I hope your Valentine’s day was extra-filled with love and happy surprises. Mine was…then it took a sudden tragic turn.
I was awakened with kisses and cards and flowers, awwwww! But secretly wondered, ‘where is the CHOCOLATE???’ haha
This Valentine’s day I decided it was time we DID SOMETHING SPECIAL. My husband Luke and I, ever committed to our family, don’t really DO much in the way of celebrating things that don’t involve the kids- you know, like OUR birthdays, or OUR anniversaries, or love day. We tend to be practical, and, well, it’s a little unromantic frankly. We have never been much for using babysitters, and don’t have a lot of extended family around to take the kids, so we tend to stay home a lot. But, now that our boys are 9 and 11, that is all changing. In fact, it really could have started to a couple years ago, but we just got into a habit. So, I reeeeeeeeeally switched it up this year.
I booked us a night out at a ‘fashion-theatre show’ which was an event I knew nothing about other than a friend and her fiancé were going. Well Petals, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, because what it was is impossible to describe! I mean, there were all these Art Installations like girls scantily clad high above on swings, and artists painting girls scantily clad on brass beds, and a human mermaid whose fin was made entirely from green icing, and models and go-go dancers. What a party- I didn’t know if I was in New York, Paris or Milan! It was such good, clean, GROWN-UP fun! We had a great night!
Unfortunately, my husband’s uncle called us first thing Sunday morning with some ‘news’. He is a medical doctor, and when they call you at home, no news is good news. We had gone for our annual physical on Friday- actually it isn’t annual for us as we only go to doctor and dentist once every 3 or 4 years just to check-in. Anyway, my husband’s blood work came back and his PSA (marker of prostrate health often signifying cancer when elevated) was abnormally high. A level of 4 and under is considered normal, his is 29.3!
Knowing my husband doesn’t deal with this stuff well, I took over the call acting as Luke’s Health Advocate and asked his uncle what the course of treatment he would recommend was. He said a month-long powerful round of antibiotics, as a start, followed by another if there was no effect, then later perhaps a culture and biopsy, more bloodwork, visits to a urologist and possibly oncologists, etc. When I asked if he was certain that it was a bacterial infection that was causing this high reading, he said he didn’t know for sure, but would start there anyway. Well, from reading up on things like this on Dr Carolyn Dean’s site, I had learned that although medically doctors always tend to use antibiotics as a standard treatment initially just to ‘rule out’ a bacterial infection, high levels of PSA can actually be an indication of fungal infection which the antibiotics not only won’t help, but will exacerbate!
Of course Luke’s uncle was used to me asking questions for clarification and declining many of his recommendations for vaccinations, mammograms, x-rays etc in the past, but he still became very angry and said ‘he was Luke’s Captain, that Luke MUST take the pills’ as this is very serious, and that I am ‘interfering in his treatment’. So much for having a ‘dialogue,’ rather than a monologue with a doctor, and seeking alternatives to drugs.
It is my husband’s decision to make. Actually HE is the CAPTAIN of his body. But as I told him, high PSA readings in a young man of 40 are an indication that there is INFLAMMATION for sure- we do NOT know if it is from a bacterial infection and therefore must not wipe out his much needed healthy flora in his gut- which is a big part of one’s immune system which Luke needs now more than ever- and we must work at bringing down this inflammation regardless of its source.
Ann Wigmore always said all diseases are basically the same- the result of an acid pH (which causes inflammation) and mal-nutrition. So we can use things like colloidal silver and garlic and oregano as natural antibiotics, as well he needs to do a YEAST DETOX with caprylic acid, bentonite clay, probiotics, pau d’arco herb, etc which will cut down on his toxic yeast/fungus/mould load. Also prudent would be to do a bowel cleanse because the prostrate is close to that area, and perhaps consider doing a parasite cleanse as well. And of course, do only GREEN JUICES and FOODS which will alkalize his system, perhaps in conjunction with enzymes and most importantly, once and for all, QUIT SMOKING!!!!!!!! Tobacco cross reacts with yeast which causes inflammation, and the prostrate is now showing Luke that his smoking isn’t just unhealthy in theory, but is now contributing to physical symptoms.
I’ve got lots more reading to do, plus a trip to the Health store to get the supplements, so I’ll close by saying, saying, cancer and all dis-ease is a WAKE-UP call. I pray my husband gets it!
There are many reasons to avoid plastics. One major reason is bisphenol-A, or BPA, an estrogen-like chemical added to most polycarbonate plastics – from water bottles and food containers to the linings of tin cans, and - most alarmingly - to many baby toys, baby bottles and sippy cups. Research has shown BPA is associated with early puberty in girls, feminizing of boys, and reduced fertility in both sexes. In fact, in utero exposure is linked to abnormal development of the sex organs in the fetus. BPA is also associated with an increased risk for obesity and certain cancers, such as breast and prostate.
Have you traded in your fishnets for sweats? Swapped those lacy thongs for granny pants? Being a mom is more than a full time job – and often a dirty, grimy, sweaty one at that - it’s easy to lose touch with your more sensual side. Perhaps it got buried under a heap of laundry. Or a pile of dishes. Or maybe that stack of bills.Next time you’ve got a night off from the kids (or if they sleep really soundly), pounce on the situation!The following tips will help you find that inner sex goddess. Here, kitty kitty….
A couple weeks back I wrote about Spiritual Partnership and Susan Page’s 8 Loving Actions to get you there. Well, I’ve had pleasantly surprising results from Loving Action #4 – Practice Restraint. For this action, Page suggests you make a deal with yourself to refrain from making any demanding, negative or critical remarks for a doable amount of time, say a day or a week or two weeks. I decided to commit to one week and see where to go from there.
When my sweetie and I first started dating, it was really annoying to be around us. We were so smitten with each other, it was as if no one else existed. We committed embarrassing public displays of affection, and, most importantly, we laughed all the time; corny jokes that had most people’s eyes rolling had us in stitches.
The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) typically involves keeping track of your daily basal body temperature and cervical mucus consistency, and can include monitoring cervical position and other possible signs of fertility. It is most often thought of as a way to help achieve or avoid pregnancy, but there are actually many benefits that all women of childbearing age can experience. Some of these include:
8. It is very inexpensive – just the cost of a basal thermometer!
A recent study by Harvard researchers examined the diet and lifestyles of 18,555 nurses trying to get pregnant over the course of 8 years. They found several common dietary choices corresponded to ovulatory infertility, which accounts for at least a quarter of all cases of infertility. Their findings are presented in “The Fertility Diet” (Chavarro, Jorge E., M.D., Willett, Walter C., M.D., and Skerrett, Patrick J. 2008. McGraw-Hill).
4. SOFT DRINKS - According to the findings of the nurse’s study, the consumption of 2 or more soft drinks a day translated into a 50% greater chance of ovulatory infertility. The researchers attribute this to blood sugar spikes (the average soda contains 9-11 tablespoons of sugar!) and to overweight as a result of consuming too many empty calories such as those in soft drinks.
Shots of wheatgrass, that is ☺
While it is still unclear what exactly this “ grass juice factor” is that has such an impact on animal reproduction and wellbeing, it has been theorized that perhaps it is vitamin K that helps jump-start ovulation. Or perhaps the high magnesium content in cereal grass is responsible for generating enzymes that boost the sex hormones. Or that it is high in folic acid, calcium, iron, protein and fiber, and other key nutrients needed for pregnancy…. However, these nutrients do not in themselves sufficiently account for the amazing benefits of wheatgrass so there must be other unidentified factors contributing to them. Regardless, here are some of the things wheatgrass does do to possibly increase fertility:
