Val here again. For those of you who are still inclined to follow this personal odyssey, I present to you the latest medical updates and philosophical musings for your reading pleasure. ?

Medical updates:

Thank goodness these are less and less often. I re-visited my neurosurgeon, Dr. Chandler, and my ophthalmologist, Dr. Murdock. Both visits were rather entertaining.

 Dr. Chandler was glad to see me doing so well and began to discuss radiation options for the remaining tumor. I debated the various possible locations to do so – if it were necessary – and after much discussion we decided to let the decision wait ‘til after my next MRI  which will be after our harvest season. I then told him that my intent was to shrink and make disappear whatever tumor may still be there and that I would wait at least another month before doing a follow-up MRI so I could focus on healing myself. He didn’t seem to think I could do that but another month wouldn’t make any difference in my prognosis, so we agreed to my time schedule. I don’t think he’s used to having patients like me challenge his mindset…

 Dr. Murdock, my eye specialist, was surprised to see me back, since I last left his office with a clean bill of health in May. However, since then I’ve had a funny little aberration in the visual field of my left eye so I figured I’d better have it checked out. Just to the left of the center of my field of vision I have noticed a distortion of my sight that seems like I’m looking through a glass paperweight or marble. It’s small but quite noticeable, as it bends whatever image is in that area of my vision.

 After two hours of tests and eye exams Dr. Murdock determined that what I have is essentially a bubble of fluid lodged on my retina near the optic nerve. Apparently it was formed when the swollen tissue back there finally shrunk back to size and left behind some wrinkles and bubbles in the tissue. It may or may not go away by itself, and I made it clear that surgery was NOT an option here. If it stays, well, I find it somewhat entertaining to play with at times. For instance, when I’m driving and am bored, I can position my eye just so and make a bulge in the yellow lines in the middle of the highway! That little bubble is just a fun souvenir as far as I’m concerned.

 Philosophical views:

On the “alternative” side of medicine, I finally got around to detoxifying my body after all the anesthesia and drugs from surgery. I’ve known for a while that my liver would be much happier if all the toxins were cleaned out of it, and my intestinal tract was ready for some housecleaning too. So I did an herbal cleanse of the liver, kidneys and gall bladder and then a series of colonics (a water flush of the large intestine) and a castor pack for good measure. Talk about clean!! I feel 100% better and my energy levels went up right away.

 Detoxing is critical to healing, since a body can’t function properly (let alone heal itself) if it’s bogged down in toxins. The liver is especially crucial to the immune system and I’ve been taking Milk Thistle every day to help keep it healthy. With my system all cleaned out and ready to work, I’ve also been very conscious of my eating habits and which supplements will support my healing efforts. I won’t bore anyone with what I’m taking, as it’s so individual anyway, but I am doing a series of vitamins, minerals and homeopathics to boost my immune system and strengthen my healing abilities. I’m also keeping my blood pH as alkaline as possible for optimum results.

 Perhaps the key element in my back-to-health program is my daily practice of meditations and intentions. I start every day with yoga, stretching, breathing exercises and meditation and then I set my intentions for the day and go for it. What a difference it makes! I make a conscious choice to stay positive no matter what and to practice living in the moment, every moment of every day. A bit of a challenge you say? You betcha, but well worth it. I’m a whole lot more relaxed (read: happy) than before and am actually enjoying life again.

 As if to emphasize that and reinforce the fun part of living, the Universe has seen fit to send me a daily reminder in the form of a baby raccoon. He came to us from another wildlife rehabilitator and he’s about 3 ½ months old. We call him Roscoe (not Rocky or Rascal) and all he wants to do is play, play, play. Of course, the only one available most of the time to play with him is me, the surrogate mom, so I’m obligated to play with this little bouncy ball of fur throughout the day. Tough duty bit someone’s got to do it! Roscoe makes me laugh out loud several times a day and I can think of nothing more healing than that. He’s a little angel in disguise and I’m delighted to have him with us.

 Well, that’s it for the moment. We are in the middle of our annual harvest season so I’ve been busy making pies, freezing vegetables and casseroles, dehydrating fruits, making jams and jellies, and preserving and canning all sorts of goodies. We’re having a good apple year as well, so soon we’ll be pressing cider and making apple pies. So who has time for MRIs and such? I’ll get to all that once our harvest bounty is taken care of. After all, there are priorities in life, are there not?

 With all there is to do and me being in pretty good shape now, there probably won’t be another update on this site until around the first week of October or so. I appreciate everyone’s ongoing concern for my welfare and feel blessed to have so many friends who care. I hope you all are doing fine and are enjoying these fine end-of-summer days. Thanks again for all your loving thoughts and prayers.

 ‘Til next time…

 Love,

 Val