Brent McGillis: 2021

Friday, October 22, 2021

Chronic Pain flare up

   I apologize to anybody who is currently frustrated with my performance as a human being, I am currently typing this post with one eye open because of the severe back pain I am experiencing right now. The pain is very sharp and intense as it feels like somebody is stabbing a knife into my back. This has been an ongoing pain experience for me, I can only assume that there is a monster weather system moving in from the coast or from the Arctic. 

  This time of year is especially painful for me because my body is haunted by the changing weather systems that are typical for this time of year.This knowledge does not make it any easier for me at this time of year. The pain is so intense that it wakes me in the night with hot burning sensations coursing through my spinal column, right now the pain is in the locale of my upper lumbar and the sharpness of the pain is frightening to even me. I have lived with this Chronic Pain for over 15 years now, and it is relentless, it is not like it is getting any easier because it is not.

  The pain that I am experiencing right now is so intense that the only thing that I can do is to write about it with my eyes closed. These are the days that are the most scary for me because the intensity of the pain is one thing, but the thoughts on how to escape this relentless and UN-diminishing torment are a completely different and the horror that flashes before me is difficult and terrifying to deal with.

  I cannot predict the intensity that this injury will affect me, I can only hope that I have the tenacity required to withstand these powerful pain attacks. I have been dealing with this horrific pain for over 15 years now, and it still does not get any easier knowing that my insurer, the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta is only interested in selling me Hocus Pocus fake remedies that Dr. Phil is selling on Cable Television in order to sell more furniture on https://www.wayfair.com.

The pain is too intense at this moment for me to continue writing, I need to rest. More later. I am going to see the Doc later and my Chiropractor, I need some relief just so that I can function on a basic level.






Friday, September 24, 2021

Constant town threats and harassment for an identical violation that was NOT being investigated on the VERY SAME time on my street

 Down at the west end of Ash, where it meets 18 Avenue, the very same violation of this bylaw infraction that Adriana Snashall speaks of was happening and had been going on for a very long time as what I assume was the Contractors Monster 5th Wheel trailer, that was clearly being lived in at the time for the construction of the Monster Home being built on the old orchard that was flattened to make way for Monster Home.

I told Adriana that there was a trailer at the end of the street being used in direct violation of the bylaw that she was accusing me of violating, she assure me she would check it out. I was duped into believing that she had any intention of driving down the street to the corner to the west to verify my claim.

I remember asking her if she drove in from the West, meaning that she would have had to drive right on past the violator on the SAME street. If she was aware of the giant fifth wheel trailer with all of it's sliders out for the entire summer and plugged into the power grid meaning that it was obviously being lived in during construction. This is what amounts to discrimination because she was aware, you could not be unaware this is a small town. It is impossible that the town bylaw officer would not drive right past that monster 5th wheel parked right on the corner of the property beside the road. Since she spent so much time driving down Ash last summer it would be impossible for her NOT to see the monster 5th wheel with all of its sliders extended and plugged into a huge hydro cord. 

Worse yet, it is impossible for her NOT to be aware of this infraction, and how do I know this? Because this is a small town and News makes it across a small town faster than a tornado mowing down a trailer park. There is nothing else to do in a small town except gossiping, it is the natural clique of a small town, to deny that is the case is to tell lies to your friends.

Because Adriana knew about the Monster 5th Wheel just down the street, and she chose to ignore that obvious violator, this is what amounts to discrimination. My obvious question to the Town Council would be, "Why am I being targeted for abuse?"

Who lives in the house on the corner of Ash and 18th Avenue, is it a town councilor violating the town bylaws? Or a close friend of somebody on Town Council that it too high up the Totem pole to be charged with any bylaw infractions? These are legitimate questions for a town bylaw officer that is drunk on a power trip.

Adriana Snashall told me that I was Not Allowed to drive my motorhome into Creston, and that if I did and she determined that I needed to rest in my RV while maintaining my property that she would bury me in fines and penalties in the THOUSANDS of dollars. This is the first time in my life that I have been threatened with financial ruin by a town bureaucrat in any city in Canada.

Even 2 days ago in my discussion with Adriana, I told her of the medical issues that I have faced during this Pandemic that has kept me from traveling. She is fully aware that I am permanently disabled, and told me flat out that she nor the town has any obligation to NOT harass, intimidate and threaten a resident with financial bankruptcy because I am permanently disabled. When I "Hit the Wall" metaphorically when performing tasks about the property that I paid for and pay the taxes on, that is it because my Chronic Pain takes over and I become overwhelmed with fatigue.

What is the #1 complication for Chronic Pain sufferers? Chronic fatigue is the correct answer. I explained to Adriana that this is the reason I absolutely NEED the motorhome on site when I am there because when I fatigue, that is it, I need to lay down ASAP. It just something that is symptomatic of my Spinal Injury and my medical condition overall.

When you suffer from Chronic Pain you are the tail being wagged by the dog named Pain and fatigue. You do not get to choose when Chronic Pain from a failed Spinal Fusion puts you out of commission and you need to lie down and rest immediately. I explained this to Adriana and she acknowledged that she understood my condition. As a result I told her that she needs to make accomodations for my medical condition, she does not have a wide open license to abuse a disabled person, no matter who is directing her to abuse me.

I chose the town of Creston as my retirement home, clearly I made a fatal mistake in choosing to live here because the treatment from the town has been horrific in the midst of a Pandemic. You as a town council need to make allowances for the Pandemic and for the natural implied protection of the Human Rights for severely disabled persons living in your town.

The town website talks about their age inclusion program. Well to be honest, my experience with the town was amicable until last summer during the worst Public Health Crisis in 100 years. As I told Adriana during one of our many discussions where she came by to consistently harass me, she could see my condition and I did as much as I possible could each day in order to satisfy the never ending stream of complaints form one of my Nosy Parker neighbors that insists on phoning the Town office every second day for the specific purpose of of distressing a newcomer to town that only wants to build a home in a sustainable community. My only objectives are to supervise and help out when I can with the design, construction and supervision of my own home that will include all of the physical design features that my medical condition will require now and in the future.

As a patient that has experienced a serious injury to his Spinal Column, that the IME Spinal Orthopaedic Surgeon told us over 3 years ago, "This man will never work another day in his life." As a Severely disabled person, that has obviously mistakenly chose the WRONG Town to live in for my retirement because the Town of Creston does NOT adhere to any of the principles that they claim to champion in the Age-friendly Action Plan. Here are their guiding principles:

Age-friendly Desired Outcomes from Cultivating Creston

1. There is a strong sense of community and belonging in Creston, where everyone feels connected, respected and included.

Sorry, but I do not feel like I belong when the Town Bylaw officer threatens to bury me in a mountain of fines and penalties. It is really hard to feel connected when the welcoming committee is Donald Trump disguised as a woman.

 2. Community members feel safe and their needs are met, including access to housing, nutritious local food, meaningful social interactions, and recreation and leisure pursuits.

I do not feel safe in this community because 1 or more of my neighbors wants to throw up as many roadblocks to me building a house here, because they have Cronies on Council. I have never spoken a mean word to any neighbor since I bought my property, yet somebody on my street has targeted me for Financial Ruin by their Proxy the Town of Creston.

I do not feel welcome or valued in this town because somebody has decided to use the Town as a giant Anvil to drop on my dreams of building my forever retirement home here. The town talks about supporting alternative housing projects. 

They plan to achieve this with threats of financial ruin and I have not even started, while the guy down the street lived in his 5 th Wheel for over a year while the Town sat by and did nothing. When you are targeted and discriminated against, it is really hard to feel valued or respected, and inclusion is a word that I definitely would not use to describe this Town to any human.

  3. Creston is an accessible community, where all ages are valued, they have
opportunities to participate, and there are meaningful connections between the
generations.

Yeah, threatening a disabled Senior with financial ruin is something that you forgot to include in your pamphlet promoting this town. I feel exposed to threats of having my savings erased by a bureaucrat that is threatening me with Thousands in fines if I bring my motor home back to Creston.

What is the leading issue for all political leaders during this past election cycle?

Housing, affordable housing, ACCESS to sustainable housing, that is the reason that I moved to Creston. I could have moved to a thousand other small towns across this great nation, but I mistakenly chose the wrong valley.

When you objectively look at the genesis of any law, or in this case a bylaw, you need to look back to the Spirit of the law that was created and WHY it was created, what was the basis of this law and what was the original INTENT of the creators of this legislation. Or was it the lawmakers intent to simply copy and paste this Law because it was fashionable or a Law that was being promoted by Land Developers at the time with no regard for the actual residents of the Town? If the Town bylaw enforcement is not able to definitely bring up the specific reasons that Town officials created the Law, then does that Law really have any validity other than to please a small clique of developers and Town officials as directed by their cronies? It is a valid question.

Adriana told me that she is from Vancouver, so I replied, "You and your friends are the ones who caused the Housing Crisis in Vancouver." And it is true, the City of Van is overrun with armies of homeless people, like most major cities because affordable housing has been bulldozed and Gentrified, pushing thousands into the streets across Canada.

I already have over $200,000 invested in the property, equipment, tools and construction materials that I have moved here in the last 2 years. If it becomes necessary, I will abandon this foolish venture and sell the vehicles, the construction materials and put the money into moving to a town that has a real welcome mat, not one that make you feel like a door mat. You know, the kind of mat that gets stepped all over.

I need workable solutions to getting this house built, I just spent the last 2 days consulting with Human Rights lawyers here in Alberta, the kind that work in B.C., and it is taking time away from my move and my property maintenance duties in Creston. I need cooperation from the town, and not a giant Financial HAMMER hanging over my head with promises to hammer me with thousands of dollars in fines. For what? To kill a retirement dream for a disabled person. If that is the intention of the Town, then this really puts the Ideals that this town promotes on the Internet in a different light, and is beyond the pale is my opinion.

 When you are confronted by a bureaucracy that promotes punishment over communication and working with the Newcomers towards reaching their potential and their retirement goals, then you are very unlikely to be able to attract new people to fill in for retirees in this community is my opinion.

The town has lost sight of their stated goals on their website, and should start over because your approach is not working is my opinion.

I was looking for a good town when I found this one, and I can find another. 










Town bylaw officer threatens to financially ruin me with penalties and fines for the crime of Medical Need

  There is a subject that I seldom write about because it deals with the subject matter that cuts deep into my psyche, just as it does for many other severely injured and disabled workers, and that is the subject of stress. When you have been severely disabled, my own doctor has warned me of the dangers of stress. That is how I became a patient of Dr. Adebayo. He was deeply worried about the stress that I had been suffering as a result of being denied medical care and medications at the hands of the WCB of Alberta.

Since the days when I first met Dr. Adebayo, when I entered his office suffering from dangerous and life threatening levels of high blood pressure, he had warned me of the dangers of stress. He warned me that I must avoid confrontation that could lead to exceedingly high levels of blood pressure. By the time I had met Dr. Adebayo approx. 13 years ago or so, since being cut-off of my pain medications and I was not on any blood thinners or blood pressure pills.

I had never before in my life had a real Family Physician. I did briefly have a doctor for a couple of months at the Callingwood Medical Clinic, I still remember the day the doctor informed me that he could no longer treat me because the Workers Compensation Board had completely cut me off of benefits. I was devastated and left the clinic and as I hobbled to my truck with no medication, and no hope of getting further treatment I climbed in and sobbed for a half an hour. I cried because instinctively I knew that I was embarking on a life of horror and horrible insufferable pain. I had been cut-off benefits from WCB because I had missed a physiotherapy appointment because the therapist at Remed in the west end had reported me delinquent from my therapy.

I missed my appointment because 1 of their physiotherapists Jay Dunn had engaged in what he called "Deep Massage" on my back. As a patient with a Spinal Injury that was barely 6 months post surgery and I still had the steel bars in my back from Spinal Fusion. So naturally as a direct result of Jay Dunn's callous and obvious lack of training Jay sent me into a downward spiral of mind bending pain as I could not arise from bed the next day. I was cut off because of his lack of training, and decision to dig his thumbs into my back right at my injury site where my vertebrae shattered. This was the beginning of 12 years battling the Workers Compensation Board.

I had never had a family doctor before my accident because I as a general rule did not get sick other than the odd cold. So when you become seriously injured the very first thing you need is a family doctor, this was what the Medicenter doctors told me. Back in those days for the first year for sure I would have to wait in the waiting rooms of Medicenters for 3 or more hours to see a doctor. Quite often this would NOT result in me getting the medications I required as most physicians absolutely flat out refuse to treat any patients that are suffering with Chronic Pain.

I searched for over a year for a doctor that would take me on as a patient, and I had probably at that time visited at least 40 different Dr. offices in the capital region. No doctors would take me as a patient. I went for weeks without medications and would end up in the Emergency dept. of the hospital, and the doctors would help but would always scold me to get a family doctor.

In the early days of my injury I suffered long bouts of depression because of lack of medical treatment and a doctor. The physical effects of no medication along with WCB denial of payment for ANY treatments had lasting physical and elevated mental effects on my health. 

This is how I ended up in Dr. Adebayo's office experiencing extreme high blood pressure from the massive stress that being imposed on my body. I was experiencing something called autonomic hyperreflexia which is a problem with circulatory control and is a potentially life-threatening rise in blood pressure from my Spinal Injury.

Dr. Adebayo really saved my life back in those days because I was would regularly go weeks without any medication at all. My lack of medication was killing me, and quickly because of the enormous physical stress my body was being subjected to.

This post was written as a background piece to in order to give clarity to my condition and how we arrived at this critical moment in time, because time is not something that I have surplus amounts left in my life.

I explained every part of my medical condition in the many conversation the bylaw officer so that she could have a better comprehension and understanding of what I am experiencing in real time. She had told me she used to be an EMT, so naturally I thought that she would have reserved a small space in her heart for empathy and compassion for a human that she should naturally understand that I was bending under the stress that I was experiencing mentally and physically in real time.