Love MC Yogi. If you want to sing along, click on the link!!. Normally not a hip-hop sort of upbeat girl. Prefer music in minor keys and countries with their national anthems in minor keys as well. But have gone for months on end with MC Yogi in the car and never tire of it. Yesterday just sucked. We awoke to news that someone we knew lost the battle with cancer, leaving 2 little kids behind. One very little child. It triggered all of the guilt for being so passive about "passing" along information of alternatives or dietary therapies to do in conjunction with the regular route-to our friend that we lost earlier this year. Some part of me was in denial that our friend was so sick, and I think the other part was that when our friend was diagnosed it sounded like the doctors said it was microscopic, "we caught it so early", "we can treat it" sort of lingo. I don't know what was actually said, but I just know the aftermath of treatment. I did float some more information to our friend, but the treatment was pretty pre-determined for a variety of reasons. I didn't gift the "Healing Cancer From the Inside Out" dvd because the first part of it is so damning of chemo, that I didn't think it was a positive message to someone who was going through that type of treatment. The second part of the movie is incredibly empowering, but I didn't want to "butt" in too much. Besides, the doctor was dealing with it, prescribing more milk. Just not what "The China Study" ordered.
Healing Cancer from the Inside Out. Trailer.
There was one doctor who was nearly cruel to our friend, cruel & arrogant. To me it was bad enough that they were taking the insurance and shooting poison in our friend's veins (I never said this aloud), but then to actually have a doctor be so flippant and so concerned with his own ego that he would react so negatively to someone with a serious cancer getting a second opinion, floored me. Enraged would be more appropriate. I have wonderful family in the medical profession. My parents have spent their lives in the medical profession. But the system is seriously flawed and my heart tells me it is costing lives every single day. Here's chemo, here's some ensure, and here's some artificially flavored jello. And here is my friend's body, eaten by chemo. It makes my gut wrench. I don't know if he would have gone to Mexico and tried the Gerson, if it would have worked. If after the chemo came back for the third time, if he would have tried even going to Florida and spending time at Hippocrates or something similar. But my heart aches and I feel so much guilt for being so soft-spoken and so passive. His body wasn't even given a chance.
"The Beautiful Truth". 90 minutes. The entire movie!
Documentary about Gerson Therapy. It's a little older, but you can watch free online, now!
My husband assures me that no matter what I would have said or done, that his road would have been the same, that there was no way that the end of the story would be different. Even if the body is just a storage container for your spirit, people here on earth get pretty attached to that storage container, no matter what shape it's in. We want that storage container here, with us. So we can feed it, laugh with it, and share harmless gossip with it. I don't think it matters how spiritually enlightened you are (I don't even attempt-as I am about as "attached" to my family as it can get) or how "detached" from the physical world you get-it still hurts like hell when you lose a loved one. I remember the Dalai Lama talking about the sadness of his brother's passing. If the Dalai Lama hurts, there's no chance for the rest of us to be free of that type of pain! Through our friend's passing, I learned that someone very close to him has a very young daughter fighting a serious (nearly always terminal) cancer. We live on a very small block. Yet so much cancer. The woman who lived in our house prior to us, died of cancer. The woman who used to live in the house next door, breast cancer. A couple doors down, someone had surgery for cancer, and died of complications shortly after. Prostate Cancer. Another neighbor died suddenly of a malignant mass in her abdomen. Oral Melanoma. It's epidemic. Then the news yesterday of another death (not on our street this time). And one that we get email updates about, after a surgery for cancer, because he could die of complications at any time.
"Dying to Have Known". Very similar to the movie above. About the Gerson therapy.
Gerson Therapy Facebook Page (lots of people on the therapy, questions, answers, and totally amazing stories)
Please remove the obstacles that prevent people from healing of cancer. I read Jess's Blog (my carrot chemo warriors), among others, that there is hope. That there is a better way. Because the old way just isn't working. No Funca.
Okay, last Thursday we had a good day in East St. Louis. 3 Rescues!! Here are 2 of them. Today, well just icky. First it's supposed to be 102 today, so a multitude of people were up & moving around, very early. So many stray dogs in the street. And a beautiful shy pittie in her usual spot, but today a homeless woman was sitting in a plastic lawn chair by the dog. The woman had herself covered with a blanket. Pj had seem the gal around town before. I had never seen her. But my heart just sank further. Parts of East St. Louis are rough. There is no sugar-coating it. The news reported that next to a children's playground, that a video camera recorded a drug deal going down EVERY six minutes.
Short Video of last Thursday "The Good Thursday", when we got Wolfie.
(I am the early morning gal behind the camera, who has difficult making words and sentences shortly after sunrsie)
There are very nice parts of the city as well, but Pj feeds in a certain area. So many of the homes are boarded up. Or the windows are smashed but maybe people are living in them. Fires are set for fun. Grafitti, and not the the pretty kind, covers the walls of buildings and homes. Garbage is littered on nearly every street we use. Incredible holes are in the road and people put tires or debris in them just so 1/2 of a car won't actually fall into the hole. It is a forgotten place. Some days it's bright and sunny and I just breathe deep and get through it. Other days, like today, it's overwhelming. Poverty is one thing. But so much substance abuse, so little hope, and so much violence. It's a tragic situation and today there were too many dogs and then the homeless lady, who touched my heart. She walked away when we got out of the car. But I just can't imagine being a homeless woman in such a war-zone. In the States. But last week was happier...........If any fun peeps are ever up for riding along, please let us know!! It's always fun when we have a crowd! 314.664.7398!! Jamie is great at taking newcomers along & giving them the scoop about Gateway.
"Bert's Travels. A Rescue"
Don't forget to tell your friends and family that Sanjay Gupta's "The Last Heart Attack" special will be broadcast this Saturday evening, twice. I believe (but check!!!!) at 8 and 11 CENTRAL time. Double check or just set the DVR for all night, as you never know what type of interruption there will be next :) You can watch the FULL SHOW on this "Sanjay Gupta, The Last Heart Attack Post"
I've love to come along for rescues with you if I lived there!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad how cities are getting in certain areas. Even in the little city we live in (only 50,000 people), there's more & more bad stuff happening as time goes on.
I agree with your husband- no matter what, your friend would most likely have taken the same road. Still, I know the guilt all too well. It's just part of being a compassionate being. There is so much cancer. It's scary how much there is.
Thanks for sharing Ganesh is Fresh. That's a fun song for the beginning of the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about the passing of your friend. Please don't be too hard on yourself. It is a very difficult and tricky balance to share information like this with people (especially when they are so desperate and vulnerable) without alienating them. We all have to meet people where they are at. Unfortunately, that means that sometimes they never get quite to where we were hoping they would.