First Day - Quarantine!

Well, they surely will not find a body in this apartment that is malnourished if I were to die in Germany.  I have received three square meals per day and it has done the trick...the detox promised as part of the treatment!  Porridge with blueberries and cherries, one egg, two slices of bread with butter and jelly, coconut yogurt (pretty sure it was sugarless!), and slices of cheese was breakfast this a.m.  Lunch was some fish wrapped in zucchini, LOTS of cooked veggies, a berry smoothie, a piece of berry bread,  some couscous "thing" and a salad.  After each meal, I take long walks in an attempt to digest but also to learn about this little town of Bad Emstal.  It appears on the map in the area north of Frankfort as Kassel.  

When walking around the town or even as we drove here yesterday, I noticed the fields of corn, beans, and others that had been plowed already.  Huge windmills are present in every direction you look and solar panels on the roofs of homes and other buildings are numerous.  Cars manufacturers are familiar such as Ford, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagon but there are others that I have never heard of like Skoda.  Scooters are a thing to have and you find many in this little town.  

The "downtown" of this quaint little town has a bakery (first place I spotted!  I don't have any cash and I'm quarantined so I couldn't go in!), a butcher, an Aldi's (yes, like in the US) and other groceries, several drugstores, appliance stores, a bank or two, the gendarmerie, several school buildings, etc.  The sidewalks are all made of bricks and there is only one stoplight that I have noticed and it is for children to cross the street by the school.  All the rest of the intersections have roundabouts.  All the homes are modest in size, mostly two store brick or plaster with tile roofs.  I haven't found a neighborhood that looks in disrepair. 

Tomorrow is Saturday so I wonder if they will hang the bedding (only have a fitted sheet but no top sheet for a cover) that reminds me of a heavy comforter minus the down.  I remember, when I studied for a quarter in college in Staufen, Germany (another small town) that these "comforters" acted like a top sheet and a blanket in one and that they were hung out the bedroom window to air out on Saturday.  One thing I do remember is that you usually see windows open to allow fresh air in regardless the temp.  When walking by the school today and even observing some of the houses, I noticed this hadn't changed in all these years.  

This afternoon I continued re-reading Kelly Turner's book entitled Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds.  What a different place I am in emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually NOW than four years ago.  It's as if I never read the book!  The second of the 9 key factors she presents is "taking control of your health".  

Turner defines "patient" in the first paragraph of this chapter as "to suffer" and "to allow" or "to submit".  Wow, to allow or submit...   We are expected to be good patients and do what the doctor says regarding our treatment.  If you don't or if you question or bring your own research into the conversation, you often get shut down.  At least this is what I have experienced.  We aren't supposed to fix ourselves, the doctor is!  

I remember during the second round of chemo when I kept having to push back the time frame between infusions because my blood cell counts were so low that it would have been dangerous to infuse.  After the 4th infusion, I connected with Namaste Health Center in Durango and Dr. S prescribed mistletoe for me and I started injecting with mistletoe subcutaneously three times per week.  Instead of waiting 4 or 5 weeks between my 5th and 6th infusions (had been the case for the previous ones), my blood cell counts were good enough after my 5th infusion to get my 6th one within the three weeks.  It was the ONLY time that this happened.  Do you think the nurse practitioner or doctor ASKED me how this might have happened?  NO!  In fact, I told them that I had been injecting myself with mistletoe.  The NP had never heard of it even though it has been used in Europe in cancer treatment for YEARS!  Her response was to Google it and then proceed to tell me why I shouldn't be using this botanical that has proven immune building properties.  P-L-E-A-S-E!

I'm in Germany because I want to learn and then tell others what I didn't know before deciding to use allopathic medicine to treat my cancer.  I am not against conventional surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation BUT oncology doctors can certainly do a better job of helping the patient not suffer from the numerous side effects (vision and hearing changes, increased risk of infections, low red and white blood cell counts, nausea, headache, peripheral neuropathy, hair loss, feelings of tiredness, etc.) by inviting a naturopath or integrative medicine practitioner to be a part of the oncology team.  

During these past four plus years, I have had more acupuncture and vitamin C infusions than I can count.  I have used glutamine powder to help the nerve damage that causes numbness and tingling in my feet and hands frequently.  I am on a vitamin and supplement regimen with more pills each day than one can imagine.  My usual start to the day is injecting myself with either mistletoe or hellaborus (Christmas rose). 

But there is NO WAY that I could have worked every day at Otterbein except when I was going for a treatment or surgery, or hiked and backpacked in/out of the Grand Canyon, Death Valley NP, Grand  Teton NP, Glacier NP, or complete the Wonderland Trail and Four Pass Loop IF I had not taken ACTION in May 2017 and found a naturopath and then an integrative oncologist (summer 2020).  I didn't suffer these past two plus years since I have been supporting my immune system as a result of the suggestions of these complementary medicine practitioners.  It certainly wasn't the idea of the allopathic oncologist that I add these experts and form my "team".  

PLEASE encourage anyone you know on a cancer journey to take ACTION!  There is no need to suffer to the degree that so many do!

I think I have figured this out.  Here is a link to pictures!  Sorry but it doesn't appear to be "live" so you will have to copy and paste the link into your browser.  I will update the album as I take more pictures.  🤞https://photos.app.goo.gl/yanG9Ht3YD9iAjgN9