Haven't posted in a long time...

I have been quite busy what with the cold rainy weather and all the projects!  I just don't know where to begin.

The garden:  We've been eating bok choi, chinese cabbage, snow peas, lettuces etc. and are eyeing the fava beans, and cukes for peak harvesting.  Of course, we're constantly replanting so as to have a consistent supply of all the veggies that will grow here.

The chicks:  Growing beautifully except for the critter we're trying to trap, you know, the one that already ate 2 and wounded 3.  Hope we catch 'em.

El Exigente Jr's quest into organic farming:  so far...so good.

That's it for now!

The chicks have arrived

We had to de-frost the car this morning when we got the call to pick the chicks up from the Manchester Center Post Office.  It was a sun-in-your-eyes all they way with stretches of deep cottony fog at 6AM.   The big worry is that the chicks like it at 95 degrees and 34 is just a bit too cold for them. 
We put up plastic on the outside and cardboard on the inside, along with the heat lamps so we think our chicks will be as toasty as they like.
Here they are:

Windy, windy, windy days

Sandgate weather is always changing.  Take this morning as an example.  I shot out of bed when the smoke detector went off.  No fires, of course...the power went out.  Unlike last Tuesday, when the PHONES WERE DEAD ALL DAY, the power outage only lasted a couple minutes.  Oh no, the TV satellite is down.  What'll we do?  Cook? maybe...
Did I say it was windy? 
Well, now it's pouring buckets of rain...but the rain is coming straight down, evidencing a total lack of wind.  I guess if I wait a few minutes...

Why post about Alternative Therapies?

I consider myself to be of normal intelligence but I sure got fooled by the AD HYPE on SOY!
I started this blog, Milking the Bean, as a way to share and remember recipes and procedures regarding the making of soy milk and other products.  I used to have a Jersey Cow who gave rich milk which my family drank.  We made butter, yogurt, cheese, ice cream and anything else we could think of.  It was very satisfying work.  I expected the same from milking the bean!  
It is so easy to be fooled.  Most folks think they are doing themselves a favor by drinking soy milk!  I did!  But after google-ing "soy and problems"  I was horrified.  Soy is an anti-nutrient! 

Archer Daniels Midland is laughing all the way to the bank.  Every day new soy products are being advertised as the HEALTHY alternative.  If you do some looking on the web regarding the problems with soy products, you will find that the only soy products you should be eating are the fermented soy products (tempeh, natto)!  Any other form of soy is NOT good for you.  

Another concern is that soybean is GENETICALLY MODIFIED and this plant being grown all over the place! That cannot be good for us.  No one knows what the consequences will be.  Cancer rates are rising.  No one feels whole or healthy anymore, so we keep looking for "the healthy alternative".  Our youngest people have never known another way of being.

The world was different place back in the 80s when I got up every morning to milk.  I didn't need to do a whole lot of research on the internet.  The old timers in town could tell me anything I needed to know.  And as far as a legacy of knowledge surrounding cows and milk--it's been around forever.  We know the problems and benefits.  
I think I want to get my cow back.  I want my world back. 
Wish me luck?

Alternative Cancer Therapy - Gar Hildebrand

Please feel free to comment on any of the alternative cancer therapy posts.  I would appreciate any new information and/or thoughtful comments.  
This info has been taken from website   www.garhildenbrand.com 
This site has free instructions on diet and coffee enemas which are the mainstay of the alternative therapies I have been reading about.

Gar Hildenbrand alternatives is a patient advocacy function of the Gerson Research Organization, a nonprofit, public-benefit scientific research organization. Centro Hospitalario Internacional Pacifico, SA de CV (CHIPSA) of Playas de Tijuana, Mexico, partners with the Gerson Research Organization to provide treatment. Thirty years of involvement, observation and assessment of alternative medical practices, providers and institutions in Mexico, the US, Canada, and Europe inform our Alternative Cancer Treatment & Education Program (AltCTEP). Our long-time US federal advisory work with health-related agencies (the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Alternative Medicine, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Care Finance Administration, etc.) has led to our conviction that most standard and nonstandard methods of cancer management are limited in their effectiveness. We have identified and integrated a number of non-proprietary cancer treatments, each of which has produced long-term disease-free survivals. Our parent non-profit, the Gerson Research Organization, has created Gar Hildenbrand Alternatives to help connect patients with these effective cancer treatments, which are not available in standard cancer care. While it is best to treat all cancers early, even if your disease is advanced, recurrent, and you have run out of standard treatment options, feel free to contact us. And please review the information and links to articles in this website. The Gerson Research Organization is a US 501 (c)(3), tax-exempt, scientific research organization incorporated in 1993.
There is a great deal of information at this site.  I will post as much of it as I as can.  I will title it so if you don't want to read info on enemas, you can skip that post.

Cancer Therapy - Much to consider...

I am looking for serious articles regarding Dr. Nicolas Gonzalez, a NYC doctor who does the Kelly Method described in the last post, and their criticism and or praise of this method:

Doctor Nicholas Gonzalez versus the Medical Mafia « on: August 22, 2010, 04:34:57 AM »

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Anybody on facebook should be able to read this here:   
***Red ink is my comment color in this post***Link no longer exists!***  if I find anything else to include-red is my way of letting you know that I, the blogee, am speaking these words.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=422781009365

Maybe this was just a waste of time, but I felt like somebody should be speaking out against such blatant lies about supplements and detox. 

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Doctor Nicholas Gonzalez versus the Medical Mafia

Until today, I had heard nothing about this man, Nicholas Gonzalez, until a friend on here posted a video link where he discussed his philosophy of medicine.  There really wasn't much to the video, just some general proclamations about the importance of diet in health and the importance of keeping a positive mindset in the face of a cancer "sentence".  I generally agree with this - fear is not a good state of mind to be making life-altering medical decisions.

I posted something to the effect of this being a good philosophy, but that there is a lot more to the story of cancer.  Shortly after this, I saw somebody post a couple links debunking Dr. Gonzalez's claims.  After a little more digging, I realized that there is quite a bit of controversy around Dr. Gonzalez and his claims.  A quick search on Google brings up a number of sites calling Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez a "quack".

I'm going to pick apart one of those articles below, but first I think it's important to understand just what is this treatment that Dr. Gonzalez recommends for cancer patients.  Here is how Dr. Gonzalez describes his treatment protocol:

Quote

    Although our published research deals with pancreatic cancer, in our office we treat patients with all types of cancers. We also treat patients with a variety of other problems, ranging from chronic fatigue syndrome to multiple sclerosis. Each treatment protocol is individualized for each patient, regardless of the underlying problem.

    The therapy itself is quite complex, but basically involves three components: diet, aggressive supplementation with nutrients and enzymes, and detoxification. The protocols are individualized and each patient receives a diet designed for his or her specific needs. The diets are quite variable, ranging from a pure vegetarian program to a diet requiring fatty red meat 2-3 times a day.

    The supplement regimens are also individualized, and intense: each cancer patient consumes between 130 and 175 capsules daily. Non-cancer patients will require considerably fewer supplements per day. The supplement regimens include a range of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, anti-oxidants and animal glandular products, prescribed according to the particular patient's needs and cancer type. These nutrients do not, we believe, have a direct anti-cancer effect, but instead serve to improve overall metabolic function. In addition to these supplements, every cancer patient takes large quantities of enzymes in capsule form, which we believe provide the main anti-cancer action.

    The animal glandular products and proteolytic enzymes that we use are derived from animals raised in Australia and New Zealand, where there has been no history of BSE (mad cow disease) or other prion diseases such as scrapie. The animal husbandry regulations in Australia and New Zealand are the strictest in the world, and prohibit the feeding practices that have caused problems in other countries.

    The third component of the protocol involves what we call "detoxification" routines. On this therapy, we find that as patients repair and rebuild, large amounts of metabolic wastes and stored toxins are released. As a result, patients routinely develop a variety of symptoms, most commonly described as "flu-like," such as low grade fevers, muscle aches and pains, even rashes that we hypothesize result from low grade tumor lysis. "Detoxification" refers to procedures such as the coffee enema, which are believed by alternative practitioners to enhance liver function and in turn, the processing and excretion of metabolic wastes. The coffee enemas are done twice daily, and patients most commonly report symptomatic relief.

And for helping patients deal with vitamin, mineral and enzyme deficiencies, helping them remove toxins from their body, and claiming this can be used to successfully treat cancer, Dr. Gonzalez appears to have brought down the wrath of the medical mafia.  Here is one example from a list of many:

_http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=883

Cancer Quackery is Dangerous – The Gonzalez Treatment

Now, for those not familiar with medical literature, it's these kind of blog posts that are so effective in molding public opinion of any issue, including cancer research.  Here is how the blog post starts off:

Quote

    Nicholas Gonzalez is a controversial doctor practicing in New York. He has been promoting for years a largely dietary treatment for cancer including an individualized organic diet, large amounts of supplements,and pancreatic enzymes. He is a case study in why we need rigorous science to decide which treatments are safe and effective, of the lure of quack claims, the power of bias, and the inadequacy of our current regulations.

So, we can tell right off the bat that this author is biased against Dr. Gonzalez.  The phrase "quack claims" is an emotional appeal to the reader to illicit a negative emotional response.  The same can be said about using the phrase "conspiracy theory" or any other phrase the emotionally short-circuits the reader.  So, let's try to see past this claim and focus on what the author is really asking which is:  Is treating cancer with an individualized organic diet, large amounts of supplements, and pancreatic enzymes, as Dr. Gonzalez recommends, safe and effective?  According to this author, apparently the answer is a resounding "No", but from the rest of what he has to say, it doesn't sound like he is too interested in this question.

Quote

    "And in the final analysis Gonzalez's claims are just recycled CAM propaganda – claiming that supplements will boost the immune system and detoxify the body."

Bull!  Supplements in the right form and right doses DO boost the immune system and help detox the body. The interested reader should pick up a copy of Mark Hyman's http://www.ultramind.com/">The Ultramind Solution or Sidney Baker's http://www.amazon.com/Detoxification-Healing-Key-Optimal-Health/dp/0658012193">Detoxification and Healing. These are both practicing MD's with loads of experience and knowledge on the subject of supplements and the way they aid the detoxification process. You'll learn more about this topic than you'd ever imagine from these two books.

Going on the author talks about an animal study with rats using a similar form of pancreatic enzyme therapy that Dr. Gonzalez recommends for his patients.

Quote

Quote

        In 1999, an animal study tested the effect of different doses of pancreatic enzymes taken by mouth on the growth and metastasis (spread) of breast cancer in rats. Some of the rats received magnesium citrate in addition to the enzymes. Rats receiving the enzymes were compared to rats that did not receive the enzymes.

        * Results showed that the enzyme did not affect growth of the primary tumor (where the cancer started).

        * The cancer spread to the most places in the rats that received the highest dose of enzymes.

        * The cancer spread to the fewest places in the rats that received the lowest dose of enzymes plus magnesium citrate.

        Another animal study looked at the effects of pancreatic enzymes on survival rates and tumor growth in rats with pancreatic cancer. Rats receiving the enzyme treatment lived longer, had smaller tumors and fewer signs of disease,and were more active than the rats in the control group, which did not receive the enzyme.

    So results are mixed at best, but the study showing a worsening of cancer with the treatment should have been cause for extreme caution before giving the therapy to humans.

But if you take the time to read about Gonzalez protocol above, taking enzymes is only a small part of it. Another piece involves a huge array of supplements and coffee enemas. Did they give coffee enemas during the animal studies to rats! LOL!

Furthermore, the author fails to reference a 2004 study on mice that claims more (_http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/mice04.htm) positive results with the enzyme therapy.

Quote

    In addition to these clinical trials, we have collaborated with basic science researchers to test our enzyme approach in animal models of pancreatic cancer. In May, 2004, the results of these studies were published in the peer-reviewed journal Pancreas. In these experiments, a very aggressive form of pancreatic cancer was induced in mice, then half the animals were given our enzymes, half were given no therapy. Those treated with the enzymes showed a significant improvement in survival and behavior compared to animals not receiving the enzymes. In a second experiment, tumor growth was substantially reduced, and survival prolonged again, in animals receiving the enzymes.

Animal studies can be a guide to further a hypothesis, but the big test in any medical intervention is trials with humans. Animal trials cannot be taken as a one-for-one guide to how humans might respond to a similar treatment. The author goes on to describe a pilot study developed by Gonzalez to test his treatment protocol.

Quote

    "Dr. Gonzalez did publish a case series of his treatment for pancreatic cancer, which is a particularly deadly form of cancer with a 1 year survival of only 2%. He reports that in his case series of 11 patient their average survival with his treatment was 17.5 months. That is very impressive, if true. Proponents used this data to support the Gonzalez treatment and dismiss critics, while science-based physicians pointed out the fatal weaknesses of case reports – namely they are not controlled, and therefore are subject to a host of biases."

The later in the blog the author writes:

Quote

    "But first this raises an interesting question – how did Gonzalez get his impressive 17.5 month survival in his case series when a prospective study shows a 4.3 month survival? We will never know for sure – the possibilities include that some of the patients did not have pancreatic cancer (he says they were biopsy proven), but most likely is that he simply cherry-picked the cases that did well."

This does raise some interesting questions.  To this I found another (_http://www.sawilsons.com/cancersenema.htm) article that quotes Gonzalez on this very issue of his methodology used in the pilot study.

Quote

    "What really gets Gonzalez riled is that some researchers suggest the patients in his pilot study may have been healthier than those in other pancreatic cancer studies to start with, thereby skewing results. One National Cancer Institute website, for example, mentions this possibility.

    'That's a pile of garbage,' he said. 'There's no such thing as a group of pancreatic cancer patients that lives a long time.'

    Outside labs performed the diagnoses and biopsies for the patients in Gonzalez's pilot study, he said. Of 11 patients, eight were in stage four, meaning the cancer had spread to other organs.


    Such a diagnosis is almost always a death sentence. Only 4 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients live five years or longer, and more than 80 percent die in the first year.


    Gonzalez was incredulous that anyone might believe he could handpick "healthier" cancer patients.

    'I have this magical ability to find pancreatic cancer patients no one has ever been able to find? We can outsmart an entire pharmaceutical company in our puny little office with one other doctor?'"

So, was the Gonzalez pilot study flawed? It certainly wasn't up to the standards of a "serious" double-blind, clinical trial, but I'll let the readers be the judge of whether this makes it irrelevant - the author of this blog certainly thinks so. In any case, the Gonzalez pilot study seems to show remarkable improvements in lifespan for one of the most deadly forms of cancers known to man. Not bad, actually...

Next the author moves on to discuss the recent clinical trial to test the Gonzalez protocol.  This apparently was supposed to be the final word on whether Gonzalez's protocol have any merit as a treatment for cancer.  This was Gonzalez's big "trial".

Quote

    But finally we have the results and they show:

        At enrollment, the treatment groups had no statistically significant differences in patient characteristics, pathology, quality of life, or clinically meaningful laboratory values. Kaplan-Meier analysis found a 9.7-month difference in median survival between the chemotherapy group (median survival, 14 months) and enzyme treatment groups (median survival, 4.3 months) and found an adjusted-mortality hazard ratio of the enzyme group compared with the chemotherapy group of 6.96 (P < .001). At 1 year, 56% of chemotherapy-group patients were alive, and 16% of enzyme-therapy patients were alive. The quality of life ratings were better in the chemotherapy group than in the enzyme-treated group (P < .01).

    That's right - standard therapy mean survival was 14 months and on the Gonzalez treatment 4.3 months. That is a dramatic difference, and supports what critics have been saying for years.

Well, to be fair, the abstract isn't specific about how this enzyme therapy was carried out. Was the full regime that Gonzales proposed adhered to by all patients in the trial? Or were they just given some enzyme pills and told to go on their merry way? What about the array of supplements needed to complete the program? What about the coffee enemas? Did the patients follow all the instructions by all the patients?  Again, the abstract isn't clear.

My understanding is that medicine is more of an art form, there's no one-size fits all approach to dealing with all patients. People have different nutritional requirements for supplements and different methods of detox. I don't see how any static approach, whether by Gonzalez or the medical establishment, is going to work without taking into account unique patient histories. Maybe this was the secret to Gonzalez's success with his pilot trial:  He got to know his patients and their unique needs, and customized his therapy to them.  He claimed in his protocol description above to customize treatment plans to his patients.  Maybe this was part of the success?

Continuing on...

Quote

    "The bottom line is this – that Gonzalez treatment is not only worthless it is harmful and reduces quality of life. "

Now from this point on, the blogger takes a turn for the worst.  This is a pretty bold statement since there was nothing in the study that measured "quality of life", only length of life. The blogger is jumping to conclusions without the facts.

Quote

    "But further, the Gonzalez case taken as a whole shows us that you can promote a treatment that actually causes harm and yet still create a faithful following, bamboozle regulators, charm the media, and delay (sometimes indefinitely) definitive testing of your claims."

Where is the evidence to support this? To me this sounds like a projection of what the medical establishment is already guilty of.

Quote

    "The 32 patients in this study that selected the Gonzalez treatment were victims – they lost quality of life and on average 10 months of life. Was their sacrifice justified? I and others say no – before the Gonzalez treatment was given to a single person far more basic science and animal testing should have been done."

This is a clear example of a Paramoralism.  As if the failure of some protocol at a clinical trial designed to test one variable on a very narrow set of patients is enough to brand it "unethical" or immoral as the author insinuates.

How were these patients "victims"?  Did Dr Gonzalez coerce them into following his protocol?  Did Dr. Gonzalez himself somehow "give" them a terminal form of cancer?  How can the author claim to take the moral high ground when the medical mafia sacrifices people all of the time for their heinous http://horror.kaiserpapers.org/meashots.html">experiments.

Quote

    We use this sequence for a reason – because most new ideas in medicine are wrong. Because in order to "first do no harm" we need to proceed carefully with experimental treatments and only give them to people when there is sufficient plausibility and pre-clinical data to justify it. This is the ethical standard in medicine, but the public has fallen victim to the successful creation of a double standard with clever marketing of terms like "alternative," "holistic," "natural," and "detoxify.""

Oh pleeeeaze! So where was this "first do no harm" principle applied to Viox or the countless drugs and vaccines recalled (and still on the market) over the past decade? I agree there are some snakes in the holistic field of medicine, but that's why people need to do their own research before trying anything! Don't rely on snake oil salesmen to make decisions for you, especially not the professionals in white coats!

Bottom line, even if this big clinical trial is correct and the Gonzalez's treatment for terminally ill pancreatic cancer patients is a failure, how does that apply across the board to all cancer patients or just people looking to retain their health? It doesn't. Maybe his treatment works quite well for people who still have a ounce of health left in them?  Maybe the quality of life for those terminal cancer patients was better than the ones who received chemotherapy?  The results of this clinical trial just don't say.

Sometimes the body is so broken that no amount of treatment or therapy can help. Radiation might be the best choice in that instance because, as they claim it "kills cancer cells". The problem is that it kills all your other cells as well and DOES destroy your quality of life while at the same time delaying the inevitable. Big clinical trials only test for one specific parameter while attempting to isolate the other variables (even though they can't).  They then go on to claim that the study was either a complete success and should be given to EVERYBODY, or it was a complete failure and should be given to NOBODY! They don't test for all the nuances that come up.

To make sweeping generalizations and ad-hoc moral insinuations and call it "science", as the blogger claims to represent, is not "science" - it is propaganda. All this study concludes is that Gonzalez's treatment leads to shorter lives in terminally ill pancreatic cancer patients in comparison to those who received chemotherapy, and nothing more (and even that claim is questionable based on prior research). It says nothing about how the Gonzalez protocol applies to any other segment of the population.

Nothing about what Gonzalez proposes is dangerous and any reasonable medical doctor would recognize this.  Supplements and detoxification are not the enemy, they are useful tools in the fight for health and they cost a lot less than the medical interventions most doctors propose for cancer.  Gonzalez's only sin is that he claimed to have a "cure for cancer". For this he inherited the wrath of the cancer establishment and all their unwitting dupes such as the author of this blog.  He might not have the cure for cancer, but he's sure a heck of a lot closer to it than those doctors who prescribe chemotherapy!

	Logged

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"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by frost." -  J.R.R. Tolkien

"I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs." - Albert Einstein

Alternative Cancer Therapy - information re Dr. Gonzalez (Kelly Method)

This is what I found on the internet regarding The Dr. Kelly method of diet therapy for cancer patients:

Dr. William D. Kelly's Nutritional-Metabolic Therapy

by Richard Walters
http://educate-yourself.org/cancer/kellysmetabolictherapy.shtml

(Excerpted chapter from OPTIONS - The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book (1993) by Richard Walters)


Dr. William Donald Kelley
Over a twenty-five year period, Dr. William Donald Kelley, a dentist by training, developed a complex approach to treating many chronic and degenerative diseases, including cancer. The three main elements of his metabolic program are nutrition, detoxification, and supplements of pancreatic enzymes. Although the controversial Kansas-born practitioner was condemned as a charlatan by the orthodox medical establishment, thousands; of severely ill patients sought his advice and followed his program, many with reported good results. Today, a number of practitioners claim to be using the Kelley regimen, though whether they actually are is open to question.

Interest in Kelley's therapy has increased dramatically in recent years, largely due to the work of Nicholas Gonzalez, a New York City physician who treats cancer patients in advanced or terminal stages using a modified version of the Kelley program. A graduate of Cornell University Medical School, Dr. Gonzalez undertook a five - year case study of Kelley's own cancer patients who had done well on the program. Gonzalez's 500-page study was prepared under the sponsorship of Robert Good, M.D., Ph.D., then president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It is "widely regarded as the finest case review ever conducted concerning an alternative cancer therapy," according to Misinformation From OTA on Unconventional Cancer Treatments, by Robert E. Houston.

"Gonzalez has given us convincing evidence that diet and nutrition produce long-term remission in cancer patients almost all of whom were beyond conventional help," wrote the late Harold Ladas, Ph.D., a biologist and former professor at Hunter College. "Because the cases [in Gonzalez's study] represent a wide variety of cancers, the implication is that the paradigm has wide applicability to cancer treatment. ...What should happen is that ACS [Americn Scancer Society] or NCI [National Cancer Institute] should immediately follow up with a half million dollar study to evaluate the rest of Kelley's cancer patients. But don't hold your breath," added Ladas, who concluded, "The evidence is in, and it is stunning. Kelley is vindicated."

Cancer & Protein Digestion
William Kelley held that a root cause of cancer is the body's inability to metabolize (digest and utilize) protein. "The person gets cancer because he's not properly metabolizing the protein in his diet," said Dr. Kelley. "Then, to make matters worse, the tumor has such a high metabolism that it uses up much of the food which is eaten." If a person's disordered protein metabolism is not corrected, Kelley continued, "it will give rise to more tumors in the future, even if the first one is successfully removed. This, by the way, is the unfortunate reason why so many seemingly successful cancer operations end up in recurrences a year or two later. The tumor was removed, but the cause-improper protein metabolism-remained."

Dr. Kelley linked faulty metabolism to a deficiency of pancreatic enzymes, which he regarded as a fundamental cause of cancer. He believed that certain pancreatic enzymes, especially those that are proteolytic (protein-digesting) enzymes, are the body's first line of defense against malignancy. This theory stands in marked contrast to conventional medicine, which holds that the immune system, with its natural killer cells, protects people against cancer.

As every biology student learns, the pancreas releases enzymes directly into the small intestine to aid digestion. But Kelley maintained that the pancreas also secretes enzymes into the bloodstream, where they circulate, reaching all body tissues and killing cancer cells by digesting them. Studies in the clinical literature lend support to this theory, first proposed by Dr. John Beard, a Scottish embryologist working at the turn of the century.

Mineral Imbalance & Immunity
Imbalance of mineral metabolism is another condition that allows malignancy to occur, according to Dr. Kelley. He identified mineral imbalance as a root cause of the breakdown of the immune system. Additionally, he said, cancer cells produce 1. immune-blocking factors and 2. seem to generate an electromagnetic force field that inhibits the proper response of the immune system.

The Kelley anti-cancer program combines
1. therapeutic nutrition,
2.supplements intended to destroy cancer cells, and
3. vigorous detoxification of the body.

Ten Metabolic Types
Kelley divided people into what he called ten metabolic types, with slow-oxidizing vegetarians at one extreme and fast-oxidizing carnivores at the other. Each person is different, he asserted, not only in nutritional needs but also in food utilization.

For each of the ten different metabolic types, a different nutritional program was recommended. An individualized diet was tailored to match the metabolic character of each patient, taking into account his or her physiology , neurological and physical make-up, basic metabolic rate, and personality. Some common threads ran through the diets, however. The consumption of raw, organic fruits and vegetables was emphasized, while protein intake was reduced considerably in order to to preserve the enzymes needed to digest the fruits and vegetables.

Supplements
In addition to following a diet,. Kelley's patients also took up to 150 supplement pills per day, including pancreatic enzymes, vitamins and minerals, and concentrates of raw beef or organs and glands , believed by Kelley to contain tissue-specific growth factors, hormones, natural stimulants, and "protective" molecules. A direct anti-tumor effect has been observed repeatedly in patients on various metabolic therapies who receive enzymes either orally or by injection. As the enzyme "digests" the tumor, large amounts of cellular debris are released into the bloodstream and surrounding tissues, according to Kelley.

Detoxification
These breakdown products from cancer cells are foreign to the normal body and can be very toxic, he maintained. Even though the liver and kidney can filter these substances out of the bloodstream, the wastes from tumor destruction form so quickly during enzyme therapy that the body's normal detoxification processes may become overloaded. To assist their bodies in detoxification, Kelley's patients periodically discontinued their enzymes and other supplements for several days. This rest period, Kelley believed, allows the liver and kidneys to catch up with the body's load of tumor by-products.

Coffee Enemas
As at second aid in detoxification, Kelley advised all his patients to take at least one coffee enema daily. His reasoning was that coffee enemas clean out the liver and gallbladder and help the body get rid of the toxins produced during tumor breakdown. During a coffee enema, claimed Kelley, the caffeine that is rapidly absorbed in the large intestine flows quickly into the liver. He held that in high enough concentrations, caffeine causes the liver and gallbladder to contract vigorously, releasing large amounts of stored wastes into the intestinal tract and greatly aiding elimination. Kelley also believed that enemas are important in stimulating the immune system, since most waste products eliminated by detoxification are enzyme inhibitors. Frequent enemas prevent the suppression of protein-digesting enzymes. These enzymes can break down the cancer cells' fibrin (protein) coats, making the cancer cells more vulnerable to the immune system.

Nonorthodox doctors other than Kelley, among them Dr. Max Gerson, have recommended coffee enemas.

Organ Flushes
The original Kelley program also included purges to cleanse the liver, gallbladder, intestines, kidneys, and lungs. Like many other metabolic therapists, Kelley believed that the functioning of these organs is severely impaired in the cancer patient. Colonic irrigations, liver and gallbladder flushes, and controlled sweating accomplished the cleansing tasks. Kelley also often recommended some form of manipulative therapy, such as chiropractic adjustment or osteopathic manipulation, to stimulate enervated nerves.

The Spiritual Component
A frequently overlooked aspect of the Kelley system is its spiritual component. Kelley called his approach metabolic ecology, taking into account the cancer patient's total environment-physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. He urged the patient to "accept the fact that you are afflicted with a symptom (malignant cancer) and that recovery is possible. Establish a faith in a power greater than yourself and know that with His help you can regain health and harmony. Patients were encouraged to conduct a searching self-analysis and to eliminate negative behavioral patterns and emotions.

The Kelly Regimen
The rigorous Kelley regimen is not easy. It requires self-discipline and a strong will to alter established dietary and other habits. Some patients experience fear and anxiety during "healing crises" involving lymph-system swelling, pain, and fever, all normal responses as the body detoxifies and heals. Critics of the system are deeply troubled by the enormous number of pills the patient is required to consume. Orthodox medicine holds that mega-doses of vitamins and minerals are unnecessary and can be harmful. Excessive amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) are stored in the body and can be toxic, according to mainstream physicians.

But Kelley proponents counter that the nutritional program supplies various aids to the digestive system enabling the large doses of supplements to be absorbed and fully utilized. These digestive aids include hydrochloric acid, said to be abnormally low in many people, lessening their ability to digest proteins. Kelley also prescribed a combination of the herb comfrey and the digestive enzyme pepsin. These supplements dissolve the mucous coatings that cover the villi ( the fingerlike projections) of the small intestine and block the absorption of nutrients.

Kelley's theory that people are genetically carnivorous, vegetarian. or somewhere in-between is rejected by many vegetarians and by others.

Coffee Enemas
Some prospective patients were put off by the idea of frequent enemas, although Kelley claimed that most of his patients quickly adapted to this procedure. In fact, many patients on metabolic-therapy programs have reported a dramatic increase in energy and improved outlook after a coffee enema, presumably because of the elimination of toxins from the bloodstream, cells, and liver. The procedure appears to, calm and soothe the nervous system, dispelling nausea, irritability, lethargy. lack of appetite, and sometimes even severe pain.

Pat Judson, a woman from Dearborn, Michigan, became Dr. Kelley's patient in 1972, having been operated on for cancer of the colon two years earlier. She is now in excellent health and completely cancer-free after her original diagnosis of "incurable" cancer. As she told a Michigan State Legislature committee investigating alternative cancer treatments in 1977, "I speak as . . . a cancer patient who seven years ago was sent home to die by a doctor who told me there was nothing more traditional medicine could do for me . . . One of the doctors that performed my surgery told me that I had the fastest growing type known to man and cobalt or chemotherapy would not help me. Expressing surprise that I even survived the surgery, he told , me I had six months to a year to live. However. I was given diethyl-stilbestrol [DES] for hormone balance since they had also removed my ovaries. I have wondered many times why a medical doctor would prescribe a cancer-producing drug to a cancer patient."

In January 1972, almost two years after the original surgery, Pat had a recurrence of the blockage of her colon and the cancer had metastasized to the lymph glands. Reluctant to go through the ordeal of surgery a second time, she turned to a different doctor who, advised her that she might survive "possibly three months" with surgery. At that point, she heard of the nutritional therapy of Dr. Kelley and went to visit him in Texas.

After taking a blood sample and conducting diagnostic tests that were subjected to computer analysis. Kelley determined that Pat had a cancer index of 600. This scale was devised by Kelley to gauge the body's ability to defend itself; it runs from an optimal 1 (normal) to 1.000 (terminal, beyond help). Following these tests, Kelley prescribed a combination of diet, rest, exercise, and detoxification.

When Pat Judson returned to Kelley's office five months later for a checkup, her index rating had dropped to 300 and her cancer was under control. Eleven months after the initial visit, a shriveled mass of excreted material was found to be necrotic, or dead, tissue from the colon tumor. Pat's next cancer-index reading with Kelley was 50, which is within the normal range. Standard diagnostic tests subsequently confirmed her to be in remission.

During Pat's first operation in 1970, her surgeon had noticed a lump in her throat that she had had since girlhood He said it might have been a "leader" for the cancer. As Pat continued on a Kelley maintenance protocol after being diagnosed in remission, she also took Essiac, the Canadian herbal tea that has helped many cancer patients. By 1978, the lump in Pat's throat was completely gone, and it has never returned. (Note: Some practitioners strongly advise against combining the Kelley program with Essiac or any other herbal remedy. They contend that the herbs work against the enzyme supplements.)

Pat Judson served as president of the Metro-Detroit chapter of the Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Therapy (FACT), in which capacity she told a Michigan State Legislature committee, "If I had accepted the advice of my doctor, if I had not been directed to Dr. Kelley, I would be another cancer statistic. " In her speech, she also rebuked the medical establishment for its constant harassment of Dr. Kelley.

Kelly Comes Under Attack
Kelley's problems with the medical orthodoxy intensified in 1969, when he self-published his book One Answer to Cancer, which became a best-seller in the "nutritional underground." The dietary program presented in the book was a distillation of his personal battle against illness. In 1964, according to Kelley, he was told by a doctor that he had metastasized pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease, and that he had only weeks to live. There is no biopsy verification for his cancer. His internist recommended surgery, but the surgeon felt Kelley wouldn't survive the operation.

With nothing to lose, Kelley, who holds a Doctorate of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) from Baylor University in Dallas and has an extensive background in nutrition, began his own impromptu course of nutritional therapy and lifestyle changes. As he gradually recovered, he felt he had stumbled across a scientific discovery and undertook further research to refine his program.

As One Answer to Cancer soared in popularity, Texas medical and legal officials launched an investigation of its author in 1969. Undercover officials posed as patients. A restraining order prohibited Kelley from treating non-dental disease, and a local district court made it illegal for him to distribute One Answer to Cancer or any other publication discussing his approach to degenerative illness. Dr. Kelley appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the restraining order was a flagrant violation of his First Amendment rights. But the Supreme Court upheld the ruling. "To my knowledge, Dr. Kelley remains the only scientist in this country's history ever forbidden by court decree from publishing," notes Dr. Gonzalez.

In 1971, the American Cancer Society put Kelley's therapy on its "Unproven Methods" blacklist, where it remains. To this day, no ACS scientist has ever attempted a direct, objective evaluation of Kelley's methods and results.

After the Texas dental board suspended his license for five years in 1976, Kelley moved to Winthrop, Washington, where he continued his nutritional practice. He later moved to Pennsylvania.

Kelley's most highly publicized encounter with the medical establishment began in 1980, when he agreed to treat actor Steve McQueen, suffering from advanced mesothelioma, a rare, nearly always fatal form of lung cancer. McQueen's malignancy was too extensive for surgery, and his terminal condition was completely hopeless. Nevertheless, on Kelley's advice, McQueen entered a small Mexican hospital where doctors claimed to use the Kelley program. McQueen never followed the full Kelley protocol; he smoked and smuggled junk food into his room. Even so, after eight weeks on a partial Kelley regimen, his tumor had stopped growing, he no longer felt a need for painkillers, and he had put on weight. His doctors expressed some cause for optimism. However, McQueen eventually discontinued the program. He died in November 1980, just hours after undergoing surgery to remove an apparently dead tumor mass in his abdomen.

The ensuing publicity triggered a media assault on Kelley organized by the American medical community. Spokesmen for the ACS, NCI, and leading medical schools condemned Kelley and his methods vociferously, without ever bothering to examine the details of McQueen's treatment.

Kelley claimed a high success rate with patients on his therapy. For those with a predicted life expectancy of about three months, he said that a well-designed nutritional program would yield "slightly better than a 50-50 chance of survival." For those with a very advanced disease, given less than three months to live, he claimed a success rate between 25 and 35 percent. These figures have not been verified and should be treated with caution. Yet according to Ruth Sackman, executive director of FACT, an educational organization that leans toward a nutritional-metabolic approach, "Enough of Kelley's patients lived ten years or more to suggest a pattern of survival and to indicate that he was using a basically sound system."

Kelly Questionaire
In Kelley's elaborate system of diagnosis and treatment, patients answered a detailed questionnaire, a nutritional survey consisting of up to 3,200 questions. The results were assessed by computer, and each patient was then fitted into Kelley's classification system of metabolic typing, which he used in treating a wide variety of diseases.

To understand Kelley's metabolic typing system, let us quickly review the ABCs of metabolism. The human body has two nervous systems. The central nervous system (CNS) regulates conscious movement, and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) governs unconscious actions such as digestion, the secretion of enzymes and hormones, breathing, blood circulation, and heartbeat. The ANS plays a key role in the way cells transform food into energy

There are two branches of the ANS - the sympathetic system, which tends to speed up body metabolism, and the parasympathetic system, which slows down metabolism. Kelley's thesis is that people can be divided into three genetically based categories that evolved in distinctive environments under evolutionary pressure. Each metabolic type reflects an inborn balance in the activities of these two subsystems.

According to Kelley, people who are slow-oxidizing "sympathetic dominant" types thrive on high-carbohydrate, low-protein foods and are meant to eat a largely vegetarian diet. Fast-oxidizing "parasympathetic dominants" grow hungry and weak between meals, so Kelley suggested that they follow a diet providing at least half of their total calories from fatty meat. "Balanced types," having both branches of the autonomic nervous system equally developed, were said to thrive on a wide variety of foods.

If a person follows the "wrong" diet, in Kelley's theory, disease' is more likely to develop. For each of the three basic types (broken down into ten metabolic sub-types), he recommended a diet that would push the autonomic nervous system toward metabolic equilibrium. Furthermore, he linked specific syndromes and illnesses with each of the three types. "Hard tumors" - malignancies of the internal organs such as lung or colon cancer-were held to be more likely to afflict severely imbalanced "sympathetic dominants." "Soft tumors" - cancers of the white blood cells and lymph system - were linked with "parasympathetic dominants."

Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez
Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, the New York City physician mentioned at the beginning of this chapter who uses a modified Kelley program, visited Dr. Kelley in Texas in 1981 and was given access to all of Kelley's records. Gonzalez was amazed to discover case after case of patients with advanced metastatic cancer who were healthy and active five, ten, and fifteen years after diagnosis.

Gonzalez interviewed 455 Kelley patients in depth, then narrowed down the group to 160 after eliminating the patients whom he considered inadequately diagnosed, others who had received intensive orthodox therapy, others who had been apparently "cured of their disease before they consulted Dr. Kelley ," and still others who did not meet the selection criteria. Eventually, Gonzalez selected 50 patients whom he considered representative cases rather than Kelley's best cases.

These 50 patients represented a broad spectrum of cancer types, including long-term survivors of cancer of the breast, colon, ovaries, pancreas, and prostate. According to Gonzalez's findings:

* 22 of the .patients " ..experienced documented regression of cancer while pursuing the Kelley program. None in this group received orthodox therapy during this period of improvement.
* Another 5 patients described regression of superficial, biopsy-proven malignancies, such as breast tumors or cancerous lymph nodes . . . [but] never returned to their orthodox physicians for follow-up studies.
* six patients were found at surgery to have extensive inoperable abdominal or pelvic disease, such as metastatic pancreatic or prostate carcinoma. All these patients were given terminal prognoses. None have ever returned to their orthodox physicians, so strictly speaking I have no proof of tumor regression . . . [although] each of these people has survived for years with cancer that usually kills within t months.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease; the five-year survival rate in orthodox medicine is essentially 0 percent. Dr. Gonza1ez reviewed the records of all 22 patients whom Kelley had diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between 1974 and 1982. Five of these 22 patients followed the Kelley program completely. Their median survival (at the time of Gonzalez's study in 1987) was nine years, and 4 of the 5 are alive today; one died of Alzheimer's disease. This is a 100 percent remission rate for those who adhered to the full Kelley regimen. (The 10 patients with pancreatic cancer who never followed the treatment had a median survival time of 67 days. Seven who partially followed the program had a median survival time of 233 days.)

These reported results are virtually unheard of in conventional treatment. Orthodox medicine gives a median survival time of two to six months for panreatic cancer.

One of Kelley's patients whom Gonzalez investigated was Robert Dunn, a sixty-two-year-old man from Missouri diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in June 1977. The formal diagnosis, as it appears in the medical records, reads, "Carcinoma of the pancreas - unresectable, incurable." Although his traditional physician recommended both chemotherapy and radiation, Bunn was told he would probably not live a year even with aggressive treatment. Refusing both options, he took a brief course of laetrile in Mexico, then consulted Dr. Kelley and, in August 1977, began the full Kelley protocol.

Within a year, Dunn said, he felt better than at any other time in his life. A follow-up CAT scan indicated that the once-large pancreatic tumor had completely regressed. Exploratory surgery in 1983 to remove a small bowel obstruction further confirmed that the tumor was gone. When last contacted by Dr. Gonzalez more then ten years after his original diagnosis, Dunn was following a maintenance protocol and was in excellent health.

Dr. Gonzalez treats advanced cancer patients with a Kelley-derived program. He keeps careful records of his own patients and also monitors many of Kelley's patients who have survived ten years or more. He claims that approximately 80 percent of his patients are doing well on his therapy. Most of his patients have already been heavily treated with surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy and, having failed these modalities, come to him with a prognosis of two to three months to live.

In May 1985, doctors removed roughly ten pounds of tumor from Bonnie Randolph, a clinical psychologist from Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. They also performed a total hysterectomy. Bonnie's ovarian cancer had grown silently for eight years, according to the doctors, - and had spread to her abdominal organs. The survival rates in such cases are less than 20 percent. Over the next year, Bonnie underwent eight courses of chemotherapy and two more major operations, all of which failed to eradicate the cancer. By the fourth chemotherapy treatment, her bone marrow was suppressed to such an extent that her white blood count had plunged from a normal of 4,000 to less than 100. After the second major surgery, in March 1986, her doctor injected a massive dose of radioactive phosphorus into her abdomen, "which he said would be my quota of radiation for the rest of my life," according to Bonnie. Six ovarian cancer specialists then told her that despite the radiation treatment, she had a year to live at the most.

Bonnie, who tells her remarkable, moving story in the November 1991 issue of East West, began investigating alternative therapies through a cancer referral service. "I had known there were cancer survivors who had beaten the odds by using nontraditional forms of treatment. What I did not know was that there were so many of them-and that they were doing so well." She became a patient of William Kelley, and her CA 125-a standard medical test for ovarian cancer-dropped from 29 to 11. (A reading above 35 indicates tumor growth.) Her pelvic exams were negative. But Dr. Kelley abruptly moved away into semi-retirement. A few months later, the ovarian cancer returned. Her conventional doctor insisted that Bonnie undergo radiation once more, even though it would not save her life. When Bonnie refused to submit her body to more damage from radiation therapy, her doctor became incensed. "'You'll be dead in two months,' he yelled at me over the phone."

For two months, Bonnie followed a strict nutritional program, which she believes kept her alive, while searching for a responsible alternative practitioner. In January 1988,' she began the Kelley - derived program with Dr. Gonzalez in New York. "He warned me that it could be years before I became completely well again because of all the damage the chemo and radiation had done to my immune system," she says. Under Dr. Gonzalez's supervision, Bonnie followed, an organic vegetarian diet (one of the ten diets prescribed) and took massive doses of pancreatic enzymes, nutritional supplements, and coffee enemas.

Today, more than six years after her initial diagnosis, Bonnie is, alive, free of pain, and writing a book about her experience. Her last three Pap smears were normal. Although she still has evidence of cancer and works hard to maintain good health, she keeps the cancer l. under control with a maintenance protocol of pancreatic enzymes, supplements, and sound nutrition and hopes to achieve complete remission. "The Gonzalez regimen requires discipline," Bonnie reflects, "but this is a small price to pay for having the chance to live out my life. And implementing the program is in my hands, so I feel that I am in command of my health care."

In a review of the Gonzalez study published in a leading insurance industry journal, Robert Maver, vice president and research director of Mutual Benefit Life, stated, "The Research Division has been evaluating Dr. Gonzalez' results over the last four months, including numerous site visits. ...The results are indeed extraordinary." He added, "This is a prime example of an innovative therapy that merits evaluation, but is being ignored. As costly as cancer is to our industry, and in light of such promising and cost-effective preliminary results, our industry should consider funding such a trial."

Richard Walters, 1993

(Dr. Kelley is today (2003) once again active in teaching people how to take responsibility for their own dis-eases.)

Web posted at: http://www.drkelley.info/index.php?section=A+View+From+The+Outside

 

Almost EASTER!

It snowed for a couple of minutes yesterday.  It was even too cold and damp to go get firewood.  It wasn't a total loss though.  The neighbors had triplets yesterday.  They are looking for a few more sets of kids in the next few days.  The wild leeks are out.
Something is always happening in Sandgate this time of year!

Desiderata

DESIDERATA

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Farm & Garden (Spring 2011)

It is threatening to be Spring on Sunday.  Temperatures should reach 70.
Still, I feel the chill in the winds.  Sandgaters burnt more cord wood this year than in the past few winters and we still are having to feed those stoves even though it is April 8th.
In the Garden:
It's been frosty every morning (22-32 degrees) but we were able put Snow Peas and Fava Beans in the big garden Thursday April 7th.   Each row is 50 ft. long. 
On Friday, April 1st we started seedling trays of Broccoli (90 day), Cabbage (59 day), 2 kinds of Bok Choi (Joy Choi (50 day),  Red Choi {45day}),  Leaf Lettuces (green (52 day) & red {48 day}), Escarole (48 day), Swiss Chard (55 day) and last but not least, Parsley (? day).
 On the Farm:
We are generally cleaning up winter debris and getting equipment (tillers, mowers, hand tools) in shape for the growing season.  And since it has been so chilly, we just can't stop doing all the activities that are involved in staying warm indoors.
On or about May 9th we are expecting to invite our new Italian bees into the hives.  The bears played havoc with last year's bees, finally destroying them all.  Hopefully this year will be better.
We are also expecting our Rhode Island Red (25)  and White Wyandotte (25) chicks during the first week of May.  We haven't had chicks for a long time, and we've never raised egg layers.  The chicks will use the old meat bird house, (we used to raise Cornish Giants) until we build them a proper place to lay their eggs. 
That's all I can think of for now...

Winter is making a come back

It appears that although today was lovely enough for Sandgaters to take their outer clothing off, tomorrow will begin a slide that may end in several inches of snow.  The last up and down of weather was rather depressing.  El Exigente Jr is sure that last February 2nd  Punxsutawney Phil was drugged!

Let's see if we can dig our way out of this one...

The MARCH of TIME

It is middle March. 
A very few days of sun and warmth took all the snow away.  It turned into Spring on the 20th at 7:21 PM.
The world is upside down.  The snow came back. 
Japan was the focal point of an 8.9 earthquake and then the tsunami followed.  Japan's nuclear reactors are melting down. 
So much unrest in the Middle East, people rioting for freedom in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, the U.S. has joined with NATO to bomb Kaddafi in Libya.   In Israel, a suicide bomber attacked at a bus station.  It was shocking because it hasn't happened for some time. 
It is an awful time for the whole wide world.

SUM it UP in 6 Words...

Oh Tara Parker Pope!  From the NY Times  Well Section...
Can you sum up a relationship in six words?
The readers of the Web site Smith Magazine are doing just that, offering six-word memoirs to describe both love and loss. Some examples:

Love hurts. Choose vodka or valium.
You lost me at hello “ma’am.”
Life’s like chocolates. Picked, processed, pooped.
Hearts clubbed by diamonds in spades.
Passion, fireworks, good loving. He’s gay.
But our domestic partnership was notarized….
Your new wife is too friendly.
There’s nothing sex can not fix.
Finally found love, at age 41.
Note to self: avoid head cases.
He wasn’t worth the panic attacks.
Chocolate is the coward’s bad apology.
Pet-sitting for ex-husband describes amicable divorce.
Loved her madly — then went mad.
Warning, love: I blog my breakups.

What do you think? Do you have six words to share about love, marriage and relationships? Please post your own six-word memoir below. And be sure to check out the Smith Magazine Web site for more six-word memoirs on happiness, teenagers, food and other topics.

PS  Dare me, and I'll 6-word sum it up...

My Pilot Got Canceled

It was an almost-blip-of-a-segment on CNBC, and Mass Comm. major that I was, to be on TV sounded like fun.

A couple years ago The Boston Globe did an article on how my then-house-mate and I, two divorced empty-nesters, collaborated financially. We had worked together, raised sons in the same town, and setting up a joint household was like Kate & Ally some twenty sit-com years later. CNBC came looking for a follow-up interview but learned I'd left the North Shore of Massachusetts for Sandgate, Vermont and (surprise!) a new relationship and business partnership.

The producers thought that was even better copy -- it certainly brought up a whole different set of financial protocols and improvisations. Good television? For the show, maybe; for an audience of baby boomers in a similar boat, perhaps, but for the "talent?" Maybe not so much. Who wants to talk about financial intimacy ever, but especially in the arena of over 50? Especially on nationally televised TV? My partner wanted to know what on earth was I thinking! I tried to explain, but it didn't come across as what men would define as "thinking."

It starts with my fascination with left field. When something comes from left field or seemingly out of nowhere, I interpret that as a surprise gift...an unscripted role to play. So I did a quick run-through of my knee-jerk objections:

1. I don't want to be on camera for all the obvious reasons (scared about how I'll look or sound and result in coming off as fake and foolish).
2. The context of the segment is financial planning, and I haven't. We're a business start-up in a lousy economy hampered by new no-lending laws and an unsaleable, unheatable home in a very, cold winter. The fact that we're happy and making it work is probably not the point they want to make. And not only that, but
3. My partner is a private, ain't nobody's business but my own kind of person who won't want to participate.

So, if this really was an opportunity knocking, what possible benefit could come of it? Was there any incentive to volunteer financial exposure and risk personal humiliation in a TV show I never even watch? The answer is an equivocal, counter-intuitive yes for three reasons:

1. I've been putting off making a straight-ahead accounting of my new life, love, and business because of course, it's a work in progress. I didn't issue a Christmas wrap-up letter this year, and many friends don't know I've been a Vermont resident the last 18 months. How cool would it be to make up for that with a link to me on TV?
2. It's not easy to articulate my vision for the future, but I've got one. It sounded a little fuzzy and idealistic at first, but as I've walked the walk, I should be able to talk it too. Bring on the questions, and my commitment will give rise to right words. And if that's not germane to the reporter's interview, at least I've updated the mission statement for myself.
3. Even the briefest of segments could be good P.R. for our business. They wanted to shoot some "B roll" of my environment which would include the insulation truck in the driveway and the logo we just had detailed. It's financially relevant, a green energy cure for heat loss and fuel bills, and such random exposure could lead to -- who knows -- new customers out of left field?

Well, it turns out the gift of this media experience wasn't a media experience at all. CNBC wanted to show a Sandgate couple navigating a new boomer frontier, and even without a speaking role, my partner made it clear he was not and would never be camera ready. And with that, the deal was off.

My former house-mate went ahead with her interview and said it was surprisingly empowering. She says she can only hope she'll feel the same when it airs. Me, I got number two of my benefit list just for a willingness to show-up. That's something, but it seems there should be more. I decided to let one medium can lead to this other -- off with TV and onto this blog!

El Exigente, My Valentine

Ahhh readers, that was not an idle question.  Speak to it, please.

My Valentine and I,
our lives are so inter-twined that my perspective is multi-directional.  Feelings run so deep and are so large as to be hard to see or voice.  Duh, I guess that's why they're called feelings...

To marry into El Exigente's lineage (circa 1215) is daunting.  It speaks to the creative abilities of the entire bloodline.  They paint, they write, they sculpt, they act.   They build and fix the mechanical.  They cook and bake; they landscape, till the soil and husband the earth...animal, vegetable and mineral.  That's how you know they love you.  But how do you love them?  Care and appreciation and a good sense of humor.  (Presents on Valentine's Day do not hurt)

Who is your Valentine?

Dear Hearts,
Here's a snipet taken verbatim from some internet site about the approaching day

February 14 is Valentines Day, the day on which we celebrate and explore love in all it's many ideals. How a day for lovers came to be celebrated during the middle of February is an interesting and ages old story.
The story of Valentines Day begins during the heyday of the Roman Empire, which held a festival every February. This Lupercian Festival was held in honor of the God of Fertility and during the festivities young men would get to choose their mate. At the time marriage was a common occurrence, but when Claudius became Emperor he changed all of that. Fearing that men would refuse their duty to fight because they would not want to leave their wives behind, he outlawed all marriages.
Young couples still fell in love though and still wished to marry and they took these desires to the Catholic Bishop Valentine who, understanding love, began to secretly marry couples. When Claudius found out, he had Valentine arrested and ordered put to death.
While waiting in jail, Valentine began exchanging letters with the jailer's daughter and soon had fallen in love with her. The day he was to be beheaded, he wrote her one last note and signed it: "˜From Your Valentine'.

Patient Input on Orphan Drugs - Video TED MED Jamie Heywood: The big idea my brother inspired

Murky Waters

for Dawn

Perhaps twenty five years ago, Dawn and I stood knee deep in the murky waters of a new pond. Childless at the time, we rabbited on in looping conversation as swimmers splashed before us, the chatter and laughter of a pot luck pick nick at our backs.
Though we could not see our feet, the almost cold water was so refreshing.
Children ran in and out, diving and shouting, a toddler followed the big kids in, just walking until he disappeared beneath the surface, and was gone. Dawn's hands lightninged into the water where nothing could be seen and came up with the boy, saved, and handed to his mother whos face registered the near loss.
The waters were murky, Dawn's sight was clear, her action immediate and true.

Leslie Fuller

Snow Cookies 2/2/11

When the woman sits in the afternoon
After the snow is shoveled
and the wood is in
Cookies fill the space
between the day
and dinner.

The tummy space
at the top of the pants
The Cookie Bank.

Leslie Fuller

Thank you visiting authors!

Please come by and write whenever you feel so moved!

poem 1/4/11

poem 1/4/11


Always starving
Too full to eat

Leslie Fuller

First things first

Sorry to be posting so late in the AM, but as you may have found out, there was no steak bread yesterday!  This morning, I baked before blogging.  I can now promise steak bread in 2 hours.
Cookies came out already!  And if I get to it...biscotta!  Almond, of course.

I will tell ALL about that communications company snafu, later...




 

The VERIZONfairpoint BIG TIME BOO-BOO

I don't know if they care how needlessly confusing they make the world today. I don't really know who 'they' is. THEY reaally impact my blood pressure.

I do know who made the boo boo. I did. I believed that the TRIPLE BUNDLE was going to save me money for the first 6 months, AS ADVERTISED. Of course, it isn't so. I finally have the bills to prove it. It's too COLD to go into the gory details right now. But I will fill you in formally, later.

THE REAL FEEL - 18 Below at 9AM

...But BEAUTIFUL!  Not a cloud in the pale blue sky.  The sun is just climbing over the tree tops.
It's a good morning for baking.  Perhaps some 'STEAK' Bread is in order.  It's a secret family recipe so I can't really say what's in it...easier to say what is not an ingredient.  So come by (in about 4 hours) and taste test it.  I am hoping to bake up a storm but feel a tad tired.  We all sleep lightly when fires need tending through the night.

The Big Chill

Alright, alright, I'm in with the bean milkers! It took a few tries and error messages, but I really enjoyed the new zodiac mythology post and look forward to my first foray into the blogosphere.
Here too (a little farther down Sandgate Road) the simple life can be strenuous. It was a triumph to keep the woodstove going through the night, but the uninsulated floor means it's warm above the kitchen table but freezing below the knees! Birds abound at the feeder, which is better than television to Suki, our Siamese. It's mostly starlings, chickadees and nuthatches with occasional cardinals and blue jays. It's interesting which wait their turn and which just knock seed to the ground to hoard to themselves. There have been a few midair disputes as to the pecking order!
As to snow shoeing, I felt impervious to the cold yesterday between the Neos boots and the rigors of climbing through the woods. The beauty of this creme brule landscape still thrills. We need short doses of fresh air no matter how frigid between the tasks of taxes and accounting for last year (which in turn makes me want to dig a secret snow cave and wake up in the spring).
So where's this January thaw we only have eight days left to claim?

Weatherman predicting 20 BELOW ZERO tonight!

It's about 5 degrees above zero.  Even the phantom feral black cat, Panther,  came out to announce it's need for food.  We have one feral critter already this winter.  We named it, Tiger.
At first, we didn't know what it was, a small catamount, maybe?  Very secretive, we only caught glimpses, until we saw him perched in the big bird feeder, hunting our birds!

We had to feed it!

We have yet to see the sleek black critter hang around long enough to snap a picture.  It steals whatever food it can grab on the run and keeps making tracks til it is out of sight.  It does not look like is has the coat of fur Tiger is sporting.  It sure is going to be cold tonight for all us critters.  Here's wishing you warmth from tip to toe.


 

Sandgate Snow Shoe Enthusiasts

KUDOS to my Sandgate Snow Shoeing Sisters and the Ocassional Brother Who Dons the Shoe

Are we really going out on MONDAY? Can I weasel out due to below freezing temps?
Actually I dress so warmly that it feels like the tropics when we're done, so a gentle push will get me lacing up my baby shoes. One of my nephews said he could get shoes for $40 somewhere on the net. I'll keep after him til I get that site. Since it has begun snowing this winter, my snowshoes are the best way to hike to the mailbox (or just about anywhere) the snow is so deep down here on the delta.

Alright, by now you've realized that this is just an awful ploy to get you share this blog space!
Are you falling for it? It doesn't take long to write. You can write anything. Give yourself a new name and by all means, stretch the truth if you feel so inclined...I will keep inviting you...

It is possible to edit, even after you've pressed the publish post button.

So who is OPHIUCHUS?

But who exactly is Ophiuchus? 

All the dozen previous signs of the zodiac have roots in classical mythology — specifically in the legend of how the 12 Olympian gods took the shape of various animals and creatures to flee the sulfurous, multi-armed monster Typhon who was causing havoc and ripping up mountains and such. (Only Zeus stood his ground and, gathering up his courage and his lightning bolts, let fly with those weapons of mass destruction and buried Typhon under a mess of rock, which smolder to this day as a volcano, Mount Etna.) The myth doesn't bear much fact-checking — or math. Does Gemini, for example, count for one or two? And if Zeus stood firm, then... something is missing.... And what god or goddess would have sought refuge in the shape of Libra, a scale?

Otherwise, the symbols are meaningful only in terms of mnemonics — giving earthly shape to the constellations that occupy the moving belt of stars that define the terrestrial year. Allusions to myth help give each meaning. Cancer, for example, being perhaps a giant crustacean defeated by Herakles (Hercules, to those who prefer Latin) but also being a hard-shelled creature, provides a metaphor for the nature of any human born under the sign (hiding in one's shell, by extension, a homebody, as I was comfortable being until now when I have to learn to be a Gemini.)

So, what kind of creature is Ophiuchus? The illustrations that have emerged (old prints from shortly after the time of Gutenberg, it seems) portray some sort of heavily muscled person holding on with difficulty to a veritable anaconda in the sky. There are various myths attached to the constellation, most of them obscure, two are quite telling — if ominous. A third I have come up with on my own.

The first is that of Asklepios (Latin, Aesculapius, which has somehow become acceptable in English as Asclepius), who was, as the old Greek stories often go, the offspring of a tragic match. His mother, impregnated by the god Apollo, started a dalliance with someone else. It is not good to cheat on any god — and certainly not one associated with the sun. The poor woman was set on fire and her child ripped from her womb (Asklepios etymologically meaning to be cut out). The infant was given over to be raised by the good and wise centaur Chiron. He grew to be very wise himself, able to cure the sick and the raise the dead. The serpent, already a symbol of wisdom and its goddess Athena, was associated with Asklepios' rejuvenating skills because it could renew itself, becoming "young" again, by shedding its old skin. But the fates and the gods did not like the idea of a human with the ability to grant other humans the gift of eternal life. So Zeus struck him dead with a thunderbolt. His father Apollo, however, raised him from the dead — and eventually Asklepios became the god of healing and medicine. Some early Christian writers went on to say that he was a prefiguring of their own savior — perphaps propaganda against the cult of Asklepios, which was a potent rival to the faith of the followers of Jesus.

The other tale has a magnificent piece of art associated with it: the Laocoön, an ancient sculpture found in Rome and reassembled by Michelangelo. It stands in the Vatican Museum and shows the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons being attacked by serpents. Why was Laocoön so punished? Because he warned his fellow citizens of Troy not to let into their walled citadel the giant wooden horse left behind by the Greeks. The goddess Athena (she of the snakes) sent enormous serpents to strangle and kill the priest and his sons. The Trojans interpreted it as a sign that it was alright to let the gift horse in without looking into its contents. The rest is, again, tragedy.

The key to both tales is the snake, symbol of wisdom and of all the knowledge hidden beneath the earth. One of the great sites of prophecy in the ancient Greek world was Pythia, from where we get our word "python." And, so, I have a third scenario to help explain who Ophiuchus is. It isn't a story told very often but, while not perfectly matching the "snake-holder" description, it involves wisdom and snakes.

Tiresias was considered the wisest of men and he was summoned before the gods because Zeus and his sister-spouse Hera were quarreling. Zeus insisted that women enjoyed sex more than men; the prudish Hera said that was not true. The only one who knew for certain was Tiresias. Why? Once when he was walking through the woods, he came upon two enormous serpents mating. Being curious and not afraid of disturbing these symbols of wisdom as they copulated, he poked at them. As punishment (or boon), Tiresias was transformed into a woman and lived, fully, as a woman. Years later, walking through the same woods, he once again came across serpents mating. He knew exactly what to do. He poked them again. Poof. He was a man.

And so, Zeus asked, having been both male and female, who derives more pleasure from sexual intercourse? Tiresias did not hesitate and said, "woman." Hera was incensed and struck him blind. Transgender, inquisitive, brave enough to risk the wrath of Hera (whom even Zeus feared) Tiresias, blind as he may have become, is the most modern embodiment of Ophiuchus. 

So what have we learned from this Time Magazine article with respect to ourselves?  When there's trouble in heaven, look for the Greek Connection.  Don't accept any gifts and for goodness sake, don't go poking at snakes!

OMG...Hold on to your SUN SIGN!

 
According to Time Magazine and the Minnesota Planetarium Society, here is where the real signs of the Zodiac should fall. Get ready for your world to change forever.
 

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17. 
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.

                                                     

Astronomers found that because of the moon's gravitational pull on Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed by about a month.  Your astrological sign is determined by the position of the sun on the day you were born, so that means everything you thought you knew about your horoscope is wrong.

It turns out that astrology has had issues from its inception. (Aside from the fact that it tries to link personality traits with positions of the stars.) Ancient Babylonians had 13 constellations, but wanted only 12, so threw out Ophuchicus, the snake holder. Libra didn't even enter the picture until the era of Julius Caesar.

The constellation Ophiuchus represents a man wrestling a serpent, dividing the snake's body in two parts.  It is the only sign of the zodiac linked to real men, sharing traits with Imhotep, a 27th century BCE Egyptian doctor, and biblical Joseph.

Like Imhotep, Ophiuchus is considered a healer of men and a doctor of medicine or science. He seeks higher education and enlightenment. He is expected to achieve a high position in life.
Like Joseph, he is an interpreter of dreams and vivid premonitions. He is envied by his peers and favored by his father and authority figures.

The Asclepius and the Caduceus, the medical staff, are based on the constellation.

Now all you new Ophiciuchi can move beyond your identity crises

Snow Snow Snow

Three snow storms within 2 weeks!  It's beautiful. 
The newest storm has only deposited about four inches so far but it promises to snow all day and leave over a foot of the white stuff.

Inviting Authors

I was tooling around the old blog when I saw a function that makes it possible  to invite other authors to contribute to a person's blog, so, LOOK OUT!  You may receive an invitation.

Of course, I invited myself so I could test this new feature out.  I do believe it works!
As an old friend used to say..."What a concept!"

Looking Forward 2011

                                                                      Happy New Year

 El Exigente and El Exigente, Jr. are already looking through the seed catalogs.  Our own seeds are safely put away for spring planting.  We are planning to get some livestock.  Poultry, for eggs and meat (yes they are called meat birds) and if possible, I'd like to get some rabbits, a beefer and perhaps a piglet or two.  The guys are making plans for housing for the critters and mapping out the garden areas according to a rotation that kept us in lettuce until November.  The weather co-operated.

I have been researching soy products and lazily baking the usual breads.  When Alessandra was  home I felt inspired to make her soy milk and tempeh.  I also made several kinds of sprouts which was a first for me.  Sprouting beans is very easy.  I used the instructions from the Ten Talents Cookbook I have mentioned in previous posts.


Have a great 2011!