Beth and I went out to her sister and brother-in-law's, Dann and Rachel, house for Thanksgiving dinner. Also in attendance was Beth's mom and brother and his fiance, George and Megan. Dann and Rachel's kids, Sydney and Wyatt, provided entertainment. Wyatt was giving his best spiderman impersonation and at one point, I could have sworn he was climbing up the walls with all his energy!
The evening was quite enjoyable and low key. Beth kept me on top of my diet by making a baked tofu filled with stuffing, squash soup, baked sweet potatoes with a pecan crumble topping, tossed green salad, and vegan mushroom gravy to smother everything but the salad. However, I did have a couple of small pieces of turkey, can ya blame me? Beth also picked up a vegan pumpkin pie from Flying Apron Bakery, but it kinda melted and became more of a pudding. I am huge on vegan alternatives, but somethings just don't work and this is probably one of them, as is the tofurkey turkey subsitute Share made one year. Its amazing what they can do with soy, but its also just amazing what they can't do! If you ever get a chance to try the veggie sausage patties, I think you will be surprised, I like them.
You will notice I did some site maintenance this morning. I added a little more to the heading at the top of the page identifying my medical team and providing links to those clinics and hospitals to the right. The bio-medical clinic does not have a website but you can find a wealth of information just by googling "Hoxsey" or the "Hoxsey clinic." I figured I could share a little more about what I am going through by adding the links to where I go for treatments. Dr. Olsen's Seattle Cardiology is part of the Swedish Medical Center. The Swedish Cancer Institute is considered one of the best but don't offer the alternative care that the Wellness Center does. In cases of emergencies like on Tuesday, I will go to Swedish, especially since its a few blocks from the Wellness Center, giving Dr. Chen easier access to me. When I was in Swedish earlier this week, my nurse said she had to wait for orders from Dr. Chen since "they do things differently over there." It sounds like the Wellness Center has the alternative reputation, I like that. Just like it takes a lot of tools to rebuild your house, it takes a lot of tools to rebuild your health. Chemotherapy is just the wrecking ball knocking every bad piece in the house flat, it takes precision tools to rebuild in the aftermath. The Wellness Center offers these precision tools, some of them even fine tuning the accuracy of the wrecking ball. My hair loss suggests that the wrecking ball is still quite blunt, but my blood cell and platelet counts remain high so the precision tools are doing their jobs. Of course, the most precise tool I have is in my head, the power of the mind is amazing. My mind has been a project manager during the healing process via meditation. Each morning, I use my mind to direct the days course of action, analyze each little thing I physically feel, and continually convince my body and spirit that this can be beat. I let my spirit finish the meditation with a little prayer in which I ask for a little assistance and guidance, strength and determination, lessons and growth, and giving thanks for everything I have been given to this point along with the support and love that I have received. I have never been a stout religionist in any certain denomination, but I have always been a believer in the spirit, especially my spirit. I have always been fascinated with science and have become a man of science, but there are things that just haven't been fully explained away by science. Maybe the role of the spirit fills this void for now, but when I think about the soul and the animation of a collection of body organs, the role of the spirit is hard to discount. Part of my healing process is my personal growth and understanding of both my spirit and the holy spirit. Marty has been a good advisor for my personal growth, I hope to spend more time talking to him. I have also been slowly discussing this with my sister, Trena, I think there is more to gain by my sharing experiences with her. Now that I have shared this with you, I do kindly ask that you don't blind side me with your beliefs and/or advice. Just like the million different forms of cancer treatments everyone highly recommends, it can be overwhelming and push me off the path I have chosen for myself and put my faith into. Right or wrong, I have chosen my path and its the road I will walk to its inevitable end. I believe it to be the right path and I do enjoy your company along the way.
Even though its been a tough week with a bump in the road, it ended good. Now I will avoid the shopping madness and lay low to complete a good weekend...
The evening was quite enjoyable and low key. Beth kept me on top of my diet by making a baked tofu filled with stuffing, squash soup, baked sweet potatoes with a pecan crumble topping, tossed green salad, and vegan mushroom gravy to smother everything but the salad. However, I did have a couple of small pieces of turkey, can ya blame me? Beth also picked up a vegan pumpkin pie from Flying Apron Bakery, but it kinda melted and became more of a pudding. I am huge on vegan alternatives, but somethings just don't work and this is probably one of them, as is the tofurkey turkey subsitute Share made one year. Its amazing what they can do with soy, but its also just amazing what they can't do! If you ever get a chance to try the veggie sausage patties, I think you will be surprised, I like them.
You will notice I did some site maintenance this morning. I added a little more to the heading at the top of the page identifying my medical team and providing links to those clinics and hospitals to the right. The bio-medical clinic does not have a website but you can find a wealth of information just by googling "Hoxsey" or the "Hoxsey clinic." I figured I could share a little more about what I am going through by adding the links to where I go for treatments. Dr. Olsen's Seattle Cardiology is part of the Swedish Medical Center. The Swedish Cancer Institute is considered one of the best but don't offer the alternative care that the Wellness Center does. In cases of emergencies like on Tuesday, I will go to Swedish, especially since its a few blocks from the Wellness Center, giving Dr. Chen easier access to me. When I was in Swedish earlier this week, my nurse said she had to wait for orders from Dr. Chen since "they do things differently over there." It sounds like the Wellness Center has the alternative reputation, I like that. Just like it takes a lot of tools to rebuild your house, it takes a lot of tools to rebuild your health. Chemotherapy is just the wrecking ball knocking every bad piece in the house flat, it takes precision tools to rebuild in the aftermath. The Wellness Center offers these precision tools, some of them even fine tuning the accuracy of the wrecking ball. My hair loss suggests that the wrecking ball is still quite blunt, but my blood cell and platelet counts remain high so the precision tools are doing their jobs. Of course, the most precise tool I have is in my head, the power of the mind is amazing. My mind has been a project manager during the healing process via meditation. Each morning, I use my mind to direct the days course of action, analyze each little thing I physically feel, and continually convince my body and spirit that this can be beat. I let my spirit finish the meditation with a little prayer in which I ask for a little assistance and guidance, strength and determination, lessons and growth, and giving thanks for everything I have been given to this point along with the support and love that I have received. I have never been a stout religionist in any certain denomination, but I have always been a believer in the spirit, especially my spirit. I have always been fascinated with science and have become a man of science, but there are things that just haven't been fully explained away by science. Maybe the role of the spirit fills this void for now, but when I think about the soul and the animation of a collection of body organs, the role of the spirit is hard to discount. Part of my healing process is my personal growth and understanding of both my spirit and the holy spirit. Marty has been a good advisor for my personal growth, I hope to spend more time talking to him. I have also been slowly discussing this with my sister, Trena, I think there is more to gain by my sharing experiences with her. Now that I have shared this with you, I do kindly ask that you don't blind side me with your beliefs and/or advice. Just like the million different forms of cancer treatments everyone highly recommends, it can be overwhelming and push me off the path I have chosen for myself and put my faith into. Right or wrong, I have chosen my path and its the road I will walk to its inevitable end. I believe it to be the right path and I do enjoy your company along the way.
Even though its been a tough week with a bump in the road, it ended good. Now I will avoid the shopping madness and lay low to complete a good weekend...
posted by Beth @ 11/25/2005 06:30:00 AM
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