Sara in Montana - A Christmas Wish (12 page)

“I’ll take you shopping for some things after we visit with the Mercer’s. Are you feeling up to this?”

Sara nodded, “Sure. I hope I can help her, even if just a little bit. I remember seeing my mom suffer and that hopeless feeling that came with knowing the medicine would only take the edge off. When she started using acupressure, she was able to get total pain relief for short periods of time. It was a miracle.”

Trent helped her up into the jeep and shut the door. Entering on his side, he
saw that she had already buckled her seatbelt as was ready to go. “I’m sure whatever help you can provide will be much appreciated. Bill said he’s been having to use the maximum dose of morphine for over a week now. If things continue to progress this fast, Dr. Baker is talking about putting her on an IV of morphine. He wants to prevent that as long as possible. Usually once patients get to that point, it’s only a matter of days. Bill isn’t ready to let her go just yet.”

Sara’s heart broke for what she knew would be the hardest days yet to come. She and Grace had spent the last 72 hours of her mother’s life sitting by her bedside, talking about their childhoods and listening in fear whenever her mother’s breathing would stall. When the end had come, she had simply exhaled and been gone.

“Pancreatic cancer is one of the most vicious diseases I can think of. It involves so much pain and suffering.”

Trent grabbed her hand and squeezed it, “The compassion I hear in your voice won’t be lost on Bill. Just be yourself and offer whatever help you can. Dr. Baker’s going to be there as well.”

“Okay.” Sara turned her attention back to the scenery and again marveled at how much snow had fallen during the night. She was pleased to see that snowplows had already been over the main streets and that the jeep was handling the snowy conditions well. Trent was an excellent driver and Sara was able to relax and enjoy the drive.

When they pulled up in front of the Mercer’s house, Bill came out the front door and met them at the edge of the driveway. Trent hurried around the vehicle and helped Sara down.

Holding his hand out in greeting, he shook Bill’s outstretched hand, “Bill, I’d like to introduce you to Sara Brownell. Sara, Bill Mercer.”

Sara took the older gentleman’s hand and shook it before returning her hand to the pocket of her coat. Noticing her shivering, Bill hurried them inside and shut the door, blocking out the biting wind. “Sara, I’m so glad you could make it.  Dr. Baker is with Miriam and asked me to bring you back when you arrived. Let me hang up your coat and I’ll show you the way. Trent, can I take your coat?”

“Sure.” Trent helped Sara remove her jacket and then handed his over to Bill as well. After hanging up the coats, Bill led the way down a large hallway towards what Sara assumed was the master bedroom. She only caught glimpses of the house, but immediately picked up on the family pictures lining the hallway. This house was full of life and no doubt, the woman she was about to meet was responsible for the love and family atmosphere it contained.

“Miriam, I have another visitor for you. Sara, this is my Miriam.” Bill gestured towards the large bed where Miriam Mercer lay covered with blankets. Dr. Baker stood alongside her bed and was writing on a chart as Sara approached.

Sara’s heart hurt as she took in the woman lying in the bed. It was easy to see that Miriam Mercer had been a beautiful woman before the cancer had robbed her health. As she opened her eyes and found Sara’s, she smiled and tried to raise her hand in greeting.

Not wanting to overtax the frail woman, Sara hurried to her side and took the hand in between her own. Gently sitting down on the side of the bed, she spoke softly, “Miriam, my name is Sara Brownell. Dr. Baker told me that you’ve been having a lot of pain and thought that maybe I could help. My mom was sick for a while and had a lot of pain. We tried acupressure and it seemed to help her a lot. Would you be willing to let me try some of those techniques on you and see if they could help you with your pain?”

Miriam smiled at Sara and nodded. She knew the end was drawing near, and had tried to be strong for Bill, but the last several days she had existed in and out of a drugged stupor. The pain had intensified and the sublingual morphine doses had been needed constantly just to keep her still. She was willing to try anything that might bring her relief and ease the worry she saw on her husband’s face.

Dr. Baker moved out of the way and let Sara scoot up to sit next to Miriam on the bed. Sara spoke softly as she began to move her hands over Miriam’s arms. “I’m going to locate some pressure points and I need you to talk to me about what you’re feeling, okay?”

Miriam swallowed, but then said, “I can do that.”

Sara located several pressure points on Miriam’s arms and hands that acted as pain relays and gently applied increasing pressure to them. She constantly monitored Miriam’s facial expression and only backed off once the signs of stress and pain began to lessen around the older woman’s eyes.

“How are you feeling right now?” Sara asked.

“I’m not sure. I think the pain might be a little better, but I’m not sure. I feel a little funny to tell the truth.”

Sara nodded, “Good. That means we’ve found the right nerve groups. I’m going to move down and find the pressure points on your feet now. Those ones should help the most with pain relief. Please let me know if you feel any tingling or your pain increases.”

Miriam nodded and then closed her eyes. Sara looked up at the men standing around the bed watching the interaction between herself and Mrs. Mercer. Dr. Baker was obviously intrigued by the science behind the pressure points and Sara knew that before the day was out, the doctor would be on the internet gaining as much information on the subject as he could.

Bill Mercer had his eyes trained on his wife’s face and the hopeful look Sara saw in his eyes gave her the added energy boost she needed to continue. Taking Miriam’s foot into her hand, she gently rubbed along the sole of her foot until she located the nerve bundles hidden there. Trying to remember which ones had been most effective on her mother, she started gently applying pressure to each of them until she found the one that caused Miriam’s entire body to relax.

Knowing that she had located the right trigger point, she increased her pressure and started counting. Before she reached a hundred, Miriam opened her eyes, and as they filled with tears, she informed the room in general, “It’s gone. The pain is gone.”

Sara felt her own eyes filling with tears and tried valiantly to shake them away. If she was to remove the pressure on the trigger point too soon, the pain would come rushing back and she wouldn’t risk putting this woman back there so soon. 

Seeing her struggle, Trent walked over and gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “Good job, sweetheart. What happens now?”

Sara sniffled and answered, directing her statement to both Dr. Baker and Bill Mercer, “The pressure has to be applied to the trigger point long enough for the nerve to basically shutdown temporarily. With my mother, I usually held onto the trigger point for about 10 minutes. The only way to know is by trial and error.”

“What happens if you let go of the trigger point too soon?” asked Dr. Baker.

Sara gave him a sad look and then answered, “The nerve will come back rather quickly, and all of the pain she had before will rush back in.”

“Then don’t let go. What happens if we just keep pressure on the nerve indefinitely,” asked Bill.

Sara shook her head, “It doesn’t work that way. If the nerve has too much pressure applied for too long, then the surrounding nerves will try to take over. Let’s start with 10 minutes and then we’ll see if that’s long enough.”

“Is there a way to check without subjecting her to the possibility of all the pain again?” asked Dr. Baker.

Sara nodded, “I can gently lighten the pressure. If it’s not been long enough, she will start to feel the pain return and I can immediately increase the pressure to stop it. Either way, the pressure has to be released slowly and in small increments.”

Trent had been watching Sara’s arms and noticed that they were beginning to shake. She was just about done. He only hoped she could find the energy to keep the pressure on for another five minutes. Running his hand down her hair, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “How are you doing? I know your arms have got to be getting tired. Are you going to be able to hold out for another few minutes?”

Sara immediately nodded her head in answer. There was no option for failure. To see Miriam smiling at her husband and enjoying a few moments pain-free was worth the cramps that were beginning to form in her fingers. She would keep the pressure on the required amount of time, even if she herself needed a nap afterwards.

Chapter 15

Sara was so lost in thought she didn’t immediately hear Dr. Baker call her name. “Sara? Sara?”

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she looked up to find all three men staring at her with concern, “Where’d you go there?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Sara glanced at Trent and then back to Dr. Baker. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Trent laughed and relayed Dr. Baker’s words from a moment ago, “He said it had been 10 minutes and you could try releasing the pressure now.”

Sara blushed when she realized how spaced out she had become. Looking up, she spoke to Miriam, “I’m going to slowly release the pressure of my fingers and I need you to tell me if you have any pain at all. Even the hint of pain you need to tell me, okay?”

Miriam nodded. Sara took a deep breath and then slowly started releasing the pressure on Miriam’s feet. When Miriam said nothing she continued to release the pressure until she had completely removed her hands from the woman’s feet and Miriam was still smiling at her.

“Are you feeling any pain right now?” her husband asked.

Miriam shook her head. Sara sagged in relief and slowly stood up from the bed. Trent was right there and gently took her hands in his and began a light massage of the muscles in her hands and wrists. Sara marveled again at how in-tune he seemed to be with her.

Dr. Baker came over and patted Sara on the shoulder before asking, “In your experience with your mom, how long did the pain relief normally last?”

“It seemed to vary, but the pain would just gradually come back. She would normally keep taking her pain medications so that they would already be on board when it did resurface. She usually got several hours of relief.”

Bill Mercer turned and looked at her, “Young lady, you are the answer to my Christmas wish. Do you think you could teach me how to do that pressure thingy so that I can help her next time her pain gets bad?”

Sara nodded. She had never been someone’s Christmas wish and was trying to get past that statement in order to process his request for instruction. “I can try. You might want to look at her feet right now so that you can see where I was applying the pressure. The first few times you have to go by feel. After that, the bruises pretty much tell you where to push.”

Seeing the look of alarm on Bill’s face that what she had just done would create bruises on his wife’s feet, she hurried to reassure him, “I know it sounds and looks kind of bad, but once you start applying the pressure, she won’t even feel the bruising. The good news is you don’t have to search around for the right area to apply pressure. Just fit your thumbs to the same spot and start applying pressure.”

Bill nodded and though he looked skeptical, he assured Dr. Baker that he would be able to handle it. Miriam held her hand out to Sara and she moved to take it, “Sara, I don’t know how to express what I’m feeling. I’ve been hurting for so long, I can’t tell you what it means to be able to sit here and be pain free, if even for a few minutes.”

“Can she get up and move around without upsetting the pressure points?” Dr. Baker asked.

“I don’t really know. By the time we started using this technique on my mom, she was too weak to walk and we were using a wheelchair. I can still remember the first time we were able to take her out of the house without her being in tremendous pain. That’s one of the best memories I have of her last days.”

At the mention of her mother’s death, Bill Mercer’s eyes clouded over and he started to cut her off, only to have his wife grab his hand and shake her head at him, “Bill, it’s okay. We all know I’m going to die and soon. I know you’re not ready to admit that yet, but we can’t change those facts. If I can have even one day without pain, to say goodbye to my friends and family, one more day to spend talking with you when my mind is clear and not clouded by drugs – then my Christmas wish will have come true.”