Time changes mess with the body’s natural patterns of give and take and flow, and circadian rhythms are nothing to screw around with – that’s why I hate daylight savings time.  And jet travel.  Both are known disrupters of circadian rhythms.  And jet lag sucks.

I’ve vowed to avoid jet travel in the future if at all possible, thereby repossessing an ounce of control.  But my government appears determined to undermine my circadian rhythms via daylight savings time changes.

I’m very confident the government and I will never see eye to eye on the detriments versus benefits of daylight savings time, and therefore acknowledge I am stuck with it, good, bad or indifferent.

Nevertheless, I remain a rebel.

When time “fell back” this past November into standard time, I vowed to never change another wall clock… tabletop digital clocks in the house are easy to manage during a time change, but wall clocks take more energy to access and dial up or down.

Goal and solution: double up on wall clocks so that by the time “spring ahead” rolled around we were ready to install additional wall clocks over the top of those already present… “standard time” clock in the lower, more Earth-centric position, and “daylight savings time” clock above.

Taking control of daylight savings time...

We’re happy with the way it turned out – allowing us the façade of control in our lives and coincidentally providing a new decorating theme.  We share these photos to inspire your own rebellion.

Time is relative

Rebel!

PS We sincerely hope future time travel via teleportation and transporter device somehow works out the circadian rhythm disruptions inherent in crossing time zones, because jet lag sucks.  So does cancer.  Rebel!

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Pathological fractures are a mainstay of many multiple myeloma sufferers.

His rib has been reinjured, multiple times since last year, and now his upper back and neck are traumatized.  He is reluctant to submit to hospitalization to get the kind of relief only they can provide through intravenous or hypodermic administration, so has increased his pain medication and resorted to wearing a neck brace, along with the back brace which has become part of his daily attire since this past summer.

Saving grace and ultimate decision to wait a while before heading back to emergency care: he can still feel his legs and eliminate waste.  If that were not the case, ambulance trip required immediately because failure to have feeling would mean more damage to the already tumor-invaded spinal column.

Apparently fractures can take a month to heal if you are otherwise healthy  – with a compromised immune system, three to six months is normal.  Chuck injured his upper back and neck last week; has been in excruciating pain and could quickly use up the new pain medication prescription received just before Christmas… thank God for the TENS unit.

Chuck’s primo and much appreciated VA Primary Doctor got us the TENS device last year and we’ve experimented with it to know when to use it as supplementary pain relief and where to apply its electrodes to the skin for the best relief.

TENS units are available only by prescription in the United States and if chronic pain is an issue, they are approved for many applications, including cancer, arthritis and back pain.  But not all physicians know much about them nor recommend them.  What a shame.  Drug consumption might actually go down if suffering people knew how to use a TENS unit for relief.

The original TENS technology is attributed to the very controversial and much maligned Royal Raymond Rife himself and is still, unfortunately, the only FDA approved Rife technology.  It is an electronic pain-relief device and must be acquired via doctor Rx… do a search on the internet – type in “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation” or TENS unit – to find a model to purchase after you get the Rx because many medical supply houses don’t carry them, nor do they know what they are.  The models on the internet vary in price from $60.00 to $1800.00 and all require Rx to purchase.  Difficult to decide which model to choose so it is probably best we didn’t get a choice going with VA provision… simply grateful they were willing to provide it. 

Disclaimer necessary here: never use any device, including TENS over a broken or fractured bone; never use a TENS on your neck or head; never use a TENS without the direct knowledge and approval of your doctor nor without his RX for your specific condition.

TENS unit

Disclaimer: All information posted on this web site is the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor can legally offer medical advice in the United States. Consult the healer of your choice for medical care and advice.

Not a bad way to start a new year.  Lesson?  Blossom when you darn well feel like it.

Last Tree Standing Christmas 2009

Last tree standing, out of 197 specimens – traditionally our Christmas trees get put away on the day after Christmas because by the time the big day is over I’m tired of looking at all 197 of them… and dusting them.

This photo was really just an opportunity to bask in the sunset’s afterglow on the pyracantha and orange tree.  Living in southern California has its benefits, especially in winter.

Unadorned calico spiral

Chuck preferred the decked-out version, complete with hanging ornaments and I liked the simplified unadorned version best. 

PS The bear at the top of the spiral just thinks he’s a Christmas tree.

Decked-out Spiral

Barbed-wire tree

Today the patio received a 24-inch barbed-wire tree, resplendent with brass stars, along with a four-foot faux fir anchored inside the wheelbarrow. 

 The birds are not amused.

Textile Tree with Vintage Buttons

The first Saturday of December is when we begin unpacking my collection of Christmas trees for display in the house and patio.  A few years ago there were over 200 trees but like most serious collectors of anything, I’ve gleaned the collection down to just the best examples and began by dumping the largest tree of the collection – a seven-footer that had to be hand strung with lights and ornaments.  That’s ok because there still remain examples whose sizes range from one-half inch to 4-foot… and I wasn’t able to delete as many trees as I thought so there still remain almost 200 trees. (Note to self: cultivate more “detachment” so the collection can slowly reduce in size and I won’t be too bummed to let them go.)

The tree collection began in 1971 when my son was just one year old and the nation was in the midst of an energy crunch.  Determined to adjust our behavior for the benefit of society and our budget, I decided to forgo a lit tree and my mother came unglued… that baby boy needed to see a lit Christmas tree so she made us a small ceramic tree lit by a single bulb.  I refused to plug it in but loved the tree.

We still have the tiny ceramic tree – still lit by a single bulb – and in a roundabout way to satisfy my mother’s desire to create a collection for me, the Christmas tree collection began. 

Mother collects everything – from state plates to dolls; porcelain creamers to baskets; military uniforms to gingerbread people and snowmen.  I resisted collecting anything, choosing instead a Spartan, Zen-ish home environment… until those Christmas trees.  Not only did I collect a new or vintage or thrift-shop specimen annually – but friends and loved ones gleefully added to the collection as well.  So frankly, it was very easy to end up with over 200 Christmas trees. 

The original goal was to land a single example of every medium… paper, plastic, wood, metal, glass… if an artist could shape it into a tree I wanted it.

My baby sister’s tiny fingerprints are enshrined in a clay model, created when she was in kindergarten and gifted to my mother that Christmas forty-five years ago.  A little, ancient toll-booth operator in Chicago-land gifted me his hand-made particle-wood version as I admired it in the snow one year… I’m forever grateful I needed change at the booth that day so I could meet the old man who made those toll-booths merry and bright with his handiwork.

And yes, there is at least a single example of every medium in the collection today… paper, plastic, wood, metal, glass, corn-husk, crocheted and stitched.

Today we lit the little ceramic tree after installation… and plan to light every other version that can and should light because Chuck and Mother both have bone marrow cancer and Dana died this year with bone marrow cancer and sometimes you just need to see a lit Christmas tree.

What is with shingles and cancer?  Does cancer weaken the immune system so horribly that shingles can attack unabated?  Or does shingles take a foot-hold first, so cancer follows?  Unknown, but Mom suffers from horrible shingles attacks, too, and the same bone marrow cancer as Chuck. 

Stress doesn’t help and appears to be a common indicator because as soon as Chuck becomes stressed about something, nerve pain shows up to take advantage.  Back to meditation.

We’ve collected several CD’s that purport to be the best kind of meditation for those dealing with cancer, including a hypnosis version from the PUNA WAI ORA Cancer Clinic, www.alternative-cancer-care.com, Mind-Body Self Hypnosis Cancer CD.

Ultimately we decided to create our own healing meditation CD so the words could better address Chuck’s values, beliefs and specific healing needs.  He listens to it when he naps and when he goes to bed at night and claims it helps him deal with the bone pain associated with multiple myeloma. 

There is a wonderful CD by Gilles Marin from www.chineitsang.com called The Bone Dreaming Meditation… a very old and powerful meditation used by Taoist monks to keep their bones healthy, Bone Breathing Chi Kung may even help heal fractured and diseased bones when practiced intentionally toward that goal.

It’s also outstanding stress relief.

Disclaimer: All information posted on this web site is the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor can legally offer medical advice in the United States. Consult the healer of your choice for medical care and advice.

Meditation anyone?