11.07.06 Update..Hope for Elections....?

OK, who knows about the elections? We're all hearing the predictions and the worries, the hopes that there might be some alternative to the Republico-Fascist powers that be. Just go vote, or send in your ballot. The gesture that seems increasingly futile on the one hand is all we've got, for the moment, on the other.

For me, let's say Franky Scale is 6ish. There's been some lesser discomfort lately — both a good and a bad thing — which I think is coming from the "new" bed, the standard expensive mattress option that I recently went for. Sore shoulders and strangeness from not being able to sleep on my back or front. All, I hope, just minor adjustments of learning how to sleep and get by under my "new" circumstances.

Now, I've been offline for a few days, quite busy with this graduate student's PhD defense that took place yesterday. She passed, by the way. Congratulations to you! It was great to see, to have that bit of progress, to have someone's life take a positive step forward. And though I wasn't able to play an enormous role in the process, it was immensely satisfying to help out a bit. Passing on something like mentoring, some kind of knowledge through experience: these things have taken on a new importance to me now that my capacities to contribute are diminished. Which is all to say, though it was physically very challenging to stand up and post yesterday, it was good.

And the point of that paragraph, as it began, was to say that though I've been offline, my guilt-trip about overwhelming response post had some effect. I did get a long comment from Slarry, surprise :-), more questions, and requests to fill in gaps in my story of late. The overall story hasn't changed, the treatments are largely the same, the issues of pain and managing life are similar, but I suppose there are some details that are new.

The glyconutrients, I don't know. Do they work? No one will know that, unless there is some "miracle" that occurs. So I can't say I'd recommend them, nor for what. Nor can I really take the time to tell people how they're supposed to work or why they are worth me trying them. That's not a satisfying answer, I'm sure, but all I can offer for now. I suppose any of you can request info (they have these DVD infomercial things) from Mannatech.com, but beware of the sales pitch and the MLM craziness. I know "hope" is a good thing, but make mistake that these people lose their rationality and they definitely try to sell it to you. Their slogan is "Hope, Health, Opportunity." But if you watch the infomercials, they give you the impression that it's really just about health and hope for relief from disease.

Do we fault them? They're capitalists like most of the rest of us; or like all of us in terms of our socioeconomic participation. It'd be great to escape that enchanted, evil loop, but I, too, need to rely on the traditional medical establishment; I, also, need their drugs, their treatment, their medical degrees. So it goes. We may make a bit of history but only within the situations we're given. Anyway, I take these supplements now almost every two hours.

I still do chemotherapy too. Despite the fact that some of the MLM people say things like "That'll kill ya faster than the cancer. You should rely only on glyconutrients." Well, when it's your life on the line, you do it then. But please stop telling me about it. Chemo does suck, you're right, side effects like nausea, diarrhea, no appetite, wasting away, depression no doubt, etc. But it's also the only route that has any empeempiricaldence that it has helped some people, to some degree. My first round of chemo, at least, brought me a few extra months. That wasn't from taking extra multivitamins. Not to say the latter will be worthless, but they have to be part of a larger integrative approach. Do what's known to "help," even if only a little, and also do what is more risky and unproven.

So I haven't given all the details, I've stayed away from the increasingly complex psychology I experience daily, there are appointments I haven't described, but it's an update none the less.