Jumping in with BOTH feet

Ok, I've been dipping my toes in the waters of Herbal Healing. I will be flat out honest that when it was first suggested to me, I did the raised eyebrow and thought "yeah, ok...that was sweet advice, but I ain't going that route". That stuff's for hippies, flower power, guru believing type folks.

Well, I finally gave in and changed my backwards way of thinking when we just couldn't seem to get a grasp on Brayden's gastrointestinal and respiratory problems. The sweet nurse at our pediatrician's office pulled me to the side one day and told me that some herbal supplements could really help Brayden in ways that all the meds he was on couldn't (...but don't dare tell the dr. she told me that). And he'd been so sick for so long, I threw in the towel and gave it a shot. Wow! We went from seeing the dr. weekly (no joke) to seeing her maybe twice a year. Amazing difference. I became a believer. Then when I was having some health issues a while back my OB/GYN suggested some herbal supplements in lieu of prescribing meds that I could most likely become allergic to (my drug allergy list is crazy long). I am now hooked. And I have the big kids on supplements also. My health food store LOVES seeing me drive up :)

Now this didn't just all happen in the last month. Stuff I've mentioned has happen over the last 2 or so years. With in that time I've become a "regular" at the health food store. They were so helpful when I was trying to find an herbal route to go with for Karen when we found out she had Cancer. And low and behold, one of the ladies who works up there had Cancer that spread like Karen's. They'd given her 1 month to live. So she started a Herbal regimen along with Herbal Chemo. Each time I'd go into the store and see her I'd just smile cause I knew she was going thru the same fight as Karen. And to see here there was just an inspiration. Shortly after Karen passed away, I started noticing that Marcy wasn't in the store anymore....and so I thought that she too had passed. Her sister works in the store as well, but I didn't want to ask cause I know it's painful. But I was in there just a few weeks ago and the subject came up and she told me that her sister and moved back home to Trent, TX because she was CANCER FREE! That's right CANCER FREE. This lady who was stage 4, 1 month to live, 27 brain tumors...same boat as my sister is ALIVE...and free from that freakin monster! I just started bawling. Not sad, but floored that I couldn't have been more persuasive to my sister's doctor and my sister. BUT, I have now told my family (and this goes to all that I love...family, friends, all of you)...If someone I love finds out that they have Cancer...I will be a pain in the rear and I will do everything in my power to convince you that the Herbal route is not only less invasive, but WORKS!!!!!!!!!! (...now stepping back down off my pulpit :))

Now with that all being said and me rambling on an on... You'd think that I would be going the herbal route again when Brayden's dr. tells me that Brayden's asthma and allergies (food and inhaled) have gotten to the point that there is not another med she can prescribe to help him. (If you see a few blogs ago, there' a picture of Brayden's last allergy attack that affected his eyes...and prompted the dr. to say this). So we went to the ENT/Allergist and found that this baby is soo, soo, soo allergic. I wasn't all in my head. Literally, EVERY fruit and veggie that he's eaten, he's formed an antibody to. Therefore, he's allergic to all the fruits and veggies he's eaten...or that I ate while he was in utero!!! (He's off the chart on many, many airborne allergies also.) So the suggestion was trying to do sublingual drops that he has to hold under his tongue for 3 mins and not swallow. ...yeah, that's not working out so well with a 3 year old. All we have is practice drops right now and today we are supposed to tell her if we think it'll work or not. The alternative is weekly shots for a year. So I talked to my sister Cheryl...who knows that I'm slowly converting to the Herbal ways :) And she says "why don't you see if there's a Herbal or alternative method of healing for this?" Duh... So I explore and ask around. Our very good friend (Jim's little Sister by proxy :)) Reagan (who also has had life long food allergy issues) tells us about acupuncture that she's having done for her food allergies. She sends me the website and I look up and see if there's a local practitioner. THERE IS! So I call and find out that they they do needleless acupuncture in 1-2 sessions and she can produce the SAME RESULTS as what the ENT/Allegist is suggesting will take a year. Some of you may be saying "yeah right", but as Jim said...this acupuncture thing has been around for centuries!!! There's got to be something that's right about it. Yes, it's a bit odd for me to think of healing my baby in a non medical way. But IF I'm gonna make the strong statement that I did earlier about loved ones, cancer, and herbal healing....guess I better adopt that way of thinking in all matters and quit just dipping my toes in the water and jump in with both feet!!! If it doesn't work...it doesn't work...but at least we tried and didn't just close our eyes to a form of healing that's worked for so many for centuries! That ENT/Allergist will still be there and will take our money for the next year...if need be. :)

That's all for now folks....of to go buy me my tie-dyed shirt and Birkenstocks!!