed – she was leaving and not around the corner - to the other side of the country.

Dr Alison Scott has been our families chiropractor for over eight years. My Little Angel was only a few months old when we found her and Cameron was eight years old.

We were shopping and MLA was hungry as only babies can be hungry and Cameron was being difficult because he wasn’t coping with the stresses of being inside a shopping centre with post Christmas crowds. We decided to stop in a cafe, feed everyone and hopefully cope a little better afterwards. As I started to feed MLA a gentleman we didn’t know approached us and asked if Cameron always behaved the way he was behaving and did he have a back problem. This was so out of the blue that it irritated us – couldn’t he see we were struggling and needed to be left alone.

We were polite and explained that Cameron had brain damage and yes this was normal. We smiled but used body language to express our need for him to leave. He didn’t leave. He told us that as a fully grown man he used to behave like Cameron but he found a solution. We still weren’t really interested, we still had hungry upset children and felt uncomfortable drawing attention to ourselves in a such a public way.

The gentleman went on to explain that all his family were doctors except himself and so he understood a little of the medical world and so he knew that what he was about to tell us was safe and it works. He had found a chiropractor who had helped him and eradicated his behaviour. We looked at him bemused – what was he talking about. We knew about chiropractors because we had a friend and a family member who used one but they were for fixing your spine not your behaviour. This man was clearly unstable and the sooner we moved him on the sooner we could calm the children and have a cup of coffee.

The gentleman explained that the chiropractor he found was across the road from where we were sitting and he strongly encouraged us to visit her. We thanked him and breathed a sigh of relief when he finally left us in peace.

We finally got to eat and feed everyone and were doing the typical family juggling with a baby and food when our new found friend visited us again before leaving the cafe. With smiles on our faces we listened politely as he told us again how much he felt Cameron would benefit from seeing his chiropractor, he explained again how to find her and explained again how much it had helped him. He strongly urged us to go and visit this mysterious woman and get help. He walked away and we were left wondering why he had been so insistent, he just wouldn’t let it go.

Life took over and we moved on but this strange man kept popping up in our thoughts and within a few days we found ourselves asking each other if we should see what this chiropractor was all about. We finally swallowed our pride and made the phone call – he’d made sure he left us with the phone number.

The day we walked into the Dr Alison Scott’s consulting room was as significant as the day we first walked into Riding for the Disabled – it was a life changing moment.

Dr Ali was incredibly bubbly and kind. She specialized in children and she took the time to explain everything to us so we understood what chiropractic could do for us. We learnt that it wasn’t just about sore backs because everything links back to our spinal system and if it is all in the correct place then our bodies function and work much better. Consequently our behaviour changes.

She started working on Cameron and there were a lot of appointments to help Cameron’s body realign its self.  Slowly we started to see differences, the first being that he started to stop destroying rooms. Cameron would go into a room and pull everything out, down and often break things then he would walk into the room later looking shocked at the carnage he had left as if he knew nothing about it.

We noticed that the small seizures and vomiting seizures which we had learnt to live with started to decrease and they eventually disappeared. Cameron became calmer and more focused and everybody noticed the changes.

When we started to see changes we asked if Alison could help My Little Angel with her silent reflux and within two weeks the reflux was gone and we were no longer catching constant vomit. Then My Marvellous Man started going to see if chiropractic could help him feel better and it did. Finally I started and within a couple of weeks I started to wish that I had found our new found Angel before I had given birth to MLA because I could clearly see that some of the pain I experienced was because of the alignment of my spine and it had now been corrected.

Over the next year we noticed we didn’t get as sick as we used to and we stopped making constant visits to our GP. Cameron in particular had been extremely prone to contracting every little bug going around and he was now much healthier and able to fight off a cold in a couple of days.

Over the years Dr Alison has saved us all from trips to the GP. The most dramatic being the day I took MLA in -  a quiet, clearly unwell little girl. She was cuddling her teddy and not interested in anything. Five minutes later she stood up, abandoned her teddy and walked out of the surgery much happier – it was amazing.

She has put me back together when I’ve fallen and helped my body cope with its hormonal unbalances. She’s taken away headaches and tummy aches, back aches and wonky hips. We really don’t go to the GP anymore – I forget I need to have pap smears. Consequently MLA at 8yrs of age has never taken an antibiotic and I don' t think any of us have taken an antibiotic since we found Alison.

If it wasn’t for that gentleman who was so insistent that we listened to him we wouldn’t have found our Family Angel. I am grateful he was so insistent. She flew unexpectedly into our lives and now she is spreading her wings and flying off to pastures new.

I had to admit to shedding tears on Monday as soon as I walked out of the building, I only just held it together as I hugged Ali goodbye and I couldn't say what I wanted to say. I don’t think I will ever find the words to express how grateful I am for Ali’s expertise, help and caring over the years but here goes ....... 

Ali - Thank you for everything you have done for us. You have been a major person in our lives and I honestly can not imagine life without you. You've answered all my questions, never made me feel silly. Helped us when we needed you and made us feel safe. You have helped me understand my own body as well as everyone elses and I'm a little scared you won't be there the next time I don't understand what is going on.

But you are entering a new phase of your life and I knew deep down that this day was going to come - I just didn't want to believe it. I hope as you hang your angels on your Christmas Tree each year you will remember that little boy that needed you to save him so badly and you will remember that young man that said goodbye to you on Monday. Bye Ali and Thank You for being our families Angel.