Something New :)

About 3 years ago I went to an holistic health show in my area. Aside from some of the more 'unusual' (LOL) things there .. there was a booth set up to inform about the use of thermography as a diagnostic tool for a number of things. What I was most interested in was it's use IN PLACE OF mammography.

I am NOT too keen on repeatedly irradiating myself .. all in the name of my own good. O_o

So, after having found someone in the region who does it .. there are only 2 that I could find .. in the fashion most cited as the most effective .. suffering through a 6 month wait .. I finally had it done.

It was an amazing little process. Totally painless, as they don't even touch you with the infared camera and really quite the thing to see the images afterward. I asked him quite a few questions .. he was surprised at what I knew and the interest that I had .. and he was happy to explain .. in quite some detail .. what the process was capable of finding and how.

For a breast scan, you start out sitting in a fetching little gown .. arms akimbo .. getting cooled to room temperature by a little fan .. for around 10 minutes-ish. Then, they have you stand arms up .. back to the camera .. as they get data from imaging that area as well. Then to the front .. for several pics of each of the "ladies" from several different angles. :D

During the first session, I cracked him up by asking him "you're not going to splash these pics all over the internet now .. are you?" O_O He nearly dropped the camera he laughed so hard .. may as well make things fun .. standing there with "things" hanging out .. ;) I can't help myself sometimes .. you know?? :D

Now .. for the fun part .. he had me sit for 60 seconds with each hand in ice filled water .. O_O .. seems it causes a cooling of the area of interest, and actually shows changes that would indicate abnormal tissue changes and blood vessel activity in the breast. You can see the changes in temperature in the pics too !! Even though things didn't seem to feel any colder. O_o

He probably spent more time with me then he might normally have .. as we chatted a bit about it all .. but the entire thing wouldn't have taken a half an hour to complete. The report will be coming to me and to my naturopath. I would have loved to send one to my family doctor .. I don't know how receptive he might be .. although, he now has a son-in-law who is a naturopath and seems to have a new understanding of what it's all about .. so you never know. :)

From what I've read .. and now observed .. I am confident with the process. So much so, that I believe I will continue with it regularly and forego the mammograms .. the most recent of which I had done in April of this year. They are NOT the gold standard some would have you believe .. because they miss a lot .. false positives are NOT uncommon .. then add in the risks of repeatedly being exposed to radiation. Unfortunately it's been pretty nearly all we've been offered for all these years .. largely because it's CHEAP. Utrasound .. which is much more effective .. and non-risky .. is not offered (at least anywhere in MY region of Canada .. I ASKED !!) because of the higher costs to do it .. which I just don't get at all. IF it does a better job .. isn't the cost worth it in what it helps .. with things like early, accurate detection ??

The only issue with Thermograpy is the cost .. that little session cost me $200Cdn .. worth every penny to me, by the way .. but .. I can see that it would be a deterrant to others. I do think that in time .. as it proves itself to be an accurate tool .. it's viability will be recognized .. and .. I genuinely hope that it becomes covered under all insurances.

To me .. and this is just MY own feeling on it .. anything that helps any of us stay in charge of our health .. in the least damaging way possible .. has got to be a pretty good idea. :)

Learnin' All The Time .. :D

I've been making some discoveries about what causes me pain with my fibromyalgia. Since I've been working with that EFT program .. and experiencing my first virtually painfree days in nearly 20 years .. the flareups, since becoming fewer and farther between, are particularly noticable when they DO happen. Which has led me to do some research on what triggers my inflammatory responses.

I had learned about Arachidonic Acid (found in the fats in food - heck we even store it in our own bodily fats!) some time ago when I tried the 'Protein Power Diet' about 4 years ago. It worked well in that I lost weight for the first 6 months .. and .. it helped certain other issues like normalized my blood sugars AND my liver enzymes .. but .. things like my blood pressure showed NO improvement .. and inflammation continued .. even worse at times. It seems that the AA and another substance .. Linoleic Acid .. are converted into "bad" eicosanoids and is what causes the painful inflammatory response. Seems that many of the foods that I ate during that diet time .. contribute to just such an inflammatory response .. and .. not to leave out .. an immune system so depressed that I caught every sniffle .. and was ill a lot of the time for the next year .. with any flu or cold or ear infection or whatever was going around at the time .. culminating in a riproaring pneumonia that I was 6 months fully recovering from.

It seems that there are things in some of the foods I get .. I make most of what I eat myself, from scratch .. so know what NOT to put in them .. but .. those few things that I do get processed/packaged are where my troubles have been springing from .. adding in things I get when I eat in restaurants. Things such as salad dressings .. even the store-made whole wheat bread I've been buying !! Not to leave out such unprocessed foods such as coffee blend (which is just cream and milk, here in Canada) .. and farm fresh eggs !!

So that others might get some relief, if they've suffered as I have .. I provide this list of problem items .. who knows .. you might also have issues with any or all of these as well. :)

Soy .. in ANY form .. but particularly the varied bastardized forms dumped into so many processed foods.

Flax .. although high in lignans, which would normally reduce inflammation .. is also ridiculously high in LA .. and even tiny amounts, within a half an hour of ingestion, send me into crushing inflammatory reactions.

Alfalfa .. though good for many, contains high amounts of an amino acid, L-Canavanine .. that for me .. and many others with immunosuppressive systems .. in fact causes terrible inflammatory issues. So severe with some as to be Lupus-like !!

Canola oil .. quite possibly one of THE most caustic oils to the human body ever devised .. is in fact genetically modified rape-seed oil .. which was inedible due to it's caustic nature, and only used for industrial machines. It is extremely high in LA and, again, sends me over the top painwise within a half hour of eating anything with it in it.

Egg yolks .. absolutley LOADED with Arachidonic Acid!!!!!!!

Dairy items .. particularly high fat foodstuffs, such as coffee blend and any cheeses.

Nightshades .. potatoes (of which you cannot make a way that I do not like .. lol) .. tomatoes .. peppers of all kinds .. eggplant.<*1 Edit>

MSG - aka. MonoSodiumGlutamate .. though tolerated by some people .. gives me terrible painful inflammatory episodes .. I strictly avoid it !! <*2 Edit>

Aspartame .. also .. tolerated by many .. within a very short time of ingesting it I get the weirdest head/neck/shoulder pain/aching .. it's an awful sensation and I also strictly avoid anything with it in it !! <*2 Edit>

The last is VERY fatty meats .. especially red meats .. which come ready to eat with their own massive supplies of AA already in the fat stores.

Things that I have found to help .. :)

The biggest thing, of course .. eliminating .. or severely restricting .. those few food items/additives listed in the top section.

I now only get the very leanest of cuts of red meats .. with virtually NO noticable fat on them AT ALL. To offset any dryness add a bit of the oils, that I know are low in Linoleic Acid and HIGH in Alpha-Linolenic Acid .. ALA (which DOES help to reduce inflammation!), to them .. such as a tablespoon, or so, of almond or peanut oil while simmering extra lean ground beef. Not to leave out using braising .. cooking meats low and slow, in heavy covered glass dishes (I use Pyrex bakeware), in the oven. You know .. no higher then 275F .. with about a half an inch or so of water in the covered dish .. cooked until done, makes for VERY delicious, fork-tender meats, that I don't even miss the fats from.

I eat lean chicken .. a lot.

I eat fresh/frozen cold water fish .. such as haddock and salmon (but NOT farmed/organic salmon - the high amount of AA in them is shocking!!! .. must be what they feed them) .. several times a week ..

I eat canned, pink, Pacific wild salmon - 3 to 4 times a week .. the 7 oz cans with skin and bone in (I just pick the bone out lol ) .. as that has the highest amount of beneficial Omega 3 oils in them.

I snack on almonds .. a couple of ounces every day .. for the benefit of their Omega3's .. which DO help reduce inflammation. I can't go the salmon/fish oil capsules .. so this I do instead .. lol :D

I have now made a complete switch to olive or almond oils to make salad dressings with .. and ONLY use peanut oil or organic coconut oil for frying and cooking in.

I added PLAIN (too much crap in those "designer" products) cold processed whey powder to my diet and have at least one shake .. often 2 .. made with a cup of fruits of choice, EVERY day. I make myself these 1 cup mixtures of fresh and frozen fruits and store them in my freezer .. just dump one in the blender .. add the whey powder and up to a couple of cups of water .. and they're so good !! :D

I regularly drink a tea made out of juiced fresh gingerroot .. and it's pretty damned soothing with it's natural anti-inflammatory abilities .. :) <*2 Edit>

I take 6 pure wheat grass tablets 2 x/day, every day.

Some of this I had figured out over the past couple of years .. some in the past couple of months. As I learn more .. experiment more .. I'll post what I find out. Maybe even one or two things I discover will help someone else too .. and anything that brings about painfree days is well worth it !! :)

I found an article that stated that inflammation .. as found in fibromyalgia .. has been connected to an imbalance between Omega 3 vs Omega 6 essential fatty acids. Not nearly enough of Omega 3 vs way too much Omega 6. Which explains a lot for me in what I've been doing. Alpha-Linolenic is an Omega 3, while Linoleic Acid is an Omega 6. I have been severely limiting the 6 and replenishing the 3 with the changes I have made. :) <*1 Edit>

So far, I've been doing very well .. and feel even better. I've had a few flare ups .. that I have been able to trace them to things I've ingested, such as discovering that my vitamin supplements had alfalfa in them .. that a salad dressing I used while out, was made from canola oil .. or .. that the lovely homestyle whole wheat bread I was eating .. that listed 'vegetable oil' on the label .. used soy oil.

As I said .. learnin' all the time .. :D

*1: Edit 2006-07-01 : added nightshades (I forgot about them, sorry) and omega fatty acids info

*2: Edit 2006-07-15 : added MSG and Aspartame (I don't know HOW I forgot those .. they've given me pain issues for years !!) .. also .. added note about using freshly juiced gingerroot in a tea :)

My Online Gaming Life

I've been involved with an online game .. or the remains thereof .. for nearly 2 years. It's been this wonderful, beautiful .. frustrating at times .. world of Uru. Part of the Myst series .. it was to be an online adventure that unfortunately was never given a chance to realize the potential that lay within the rich story that we'd been given through the previous games and the book series.

Through some bit of grace .. Cyan decided to release a version of it that was hosted on private shards. Called "Until Uru" .. it was a promise by Cyan to bring back Uru Live if at all possible .. something I have always believed was just that. It was my first online game experience and I was in awe of actually meeting people in that cavern that I'd gotten glimpses of in my "Uru : Ages Beyond Myst" game .. and to be able to experience it with a dialup connection .. when I had read that it was not allowed during Live .. well .. very cool .. :D

My daughter also joined .. and .. by all that we can tell .. we had a great ingame experience .. mostly ;) . Playing as anyone with highspeed did .. with no more lag or glitches then those with highspeed, either. So, for nearly 2 years now .. despite a few dodgy interavvie interactions :D lol .. we actually have had a great time and have met so many people from all over the world .. some have actually become friends in the realest sense of the word, too.

A few months back Cyan, with "cautious optimism" as the watchwords of the hour .. began posting on the dormant DRC forum .. and .. with whispers of a possible backer for resurrecting Live .. opened their own Until Uru shard .. calling it D'mala. Shocked and thrilled .. probably describes everyones reaction .. and in rushed madly to sign into the D'mala shard .. the numbers completely catching Cyan off guard, so they said. People from Cyan and the possible backers dropped on by to visit and chat .. asking us to support D'mala in this crucial period of cautious optimism. Good golly did we !! Most major events have been moved to D'mala .. such as the Ladies Garden Club .. and .. as a result .. most of the other shards now sit deserted. New players were welcomed into (only) the D'mala shard through an invite system and they came in HUGE numbers .. certainly a positive showing for any potential backer !!

The backing came through .. Uru Live is reborn .. and ALL of us were happy to help bring this about. :)

Thing is .. now that the official announcement has been made .. along comes the news that .. there is virtually NO support for the dialup players. Which is something of a HUGE disappointment. Oh .. we're told that we won't be discouraged from attempting to play .. we'll just have to be more "patient" with the longer downloads for updates and such. Which, really, I wouldn't mind. I play "There" .. and routinely get updates on launch that are in excess of 40 Megs .. takes a few hours and we're ingame. We each .. my daughter and I .. have just recently set our computers to download over 24 hours to get a Blender texture file and a game demo .. each over 220 Megs. So .. to not play a day is not such a great big deal.

Thing is .. there's no support for those of us who just could not .. or would not .. want to tie up our phone line for nearly 2 weeks .. yes .. 2!! weeks .. for the initial Uru Live download of 3 Gigs. That is just so frustrating and a wee bit demoralizing. It's sort of like being told "um .. thanks for the help you gave us .. now would you kindly move on ...". Heck .. we supported this venture .. a LOT of dialup players did .. to be dismissed so out of hand .. feels wrong.

Lots of posting on the new UruLive forum .. most people seem of the similar mind about it too .. the broadband players .. a good number who've posted .. sort of have the .. "oh well .. too bad for you all .. but at least WE'RE in" attitude about it. Some even suggesting we should "just get broadband" .. as if it were that easy !! I don't use dialup because I just love the quaintness of the old ways you know .. lol .. Many of us live in areas where it is not an available option. Mine stops 2 km down the road .. both cable and phone highspeed .. I've been on the "waiting list" with my phone company for 2 and a half years .. still nothing.

One even posted that, in his view, the dailup users online experience was irrelevant. Speaking for all dialup players .. I think NOT .. thank you very much. OUR incavern presence also contributed to this rebirth of Uru Live .. I would dearly hope that Cyan .. in respecting and understanding us fans .. who have NO alternative to dialup .. would at least show some sort of support for us now, in return for the support that we showed them. We've been here .. showing support .. and there are a lot of us too .. to just shut us out for want of an install disk .. makes me want to cry in frustration. :(

Looks like games like There and Guild Wars .. heck .. even Matrix Online .. will still be getting some Uru refugees. I'll go to There Online .. I'll have fun .. I always do .. but still .. it won't be the Uru Live that I waited for .. and hoped for .. and worked toward ..... :(

Funny How Things Turn Out Sometimes

You know .. it really is funny how things can turn out sometimes. On Thursday I smacked up my car .. rear-ended some poor woman who's intent to turn eluded my thinking processes. lol

Now .. you would think I would be so very upset about that .. and to be honest .. at the time I WAS upset about it .. a lot !! I had my daughter, in the car with me and she was mildly hurt .. from the explosion of the airbag deploying and punching her in the chest and from the glass that she was full of .. not to forget a terror that must remain from when she was hit by a car a few years ago. That bothered me the most, I think. The other lady was just fine .. she was pacing like a caged animal on the sidewalk and screaming at someone on the other end of her cellphone. As for me .. apart from a twisted elbow, knee and ankle .. that happened AFTER I got out of the car and it started to roll back a bit .. sort of caught me off balance .. I'm okay too .. :)

My husbands stony silence at the emergency room didn't afford much comfort .. I had smashed up HIS car you know. Actually, it was originally purchased for me .. to be MY car .. but .. it wound up in his name .. was HIS .. and I knew this.

They wrote off that lovely emerald green Lumina that I loved so much .. NOT because of the damage from the vehicle collision .. but because of the fact that the airbags deployed .. O_o. It was fixable .. we had it looked at .. but the insurance said NO .. they would only have considered that if the airbags had not deployed as they, alone, are at least $3000 to replace. O_O

It just so happened that my very dear sister had her car for sale .. a beautiful maroon Intrepid .. which we did purchase from her. Somehow .. through a moment of synchronistic grace .. and in order to take advantage of a program that allows you to NOT pay taxes if the car is gifted to an immediate family member .. she offered to sign the car over to me !! So .. at the registration bureau .. it got registered in MY name !!! :D He's not said much .. he was there .. did make a few "suggestions" to have it in both our names .. but .. THAT would go against the rules .. and could NOT be done that way. So .. with his willingness to save the money .. the car got signed into my name ONLY .. and it will be left that way .. as it is .. as there is NO way I'm changing anything. :D

It's mine .. in MY name .. might be nothing big for the rest of you .. but is HUGE for me !! For the first time in nearly 20 years I have a car again that is actually mine !! You know .. it really is funny how things turn out sometimes .. I'd just remarked on that in an earlier post and how it's been part of my demoralization .. and now .. with one quick *smack* into another persons car .. that's all been changed. This is a big forward step back UP the slippery slope for me .. adding to my growing sense of self .. :)

Makes me wonder what else that I've mentioned .. could mention .. might also change in a flash for even more forward motion .... lol :)