I don't even have words, I am so, so so very sorry. This sounds relentless, and I am only thankful that you are surrounded by so many people who love you so much. I do hope you update us when you're able, and hope you manage to keep your mind and heart occupied.
All my thoughts and prayers with you, Shermeen On 4/27/17, Mr. Ed <pink...@abe.midco.net> wrote: > Hi Zoe, > I will be praying for you. Also I am going to share your email with my River > Christian email group to pray for you. > Hang in there and keep your faith in our Lord Jesus. Remember the story on > Job. > Mr. Ed > > -----Original Message----- > From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf > Of zoe fiogkos > Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2017 2:35 PM > To: viphone@googlegroups.com > Subject: prayers and reason for unsubscribing soon > > Hi my fellow elf's and Mrs. Clause. Hope you are all doing ok. Unfortunately > I have no choice, I have to unsubscribe from all the email groups I belong > to. I haven't been able to check email and be online for a long time and it > seems I will be out of things for much longer. When I turned on my laptop > this morning I had over fifteen thousand emails waiting for me. Given my > situation I just can't keep up anymore. I pray that one day I recover and > are able to join my favourite groups again. My family is against me telling > people what's wrong but I feel in writing this email I'm also helping myself > to come to grips with my illness. I will remain subscribed a few more days > so that I may read your thoughts in hopes that your words might help me to > continue to fight this awful illness. > Again I'm sorry for the off topic post and I hope the moderators can find it > in their hearts to forgive me, and if one day I recover I hope they will > remember me and let me back in to my favourite mailing groups. > Before I tell you all my story, I would like to thank each and every one of > you for either your help on various topics, or your individual private help > through the phone or private email, or your messages of getting to know me, > or your words of encouragement when it came to the mac, jaws, NVDA, windows > 10, household tips, cooking instructions, prayers, and harmless chit chat. > If I offended anyone in anyway, or gave anyone a hard time please forgive > me. > Here's my unbelievable story. > Last August I was doing a lot of gardening mostly weeding to be honest. I > was on my hands and knees from morning to night pulling weeds and keeping my > property clean. I am grateful to the good Lord for blessing me to have such > a lovely property but it's old and no one ever took care of the garden. The > result is weeds on top of my weeds. Chemicals are forbidden here in Canada, > and I haven't been able to find an affordable solution, so I'm left with > fighting weeds on a daily bases. I am a sun lover and adore summer, last > summer was the first time in my life that I couldn't wait for summer to be > over. I was exhausted and I have nothing to remember for my 2016 summer > except pulling weeds all most every day for the whole entire spring, summer, > and fall. > In August I noticed 2 mosquito bites on my elbow and 2 on my inner left > thigh. The bites were very itchy just like normal mosquito bites, so I > didn't think anything of it. I also noticed my nails were black underneath. > I thought it was dirt from the garden, to spite that I was showering every > single day and cleaning my nails, the next morning they would be filthy > again. Again I thought it strange but I justified it in my head as to much > gardening. In August my husband and I visited a few local restaurants and > spent two nights in a motel in north Ontario for a weekend away. > I wanted to try my hand at building a small business doing something I love > so I decided to start making my own bracelets and selling them online. I > have always loved costume jewellery and to spite my vision problems, I have > been taught that there is nothing I can't do. My mother always said "try and > if you fail, oh well, life goes on. Try different things until you find > something you are good at and you love doing." So I talked to my mom and > husband and they both backed me as they always do. My mother who adores me > spent over six thousand dollars to buy my supplies, and encouraged me on a > daily bases. My husband turned half of my computer room into a work space > with special lighting, magnifying contraptions, shelving, etc. My husband > and mom bought me bins with dividers and I spent months sorting beads and > other supplies by color, size, and type. I got help from someone on one of > these mailing lists and he helped me to create labels to label all these > bins. Everything was going great, or so I thought. > I spent hours teaching myself how to make these beautiful bracelets, I > finally got the hang of it after much trial and error and I was ready to > go. > I registered on etsy.com and opened up a Facebook small business page. I > bought more supplies to host a launching party with food, drinks, and gifts > for my guests to introduce them to my creations and my new business. While > all this was happening, I noticed in October that the mosquito bites were > not going away. They had become scabby and even more itchier. > I showed my mom and she justified it just like I had done in my mind. Due to > my type two diabetes they were taking a long time to heal as many things do > when you have diabetes. > At the beginning of November as some of you already know, I started to have > problems with my right eye. Long story short for those who don't know, I > suffer from a cornea disease. My cornea was trying to break. This had > happened before but this time it was persistent and my doctor had to try > different medications to stop the cornea from breaking. While I was battling > this cornea problem I noticed my right arm becoming very itchy and the two > mosquito bites had now become 10. I was so worried about my eye that I put > this arm problem aside until I solve this cornea issue. I thought I was > having an allergic reaction to something. > By the beginning of December my whole entire arm from the elbow down was > covered in scabby itchy pimples. I thought oh my God what's going on? I > changed my soap, detergent, and started to watch what I was eating. Due to > the cornea problem and the Christmas holidays I didn't get to my family > doctor until January. > By January both my arms were covered in these strange itchy things. The > doctor looked at my arms and fingers and said oh don't worry it's nothing, > you have scabies. > Pardon my language but I answered what the hell is scabies? > She said it's a bug sometimes humans get. Usually from sex but since your > husband doesn't have it and you didn't cheat on him you got it from the > motel you stayed at, or from a shopping mall, or someone hugged you who has > it. She continued on to say it will be gone in a few weeks. She said it's > contagious but since you will be treating yourself in the next week don't > worry about it. > She gave me a lotion with pesticide in it and told me to apply it to my > whole body from the knec down before bedtime and shower after 12 hours in > the morning. She said do not apply to face and scalp because scabies don't > go there and it's not safe. > She said repeat this process one week later. During this week of treatment > vacuum the house every day and wash linens and all clothing warn every day. > > So off I went astonished at what I had heard. Where the heck did I get > something like this. Oh well I thought it will soon be over, or so I > believed. > On my way to the pharmacy to pick up the lotion full of embarrassment I kept > on thinking about the doctor's words when she said to me, "zoe I know you > are a clean person and your house is clean but this illness has nothing to > do with cleanliness, rich, or pour. Anyone can contract this disease. > She continued on to say because you are type 2 diabetic your immune system > is compromised and so it's easier for you to catch something like this. The > scabby pimples on your arms, are the bugs laying eggs and leaving their > pheacies behind. The body has an allergic reaction to those things. I cried > all the way to the pharmacy. I went home and began the treatment as the > doctor had described. My husband and I slept in separate bedrooms and I kept > away from my mom just encase. > I put my bracelet business on hold thinking it's only a few weeks. I > laundered every day running my clothing through the dryer three times to > make sure I kill everything that could be on my clothing. > I got depressed but my family reminded me of everything the doctor told me > and I was consoled and thought to myself what am I crying about this will be > over soon. > Boy was I wrong. > One week later when I was finished the treatment I was still itchy and the > scabs were still there. I called the doctor and she confirmed what I had > read online that the body would slowly extract the pheacies and eggs and > eventually the itchiness would go away, it would take about six weeks for > everything to return to normal. By the way by mid-January I could no longer > sleep, the itchiness would keep me up all night itching, burning and crying > from pain and sleeplessness. > During January I attended the funeral of a beloved older man who had passed > away suddenly and I had visited his widow and also I visited a 96 year old > woman who I have known since I was born, who is like a grandma to me, not to > mention the hospital visits for my cornea, the Christmas parties and > services in my church. I thought my God I hope no one caught this from me > and at the thought I was devastated. My family consoled me saying Zoe you > didn't know what it was, it's not your fault. > During the six week period after the treatment I decided to take precautions > just encase. I stopped going to church, visiting people, I didn't allow > anyone to come over, I didn't do daily things like banking, grocery > shopping, etc. I continued to vacuum every day, cleaned the house > diligently, and of course laundry every single day. My husband and I stayed > away from each other accept for the occasional peck on the lips quickly. > I was miserable but this would soon be over. > I began to make Easter plans, my bracelet launching party, plans, and > planned for my step daughters visit in the summer to meet our new > granddaughter. > Things were not as the doctor or I thought. > At the end of the six week mark, I was itchier than ever. The pimples had > spread to other parts of my body and they were scabbier than ever. I made a > doctor's appointment again and off I went. > She looked at my body and said "these are scabies I'm absolutely 100% sure, > but if the medication didn't work, I don't know what else I can do for you, > so I will send you to a specialist, a dermatologist." > In the next week after that disappointing appointment I began to feel bugs > walking in my hair, nose, and ears. My sleep was next to nothing and it > started to show. My hair was down to my waist and I sat in the garage and > cut it all off while my mother watched me and cried. > My husband went to the drug store and got me extra strength Benadryl to help > with the itchiness and sleep. I began to take one every night to knock me > out. I started to research my problem online. > What I read was not encouraging at all. > I began to read horror stories of people who had scabies and couldn't get > rid of them because these bugs have become resistant to the medications > offered by doctors. Further I read stories of people who were diagnosed with > delusional paratosis and some were even locked up in looney bins. I thought > to myself, well don't believe everything you read on the internet. Since > general medicine couldn't help me and I had gotten the call from the > doctor's office that my dermatologist's appointment would not take place > until April 10th, I decided to try some home remedies to get rid of them. > Here the hell began. > I read that diluted bleach in water would kill them. Not true, I smelled > like chlorine and about 5 bugs fell off me. > I read that 12 days of white vinegar on the body would kill them. I also > went to a natural pharmacy and they told me to shower with castile soap > every day and let the soap dry on me. When my body absorbed the castile soap > then I should slather neem oil all over my body. > Neem oil smells like rotten peanuts and or diarrhea in my opinion. Every > night for the next 12 days I got in the shower, lathered the soap on me, > waited half an hour for it to dry, lathered neem oil on me from head to tow, > wore tight clothing to bed, (tights, socks, turtle neck, full flannel > sheets, and a thick winter blanket), in the morning I showered with extra > strength neem and rosemary soap. After the shower I applied coconut oil to > my whole body and then applied vinegar 3 times a day to my whole entire > body. This was my life for the next 12 days. > Result, every day I would find 20 to 30 dead bugs on my body, so I thought > great it's working. At the end of the 12 days my skin was badly burned from > the vinegar. > Now I had hardly any hair and a burnt body and face. > I began to suffer greatly. My body was stinging and hurting and the bugs > were not gone. > I tried lice shampoo even though I read online that it doesn't work for > scabies. They were right it didn't work. I would pick them out with a lice > comb every day until my scalp was so badly scratched I couldn't take it > anymore. I tried hydrogen peroxide, it did kill many but didn't get rid of > them. > > I researched more online and found a study based in Australia that said that > in a study done the only thing that killed resistant scabies was clove oil. > They are in the process of developing medicine for scabies with its base > being clove oil. > I started reading up on people who had used clove oil and most swore that > they got rid of them. There were a few people who said it didn't work for > them. I went to the natural place and bought bottles of clove oil. > I diluted clove oil with coconut oil so that it doesn't burn me and began to > apply to my whole body every day. > At night I still used the neem oil. > Didn't work, I further burned my body and the bugs were still there. > Starting to panic because I felt the bug activity getting worse, I took a > bottle of castile soap and mixed it with neem oil and began to shower with > that. Every time I applied this to my head and body I felt the bugs jumping > for fear or joy, who knows with the dam things. > I began to leave this on me and waited for 20 minutes before I washed off. > They would fall in the tub dead. I thought great something is finally > working. > After 2 weeks of this, the bugs were still not gone even though 40 50 bugs > would fall in the shower every day, sometimes even twice a day. > During all of this I read that the only thing that will get rid of them is > an old remedy of sulphur soap. I searched high and low in Toronto but no one > seemed to have it. Finally I found it on amazon and ordered it along with > sulphur cream and sulphur ointment. > Finally these things came and a new routine began. > Every morning I would shower with the castile neem oil mixture, I would > leave it on for 20 minutes and rinse off, then I would lather on the sulphur > soap, leave it on for 20 minutes and rinse off. I would get out of the > shower and lather on the coconut oil. Thousands of bugs would come out of my > skin. My mom and husband would wear gloves and pick them off my skin and > dispose of them safely. At night I would lather the neem oil all over me and > slather on sulphur ointment on my head and sulphur cream on my face. > This continued for about 10 days. > The bug population on my skin diminished every day, but at the end of 10 > days my skin was blistering and drying so bad I began to have horrible > pain. > Every time I got in the shower I screamed of pain. I could again not sleep > from the pain. > However the pimples were now nothing but faded scars, so I thought great > this is working so I said to myself clench your teeth and bear it if it > means these things would finally be gone. > I also found online a sight called earth clinic and they said to drink 1 > litre of distilled water mixed with 1/8 teaspoon of borox every day, 5 days > on and 2 days off, also to supplement this by drinking half a teaspoon of > natural baking soda mixed with half cup of distilled water morning and > night. They explained how this destroys a fungus in their gut and doesn't > allow them to digest properly and will help to get rid of them if they are > in your blood. > I also read that the world health organization says untreated people with > scabies results in kidney failure, heart failure, and even death in some > cases. > Obviously with all of this information, pain, treatments, and isolation I > began to cry from morning to night and started to suffer physically and > emotionally. > Bracelet business? What bracelet business. Friends? I couldn't see any > friends. Email and computers? Non-existent. > Easter was coming, for me the most important and biggest holiday of my faith > and existence. I could not go to church, I could not see my goddaughter to > give her gifts for Easter. I could not cook or make plans for Easter. I > could not take communion. I began to spend my days when not treating in my > garage sitting on a plastic chair covered with a plastic bag, swotting the > bugs away and crying. With hardly any sleep it was taking its toll on me. I > couldn't eat because I was afraid the bugs would fall into my food, I began > to lose weight. > Even though the pimples were gone, and thousands of dead bugs would come out > of my body, even though my skin was now badly damaged the bugs persisted in > my scalp and face. > My husband wore a plastic bag over his body and with plastic gloves he > shaved my head and plucked my eye brows. > Now I was a worse looking freak then before. Bald, no eye brows, dermatitis, > burnt skin, tired and it showed, and still with bugs. > Finally April 10th came and I was so excited to go to the dermatologist and > finally get some help. > I wore a shower cap and gloves and went to the doctor making sure not to > touch anyone or anything for fear of spreading this awful thing to any other > human being. > I told the doctor everything I have described to you guys, and then it > happened my worst fears came true. He looked at my scalp with glasses and > examined my skin and said, "you don't have scabies, there are no signs of > crusted pimples, it's all in your head." I responded doctor don't you see > the scars on my body, I have topically treated for so long that the pimples > are gone, but the bugs are still there." He said "no they are not you have > delusional paratosis." My husband popped up and said doctor I have seen the > bugs coming out of her body, we find them dead in the tub and on her > clothing. He answered you guys are nuts, and if there is bugs then prove it > put them in a bottle and bring them to me, she has a bad case of dermatitis > and she's nuts." > I was shocked and couldn't believe my ears, everything I had read on the net > was true. > I went home and cried until my body could no longer produce any more tears. > I contacted other scabie sufferers online and they told me it would be hard > to find a doctor to help because they don't want to admit that the meds they > give you don't work. Everyone told me that those who chose to take the > bottled bugs to the doctor got no results. The doctors refused to examine > the bugs or send them for analysis and many of them were forcibly locked > up. > My family and I had a long conversation and came to the conclusion that the > only thing that could help me was the home remedies and we would not take > the chance of me being locked up with a diagnosis of delusional paratosis. > By this time I could no longer do the sulphur treatment on a daily bases for > now I was greatly suffering. I lessoned the sulphur showers to 1 every three > days and still my skin was suffering. > I throughout my area rugs, laundry hampers, runners, old blankets, computer > chairs, I spent no time in my house accept at night to go to bed on my > covered bed with heavy duty plastic bags. I wore a shower cap and gloves at > night, but the shower cap caused broozes on my head. Easter came and left, > and I didn't bake like I do every year, I didn't cook, I didn't go to > church, I didn't celebrate with my family, (even though they sent me lots of > food and sweets), all I did was cry, swat bugs all day, and continued to > treat myself in hopes that this one day would be gone. > During all of this my mom who picked the bugs off me every day and cried at > the sight of her only child suffering so much developed a lump in her > breast, (which we are waiting for results). > When she went to the doctor to have this lump checked out she told the > secretary what's going on. The secretary who is in her fourth year of > becoming a homeopath doctor suggested she try to help me. > Her teacher could help me if I could afford to pay her. The Canadian > government doesn't cover homeopathic medicine and I have no private > insurance, so I'm stuck with a kind hearted student who is paying for my > homeopath medicine and trying to help me. I know she's a student and I'm > kind of her gini pig but at this point I have no choice. I stopped all home > remedy treatments and I'm following her instructions. > Tomorrow is one week since I started following her instructions. I have had > one good night of sleep, I've hardly eaten anything in a week, The bug > activity has gotten worse, and I'm severely suffering. > Not to mention I have ten thousand dollars' worth of bracelet supplies > sitting in a room collecting dust, while my pour 70 year old mother is > trying to pay this debt off. My husband and I have maxed out our credit > cards on neem oil, clove oil, plastic bags, plastic gloves, sulphur > products, distilled water, vinegar, and anything else you can think of. We > are barely making ends meet and we are afraid of losing our house and still > looking and hoping for a cure. > > I don't know if this is going to work, I thought about killing myself but my > faith in God is strong and that has kept me from taking action. I pray to > the good Lord to take pity on me and grant me his mercies and compassions > and heal me. > I pray that he guides this young student to find a solution to my problem. > Even as I write this email the bugs are attacking me. It has taken me all > day to write this email because I'm fighting with the bugs. I have to stop > every other word to get them out of my nose, ears, and swot them off my > head. > By the way I collected some bugs in a bottle and the young student looked at > them with a microscope and confirmed that I'm not crazy and these are > scabies. > Please everyone forgive me for this very long email and pray for me. > I don't know when I'll be back or even if I will ever be cured but I wanted > everyone to know why I'm leaving my favourite mailing lists, and I will miss > you all, I will miss reading your solutions to all problems related to the > mac, PC, iPhone, etc. I will miss the delicious recipes amongst other > things. > I hope that if one day I am cured you will all accept me back and then I > will let you know how I got cured if you're interested. > Again my apologies to the list owners and moderators for the off topic post > and long email. > May all of you be well and most importantly healthy. Without health nothing > is of importance. > Tell your friends and families how much you love them because you never know > what could happen to you. The worst horror movie or nightmare you have ever > seen could come true like my case. > Thanks to those who took the time to read such a long email. > By the way one of the hardest things is not being able to hug your loved > ones. My husband has cried like a child because he can't hug or kiss me. If > these bugs don't kill me, and the emotional and physical pain doesn't kill > me I will emerge stronger and with heck of a tale to tell those who want to > listen. Be well all from an isolated, suffering, but hopeful human being > somewhere in Toronto. > > Sincerely > Zoe > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. 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Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
