What Is This All About?

Wow - a LOT ha occurred since my last trip on my journey... On January 29, 2018, I experienced brain surgery on what turned out to be a TUMOR IN MY BRAIN!

While the long-time-ago-diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis has not been ruled out, what was diagnosed as a MS lesion in my brain was changed to a LOW GRADE GLIOMA tumor! It's kind of amazing what a relatively-new-to-me neurologist will discover after 10 years - and rather upsetting that three other neurologists will just stay with the original diagnosis AND try to prescribe a different MS drug. Although I am still trying to find a local primary care physician, all of my other doctors are located at the Yale-New Haven Hospital - not too far from home, but not too local, either.

So, why am I actually writing this - or, as the title says, what is this all about? Mainly, my focus that I want to share is what I have been trying to do that would only help the matters of my health.

A not-so-long time ago in a galaxy - well, this one... I have found something that is supposedly beneficially to healing cancer. Pau d'arco tea is that thing! Check out this link for the information that is already spelled out - no need for me to copy it here. I've started using the tea daily - 2-3 servings each day. It's how I start my day every day. Recently - well, today before writing this post - I made a 64 oz. bottle of tea to refrigerate. This was actuality a mix of 3 different teas... I used the pau d'arco, added Bigelow's Lemon Ginger tea that gives me the benefit of probiotics, and some green tea that is just all-around beneficial in so many ways.

Another step on my journey is to stick to a low/no carb diet. Sugar is a cancer fertilizer! There are so many recommendations out there that say low/no carb is the way to go. This isn't new to me, but certainly a diet that I haven't done in a while. I had great success with it in the past and actually like where it can take me again - in addition to what it can/might do for me in the tumor situation. Both the positive and negative of the low/no carb diet is the tie to the Atkin's diet. Almost all Atikn's products are poisoned by sucralose - something that I WILL NOT CONSUME IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. It's not like I can't eat what I want to, though. There are plenty of better options than Atkin's products.

What's coming up for me is my journey through chemotherapy. In this case, I'm looking forward (sarcasm, intended) to the course of PCV chemotherapy. From what I've read, it could be a lot worse. This particular series involves 29 days of my life with a 'time-off' of 6-8 weeks between each session. During 2 weeks of that 29 days, my diet will be restricted due to the drug that is used during that time. I won't be able to eat most cheeses, anything fermented, and a number of other things that contain tyramine.
On the positive side is the fact that the doctors do not recommend any radiation treatment!

So, that's where my journey is currently. We'll see how things progress...

Best I Can

With my recent return to My Journey, I am also returning to my use of song names for the titles of my posts. While there are several songs with the title of "Best I Can," the one that I am referring to is from my favorite band, RUSH. I chose this song because - well - I'm trying to do that very thing, the best that I can.

I've been really loyal to my eating plan. Even yesterday, I went to a wedding - I was the Best Man - and could have gone way off of the path. I may have been a bit off, but I stuck to beef, asparagus, carrots, and a baked potato for my dinner and only a couple of sips of champagne for the toast. The potato might have been a little much for my carbs, but at least it wasn't sugar.

As for the best that I can do (and what I intended this post to be about)... I have been adding turmeric as one of my main supplements. Turmeric has a lot of benefits!  I'm also not limiting my consumption of turmeric as a supplement but adding it to a lot of the recipes that I'm cooking. In fact, my use of it as a seasoning as far outweighed my use of it as a supplement. So... Why?

Turmeric has been found to be beneficial to the brain. MS, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease symptoms have all been reported as being positively effected by turmeric. What is interesting, though, is that turmeric isn't terribly bioavailable. The body's digestive system doesn't really like it. It does have a 'trigger' that is easily found, however. The trigger is piperine. "Wait! I thought you said that is was 'easily found.' What is piperine???" Well, piperine is found in black pepper. See? That's pretty easy!

I don't always have breakfast in the morning, but 90% of those meals is an omelet. I use 3 free-range, fertilized eggs, a couple of ounces of raw cheddar cheese, and a shot of raw whole milk for the standard ingredients. For seasoning, I add sea salt, black pepper, garlic, parsley, and turmeric. Another regular meal for me is tuna. For this, I mix a can of tuna with mayo, chopped onion, chopped celery, sea salt, pepper, and turmeric.

Revisit, Refocus, Renew, and Recovery

Here I am, revisiting the blog after another year of blog-silence. This is due to the fact that I am refocusing on my eating habits because I need to renew my health recovery. (See how I came up with the title of this post? :-) )

If you aren't familiar with my story, let me recap my last 9 years for you. You are certainly invited to go back and read any/all of my previous posts, but let me save you some time for now...

In 2007, I began to experience some numbness in my right foot. Over the course of the next several months, that numbness expanded up my leg, into my waist, and then down my left leg. Additionally, the numbness grew in intensity to where I couldn't even walk without support from a cane and no more than 15 minutes at a time. Due to my lack of mobility and prednisone, I gained about 150 pounds to where I weighed 350+. Fun? I think not! I was prescribed Rebif for - what I was diagnosed with - Multiple Sclerosis.

Fast forward to October, 2008...

Using Rebif wasn't helping me at all. The side effects were making my life worse. It was killing me! (Sure, I may be exaggerating, but...)
At this point, I was introduced to a product called VIDACELL. After reading about it, I decided to give it a decent trial of three months. It only took two weeks to make a difference! I was more able to walk, climb stairs, and more...
In addition to VIDACELL, I changed my diet. I started to follow the plan as described in The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. Also, I went through several cycles of The Master Cleanse. (All of my experiences with these phases are detailed in previous posts on this blog. If you want more details, contact me or check out the other posts - I'm more than happy to answer any questions.)

Long story, short: While I didn't experience complete recovery, I was able to improve my life.

Fast forward to January, 2011...

Certainly not an immediate improvement, but it was at this point in my life that I decided to try to go back to work. From childhood, I had a desire to be on the radio. I figured that pursuing this dream just made sense. My mobility wasn't perfect, so a job that required me to be on my feet didn't make a lot of sense. Also, my endurance wasn't all that strong... I figured that sitting at a microphone for 4-5 hours at a time just made sense for a job! So, I attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting to pursue that dream. Things turned out pretty well!

Until May, 2012, when I experienced a stroke... Recovery from that was a lot of FUN! (sarcasm, maybe?)

Fast forward to today (well, maybe 3-4 months ago...)

Now, I'm experiencing the flare-up of the numbness. It has expanded into both arms and hands. My left hand is less numb than my right hand. In addition to the numbness, I will sometimes experience what I refer to as a 'buzz.' Basically, I blackout for a couple of seconds - up to a minute. Both the duration and the intensity of the buzz varies. Sometimes, I simply just lose the ability to focus my thoughts. Other times, I really do blackout - hence, the lack of ability to drive.

Are you still with me?

So today, I have decided to be more focused on my diet and activity. I am going back to a modified Maker's Diet. Basically, a low-carb Maker's Diet. I am also looking more deeply into the benefits of various spices and foods - like turmeric, ginger, bone broth, and all things coconut.

I'm hoping that my Journey to Wellness sees as much - or more! - success as I previously had and that you'll join me on this journey, too.