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.

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?

Salvaged Textiles Robe

Wabi sabi, the Japanese ideal of beauty, incorporates simple truths about life and living: life is in a state of ongoing imperfection.  So relax and enjoy everything as it is; cancer and all… and be grateful. 

The first time I saw a Japanese garment created from old textile fragments, boro noragi, I was in awe that such beauty could come from mere rags (see the real thing… http://www.kimonoboy.com/ and here http://srithreads.com/index.php).  Boro noragi is the epitome of wabi sabi – beautiful imperfection.

Textile fragments - boro noragi

Equipped with reclaimed and recycled calico textiles from Mother’s fabric larder, I machine stitched a very wabi sabi version of my own happi coat pattern and hand embroidered a few daisy-chain flowers for westernized embellishment. 

Happi Patches

Hand-piecing fabrics together to create a simple and functional garment was a very satisfying way to spend a needful, therapeutic creative session, as well as a green way to recycle unused textiles.  Though my life and business frequently feels in rags while cancer visits us, I’m salvaging every piece possible, in a beautiful way.

Recycled calicos

How to cultivate a wabi-sabi attitude?

• Acknowledge nothing lasts forever… so retire, repair or accept the gradual and fascinating decline of household objects and appreciate them as they are.  This includes people.
• Allow that nothing is ever totally finished… and everything and everyone is in a constant state of maintenance even if deemed a completed project.  Allow for the metamorphosis of item, place and people.
• Recognize nothing is perfect… or faultless or flawless.  Enjoy items and people as they are… and be grateful… even for cancer.

We like week one and the resumption of our essential oil anointing regime.  One oil daubed on the skin here; another oil administered on the skin there… accomplished with tender loving care and prayer; intention to the extreme… to achieve intentional healing.  Essential oils may or may not be approved by your oncologist for your specific cancer therapy and remain in the alternative and complementary healing categories.  We can only attest to what we have experienced – which is comfort, pain and stress relief and the profound intuitive understanding that the oils help heal body, mind and spirit.

Helen Weygand’s contact information is included on the Resources portion of this blog… an essential oil-therapist extraordinaire.  She created a blend of oils specifically for Chuck and even named it for him – Blackmon Blend.

Helen's Blackmon Blend essential oil

Please don’t expect to purchase Blackmon Blend without a consultation from Helen to know for sure if it will meet your health needs.  She is very conscientious about who should use what oils and for what reasons and does not sell just any oil to any person.

But she can and is willing to help and is well worth tracking down.  She gave me a terrific formula for dealing with viruses of which I am highly susceptible: 100% pure natural frankincense essential oil and vitamin B-2 capsules.

When faced with a virus I trickle two drops of frankincense oil onto my tongue and add the contents of one vitamin B-2 capsule, broken open.  The frankincense oil and B-2 capsule contents are allowed to mingle together on my tongue and become slushy – and then I swish them in my mouth for 20 minutes… finally swallowing them down; followed by drinking an 8-oz. glass of water.

Helen's Frankincense virus treatment

Forewarning: this mixture has a very strong, powerful and unpleasant taste… but it knocked the heck out of a virus that threatened to take me down last spring.  I highly recommend it, though please don’t imbibe without consulting with Helen first.

Disclaimer necessary here: we have had supportive and encouraging results from Helen’s medical grade oils and highly recommend them.  We have never had experience with other brands of oils and cannot recommend them… therefore you will not find links to oils on this blog.  If you are going to use essential oils for dealing with cancer or other illnesses, please consult with a qualified practitioner.  Helen sells her oils only to those whom she counsels personally… and not all oils are as pure and reliable as those she provides.  Please exercise special caution when consuming oils, like frankincense, internally.  Seek out and choose medical grade oils only.

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.

After a few visits, producing much symptomatic relief, Brother asked if we didn’t know any regular doctors to which his wife could be referred because none of the nonconventional healers take insurance.  Expenses are racking up.

Truthfully, we see a horde of alternative practitioners, believing that many, instead of one single modality of healing is justified when seeking cancer remediation.  None of them take insurance.  Bummer.  Then again, none of them costs an arm and a leg – witness, one round of thalidomide chemo-poisoning is about $6000.00 a month for many, many months… and can literally “cost” an arm and a leg.  (Disclaimer necessary here: we are cynics about chemo.  If you and your doctor feel you need it, please get it.)

Today Chuck saw our favorite alternative practitioner, Bill-the-Witch-Doctor.  No, he doesn’t know we very lovingly call him that, and no, he isn’t a witch.  But he is a Homeopathic physician and very intuitive about Chuck’s condition.  Of all the people we have entrusted our well-being to, he gives Chuck the most hope and the best advice about his own proactive inclusion and decision-making toward the cancer… and real relief, though most of that relief is directed at spiritual, emotional and mental healing first.  Maybe that’s why it works so well.

Homeopathic relief

Today Chuck had to have an emergency root canal – the kind of infection that killed author Michael Gearin-Tosh.  Michael survived multiple myeloma for eleven years without conventional medical treatment and profiled his life with the disease in his book, Living Proof… book highly recommended reading when searching for alternative and complementary cancer treatments or just the courage to live with cancer.

Super-DDS Dr. Tom was mostly concerned with what cancer therapy Chuck may have already had that would complicate the root canal treatment.

Apparently bisphosphonate infusions, standard protocol for multiple myeloma administered to prevent further damage to bones, can contribute to jaw narcolepsy, making dental care a challenge.  Thank God, not a problem in Chuck’s case.

Toward better mouth health in general we’ve dumped everything that has fluoride, especially toothpastes.  Chuck suffers from thyroid disorder and iodine deficiency; both can be precursors to cancer, both can be attributable to fluoride consumption.  Yes, we’ve bought whole-heartedly into the conspiracy theory that fluoride is a poison and we don’t want it in our bodies.  Then we bought Salt Toothpaste from Weleda.  And we love it.

Salt toothpaste - good!

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.

Chuck is actually doing better.  He has even walked for a few feet daily for the past three days using his walker.  He has to build up slowly because it drains him of energy to do so.

We saw a VA spinal specialist whom we had to wait a month for the visit as the doctor only comes to town once a month.  Conclusion: Chuck is still in a wheelchair because he has “residual weakness due to radiation damage to nerves” and a “short stay” at the VA spinal trauma unit would help him greatly.

When asked what was meant by a short stay the reply was “two or three weeks” of in-unit intensive therapy.  Wow.  Chuck is for it, so he was added to the list to go to the trauma unit when they have an opening.  Of course, with many returning damaged Iraq and Afghanistan vets, we are unsure how soon they will have room for him in the unit.

So, with residual weakness due to radiation damage keeping him in a wheelchair… to what may we contribute Chuck’s well-being otherwise?

DMSO

DMSO… that’s right, horse liniment.  “Sold as a solvent only” (exact labeling required) in health food stores, dimethyl sulfoxide, massaged onto Chuck’s back immediately gives him more flexibility and pain relief. 

I massaged DMSO onto my sprained ankle, followed up by Traumeel cream, and practically healed myself overnight from that on-going six-month old troublesome trauma. 

Traumeel cream

Go to one of the best unconventional information sites, http://www.earthclinic.com, type DMSO into the search field for a wealth of alternative and complementary liniment remedies – and cautions to go along with them.  Heed the cautions.  Obey the law.  May the best horse win.

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.

The Iodine Robe

 We use a lot of iodine around here since Chuck became ill and it stains my hands and clothing.  The best solution I came up with was a robe created from fabric that would camouflage the stain until my body could absorb the iodine to my benefit. 

Happi Rectangles

Created from simple blocks and rectangles of fabric, similar to a long Japanese happi coat, the textile color was labeled “mustard” but looks exactly like my iodine stained skin. 

Iodine Stain

 Note: A high quality Lugol’s Solution of Iodine is what we use toward better health around here… search the internet for information about this wonderful product and how it can help many ailments.  Check this blog’s resources for links to the product itself. 

Iodine will stain your skin for as long as it takes to be absorbed – for me that takes only a few hours.  If you are a first time user, consider placing it on your skin only at bedtime in order to avoid the obvious stain or plan to avoid public contact until you know how long it takes for your skin to absorb it.  Otherwise, plan to get a few odd looks or questions.  And that’s ok, too.

Anticancer, A New Way of Life, by David Servan-Schreiber