Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Teacher Appreciation Week


If you haven't gotten something for your favorite teacher this week, you still have two days left! Before taking Evan to school today, we ran up to Metropolitan Market to get some flowers for his teacher, Miss Grandprey. First of all, can I just say how in love I am with Met Market? Truly, it's like one of my favorite stores on the planet. Granted, it's ridiculously expensive and there is no way I could shop there on a regular basis, but there are a handful of treasures you just can't get elsewhere. For example... they have a killer bakery with pastries that are out of this world. They also have a deli that is like a 4-star restaurant. You can get a complete prime rib dinner there for $9, not to mention other dinners like pork tenderloin and free range chicken. Their salad bar is amazing. If gourmet chocolate is what you are looking for, then look no further than the Met. And they have antibiotic-, growth hormone-free ground beef that often goes on sale for $1.79/lb!

But I must say that I truly love their floral shop. I have found some amazing bargains there. They are a top notch florist and carry the freshest, most beautiful blooms I have ever seen. Just walking past the place is a treat because when you inhale you get a breath full of sweetness. Much of it I can't afford, but there are treasures for the taking if you just look carefully. For example, the mini carnations. Evan picked out a bunch of purple ones for just $4.99. Not only do you get the bunch of carnations, but that also includes the paper and raffia they wrap them in. It's hard to get a beautifully wrapped bunch of flowers for that price!

We took off just in time to get Evan to school and then it hit me that we hadn't gotten anything for Ms. Guenther, the teacher assistant who works full time in the classroom! Oops! So we left the flowers in the car and just dropped Evan off. Then Ethan and I headed back to the Met and picked up another bunch for her. We'll deliver them both after school!


Farewell Baby M

As I've mentioned in previous entries, I sometimes have to deal with miscarriage in my work in the birth center. For some unknown reason, I bond with these families in different ways - some closer than others. Sunday night (well, more like Monday morning), we were faced with this sadness in our birth center. A young mother came in, pregnant with her first child. She was just 20 weeks gestation (which is half the length of a normal pregnancy). And she miscarried this baby very shortly after her arrival. I arrived in the room with a hat and blanket for the baby. His mother was holding his sweet little body and I offered to wrap him in a hat and blanket to make his passing comfortable. After wrapping him, I handed him back to her. She just sobbed and then turned away from him and put her hand up and said, "Just go." I asked if she wanted me to leave the baby in the room or take him out and she replied, "Take him out."

So I left the room with sweet baby M. He was still alive. So I went and sat in our nurses station and quietly held him and cried until he stopped moving. His body was so warm and sweet. I typically don't hold these infants until they have cooled off considerably, but he was still alive when I brought him out. I could feel the light of heaven as I sat there, holding him until his passing. I felt so unbelievably close to heaven. I shed several tears as I sat with him. Later, I was able to weigh him (roughly a half pound) and take photographs of him for his mother. She did ask to have him back later on.

Again... I feel so incredibly privileged to be a part of this work. I am amazingly blessed to be able to interact with families at this most difficult time in their lives.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Potato Greek (leek) Soup

I love to make potato leek soup, especially when I have homemade chicken stock. It is so very nourishing and filling. Evan calls it "potato Greek soup"! I made a whole pot of stock on Friday; it cooked for a good 22 hours! I had the boys help me make soup tonight. I have two little chefs on my hands. Evan especially loves to cook. I had Ethan help me monitor the leeks as they sauteed in the pan:

While he was doing that, Evan was peeling potatoes. He got tired of that after awhile and handed the job over to Ethan. I couldn't figure out what Ethan was doing wrong. He was having such a hard time and kept gouging and dropping the potatoes. I finally got a close look and realized he was trying to use the peeler from the side! Oops! So after a little better instruction, he figured it out and was a lot happier to help peel potatoes!


This is what homemade chicken stock looks like... very dark and rich in minerals that have been cooked thoroughly out of the bones!


And here is what the final product looks like:

We also made homemade bread to go with our soup. You can't really have potato leek soup without good bread. Funny, Mike got home and the first thing he said was, "I'm so mad. I stopped at Albertson's specifically to get some French bread and I forgot to get it!" So I showed him the rising loaf and said, "Well it's a good thing I'm making some!" Yay! Dinner was delicious!


Front yard picnic


On one of our recent warm days, the boys decided to go outside to have lunch on the grass. They found a blanket and spread it out and then made themselves some sandwiches and had a great time!

My bathroom window view


Not that anyone really wants to know what I see from my bathroom, but I thought I'd share anyway. My bathroom is a peaceful place. When I look out the window, there is nature all around. I get to monitor the progress of our apple tree all year long simply by looking out the bathroom window. In fact, it was the from the bathroom that I first realized it even was an apple tree. We had never pruned it, so while it always had blossoms, it never had fruit until the year we cut it back. We have a lot of work to do to get it pruned well, but everything I've read has warned me to prune a poorly kept tree over several seasons. So we've been pruning it the past couple of years. I'll be interested to see if we get any apples on it this season!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Swine Flu Pandemic - Part 4 (Murder In the Medicine Cabinet)

Murder In the Medicine Cabinet

The title is ominous, but if you will take the time to read the following piece, I think you'll see why it makes sense. In part 3, I discussed the way in which I treat fevers. This article is the one thing that got me thinking about the purpose of fevers. It's long, but it's well worth your time.

From brojon.org (Disclaimer: I don't buy into everything on this website nor do I push the site. But I am required to put this link here in order to copy the article to my blog.) Here is the article:

MURDER IN THE MEDICINE CABINET
PART ONE

The Deadliest Killer of the 20th Century, With More Deaths Than All the World Wars, Lurks Right Inside Your House, and Threatens to Take You and Your Family. The Story No One Told You.

In 1918, a virulent, never seen before, form of influenza seemed to suddenly appear. It seemed to kill within hours, and spread around the world within days. It seemed to appear simultaneously all around the world. Its spread was faster than any then known means of human travel.

In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization warned of repeats of such a rapid and deadly pandemic, through such variants of influenza as SARS and Bird Flu. But without knowing what caused the 1918 pandemic or how it spread, how can the CDC or WHO make such a claim? Unless they already know something they are not telling.

As yet no one has been able to identify the actual medical cause of the 1918 Flu, with only a few samples of a "bird-like" virus taken from only several cadaver tissue samples. But no sample is complete. And those are only one or two samples from among the estimated 20 to 40 million people who seemed to die mysteriously almost overnight. The 1918 Flu spread faster and was more deadly, killing more people than even the Plague and Black Death of the middle ages. Why does no one talk about it?

And even if the viral cause were identified, no one can explain the lightning fast spread of the disease. Maybe it wasn't a disease after all. Many researchers have even looked at some world-wide phenomena, such as extra-terrestrial biology filtering into the atmosphere from outer space. Or maybe, the jet stream spreading disease-laden dust from Asia all around the world in a matter of days. In an area of investigation where there seems to be no real facts and less logic, any "fringe theory" or "outre logic" is just as valid as any other. Maybe something about the 1918 Flu is being covered up. Something that we are not supposed to know.

Actually, there is another rather simple mundane solution to the medical mystery. There did exist in 1918 a then new technical invention by which the "disease" was spread almost at the speed of light. The "1918 Flu" was spread around the world almost instantaneously by telephone. Of course, that claim needs an explanation, and proof.

In the 1890's an American chemist made an improvement on an old home folk remedy called Willow or Aspen Tea. It seemed to relieve the pains of old-age gout, arthritis and other assorted pains. But the evil tasting tea containing acetylsalicylic acid was so strong that it caused many people to have nausea and vomiting, along with the pain relief if they could tolerate drinking the tea. This potion was later neutralized, synthesized and buffered, and then sold to the German Bayer company as a pain reliever.

I have researched the source and history of the name Aspirin and found no reasonable explanation has ever been found. I have found, instead, that the German Bayer company, in order to sell to both the American and European markets, used a name familiar in both markets. In America the common folk remedy form was called "Aspen Tea" made from boiling willow bark from the Aspen tree family. In Europe, the same home remedy was called "Spirain Tea" made from boiling the leaves of the common European shrub Spirae.

Both preparations were found to contain large amounts of natural acetylsalicylic acid, but unbuffered. Combining the common home-remedy folklore names Aspen and Spirain comes up with the Euro-American brand name Aspirin. My research is the sole source for the information about that unique derivation of the brand name.

The reason for the deep confusion and lack of any clear history about the trade name is that for almost a decade from 1905 to about 1915, the use of the trade name, and the source of the name Aspirin, was tied up in international courts. In the late 1890's when Aspirin became available as an easy to use "pop a pill" replacement to the sour tasting Aspen or Spirain Teas, many people used it to relieve the pain of joint arthritis. Many users also discovered, quite by accident, a unique side effect. If you had a fever when you took the Aspirin, it also made the fever suddenly go away. What a discovery! It appeared to be a cure for the the common cold and flu.

By 1905 many other drug companies were making acetylsalicylic acid preparations and calling it Aspirin, but they were selling it as a common cold remedy. Bayer took these other companies to court and sued over illegal use of their trademark. Many people believe that Bayer lost the decision and lost control of the name Aspirin. Most believe that Aspirin is now a generic name such as Kleenex, Scotch Tape or Xerox. Not so. It was an odd court decision and a confusing compromise. By 1915 it was decided in court that Bayer had the exclusive use of the tradename Aspirin, if it were sold as a pain-relieving analgesic.

The court also found that the other companies could also use the name Aspirin, if in their ads and packaging, they claimed that their product was an anti-febril agent or a fever reducer. This odd court decision is still in use today. You can still buy Bayer aspirin to relieve pain, and on the store shelf right next to it is Nyquil, Aleve, Tylenol, Motrin, Bufferin, Anacin and a whole long list of others, all containing aspirin or aspirin-like compounds and claiming to be treatments for Colds, Flu and Fever. Reducing fever was not in Bayer's original patent claim. Bayer didn't know in 1895 of the use of aspirin as a fever reducer and had not put that in their original trademark application.

And how does that strange court decision fit into the rapid spread of the 1918 Flu? The primary defense which the human body has, to stop the spread of viral infections is to produce a fever. The fever is not a symptom of disease, but is actually the body's primary anti-viral immune system. The fever stops the telomeres on the ends of viral RNA from making copies of itself.

The telomeres are like a zipper which unzips and separates the new RNA copy within miliseconds, but the telomeres are temperature sensitive and won't unzip at temperatures above 101F. Thus the high temperature of the fever, stops the flu virus from dividing and spreading. It is an immune system response which only mammals have developed to prevent the spread of viral flu infections, which mostly 99% come from the more ancient dinosaur-like earth life forms called birds. Almost all influenza is a form of "Avian Flu." A few influenza forms come from other dinosaur-like life forms, the modern reptiles, but these are usually classified as very rare tropical diseases, since that is where most reptiles live.

The doctors in the early 1900's didn't know about that, and even today few if any doctors are aware that fever is not a symptom of disease, but is the primary and only way for the human body to stop viral infections. If you stop or reduce the fever, viruses are allowed to divide and spread uncontrolled throughout the body. I have already described this process in detail in my articles posted in the Brother Jonathan Gazette in 2003, so I won't go into detail here. Do a search on "SARS" on the Gazette and you'll find the articles.

Normally the progress of a flu is that a virus enters the mucous membrane lining of the lungs, enters cells, then makes many copies of itself, which causes the cell to expand to such an degree that it bursts open. The new viruses then cloak themselves with a coating taken from the old damaged cell wall, thus hiding themselves from the human body's own T-cell antibody immune defense system. To the body's immune system the new viruses simply appear to be pieces of the body's own lung tissue.

By creating a fever, the viral infection is slowed down sufficiently so that the body's T cells can find the swollen infected lung cells, surround them and metabolize (literally eat) the damaged cell with strong acids which also breaks down the RNA viruses into basic amino acids. This effectively "kills" the viruses so that they can't reproduce. But viruses are not living things, and you can't kill something that's not alive. All the body can do is destroy or dissolve the RNA amino acid chain which makes up the virus.

Not knowing this, most doctors treat the flu with aspirin or fever reducers, as a palliative treatment to ease the aches, pains, and delerium fever effects. The result is that within hours, the fever goes down and the patient feels much better. What neither the patient nor the doctor knows is that with only a normal 98.6F body temperature, the viruses are allowed to reproduce unchecked. Within 72 hours, the viruses have grown from one or two virus bodies to millions or billions. The body is now completely overwhelmed. But while taking aspirin or cold medications, there are no symptoms or warnings of what is yet to come.

As a last resort the body tries to quickly flush the infection of billions of viruses from the lungs with massive amounts of T-cells, and fluid in the lungs to "cough out" the virus. This is called viral pneumonia. Soon within hours the patient is in the hospital. The doctors try to treat the now 105 degree fever with more anti-febril aspirins, or related medications to "treat the fever." Then within another 24 hours the patient, suffocating and gasping for breath, is dead.

You should note that the original infection did cause a mild fever, aches and pains, which the patient "self-medicated" with over-the-counter products. For the next several days, the patient seemed to have no symptoms, but was actually growing billions of copies of influenza virus in his lungs. Then days later, the patient and doctor seem to see a sudden rapid case of viral flu infection that is now overwhelming the body. Is that what really happened?

What caused the patient's death? Was it the original flu virus, or was it the use of Aspirin to lower the flu fever which then shutdown the patient's own immune system response? Obviously, the latter. So how did this cause the massive rapid spread of the 1918 Flu?

The Bayer court case had just been settled, and many companies other than Bayer, could now legally market aspirin to treat colds and fever. But then "The Great War to End all War" was on, and most aspirin products were going directly to the front lines in France to treat the soldiers in the diseased hell hole trenches of WWI.

The World War I medics knew that aspirin could quickly reduce a fever. If a soldier had a fever, the docs gave aspirin. Magically the fever went down, the soldier felt better and quickly went back to the fighting. Then three days later, the same soldier was back, now with severe pneumonia and died almost overnight.

No doctors then made the connection between aspirin and pneumonia death, since the trenches were filled with many other seemingly related diseases such as diphtheria or tuberculosis. Death and dying on the front line was common, so no investigation was done. Aspirin seemed to be a god-send since it allowed sick soldiers to swiftly get right back into the fighting.

After the Armistice of November 11, 1918 the fighting stopped and the soldiers went home. The soldiers around the world announced the good news to their families back home. Most of the low-ranked doughboys had to wait till they got back to their homebase in Kansas, or wherever, to call home. They couldn't afford the costly trans-Atlantic deep sea cable phone rates. But when the troop arrived in Kansas, the call from sergeant Tom was something like:

"Hey mom, I'm coming home. I'll see yu and dad next Tuesday in Chattanooga. How's everybody? Oh, Aunt Esther has a fever? Hey tell her to take some aspirin. Yeah, that stuff in the medicine cabinet for treatin' the aches and pains. Tell Esther, we used it in France. Works right away and the fever is gone. OK see yu Tuesday...."

So what does Esther do? She tries the aspirin, but the old Bayer label only says its for "aches and pains" and says nothing about fevers. She takes it and magically the fever is gone, and she feels much better, almost cured. She's so much better, she gets out the horse and buggy to go see her sister, Lucy in Mt Carmel, where Lucy and the kids are down with the fever. Mt. Carmel has no telephones and even no roads, only the buggy path to reach the outside world. But within hours of sergeant Tom's phone call home, by word of mouth, everybody in rural Mt. Carmel is now taking aspirin to treat fevers. Since the new information came from a soldier, from the US Army and the government, it must be true!

Within a week of the 1918 Armistice, by newfangled telephone, trans-oceanic telephone cables, and even the experimental ship-to-shore shortwave radios using Morse code, the message was flashed around the world -- "Have a fever? Take Aspirin. It worked in France, it'll work for you." That message spread at nearly the speed of light over millions of telephone lines all around the world. The news of the "miracle cure" even spread by word of mouth within a day or so, even to places with no phones nor roads.

Mysteriously, a week later, doctors round the world now had hundreds of sick and dying patients. Nobody could figure out why. The patients themselves never reported that just the week before they did have a mild fever. But it was so mild that when they took some aspirin, it simply went away. Nobody made the connection. The doctors only saw, by November 24, 1918 thousands of very sick patients with high fevers, lungs filled with fluid, and swift overnight death.

The medical profession had never seen anything like it before, nor since. It seemed to occur simultaneously all around the world and even reaching into such out of the way places like Mt. Carmel with no telephones nor roads. How could such a massive fast-spreading killer disease exist? It didn't. It wasn't a disease. It was a new use for an old home folk remedy which everybody already had in their medicine cabinet, Bayer Aspirin to reduce fever.

The medical profession, at a complete loss to explain it, simply called it the "Spanish Flu" or the "1918 Flu" or many similar names. It was a mystery with no known source, so it was assigned many place names. So far, nobody has been able to prove any single pathogen was responsible. And even if they did, they still can't explain how it seemed to spread world-wide at almost the speed of light, clear around the world within a week.

To this day there is no explanation. But, now you know. The "disease" was not a single pathogen, but many of the hundreds of similar types of flu which are always existing at any time around the world. What was different in November 1918 was the many hundreds of thousands of almost simultaneous phone calls from the millions of returning sergeant Toms saying, "...tell Aunt Esther to take the aspirin. It worked in France. It'll work for her..." Nobody traced the spread of the 1918 Flu to sergeant Tom. Nobody made the connection.

That very same source of disease still exists today. What is different today is that cold and flu products are sold and used all year long. This results in an estimated one million deaths from mysterious viral pneumonia reported every year, but also all around the year. In 1918, the new use of aspirin for treating colds and flu all started at the same time in November, thus creating the false impression of a sudden massive onset of a new disease. Even today SARS is not a disease. It is the improper use of a brand new high-tech flu fighter called Tamiflu. The FDA approved the use of Tamiflu several years ago. In 2003 it began to be used world-wide. But how is it used?

Many millions of people around the world still self-treat their own colds and flu with over-the-counter meds containing aspirin. Those are the most commonly sold medications in the world. The patient's mild fever quickly goes away. They forget about ever having felt sick. Then several days later the patient sees the doctor and now has a high fever, bad cough and fluid-filled lungs. The doctor, using the new CDC and WHO guidelines, treats the hospitalized "flu" patient with the new high-tech Tamiflu. But how often and at what dosage?

The doctors do what they've always done for the past 100 years. Tell the nurse to stick a thermometer in the patient's mouth, increase the Tamiflu dosage by 10cc's every hour until the fever starts to drop. Then maintain that dosage level until the patient dies. Then blame the death on some new highly contagious lethal virus. Nothing new here. It's the same old story, since 1918.

The only thing different is that they give it a new name like SARS, or Bird Flu or whatever sounds nifty and high-tech. Even today, each year about one million people world-wide die from the very same "disease" which first appeared in the fall of 1918. Has medicine, in the last 100 years, turned this "contagion" from Pandemic by Phone, into Illness by Internet? Is it the rapid and continuous spread of misinformation that is still killing millions?

So now, I have given you enough information that you are ready for Part Two. Coming next is a review of the curious scientific evidence, medical records and the biochemistry proof behind the Case of Murder in the Medicine Cabinet


MURDER IN THE MEDICINE CABINET: Part 2
"How Did so many Doctors and Health Professionals get fooled?"

Monday November 14, 2005

At the very beginning of the 2005-2006 Flu season in October 2005, a story started going around the news circuits, that the dangerous Bird Flu is only five mutations away from becoming transmissible to humans. When that occurs, a vast global Pandemic will sweep around the world killing billions of people. That story is, in fact, complete myth, misdirection and cover story. It could never happen. By the time you finish reading this article you will know why that story is false. You will also know how and why the people spreading that false story are planning on making hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in profit just in the next October 2005 to May 2006 flu season alone.

The current "Bird Flu Pandemic" terrorist-scare-tactic being reported in the news is based on confusing viruses with bacteria as sources of disease. Bacteria are living single-celled animals which reproduce and thrive. Viruses are only tiny strings of DNA or RNA molecules which are NOT alive. They cannot grow nor reproduce. Since they are not alive, you can't kill them. You can't kill atoms or molecules. You can only dissolve them or
break them apart with acids or enzymes. Your T-cells and white blood cell macrophages do exactly that when they fight a viral infection in your body.

Bacteria cells are large enough to be seen with a microscope. Some invading bacteria are dangerous since their waste products may include toxins which can kill body cells, and maybe even you. They can make you sick. Other bacteria are actually used by your body as helpers or defenders. Numerous forms of benign bacteria naturally live in your mouth and in your intestines to kill any dangerous bacteria which you may eat. They also help with digestion. breaking down the food you eat. Invasions of bad bacteria are now treated with antibiotics which enter the bacteria and kill them. Common bacterial infections include polio, TB, salmonella, E. coli and Hepatitis A.

All viruses are so much smaller than bacteria that they cannot be seen with a normal light microscope. They are dangerous, since they can enter certain target cells in your body and replicate so fast that they cause the cells to burst open, and thus destroy the cell. The newly replicated viruses can then attack neighboring cells. The replication process can be so fast that a single virus can turn into millions of copies of itself in just several hours. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses. Most viral diseases are pretreated with anti-viral shots, such as flu shots, but these are only about 50% effective at best. The body reacts to viral infections by raising the body temperature. Viruses cannot replicate, or can only make copies very slowly with a body temperature above 102 degrees F. Common viral infections include colds, flu, chicken pox, AIDS and Hepatitis B.

Viruses make copies or replicate themselves similarly to the way crystals grow. They can only replicate when immersed in a fluid containing an abundant supply of the raw amino acids which make up the virus. This only occurs inside an animal or human host cell in which the cytoplasm fluid is rich in amino acids. The virus is not a parasite, any more than a salt crystal is a parasite when you drop it into a salty tank of brine, and the salt crystal starts to grow by gathering salt molecules from the brine. That's all a virus does when it replicates.

THE LITTLE KNOWN "SECRET" OF VIRAL INFECTIONS

A virus from a bird can never enter into any human cells. That is despite what you may have been told or read, and is now much ballyhooed in the press and news media. This unique behavior of viruses is caused by the species-specific protein coating that surrounds the viral DNA strand. That protein coat is unique to each animal species. This is also the exact same reason why the protein-coated sperm from one species cannot enter and impregnate the ova of another species.

Both viruses and sperm are DNA strands or genetic material surrounded by a species-specific protein coat. Only an ovum from the same species with the same protein coat can be entered by sperm from that species. That is the rule for sexual reproduction on planet earth. This exact same rule applies to viruses. The biochemistry of sexual reproduction and viral infection are almost exactly the same. That is the little known "secret" which has fooled most doctors and epidemiologists who, it seems, never really learned the actual biochemistry and cytology of sexual reproduction in medical school.

For so-called "Bird virus experts" to proclaim loudly to the public that they believe a bird lung virus could infect a human lung and cause Bird Flu in humans, would also have to believe that a horse could impregnate a woman, or a man can impregnate a cow. From ancient texts, it seem humans have been attempting such cross-species DNA implantation antics for millennium. But so far, it's never worked - and it never will. It can't be done. It is a property of the unique chemical and electrical properties of the surface material of each virus and sperm which prevents transfers across species. Despite how many times the core or genetic DNA material may be mutated, it still only has the unique viral surface material unique to that species. No matter how may times sperm from a bull is mutated chemically or with radiation, it may product multitudes of hideous mutant cows, but it will never make a funky cow-chicken.

The fact that millions of birds may be dying of H5N1 Bird Flu, should mean nothing to humans. It can never directly infect humans. You can't get it by eating chickens, nor doing anything else with a chicken. The so-called 65 cases of bird flu which supposedly have killed people in Asia, are NOT bird flu. The H5N1 designation only refers to the type of molecules in the protein coating and not to the actual viral DNA genetic strand inside the virus.

The 65 people who died, had H5N1 Human Flu and not H5N1 Bird Flu. They are not the same. The currently used primitive clinical viral tests only determine which molecules are present in the surface coating (H5N1) and not the actual viral DNA molecule inside. That's how millions of people around the world, including doctors, have been fooled into thinking that H5N1 Bird Flu could mutate and spread to kill humans. It'll never happen.

HOW ALL FLU TRANSFERS FROM BIRDS TO PIGS TO HUMANS

For the Bird Flu Virus to infect humans, it must first enter into a pig cell. But why pigs? This can happen when pigs root through dirt which also contains abundant dried bird droppings from infected chickens or ducks. The pigs, while rooting in the dirt, inhale the dried virus-infected bird droppings constantly. This mostly and commonly only occurs in Asia where pigs and fowl are raised together. The chickens eat the pig droppings and the pigs eat the chicken droppings. It doesn't sound very appetizing, but it works, and is called "recycling of waste products." It is a very inexpensive and useful farming technique and is used throughout much of Asia - except it also creates and spreads a unique disease which affects millions of people each year. It's called Flu or influenza.

If a pig breaths in a large amount of bird flu virus, nothing happens, unless the pig also happens to be sick with pig flu. Then the bird virus can actually enter into a partially opened or ruptured lung cell, damaged by pig flu virus. Then the bird virus will replicate and use the damaged pig cell coating as the new coating for the bird virus. The bird flu core virus now has a pig surface protein coat. It is now a pig virus. This is cross-species infection. The new "pig virus" with the bird core, can now attack and enter millions of lung cells in the same pig, killing the pig, and spreading to other pigs and to humans.

This is very rare, but is the method by which all influenzas transfer originally from birds to humans through cross-species mixing inside pig lungs. And though rarely occurring, with only about a one in several
thousand chance to occur, it can and does occur. But with hundreds of millions of pigs and ducks being raised together each year in Asia, this farming practice results in hundreds of new and unique variants of bird influenza which can then infect humans each year. It is the primary and almost only source of all new human influenza infections.

DO THE FLU SHOTS IMMUNIZE AND PROTECT?

For over 40 years, the U.S. CDC-approved annual Flu Shot only tries to protect against the five most prevalent variants of bird-pig influenza which can infect humans. There are still hundreds of other variations each year which are not targeted by the flu shot. The result is that the annual flu shot only works about 20% of the time. Would you buy a new car each year which only worked 20% of the time? But you were told that the flu shots always work. Wrong!

A virus does not make its own surface coating but "steals" it from the infected host cell. The tissue-cell-type of pig lung cells is sufficiently similar enough to human cells, that a pig influenza virus (from a bird) can infect a human. The odd or accidental very close similarity between pig and human tissue-types is why pig heart valves, body parts and insulin can be used and implanted in humans without severe tissue rejection or adverse reactions.

Thus, Bird Flu can never infect a human lung without first infecting a pig lung. The only exception to that rule is: modern "criminal" scientists who may take deadly bird viral DNA and manually insert it directly into a human protein coating. This is the same new hi-tech process used in making clones. The theory of DNA cloning has been around since the late 1960's, but actually making it work in sheep, dogs and some other animals, has only been around for the last couple of years.

Along with advancing the interesting science of cloning, comes the technical ability to clone a form of bird flu with human surface proteins which could kill nearly half the population of planet earth. Could this explain the mysterious deaths or murders of 78 bioresearchers in recent years? Did they know too much about who it is that is doing "DNA and RNA viral engineering?"

HOW TO PREVENT AND CURE ALL VIRAL INFECTIONS
-- The Temperature Connection

Viral DNA can only replicate or grow like a crystal, if the temperature of the host cell liquid cytoplasm is below 100 degrees F, and it "prefers" a temperature of 96F or below. For "cold-blooded" birds and reptiles this can occur all year long, but mostly in winter. For humans and most mammals this lower body temperature condition actually occurs during sleep and when under stress. This lower body temperature may also occur when exposed to cold winter weather. This is why winter is flu season.

A human "fever" above 102F completely stops all viral replication, giving the immune system T-cells and macrophages enough time to track down and destroy the invading virus. Lowering the fever temperature with modern over-the-counter cold medications can kill you. The only thing an annual flu shot does is speed the process of T-cells finding certain viruses. The flu shot does not actually give immunity or prevent infection, especially if the person also takes cold medications or prophylactics such as Tamiflu which lower the body temperature and thwart the normal immune system fever response. It could actually be deadly.

The similarity of viruses and sperm also includes their sensitivity to temperature. In almost all male mammals, the sperm replicating sites, the testes are always external to the body, so they will be maintained at lower than normal body temperature. In modern times, many men may wear tight-fitting briefs or have jobs sitting all day at desks or driving trucks. Those individuals very commonly have low sperm counts with very low motility. The sperm just don't replicate very well at the higher body temperature. This is one of the most common reasons for modern-day male infertility. The simple cure is to lower the testicle temperature. How
that is accomplished, I leave to the imagination of the reader.

The extreme similarity between viral infection and sexual reproduction is why most people have no clue as to how a virus spreads. For most people, frank and open discussion of sex and sexual reproduction is difficult and often taboo, even among medical circles. This explains why many doctors will treat a patient with a cold or flu, by giving antibiotics. Or giving the patient with influenza, a course of anti-virals which treat the symptoms and lower the patients fever - and usually kills the patient.

The simple way to prevent and cure viral infection in the human body is to raise the body temperature above normal. This is the normal and natural immune system response to a viral infection. It's called a fever. It is normal and natural with nothing you need to buy from the local drug store to make it work. Your body does it all by itself - you don't even need to think about it. It is part of being human.

Thus the infecting virus can only replicate in humans with a stress-lowered or artificially medicine-lowered body temperature. This explains why cold and flu viruses spread more often during the winter. It also explains why some people may get six or more colds per year. And then some other people seem never to catch a cold. It's their body temperature.

Unlike the current medical practice for the last 100 years, the nurse should not be too concerned when taking your temperature and then it reads 101 degrees. That's your body reacting to a viral infection. That is a normal immune system response - and that is good.

Instead, the nurse or doctor should be very concerned when your daytime body temperature reads only 97 degrees or less. It does happen. That means your immune system is under stress. You are wide open to viral infections and your immune system has no means to respond to the infection. You are at severe risk for a lethal disease.

WHY THE CURE WILL NEVER BE "DISCOVERED"

But for the medical professional to recognize this simple fact, would turn modern medicine right up-side down. It would also mean that doctors would no longer treat colds and flu with medications to "treat the symptom" by lowering the fever. And that would put Big Pharma right out of business. Which is why it will never happen.

Big Pharma will continue to sell over-the-counter cold and flu meds at tremendous multi-billion dollar profits each year. And millions of people will die in lonely hospital beds around the world, not from flu, but from drowning in their own lung fluids resulting from severe viral pneumonia - caused by lowering the immune-system-response fever. With all those cold 'n flu pills and bottles which you've bought - it can only be called Murder in the Medicine Cabinet. Is that what the 78 mysteriously murdered international bio-researchers were trying to tell us? The Bird Flu story in the news is a complete hoax, being spread by the same people who who also have the ability to spread the human-cloned version of Bird Flu and then also convince you to make sure to get your flu shot and stock up on Tamiflu.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Your mission, should you accept it, is to discuss what you've just read with your doctor. Discuss it with your family and friends. Discuss it at work, and even on Internet chat channels and boards, and call-in radio programs. If you choose to do nothing, then those who are making the outrageous claims of world pandemics which would kill millions, and who actually now also control the newly cloned and manufactured stockpiles of Human Bird Flu or the replicated 1918 Spanish Flu, could actually be making self-fulfilling prophesy. It's up to you. Don't panic, as they expect you to do, and rush to wait in line to get their very expensive flu shot or antivirals. Know that your own fever is your own first line quick-acting (usually 4 to 6 hour) defense against any viral infection. Peace.


Marshall Smith
Editor, Brother Jonathan Gazette


Thursday, April 30, 2009

So long April!

So hard to believe that a third of the year is suddenly gone. Time is really flying. I love May. May sounds so much closer to summer than April does! I've already been rebellious with this weather we are having. It's not quite time for a cooler wardrobe, but I find myself going out in capris pants and slippers anyway. Speaking of which, slippers have been on my mind lately. You see, I own a pair of Scott Slippers. They are somewhat retro... black top and bottom with a white stripe going around the side and fuschia straps! Get this... I've owned them for 15 years! No lie. I paid about $20 for them back then and it was worth every penny. My mom is coming out in August and she's always asking me what she can bring me. I never ask for much... a little bit of candy that I can't get here and sometimes some Japanese utensils (although with Daiso in the Mall and Uwajimaya coming to Renton, there is pretty much nothing I won't be able to get in that area!) Well, I asked her to bring me a pair of Scott slippers. I told her I'd pay for them because if they were $20 15 years ago, I shudder to think of how much they are now. I went online and found some pairs I liked. Long story short, she was able to go to the warehouse and pick them up at wholesale... still $20! She said she had priced them out at Macy's before she went there and they want $48 for them now! For slippers!! So she bought me two pairs and then proceeded to tell me it was my Mother's Day gift. Isn't she sweet?

Anyway... so I bid farewell to April... farewell to April showers (not that May is much different in Washington)... farewell to Easter and spring break and cherry blossoms and apple blossoms. I welcome May with open arms... I welcome warmer temperatures, more sunshine, the start of the open markets, Memorial Day, Lei Day (although I won't have a lei to wear this year), and whatever other treats May has in store for us!

Swine Flu Pandemic - Part 3 (Back To Basics - Fever)

**As with anything, I urge all to be prayerful when considering information found on the internet. As we are told in Moroni 10:5: And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.**

Back To Basics - Fever


I have SO much I want to touch on with regard to the swine flu hysteria. I think today I’ll start by going back to the basics regarding fevers.

I can’t adequately express how often I’ve heard mothers around me say, “Yeah, Timmy’s got a fever. I just keep giving him Tylenol and ibuprofen and try to keep him comfortable.” To me, this is like nails on a chalkboard and it takes everything in me not to shout, “DON’T DO THAT!”

When SARS was the big scare of 2003, I was pregnant with my second child. I remember doing a lot of research on the topic because I worked in a hospital and we had patients on isolation precautions if they had any suspicious respiratory symptoms. The only time I ever got scared was the night I was working and 6 different patients and nurses (myself included) got bloody noses in the same shift. At Mike’s bidding, I went on maternity leave after that. It was the last shift I worked before having my baby.

In the next post, I’m going to post an article I read back then entitled “Murder In the Medicine Cabinet”. The title caught my eye and I read it with great fervor. I will admit that there were parts of it that seemed a bit outlandish but overall, I got a distinct feeling that I should straighten up and pay attention to what it said. Basically, it talked about how the flu epidemic of 1918 may have been perpetuated by the use of antipyretics (fever reducers), specifically aspirin. The way the human body fights viral infections is by raising the body’s core temperature, resulting in a fever. The fever stops the viral RNA from replicating, giving the body’s own defenses the opportunity to seek and destroy the virus. The premise of the article was that if we reduce the fever, we also knock out the body’s natural defense system against the viral attack. We feel better for a time but we run the risk of allowing the virus to replicate unchecked. This leads to pneumonia and can be deadly. Pneumonia kills a LOT of people each year.

The article made brilliant sense to me and I felt the spirit whispering the truth of it to me. I was so confident in its explanation of things that I decided to use its principles to govern the way I care for my own sick children. I began “experimenting”, if you will, with their illnesses in an attempt to see if the principles were correct. I should note that I did this prayerfully and felt confirmation that what I was doing was right. It made sense to me... I asked myself why the body would get a fever. I also asked myself why we cough when we are sick. If we stop and think about the simple answers, it really seems odd to treat those things.

The first time my children got a viral illness and ran fevers, I left them alone. I followed the spirit in how I treated them. Ethan was a toddler. I knew he was sick because he slowed down.. WAY down, and this was uncharacteristic for him. A fever followed. Evan was just a baby and all he wanted to do was nurse and sleep on my chest. So I dragged out the pillows and blankets and camped out on the couch with my children. I felt prompted to leave them completely alone. I was inspired NOT to force fluids or give any medications, as is so often the advice given. This was a complete test of my faith because it went against everything I had ever been taught. I wondered if I was harming my children and at one point almost gave in and medicated them. They were hot. Truth be told, I didn’t have a thermometer and so I had no idea just how hot. I know that their faces were red and they even LOOKED hot. But each time I felt like giving in, I felt prompted to again leave them alone. I offered fluids, but did not force them. Occasionally, Ethan would sit up and ask for a drink and I obliged. Then he’d lay back down and fall asleep.

This experiment went on for 13 very long hours. But something magical happened in the 14th hour. The fevers broke, my children woke up, and they were happy and well. Ethan hopped off the couch and acted like nothing had ever happened. I was stunned. I just couldn’t believe it was that “easy”. Now when I say “easy”, I just mean that I really didn’t have to do anything but stay with them and monitor them. Thirteen hours is a relatively very short period of time for a viral illness. I know so many mothers who say it lasts for days. My faith had been tested... and my testimony strengthened.

Since that time so long ago, I have always treated my children’s fevers the same. I do nothing. It’s a free day. They get to lay on the couch and watch TV and sleep. I don’t force food or fluids. I allow them to dictate when they need to eat or drink. And every single time my experience has been the same. The viral illness is short lived and they are fine, typically the very next day.

Because of my experience with fevers, I also treat coughs the same way. I don’t believe in cough suppressants for the most part and my children have never had them. If we cough, it’s because our lungs are trying to get rid of something. When we suppress the cough, we allow that “something” to fester and worsen in the lungs. Yes, it’s uncomfortable and yes, our children lose sleep over it. But it’s necessary. I have said over and over and over that pain is purposeful. Pain motivates us to do things to get better. (As a side note, I often educate people about the pain involved with pregnancy labor. It is very, very purposeful. Labor pains make women MOVE. They instinctively move around in different positions to alleviate the discomfort and these movements also allow their babies to get into proper positions for birth. When we knock out the pain, as with an epidural, women then lay in bed for labor. It’s much harder for their babies to position themselves properly and we see an increase in the use of forceps and vacuums and an increase in cesarean section rates. PAIN IS PURPOSEFUL.)

So often in the world of allopathic medicine, we treat symptoms and not causes. A fever is a symptom that is sending us a message. We should treat the cause and not the fever. Coughing is a symptom that is sending us a message. Treat the cause, not the cough. The fever and the cough are vital actions that are necessary for a return to good health. I can think of so many other example. When we sprain a muscle, it hurts. The pain prevents us from relying on that muscle anymore, thereby allowing it to heal. When we medicate that pain, we may not be as careful with the muscle and that may prolong the healing process. Again, pain is purposeful.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where pain is really not appreciated. I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, suggesting that I enjoy pain. Nothing could be further from the truth. But I do try to stop and figure out what is causing the pain rather than just blindly eliminating it. We live in a world that doesn’t believe in pain. If we have an ache or a pain, we want a magic cure. There must be a pill or a potion we can take to get rid of it. Until we learn to accept discomfort, I fear we are going to continue to see illness be lengthened and worsened to some degree.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu Pandemic - Part 2 (My journey to natural healing)

My Journey To Natural Healing

With each passing day, it seems there is more and more media coverage about the Swine Flu Pandemic. My employers have gotten in on the action too (and rightfully so as they are hospitals). I remember similar hype when SARS was rampant, followed by the avian flu scares. I’ll admit, swine flu seems to have claimed more “victims” in a shorter period of time, but I’m only going on what I hear from the very biased and slanted media. (If you can’t tell, I have some pretty strong opinions about the media as well... free speech is anything but!)

As I mentioned in Part I, Teresa inspired me to start writing some thoughts about this whole mess when we had a little conversation about the media scare. Apparently, she is not new to the natural healing world. I find more and more in common with her every time we talk! While discussing things, I had mentioned that unlike her, natural healing was not always a part of my life. I grew up in a very, very allopathic world. And in fact, my work as a registered nurse still has me dappling in western medicine quite a lot, but my feelings about it are very different than they were ten years ago.

Let’s start at the very beginning (“a very good place to start... when you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Mi... Do-Re-Mi”... sorry... couldn’t resist!) I will start with my birth because it was anything but natural and because as anyone knows, I have some very strong feelings about the birth world in this country.

I was born in a conventional community hospital in southern California. My mother’s experience, as she recounts it, horrifies me. I don’t think it horrifies her at all. It’s all she knew. It was just the way you had babies. She labored in the labor ward and when it was time to start pushing, she was wheeled into a delivery room. I can’t imagine being moved ANYWHERE while having the urge to push a baby! She was strapped to a table, on her back, with her legs up in stirrups. She was shaved and I was delivered. I have no idea if forceps were used, but they were quite common when I was born (the early 1970s). I was then taken from my mother to a community nursery. I never got the opportunity to stay with her, to bond with her, to have my traumatic birth eased at all. I doubt very highly that anyone handled me gently. I’d be willing to bet that the lights were bright and the noises were abundant (how could they not in a nursery filled with other babies?)

It was my mother’s intention to breast feed me. However, I was jaundiced and had to stay in the hospital for phototherapy after she was discharged and so breast feeding went out the door. Nobody bothered to talk with my mother about pumping milk. Nobody gave her any advice whatsoever. I had to stay, therefore formula was the only answer.

As a side note, when my mother talked to me about my birth story a long time ago, I remember her saying that when she had to leave me behind in the hospital, she cried. At the time, I remember thinking, “oh, how sad.” Then I had my own children and I finally “got it”. And now it makes me cry too. Having had my own babies, I can’t even fathom being separated from them when they were that little... for really no reason at all. We were never, EVER separated from our babies in the hospital. They never went to a nursery. I think my babies were weighed in the nursery but you better believe that one of us always went with them.

As I grew, I began having serious chronic ear infections. (Hmm... wonder how much the infant formula had to do with that!) It reached a point where I had to have tubes placed in my ears. My mother tells me that she remembers me screaming when anyone would even come near my ears because I was so terrified. Incidentally, I have very serious sensory overload to this day and I wonder if this is somehow related. I am very sensitive to certain loud noises and it waxes and wanes depending on my moods and other factors I have yet to identify.

I can remember the pediatric office I went to as a child. The decor was definitely very 70s! I can remember a large fish tank and small tables with child sized chairs made of a material that can only be described as orange, plastic, wicker. But most of all, I remember the nurse who sat behind the reception desk. She wore blue eye shadow, a white smock, and a white nurses cap. She was beautiful. But she also gave me shots... painful shots. And after awhile, I hated her.

Thankfully, aside from the above ear infections, I was pretty healthy. My brother, however, was not. He was born when I was 5. Within a short period of time, he got sick. I remember it all like it happened yesterday. My mother had given him a smack on his leg for touching something forbidden and she noticed some time later that the mark didn’t go away... and there were red bumps all over it. She called the pediatrician who advised her to take him to the emergency room. We went up to UCLA medical center. I remember sitting in that waiting room for what seemed like forever, watching other families come and go. There was a little girl there who had a gash on her forehead that was quite bloody and I can recall just staring at it. Someone asked her mother about it and her response was, “her brother creamed her with a shovel.”

Sometime later, my mother came out... without my brother. She was hysterical. It is forever burned on my brain. She was crying and upset and I believe it was my first memory of seeing my mother in that state. She said something about sticking needles into his back for samples and then she held her hands up to show the size of the needles and to my 5-year-old eyes, I was sure they were a foot long. Mind you, she wasn’t saying this to me, but I was there. And I never missed a thing. Then she said he’d have to stay in the hospital.

It was about this time that I began living with my grandmother so that my mother could stay with my brother in the hospital. The next several months are a blur to me. Leukemia was the buzz word in our house. I went on with school (and it was a very difficult, traumatic year in school for me... a year of which I don’t have a single positive memory). My brother came home sometimes and his bedroom looked like a hospital room. I remember mom talking about “cleaning his lines” all the time. My other memories come back when I see the handful of photographs left from this time in our lives... our dog Akita, the linoleum kitchen floor, my Tutu visiting from Hawaii, the jello water in the fridge that was not to be touched because it was the only thing my brother could stomach, the native American print on our couch, the painting of the train on our wall, the closet in my room that I escaped to when life got painful. These are my memories.

I will never forget the day “it” happened. I woke up one morning and my grandmother called me into her bedroom. She put her arms around me and said, “R. died last night.” I just remember saying, “Oh grandma!” and burying my face in her stomach and crying my eyes out. I remember the somber sadness and the funeral. And then grandpa died of a stroke some six weeks later. I remember being told about that while I was sitting at the dinner table eating peas... and I began stabbing each pea with my fork because I was so angry that my loved ones were being taken from me.

We moved to Hawaii after all of this. It was a good move for everyone. We left behind one set of memories to start up another set. I loved growing up there. I miss it terribly now that I’m Washington. My mother began working in a hospital there in 1980, shortly after we arrived. She works for the same hospital to this day. (See, I can’t get away from hospitals... they’ve been a part of my life for as far back as I can possibly remember.)

During these years, I lost all of the rest of my grandparents, my father, my mother’s sister, and various aunts, uncles, and even friends. My brother was born in 1982 and I remember he also had chronic ear infections as a baby/toddler.

When I started college, I needed a job. My mom pulled strings and got me a job working in her hospital. I was so grateful. I worked in the medical records department and got paid a whole lot more than minimum wage. I was still going to college because I had a scholarship, not because I really knew what I wanted to do with my life when I grew up. Someone I worked with mentioned nursing and I remember thinking that it was a cool idea. So I took a job working as a unit secretary on a cardiac unit. I got to know nursing first hand and decided to go to school. I graduated from nursing school in 1997 and have been working continuously in the profession ever since.

I worked in a family practice clinic for a year and then an inpatient cardiac medical unit for about six months. Then I switched hospitals and worked in a surgical cardiac unit for about 4 years. I cringe when I think about all of the horrific dietary advice I gave my patients back then... but it was what the AHA recommended. Then I moved into the Level II nursery for four years and now I work in a hospital birth center and have been there a year and a half.

During this time, I got married and had 2 children. My first birth experience was very, very traumatic and wound up in a cesarean section. I had an elective c-section with my second although I really wanted to try a VBAC.

After my babies were born, I went through a period of profound depression. I remember looking at my husband with all of his health problems and my own family history and I wondered what kind of sad legacy we were handing to our children. Were they doomed to have diabetes and heart disease like their relatives before them? It upset me greatly. And then I decided that I couldn’t just give up. I wanted to try and give them a future. And soon I realized that there was more that I could do than I ever imagined.

It all started with breastfeeding. Giving infant formula just wasn’t an option for me. I wanted them to have a fighting chance right from the start. Ethan got a little bit of formula for a couple of months when he was about 10 months old. Evan has never had any formula. He was exclusively breast fed for six months and then we introduced solids at that age. But he continued to breast feed until he self-weaned at the age of 2-1/2 years. I made all of my own baby food. Something just didn’t seem right about giving my babies food from boxes and jars. I don’t eat all my food out of boxes and jars so I didn’t think it was wise to have them eat that way either. My kids have never, ever eaten baby food from jars and they’ve never had dehydrated cereal either! I worked hard to do this and I’m so happy I did it!

I started researching organic food at about that time and I began to understand more about the importance of eating locally grown, organic food. I am still far from doing that right now. It’s expensive and I’m lazy. But I do eat some things that are organic and if I could get my act together, I’d eat more.

I also started researching homeopathics and essential oils, both of which are in use in our home today. My children have never had antibiotics... ever. (Wait, I think Ethan had a topical antibiotic for a skin rash when he was a baby... but I never used it all.) I began researching raw milk, acupuncture, and other natural remedies. I’ve incorporated several things into our lives. And while I may not be a hundred percent, I do believe that every little it helps.

And in my quest to heal from my own traumatic birth experiences, I began researching natural childbirth as well. I am very, very passionate about birth education. I just wish I worked in an area where that education made a better difference. I don’t discount the teaching that I do but I feel as though women should have this education much, much earlier than they do. I think we need a completely different approach about how we teach children about birth, puberty, menstruation, and other things of that nature.

So that is how I began my journey to a more natural approach to things. It’s a work in progress. I have slowly, over the years, tried to make changes here and there. I am not going to lie. We are still addicted to sugar in this house and it WILL be the death of us if we don’t get it in check. All of the coverage surrounding the swine flu has actually gotten me a bit excited to get out of my rut and continue researching and making changes. I believe that the human body is an amazing miracle. If we think about the things humans have survived over hundreds of years, it is apparent that humans are adaptable and really CAN heal from illness and disease. But in these last days, it’s becoming more and more difficult to allow our bodies to heal when we live in a world with so much going against us. We eat food that is processed, chemically laden, antibiotic laden, boxed, and old. Then we microwave it! And we expect to be healthy. On top of that, we put products on and in our bodies that are filled with chemicals and poisons. And we expect to be healthy. Then we load up on medications that affect the health of our kidneys and livers. And we expect to be healthy. At some point, these things become too much for our bodies. We must help ourselves first. As I said, we are FAR from perfect. But we’re making little changes, here and there and I believe it is helping. My children are very healthy. They rarely get sick aside from an occasional cold and an occasional GI upset. Neither of them has EVER had an ear infection.

Now that I’ve got my journey all written out, I’ll come back in the coming days and elaborate on more specific things. I’m very excited to do this!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Swine Flu Pandemic - Part 1

Okay, Teresa has inspired me to start writing about this topic. (Thanks Teresa!) This swine flu pandemic has a lot of people in a panic. I don't necessarily think it's something we need to panic over though. So I've decided that I'd start writing about what I've learned about illness and caring for our bodies. I do believe there are things we can do and resources at our fingertips to help us in staving off these offenders. But you won't hear about them at your local doctor's office.

I don't have a lot of time right now to get into it all, but I would like to start by sharing a scripture to ponder. When President Hinckley (I miss that man!) challenged us to read the Book of Mormon all the way through, I took that challenge very seriously. There was a scripture that popped out at me while I was reading Alma and it warmed my heart. I have been studying natural healing rememdies for a long time now and this really confirmed what I had been studying about. So I leave you with this scripture from Alma 46:40. I'll be back in the coming days with more specific things.

40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land - but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate-

Project Grief

I work with birthing families. I am privileged to be present with families at the happiest time of their lives. Is there any other joy greater than welcoming a new life into the world? As one can imagine, when things go well, the joy is immense. And when things don't go well, the grief is just as powerful. Sadly (and thankfully not often) I also must walk the path of grief with birthing families. The sadness can be unbearable at times and I typically end up just sitting and crying with families as they work through the shock of losing a baby. As difficult as this task is, I wouldn't trade it for the world because I believe that these moments are the ones that shape and mold us and give us the chance to examine who we are deep down. These are the moments that force us to see life through another's eyes. These are the moments that allow us to see how blessed we are.

I recently had the honor of walking this path with a very sweet family. I'll call them Jane and John. I'll call their baby Jack. Obviously, these are not their real names. My charge nurse asked me to take some things down to the emergency room so that they could do footprints and measurements on a baby. Jane had lost her baby at just 17 weeks gestation. I gathered up some reading material we have on grief and loss as well as a memory box, and some printing material. Unfortunately, it is impossible get hair on a 17-week baby. If there is any, it's just a very minute amount of fuzz that is unfortunately matted to the scalp in such a manner that it is impossible to remove. When I got down to the ER, I was directed to Jane's "room" (it was more like a cubicle with the curtains drawn). When I walked in and saw her, I introduced myself to her and then my heart just sank. I looked over and saw that she was holding baby Jack on her chest... on a chux pad. I excused myself to go and get a blanket from the nursery for the baby. I was beyond frustrated by our selection of blankets for micro preemies. You see, you can't just use a normal blanket for a baby of this age. They are so tiny they can fit in the palm of your hand, head to toe. It would be the equivalent of wrapping up a 5-year-old in a king sized blanket.

We have a nurse on our unit who has taken the time to cut some flannel baby blankets into smaller pieces. I grabbed one of those but I was frustrated because, well, it looked like it was cut... it had raw edges to it. I also found a tiny knitted cap for the baby. Thankfully, we have volunteers that make caps for micro preemies. And even though it was super tiny, I still had to roll the brim a few times for it not to cover the baby's entire head.

I took these back to the ER and then asked the ER staff if they wanted me to take care of the prints. They were all too happy to allow me to do that. So I gently picked Jack up and was able to get the most perfect foot prints from him. His little foot prints were no longer than the first third of my pinky (from the tip of my pinky to the first joint). I was then able to get some beautiful, tiny hand prints on him as well. We measured him... he was only 7 inches long and weighed about a third of a pound. Then I asked Jane if I could wrap him in a blanket and hat and she was grateful that I would do that. Finally, he looked like a peacefully sleeping little guy instead of a dead fetus on a chux pad.

This experience really threw me and I decided that I needed to do something about it. So I've looked into making REAL blankets for these babies. People often don't realize how real the grief is for someone who has miscarried a baby. These babies are real and even though they are the tiniest little things, their parents love them and hold them for a very long period of time before they are separated. They kiss their babies and stare at them and marvel at them just the same way parents marvel over their full term newborns. To see a baby laying on a chux pad broke my heart. And then to have difficulty finding a blanket to fit him was frustrating.

Having experienced a miscarriage myself, I am well aware of how difficult that grief is. Mine occurred early enough that I never had a baby to hold. But the grief was no less.

I love to knit and began looking for a blanket pattern. I found a pattern that I'm trying out. The directions include 3 different sizes and I'm making the smallest size because that's the size we will use most. It's a very fast project and I think it will look nice when I get done with it. I'm hoping to make several of these. I also have a bin full of flannel fabric that has gone unused for a few years. I have several baby prints. I think that I will cut it up and make micro preemie sized blankets with finished edges and leave them in the nursery for these babies. These won't have pockets in them like the knit buntings do, but they will be small enough to swaddle the tiniest of babies.

I have said over and over again (and will continue to say it as long as it needs to be said)... Mothers (and fathers) will remember these experiences forever. They may not remember our names but they will remember the way we treated them and more importantly, they will remember how we treated their babies. We have within us the power to make these experiences positive ones for them. Parents will take these experiences with them to the grave. I remember Mike's grandmother talking to me shortly before she died about her birth experiences. Despite the fact that those experiences were more than 60 years old, she could recount every detail.

If anyone has any good patterns or ideas, I'm open to any suggestions!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

New Moon Poster

To say that I'm elated about the release of New Moon in November would be a gross understatement. Just had to share this poster I found...

Photobucket

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Earth Mosaic 2009

When I first read about the Earth Day Earth Mosaic project, I decided I wanted to upload a couple of photos. After I picked up Evan from school we ran out and I took advantage of some very sketchy sunlight. It didn't last long. We went back down to the Dumas Bay Park Wildlife Sanctuary. I chose these two. I uploaded them to both the Earth Mosaic main site as well as the Earth Mosaic Flickr Group. It was fun!



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Mindy Gledhill


Oh my heavens... what rock have I been hiding under that I haven't yet heard the music of Mindy Gledhill??? I was surfing iTunes for new, uplifting music tonight when I ran across a song by Mindy Gledhill. I clicked on the sample and thought, "Whoa. I need to hear more. Could she possibly be as good on other tracks?" Oh my heavens... I am in love with her voice! I mean I am REALLY in love! That's truly an understatement.

So I've spent the last hour or so surfing the net for everything I can get my hands on to learn more about her. Not only does she have an amazing voice and absolutely beautiful music, but she's gorgeous on top of it all. It's funny... I've heard of her. I have seen her CD in the bookstore but I just never gave her a chance. I don't really know why. Perhaps I was just too afraid to spend $15 on something I might hate. That's what I love about iTunes. And truthfully, I love YouTube because there are always videos that showcase entire songs so I can see if it's something worth buying. I think I heard maybe 3 or 4 measures of each song and I knew instantly that I HAD to have her latest album. I downloaded it tonight and have been in awe ever since.

I have a few favorite LDS musicians whose music I listen to over and over and over and never get tired of... Mindy moves right to the top of that list!

Okay... I've had the supreme honor of meeting Hilary Weeks in person. My life will be seriously complete if I can just meet Jenny Jordan Frogley and Mindy Gledhill! I have had the opportunity of seeing Jenny Jordan Frogley perform, but haven't had the chance to meet her. These three women have such powerful voices!! I'm so glad I discovered Mindy tonight!!

**Edited 4/24/09 to add: I think Ethan has a little crush on Mindy! Suffice it to say I've listened to NOTHING else but this album since I downloaded it the other day. It's on my iPod so I plug it in to the house speakers when I am in the house or the car or I just play it on iTunes when I'm on the computer. (Like for example, it's playing now! I think I'm having a love affair with Long Lost Child... reminds me of my sweet baby I lost a few years ago... I think that deserves an entry all its own.)

Anyway... When we got in the car two days ago and I plugged it in, this is the conversation Ethan and I had:

Ethan: "Mom, who is this singing?"

Me: "Mindy Gledhill. Do you like her? She's my new favorite singer."

Ethan: "Me too mom. She's totally my favorite singer now."

Me: "I'm glad you like her."

Ethan: "Yeah. You know what mom? If Mindy Gledhill was on American Idol, she'd win top prize!"

Me: "Oh yeah. She'd blow everyone out of the water wouldn't she?"

Ethan: "Yep!"

Is he so cute or what?! And when I say he has a crush on her, I'm not kidding. He is on a first name basis with her now. He says things like, "Mom, can I borrow your iPod? I want to listen to Mindy." And this morning, I got on the computer and didn't put on any music (GASP!) and he said, "Mom, will you please put Mindy on?" I absolutely LOVE that he loves this music. The lyrics entwined with the gorgeous music are so beautiful!!

Blossoms on our cherry tree!

We planted a cherry tree in our backyard last year for Ethan's birthday. I know it's not a conventional gift for a 6-year-old, but it's what he wanted. It had just a few itty, bitty leaves on it when we put it in the ground. We watched it bloom during the spring and then in the fall we watched it go into dormancy for the later seasons. I was so excited as spring arrived this year and I saw little, tiny green leaves coming out of hiding. But even more exciting than that was when I was getting ready for work the other night. I was home alone and in the bathroom fixing my hair and makeup. As is my usual habit, I peeked out the bathroom to see what was going on outside in our yard. I nearly squealed out loud when I saw little white flowers adorning our fledgling cherry tree!! My only regret was that Ethan was not there to share that joy with me. Of course I grabbed my camera and ran out to snap a few pictures. It's beautiful!! How can we see these seasonal changes and not believe that Heavenly Father has His hands in all things? Even tiny, perfect cherry blossoms are a testimony to me!




Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Another perfect beach day!

Well it was another perfect day in paradise again yesterday. I worked Sunday night so I knew I'd be tired on Monday. I kept Evan home from school. I know there are a lot of people who would scoff at me for doing that, but we get SO few days like this in Washington and I do believe it's important to get out and enjoy when we can. He's in kindergarten, for heaven's sake. So I kept him home. I crashed out on the couch for a couple of hours and then we packed up and headed out. We went back to the Dumas Bay Park Nature Preserve. When we first got there, we OWNED the place. We were literally the only car in the lot and the only people on the beach. It was SO peaceful and serene. Later other people came, but there were never more than about 10 of us there at any given time. We stayed a good three hours and just had fun. I read a novel and took pictures while the boys played in the sand. The sun was SO invigorating.

Here are some pictures that I took. I am experimenting with this format. I downloaded Picasa for Mac last night and I've been playing. I'll see how this looks. If I don't like it, I'll go back to traditional uploading. Heck, I might end up doing that anyway since I want to turn this into a book. I don't know if this format will translate into single pictures when I use book loading software. Oh well... I'll just have to play around with it. I may be back to edit this entry! For now, this method is a LOT faster for writing blog entries which makes it more likely that I'll keep up with the blogging in a more timely manner.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Messing with video uploads



Ethan grabbed the flip video today and took it outside. This is what he came up with. I'm testing my ability to upload my Flip videos to Blogger. I FINALLY got them to upload on my Mac! Yay!!

By the way... some video notes here...

At 56 seconds, 1:02, and 1:07, yes, that was him LICKING the lens in an effort to get it clean... ICK! And yes, you heard correctly at the end... "Turns out your car was unlocked." So he went in and helped himself to the Flip video.

I'm just happy I have finally been able to download Mac software for it and get it to run so I can put my videos up on Blogger!! Now... If I could only get my Mac to talk to Costco Photo, we'd really be in business!