Tag: Alex

What happened to February??

It’s been a long time without an update, due to a complication with a “minor” surgical procedure on yours truly. Alex’s moods have been up and down, there’s not really much to say about them, but even so I’d prefer to say something certainly every month if not every week. However, I had a vasectomy recently and am one of the lucky few suffering a much longer than expected period of post-procedure pain. This cost me two visits with Alex, and has made other visits more difficult than usual. It also makes daily life very slow – my 1/2 mile walk to work (I work at a university, so I park pretty far from the building in which I work) is now about a 45-minute affair one-way. All of this combined has made writing about Alex one of the last things on my mind. Continue reading “What happened to February??”

What’s the problem? Why can’t Alex just come home so we can figure this out?

With the recent surge in traffic I’ve seen variations of these questions posted as comments as well as asked directly. Some people think that if cannabis works to calm Alex, then we have no good reason to not take Alex home and just dose him ourselves. Back when Alex was first moved from Salem, one woman suggested, directly to my face, that if we cared enough, we wouldn’t keep Alex in a group home, and that we didn’t have any right to complain because we had made our choice.

I should note that some of the confusion may be due to the Treating Yourself article — as in any article trying to get a lot of information across in a concise way, there are a lot of details left out, and some elements are slightly changed to simplify the explanation of the situation. The article is a great way to expose people to the damaging effects of prohibition, but it does gloss over some details that can make our plight seem confusing.

Unfortunately, the story is a lot more complicated than it seems at a glance. I tend to sound like I’m saying, “cannabis is Alex’s miracle drug”, when I really mean that it is his best option, and probably better for his situation than any drug available. Cannabis is an amazing substance. But Alex’s situation is extreme: Continue reading “What’s the problem? Why can’t Alex just come home so we can figure this out?”

Saturday visit – mixed results

A bit ago I spoke with my grower (Alex’s grower, technically — but I am the caregiver so that has to count for something), and he mentioned eating hash usually requires a pretty large amount for most people he’s dealt with.

On Saturday, we tried out a whole lot more hash than usual. A typical amount is about a tenth of a gram. I gave Alex .15g, waited 30 minutes, and gave another .15g, for a total of three times our normal dose. He had arrived at 10am pretty upset, but had calmed down a great deal by 11 or 11:30. He went from needing direct, constant protection to playing a bit on his own. Continue reading “Saturday visit – mixed results”

Some days just suck

Alex had pinkeye on Sunday, the day he was going to be driven up for a visit. This marks the first time since June of 2010 (the month I moved up to live near him) that more than a week passed between visits. It was a pretty bad day. Rarely have I felt worse about my decision to put Alex in a group home than this week. Continue reading “Some days just suck”

Eventually, reality sets in

It sounds like the CBD-based medicines are the way to go for Alex, and that got me pretty excited last month when I read (and posted) about them. But after a bit, I realized it still doesn’t really matter. As long as prohibition of cannabis exists in the United States, it won’t matter what options exist, because we can’t get it administered in his group home. Continue reading “Eventually, reality sets in”

Interesting, informative video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa0nLdVJiIg (and see their site, http://cannabisinternational.org/)

Talks some about the science, the controversy, and specifically some of the newer information about the medical value of high-CBD cannabis. Sounds like “Canatonic” might be a good choice for Alex based on the new information I’m learning, and putting it into a glycerin tincture.

Thanks to everybody at Huffington Post who replied to my comment and helped me discover this information. I have little hope of getting Alex dosed in his home, but whenever we see a major shift in thinking, I’d rather have the information necessary to give Alex what he needs immediately.

Weed Wars takes on the controversial stories ABC won’t

I’m tired of waiting.

ABC interviewed us in April. They were going to run a story about Alex’s situation, and it was going to be aired nationally, not just locally. I wasn’t going to say anything here until we had an air date.

But I’m tired of waiting. Continue reading “Weed Wars takes on the controversial stories ABC won’t”

No, I haven’t disappeared

My 4×10 schedule was a bust, Alex has been very up-and-down, and generally there’s been just a ton of chaos, especially with the new baby. There’s also just not a lot to say at this point. I still have no idea how to best help Alex other than keeping up on politics and trying to educate people who still think pot is dangerous. Continue reading “No, I haven’t disappeared”