Thursday, March 23, 2006
Chattymoon asked how my sons appointment went. It actually went quite well. I had best tell you the entire story. It might help you understand a little more. Allan went to Pakistan to visit a friend. When he was leaving the country he was arrested. They said he was smuggling drugs. He was kept in Islamabad prison for six months before he was taken to court. He was found not guilty. But they would not release him from prison. It was another six months before the authorities decided to tell the British consulate that Allan would be free to go. The hitch? They wanted £5000 for the cost of his keep. He was kept in a cell 6 feet square with two other inmates. They had one blanket between the three of them. There was no toilet facilities in the cell. Not even a bucket. And they were kept locked in the cell all the time they were not working. They had to cook their own meals, if any of them could afford anything to eat. They existed on rice and some stuff he told me about that I cant remember the name of. Allan wont tell anyone what else happened there. But I have my own theories which I will not reveal on here. Anyway. We sold almost everything we owned and got the £5000 together. Got it to the Foreign Office and they got it out to the British Consulate in Pakistan. Then the prison said they had 'lost' Allans passport, and they wanted another £2000 to get him another one that would allow him to leave the country.We couldn't get any more money. We had nothing left to sell. We couldn't get loans from banks or anywhere else. So we said we would not pay it. When they eventually realised they were not getting any more money they 'found' Allans passport. They kicked him out of the prison, with no money, nowhere to go. Its lucky that Allan could already speak a little of the Pakistani language before he went over there. He managed to find someone who would let him stay with them for three days, until the British consulate could fund a plane home. When he came home we wwere so shocked. His teeth were rotting, he was so thin that he looked like a walking skeleton. He weighed less then half of what he should weigh. He is six feet four inches and he weighed 5 stone ( 70 pounds ). He had nightmares on the rare occasions he could get to sleep. He was in a really bad state. He has suffered since he came back with all sorts of problems.
Right, thats you up to date. The doc had been trying to use anti-depressants to help stablilise his moods, but that hasn't been working. Another side effect of the PTSD (yes Linda, you are right, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is that Allan now has alopecia gravis. He has lost all his hair. There are little tufts growing back. but thats all. and its taken from August last year to just get a couple of bits of fluff on his head. The doc has decided that Allan needs more specialist care then he can give him, and has now referred him to a Psychoanalyst (sp) and also a hair specialist (dont as me to tell you what they are called. I know is a tri somethingorother). I hope Allan can get SOMETHING working for him. He wont talk about his experiences unless you really push him, and i dont want to do that. It hurts him too much. The doc HAS given Allan some very strong sleeping tablets, which he has been told to use ONLY when he has not slept for a few days. I cant say I really trust this doc, but that is just my opinion. As you know, if you have read my blog about my first husband, I dont trust ANY doc very much.
I feel like we ARE getting somewhere now. Things are being moved up a gear, in an attempt to find something that helps Allan. I just hope its not too long before they DO find something. I dont think it will do Allan much good to stay like this. Its already been 5 years since he came back from Pakistan, and he is no different, apart form having put on enough weight to NOT look like a Belsen inmate! Even now though, he only weighs 10 stone (140 pounds) which is not enough for him. He needs at least another 20 pounds I think.
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