John was so shocked when he was told he had CHF. He thought it was anything but that. He was fortunate enough to have one of the best Heart doctors around. He was just starting a a study of a drug and wanted John to participate. Right away John knew he had the drug and not the placebo. He was feeling much stronger. He was and is a very determined person. He also is what one would deem a workaholic. He did many strenuous activities during the research. He paid for it many of the times, but the doctors were happy that this Beta-blocker worked. It is a common drug now for heart patients.

During the next few years John was able to lead an almost normal life. He went back to work as a truck driver. During this time he did have surgery on his throat. When he had the initial CHF, it made his tonsils collapse. He had apnea. During this time his sugars were out of control. The evening after surgery, even when he was in great pain, they had to give him something to boost his sugars because they had dropped too low. During the next 3 weeks he dropped 30lbs because it was hard for him to eat.

Things were stable for a little while until late 1997. John was going downstairs of our house late at night to get a drink of water. He slipped, and as he did, he tore the Achilles Tendon in his foot. He had 3 surgeries in 3 weeks time to try to repair it. Nothing worked. Except now because of his diabetes, it kept trying to get infected. He had more surgeries. He had a total of 7 surgeries on that foot alone. They could not get it to heal. I started using Tea Tree Oil on it. It took 8 months to close a gaping hole in his foot. The Doctors told me that whatever I was doing, to keep on doing it, because nothing they were doing was working. I got it to heal. Just as things were starting to look up, John trips over the garden hose, and ruptures the other Achilles Tendon in Aug. 1998.

The doctors didn't even try to repair this one, they just stuck him in a cast at first, then a walking boot. The walking boot caused a blister on the bottom of his heel. That blister caused 5 years of problems. Multiple infections, surgeries and stress really took a toll on his health. By 2002, John was no longer able to work. Every time he would go on the road, he would encounter some sort of problem. Whether it was not able to get to the bathroom soon enough, get too tired and end up in the hospital during the trip, or get an infection and have to go to the hospital from work. Doctors were taking bets on John losing his foot. Tea Tree Oil and sewing up the bottom of his foot finally did the trick. The doctor who lost the bet now uses Tea Tree Oil regularly.