15 years

15 years ago we woke up to a ringing phone and images of 1 1/2 twins towers, the half billowing smoke but not yet fallen. Through the morning my long-awaited toddler played as I sobbed and watched a second tower hit, panicked people jump from windows high, then the towers fall. As the day unfolded, I relayed news of two additional plane crashes to my husband at work. For three solid days I cried and seriously wrestled with God over the issue of should we continue to bring more lives into this broken world or not.

We learned my husband's aunt was initially scheduled to have been on one of those planes and got bumped. Being on the west coast of the country, we were slightly insulated from the trauma in the sense that not every single person here knew someone who died that day, but the tragedy was massive enough that everyone here had at least one loved one they worried over until safety was confirmed. There was still enough communal loss that the churches were packed for week and flags flew abundantly and high. Rick's grandma, who lived next to the airport, lived under eerily quite sky for days.

Since that day, life has carried on. That baby is about to get his driver's licence. We have been blessed with two more living miracles here on earth. My husband has changed jobs twice. We have changed houses. We just celebrated that aunt's 70th birthday and she and her husband had another very near-miss going through the airport in Turkey just before the recent bombing there. (My husband and son were in the same airport two years prior!)

I've published my first book. My father-in-law has battled cancer epically. My mother has given us a sound hospital scare. I've survived a traitoris immune system that tried to abandon me a decade ago. I've survived a chiropractic accident leading to six strokes. A year ago today I had massive abdominal surgery for feminine pain and a renegade appendix.

The joys and griefs have been great. Today, I simply pause to remember. To lay the details of our lives before the Lord. To thank and rejoice for the blessings. To acknowledge the losses. To pray.

Alternative Opinions

I laughed out loud when I read today's  #NHBPM prompt, to "Write about alternative treatments / regimens / medicine. What do you support? What is crazy?" Why laugh, because I have some very strong opinions that I'm not sure anyone really wants to hear (but I am going to try to share, gracefully, anyway).

My plan is to basically stick to two categories, the "good" and (what I personally consider to be) the "bad." I'll spare you "the ugly" details for today (though a few of you already know enough about my life that you may read into some of what I'm not ready to say here). Edited to finally add link.

I have not always gotten very good results with tradition medical care, what we might term, "western medicine," until recent years. I have often been quite happy to pursue alternative treatments, usually something under the "eastern medicine" umbrella, when such treatments were actually providing results that western practices were not.

A few years ago I was very blessed to find a primary care physician, trained in western medicine, but also open to and trained in many eastern methods as well. She is of a whole-body mindset, big on nutritional and herbal and homeopathic methods, but never afraid to write a prescription for antibiotics, when warranted, either! I feel I am now receiving the best possible care, a wonderful marriage of the best of all philosophies.

One area where she has been overseeing my health care is in the area of PCO or polycystic ovaries. I have take the diabetic drug, Metformin, with great results in the past, but the long-term concerns over taking this medication offer some real concerns. So, with my doctor's approval, I am now trying to gain similar results through more natural means, the medicinal use of cinnamon to address IR (insulin resistance is strongly linked to many cases of PCO). Because I am now on blood thinners (due to the stents placed after my strokes), I am on the kind without blood thinning concerns, Ceylon Cinnamon (something anyone on medicinal levels of this spice should be informed about)!

So, that's the very best alternative suggestion I can give you. And now for the worst,without offering further commentary, I will let the following video speak for themselves. I thing the key quote here (first video) is that I'm not against chiropractic therapy all together, but if you are going to pursue chiropractic adjustment, "never let them work on your neck!" This is why, while I used to be open to chiropractic care, I do not even consider it to be a viable option anymore.

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Today I am thankful for many different medical options, that when one thing doesn't work, I often can try another.

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First Published Book: Hannah's Hope : Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage, and Adoption Loss

Book-in-progress on drawing on the fruit of the Spirit in times of trial: Harvesting Hope from Heartache

Next book-in-progress: 6 strokes at age 39, Stroke of Grace

Future manuscript in the plans: Given Me a Thorn, the apostle Paul's story as applicable to living with chronic illness