From Within So Without Part 5: Unsung Heroes Who Invent Things and The People Who Know About Them

Every day my mother would come into my room, raise the blinds and implement her checklist for me, like I was a teenager going through a breakup, that has stayed in bed too long. At the time, that is how I felt, but now I know, that is also how I was acting. I am so grateful for her vigilance in making sure I healed. Thank God for excellent caregivers!

The blessings continued to mount. My brother, Ryan, told his best friend, Dom, about the accident.  My sister, Brittany, calls him joyful Dom, because he spreads joy wherever he goes. Among other things, Dom is a PI attorney.

Dom is an interesting character. As a child he had a speech impediment, and rather than let it define him in a negative way, he sought to overcome it, and overcome it he did, not just by becoming a litigator, but eventually getting into radio. He studied improv as a "youngster" and the quick wittedness it developed in him is hilarious and gets him out of all sorts of trouble and into all sorts of opportunities.

When Dom graduated from law school, he went into practice with an older attorney, about 2 years in, the senior attorney got into trouble, and the long and the short of it is that Dom ended up with his own practice 2 years out of law school! He also had some notoriety as a trial attorney. In order to drum up business, he would go to the Hard Rock in Tampa and play Texas Hold'em. He would invariably meet a player who needed his help, and he had fun doing it. One day at the Hard Rock after a stunning loss, (he had four 4's, and the other player had four 9's!), he went into the bar at the Hard Rock, to lick his wounds. There was only one other guy in there, and he looked familiar to Dom, so Dom, being Dom, struck up a conversation. Turns out they did know each other; they were fraternity brothers! J.R, was the Station Programmer for 98 Rock in Tampa, and the station had a morning show BS in the Morning, with a guy named Buckethead. One of these two tipsy guys in a bar, decides that an attorney on this show as a guest would be hilarious. The next day, J.R. calls Dom, to tell him he is serious, and invites him down to the station to go on a show and see how it goes.

Everyone at the station, was excited about the situation, Dom knew he was up to the task, but also humble. He was on the show for about 3 years before the show was canceled.

Out of radio until 2009, a second opportunity occurred with Cox Media Group on 102.5FM The Bone. Initially the DJ was apprehensive to have an attorney on the show however, Dom said, "Let's just have fun and see how it goes." CowHead, still wasn't excited, but on goes Dom. The first caller is at a bar and 2 guys want to fight each other. The other hosts give their answers saying not to fight, and when it is Dom's turn to respond, he says, "absolutely you can fight!" Dom, then proceeds to tell them how to do it legally (under mutual combat) so no one gets in trouble. He also tells them to take it outside of the bar, something, for which, I’m sure the bar owner was grateful! After the call, CowHead and the other hosts, go nuts. They realize Dom is fun and brings liveliness to the topic!

Then the next caller calls in, and clinches it for Dom. This guy has gotten a DUI, and asks whether he should blow. Dom says, I will tell you what I tell my clients who are prostitutes, "If you don't know, don't blow." And a radio career was born. Dom has now been in radio for nearly 18 years, (in addition to having his own practice) and now has his own show "AskTheDom" where callers can call in and get legal advice.

Because Dom deals with accidents like mine, he had found a Doctor who had developed a burn cream, that Dom had successfully been using for his burn clients. Dom had invited the inventor of the cream on his show, and they subsequently became friends. When he found out about my accident, Dom called the inventor, Dr. Bruce, and a lifetime of burn cream arrived at our door! Bruce's son, Wayne, even formulated special prescription ones for me with numbing cream to help with the itching, and the pain. Thank God for my brother, Ryan, Dom, Bruce, and his son, Wayne.

When your hair follicles regrow, after they get incinerated, you get these bumps, almost like tiny itchy ingrown hairs, everywhere you had hair before the burn. It's called feliculitis and it is GROSS, itchy and painful! At one point my entire arm was inflamed with tiny itchy red and white pustules. The ickiest part about watching my arm heal... You want to know the grossest part? Maybe it will come up later, it's so gross. It was awful! But I am getting ahead of myself. The numbing burn cream was a Godsend in this! I could look at my arm, but not feel it.

Brittany's best friend, Carla, owned an HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) chamber and she drove it down from Asheville to lend it to me. At first it was chlostrophobic, especially with all the bandages on, So I resisted mightily, like a bratty teenager, but my sister patiently insisted it would heal me, until I listened; if only so she would leave me alone! But as I got comfortable with it, and felt competent getting myself in and out, I would move into the chamber for hours at a time, take pot, and stock up in the chamber in advance, slather burn cream all over me and watch Q proofs and go on "digs" for hours on end, when I was not sleeping.

My sister was just selling it wrong, she should have said, "You can get in there, take pot gummies and sleep or do whatever you want, as long as you keep applying burn cream, you can stay in there and cocoon all you want." If she had said that, I would have been sold, day 1. But, I am a fast learner!

Thank God for whoever invented the HBOT, for Carla for having one and for lending it to me, and for my sister's unwavering persistence in getting me into the thing. Right after my accident, in November, Jay Leno was burned on his face and hands in a gas fire. I wanted to tell him about the HBOT, but then an article came out in USA Today, 2 weeks after the accident, with a picture of Jay Leno, looking completely normal, with his caregivers at his side. The article went on to explain that they had used the HBOT daily in his healing in the hospital. I am certain based on my recovery, that he also had stem cells everywhere!

As the world went on around me, and my mouth returned to normal, I was so used to not speaking, that I observed a lot. I mainly observed what I was grateful for, but I have heard I had my share of meltdowns. I don't remember most of it.

You know how when a woman has a baby, and Oxytocin is released, thereafter, the woman forgets the pain and falls in love with the child? I think the brain has a similar mechanism for trauma; the cool thing is you can use it to cure perceived trauma as well as perceived hurts, and other ailments. We will get to that later.

After my accident, I could not remember anything. I called it "burn brain". I would trail off mid thought and forget what I was saying or the next word I needed. At the same time, I could not really remember the accident, so had no flashbacks or fearful moments. The only one I had was a nightmare where my mom turned on the grill before me. Boy, was I grateful, that was just a dream! It also gave me empathy for those who had seen me. I cannot imagine seeing a loved one going up in flames. I think I would not have been as quick on my feet as my mom was. Based on my own reaction, I think I would have panicked, but hopefully, we will never know.

As I continued my mother's daily routine which consisted of lots of water (which I was terrible at completing), cream and chamber time, cannabis, and these patches that her friend, Karen, got me. Karen is a cancer survivor who got into her own healing, and was able to beat cancer, the patches had helped her, and she was confident they would also help me, and they did!

At first, like a teenager going through a breakup, I had NO desire, in fact, the opposite, to do anything except sleep and take pot, get help going to the bathroom and repeat. But between the patches, the routine, and knowing my mom was not going to stop, I finally got into my own healing.

Keep in mind, in one of my businesses, I am a health coach. Insurance companies hire me to get people off of medications. I had no will or capacity in the beginning to investigate my own healing. Thank God for others who did, both before my accident and after, in continuing to send things that might help or be helpful, like sun shirts Thank you, whoever sent them! I lived in them, yet still do not know who sent them.

At the end of October, we packed up and went back to Naples, and anything that was left in my room, was subsequently moved. My dad was so angry about the accident and the poor design of the porch where the grill was, that he ripped up the whole house, and repurposed the grill area and put one downstairs, outside! So, everything in the house disappeared, well, at least until, it gets put back together! Maybe someday I will find all the notes and well wishes. In the meantime, THANK YOU to everyone at The Reserve, both staff and residents were lovely to me and prayed for me and my healing. And THANK YOU to the countless people all over the country who prayed for me and set up prayer chains for me.

Resources:

Ask The Dom- Dom's radio show

The Law Offices of Dominick Fariello

Burn Cream - Burn Solutions Foundation

Lifewave Patches - Karen Malo k.malo@me.com

HBOT- Because I bought mine from a friend, I did not have to do a lot of research into this. Fortunately, the prices on these are relatively inexpensive, and there are now companies, like Restore, where you can rent time in a chamber. Hospitals have the industrial ones (like they used for Jay Leno), and you can often rent time in those as well. I would google HBOT near me, and go to shopping, very often there are Groupon offers. If you want to purchase your own, I am happy to help you discern the best option.

If you need further help, please feel free to reach out to me.