Cannabis Survivor

Cannabis Survivor of the Month: Lindsey Miller

Since transitioning from my job out of the grow to a new dispensary out in Choctaw, Oklahoma, known as the Lettuce Bar (check us out on Insta @the_lettuce_bar), I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with several cannabis patients and hear their stories. One day in early October, a new patient came in, and my assumptions got the best of me.

Being out in Choctaw, not far from Tinker Air Force Base, we have a large percentage of veteran patients. Those patients receive a discount, so honestly, I was trying to hook her up. Lindsey came in and was asking questions about different strains we have, some of our concentrates, etc., so when I came from behind the counter and noticed she had a prosthesis on her left leg, I, incorrectly, assumed that she may have been a veteran. Thus opened our conversation for what had happened, and the trauma that her body had been through since 2014.

Lindsey, almost nonchalantly, started to tell me her story of what had happened. She had gone in to deliver her second child after a normal, healthy pregnancy.

While in labor, one of the nurses went to check how dilated she was, and inadvertently infected Lindsey with Strep A.

Lindsey remembers labor going well, but then that evening, her and her newborn baby girl started having symptoms of infection. Of course, with a newborn, any sign of infection is troubling, so it is somewhat safe to think that the staff was much more concerned about a new baby. Tests were run and antibiotics administered to baby Paisley, and she went home from the hospital healthy.

Meanwhile, Lindsey was having excruciating headaches and abdominal pain. Despite her daughter testing positive for Group A Strep, two days into increased blood pressure, headaches, and abdominal pain, there had yet to be bloodwork done to determine what was wrong with Lindsey.

After two days, Lindsey was finally transferred to OU Medical Center, where, within thirty minutes of arrival, a diagnosis was received.

By this point, Lindsey was experiencing sepsis, an infection in her blood, and was needing an emergency hysterectomy to remove the source of the infection.

Lindsey was under the knife within an hour of being transferred in order to literally save her life. Due to the sepsis, her body was beginning to fail her. After surgery, Lindsey was placed in a medically induced coma for three weeks in order to help her body rest and heal. During this three week time, she was off and on life support, with more bad days than good.

After waking from the coma, the repercussions of the sepsis became the focus. Lindsey had necrosis, or tissue death, all over her hands and feet. In fact, her doctor expected her to lose both hands as well as both feet. The sepsis also caused her kidney function to stop.

Because of the decreased kidney function, Lindsey was 23 years old with a newborn and two-year-old son at home, doing dialysis three days a week. Lindsey spent two months in the ICU, followed by another two months in a regular room at OU Med. So, after giving birth, Lindsey was finally home, 4 months after her initial entrance to the hospital. However, one month later, she was back in for an amputation of her right leg, just below the knee. Because of all of the necrotic tissue due to the sepsis, Because of all of the necrotic tissue due to the sepsis, Lindsey’s leg ended up developing gangrene.

So, the leg had to go, as well as all of the toes on her left foot and partial index and thumb on her left hand. On top of the amputation, Lindsey also has severe arthritis in her remaining ankle, causing pain that requires steroid injections every three months for joint degeneration.

For three and a half years, Lindsey would go to dialysis three times a week, for three hours a day. Her kidney function suffered terribly from sepsis and organ failure. Dialysis was a must to keep her alive.

Lindsey’s older brother went to get tested to see if they would be a match for him to give her one of his kidneys. Turns out, he was a perfect match. Thanks to her brother’s generosity, Lindsey received a new kidney and was able to discontinue dialysis.

A shocking benefit from the dialysis is that it was also helping with her adrenal gland function. Once dialysis ended, so did the adrenal gland. One week after her transplant, her energy levels crashed and her blood pressure would drop unexplainably. Doctor determined the issue and started her on 5mg a day of steroids to help boost her energy levels.

Now that we’ve covered the physical results of the infection and ensuing hospital stays, let’s talk about the mental.

Since all of this occurred, Lindsey has dealt with panic attacks, bouts of depression, and even suicidal thoughts. “I wanted to have three kids, we had talked about having three, and that choice was taken away from me.” Due to the hysterectomy, Lindsey and her husband weren’t given the option to have more. The hysterectomy was necessary to save her life so she could be there to help raise her kids.

Lindsey initially took the prescribed pain pills to help manage her pain, but like many people prescribed opiates, addiction reared its ugly head. She remembers a time or two when she did come close to overdosing, but thankfully, she no longer takes any kind of pain medication and uses cannabis to manage the discomfort she does have.

In a relationship, especially one that goes through a traumatic event such as this, it’s hard on both partners. While Lindsey was suffering with her depression and at times contemplating suicide, “I just wanted out,” Lindsey’s husband was also dealing with his own mental breakdown. This young couple with their lives ahead of them went in one day to deliver their healthy baby girl, and came home months later with a mom that barely made it out alive, dealing with a new way of life, all while raising a twoyear-old and a newborn. It was a lot, and the difficulty is understandable. But the resilience in this young family is amazing. Yes, things are less than easy, but Lindsey is here to raise her kids, to show them what it means to overcome adversity.

Cannabis has played a huge role in helping Lindsey through day to day life. She has experienced joint pain, anxiety, and depression since this all began. In fact, cannabis is her only form of medication outside of the anti-rejection medication and steroids for her kidney transplant. Though she admits to using cannabis for around 8 years, it wasn’t until a trip around five years ago to Colorado that she got her first taste of medical grade cannabis.

Since then, she has been medicating daily to help with the stress and anxiety. It helps her to calm down on the days when she’s a little more on edge, it eases the pain when the arthritis gets to be too much, when the thoughts are overwhelming, it quiets her mind.

About a year after everything occurred, her husband began researching the medicinal benefits of cannabis and began growing their own. “We’re researchers, well, he is,” she laughed when telling me about her husband learning to grow their own cannabis. And, like most people that use cannabis for truly medicinal purposes, they both agree that terpenes are much more important than the THC level.

Lindsey’s two favorite terpenes to look for are beta-caryophyllene and alphapinene. The beta-caryophyllene is often used to help relieve anxiety and pain; while alpha-pinene has antiinflammatory properties that are very helpful for arthritis pain.

We discussed the future of cannabis, and the way people view it in small town Oklahoma.

Initially, Lindsey was a little worried to let other parents know that she used cannabis. In fact, we laughed over the fact that so many people are more “accepting” to opiate usage than they were cannabis in the small towns we came from because, prior to legalization of medicinal cannabis, the opiate was at least legally prescribed. Insert giant eye roll here over the continuing opiate crisis in this country.

Like most cannabis consumers, Lindsey feels people should be more open to cannabis as a true medicinal alternative to the chemicals we are prescribed for anything and everything.

The benefits cannabis provides far outweighs any negatives. It is not an addictive substance; you cannot overdose from it. The sooner legalization occurs across the board, the quicker more research can be done to show the benefits behind cannabis.

In response to her favorite strain,

Me too, Lindsey, me too.