Immune Boosters - Whether You Have MS or Not

I'm pretty open about my recent diagnosis of MS. Most people with whom I've talked express their sorrow for me and those who know me wonder why this happened in the first place. My own mother and I discussed this at great length when the diagnosis was made. I felt like my body had betrayed me. For years I had given it healthy foods, plenty of sleep, reduced stress and kept it fit by exercising six days a week.

However, when I now see how quickly I'm getting a handle on things in comparison to some with MS who take years (I'm not kidding) to get their disease under control, I realize my body is more of an ally than a foe in this. I have created an environment for health and therefore, my body is responding by giving me a quicker recovery. I'm not going to say that I'll never have another exacerbation or lesion or problem from MS, but I will say that I'm better able to cope with and heal from the problems that arise because I've fostered a healthy environment for my cells.

When I think about all the people who get MS and suddenly have to make drastic life changes, I'm grateful. I already eat clean and take excellent care of my body. I take it one day at a time and am constantly praising God for blessing me with such a good life, lots of positive support people and loads of great information and tools to help me continually improve my health.

I've now had my second infusion of Tysabri (disease modifying therapy drug) and I'm feeling pretty good. One thing this drug is supposed to do is slow down the destruction of my myelin in my brain. Lesions are given time to heal and no new lesions develop…is what they tell me. Wanna know why? My immune system is suppressed.

Goodie.

Part of making myself as healthy as possible now, so I can combat the MS includes adding more nourishing foods to my already super clean way of life. I haven't had any processed flour or sugar in nearly five years. Now I'm eating almost entirely paleo (no/low grains and absolutely no wheat).   So, here are some of the things I'm doing to help my immune system fight off bugs.

• drink 12 to 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning
• daily detox with lemon and peppermint essential oils from doTerra in my water bottle
• beet detox smoothie every day (Dr. Wahls, who is known for her natural healing methods in reversing her own MS gave me this idea). The recipe I like best are shared in this 30-minute webinar . I've been tweaking the recipe for a while and I'm excited to share it! If you want the recipe, I share it in this post and video.
• take fish oil, vitamin D and a B-complex mix along with vitamin C and several other vitamins I'll detail in another blog
• go for a walk every day
• do yoga 5x a week (or more)
• practice daily, conscious positive thought
• breathe
• go to bed when I'm tired—no matter what!

So, what kinds of immune boosters have you found to work? For more tips and an in-depth talk on how to boost your immune system, check out this post and video. 

Diagnosis, Schmiagnosis

This is my brain. All the white spots are lesions...that's MS.

Two weeks ago today I received the shock of my life—I have MS.

Of course, I freaked out. I broke down and cried in the doctor's office and in the lobby of the doctor's building. I cried in Whole Foods while talking with my sister. I cried and drove. I wept on the phone to my daughter. I prayed and sobbed. I laid in bed and wept. Woke up, went to my knees and cried some more. But, I refused to let anyone else see me feel sorry for myself. I don't want to be perceived as anything but strong.

I am strong.

But, I cry. I come from a long line of criers. Most of my siblings and my parents cry easily. We're not a bunch of babies, we're just sensitive. I'm a sympathy cryer. If I even sense someone is on the verge of tears, I well up.

This crying has been different.

I'm in mourning for the life I thought I was going to have. I don't want to be considered sick. I'm crying for doing this to my family. Could I have prevented it? I cried for the scary stuff all the MS patients told me they've been through while I was getting steroid infusions. I don't want that life!

I fought so hard to overcome adrenal fatigue. I have been so good at eating right, taking supplements, exercising and doing everything possible to be healthy. It doesn't feel fair that I have to fight this stupid MS for life!

I am fierce and I will fight.

I won't be labeled: "She's the woman with MS...she used to be so active, poor thing." I don't want people to treat me differently, look at me differently or exclude me from things because they think I shouldn't or couldn't.

One friend told me she saw me carrying my four-year-old child and was mad that I wasn't "taking it easy." That just made me angry. I will carry my child until I absolutely can't. I don't want to be told what I can't do.

I can.

I may have MS, but MS doesn't have me.

End-of-Year Review

Doing a year-end review is eye-opening. Loads of wonderful things happened in 2012:

The toddler was successfully potty trained.

We took a fun family vacation to Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona for spring break.

My best friend from childhood visited me and we spent a weekend at Snowbird, including a day at the Cliff Spa.

Our family travelled to Chicago for two weeks.

I started running and triathlon training again and competed in my first triathlon after adrenal fatigue.

I painted a lot more and started sharing my art with people on this blog.

My sweet daughter was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I ran my first 10K and half marathon.

My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. 

Oh, and I was fired from my job on April 9, 2012.

Of all the things that happened in 2012, getting fired has been the biggest catalyst. 

I haven't written about getting fired because I was so upset and frustrated. I didn't want to write in anger and appear bitter or vindictive. But, I was both of those things for a long time. The crazy thing about getting let go is that it completely minimizes you. In my case I had no warning and was completely blindsided when I had worked so hard to show my employers how much I wanted to help the company succeed. In the end, though, I wasn't enough...and that's what devastated me. 

Now, though, I can look back and see all the beautiful things getting fired taught me. 

• Getting close to your kids and husband is fulfilling and joyful
• Nurturing talents feeds your soul in a lasting way 
• Personal value is deeper than your career or job
• Meetings are overrated and more often than not—unnecessary
• Focusing on your blessings and helping others will always help you feel happy

Although I wouldn't wish that on anyone, I am grateful for the lessons I've learned about life, about human nature and about what's really important. I'm ready now and looking forward to the lessons of 2013.

Writing or Art?

When I was a teenager, my sister Nanette gave me a book I can't get out of my head. What has stuck with me most from Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn was the advice her father gave her in a letter he sent her for her 21st birthday, "try to do one thing well—utilizing the experience of all preceding life and your own wit."

Since then, I've wondered, just what is my "one thing" and how will I know that's the thing to try to do well? I've done a lot of things, but I still ask myself that question.

My husband recently told me that he thought my real talent was watercolor, not writing. So, I ask...for those of you who have read my blog and seen my art. Which is it?

If you've had similar questions and found the answer, I'd love to hear how you figured things out.

In the meantime, here is something I've written that I'm proud of:

Power beyond words

By Pamela Baumeister

Music was Rachel de Azevedo Coleman’s whole life. Growing up in Utah as number five in a musical family of nine, Rachel was surrounded by it. Her father, Lex de Azevedo, was the music director for acts such as the Jackson Five special, “The Sonny & Cher Show” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” He gained fame locally, writing the music for “Saturday’s Warrior.” Rachel, never in the spotlight until after high school, sang and wrote music for her band while expecting her first child, Leah.

“I used to joke that wouldn’t it just be my luck to have a kid that was tone deaf,” Rachel says of her pregnancy. Little did she know that her baby would never hear her mother speak, let alone sing and play the guitar.

Shortly before Rachel and her husband, Aaron, moved to Los Angeles to be close to her sister, Emilie de Azevedo Brown, the couple started noticing something strange about Leah. Women at the grocery store would invariably stop and say “hi” to the adorable tot. At 14 months, Leah would lift her eyebrows, smile and open her mouth. But, no air or sound would come out.

Leah was deaf.

Rachel and Aaron mourned, but they weren’t defeated.

“There was nothing wrong for her. She wasn’t ‘missing out’ — we realized that we needed to learn something new. Maybe we needed to learn to be like her,” Rachel relates.

Signs of progress

The couple learned sign language quickly. So did Leah, who also learned to read at age 2. However, Rachel noticed there were times when Leah was left out.

When Leah was 4 years old and in soccer, Rachel noticed, “The hearing kids in our community were going a different way.” A boy on Leah’s team didn’t want Leah as his partner. She couldn’t “talk or understand” him. Rachel knew things wouldn’t improve.

Taking action, she went to the boy’s preschool and volunteered at story time. She read books and taught the children a few simple signs. At the next soccer practice, the boy signed ‘friend,’ ‘play,’ ‘ball.’ A few signs bridged the gap and, Rachel says, “changed the course of my deaf daughter’s life.”

Through Emilie’s encouragement, the sisters started Two Little Hands Productions, making videos of songs and signs. This was the beginning of “Signing Time,” a show that teaches sign language through music to kids and parents all over the world. The sisters started the venture with next to nothing.

“I was on WIC — we had Social Security — we were scraping by. We couldn’t even pay our rent. I had no idea that we’d be on PBS … I thought if I make these videos, that will change Leah’s world. When Emilie and I did our first video, we didn’t have a loan and now we have a successful, nationally recognized business,” Rachel marvels.

Miraculous sign

Rachel and Aaron decided to have another child. They soon found out that the fetus had water on the brain caused by spina bifida.

“We thought ‘Why us? We don’t even know anything about spina bifida!’” Rachel stopped herself when she realized she felt the same way when they learned Leah was deaf. “Maybe it is the same and there’s nothing wrong — it’s just different than we expected.”

Rachel and her unborn daughter underwent in-utero surgery to repair baby Lucy’s spine. Nine months after a successful birth, Lucy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

“They told us that she was retarded. She would lie on her back and stare — she couldn’t use her body in any way,” remembers Rachel.

Rachel wrote a song when Lucy was two called “Show Me A Sign.” It was her prayer for Lucy to prove the doctors wrong. Shortly after that song was written, Lucy signed “more.”

“I was stunned. After another nine months, she learned to speak. And now she speaks and signs and happens to be in a wheelchair. She is an inspiration to other kids. She gets 100 percent on her spelling tests and is in every ‘Signing Time’ show.”

One language

Rachel’s drive to make a difference in the lives of her children is now changing lives worldwide.

Rachel, Aaron, Leah and Curry Jones, the founder of non-profit Signs of Hope International, traveled to Ghana, Africa, to teach sign language to a school for deaf children. Rachel and Curry went again for a national conference.

“There’s a social stigma for deaf children, even among the educators. Having Rachel there was an ‘a-ha’ moment for them. They realized — after she got up, spoke and sang — that maybe the deaf can learn,” says Curry. ‘Signing Time’ videos are now used in the deaf school. Curry says of the people Rachel touched by sharing herself and her vision, “The children and teachers think, ‘If this American movie star can sign, so can we.’” She has created a paradigm shift for that area of Africa and it’s spreading.

Curry goes to Africa four or five times a year with Signs of Hope International.

“They talk about Rachel every time. She made quite an impression.”

“I refuse to let my circumstances have me.”

Rachel’s “honesty and candor and her willingness to share this personal experience with people has been not only a tremendous coping tool (for her), but also a tremendous gift (for others),” shares Emilie.

“As women and mothers, we are in a great position to make a difference. We can easily use our circumstances as an excuse to not do what we’ve got the potential to do. I’m sure I have a get-out-of-jail-free card for being depressed and saying ‘my life is really hard.’ I just have circumstances that I don’t expect — but who doesn’t?” muses Rachel.

Emilie says, “She is just like you and me — a woman trying to hold it all together. All the while, she is absolutely committed to changing the world.” 

Here is something I've painted that I'm proud of:

I have several other paintings and drawings posted to this blog, if you feel that you need more to go on for a judgment. Where do you think my talent lies? I won't be offended with your judgment, I just need more than my husband's opinion to consider. I probably won't stop doing either one, but I'll likely focus my efforts on one.

Thanks for your help!

New Adventures: My Big Announcement

I've been the editor-in-chief for a local women's publication for the past two years and eight months. I work for a behemoth publishing company whose main publications are the two largest newspapers in the state in which I reside. When I started working there, the publication I was in charge of was a glossy magazine published every other month.

Recently, the publication has been, in my opinion, downgraded to a newsprint (they tell me it's fancier newsprint paper called high brite) tabloid ensconced within the pages of the newspaper every month. The immature part of me thought, "Ew! I'll be a newspaper editor. How degrading!" But, the sensible part of me thought, "Wait this thing out and see where it goes."

I am not in denial. I know newspapers really aren't going to suddenly become the latest and greatest thing. The horse and buggy aren't coming back either. I don't think newspapers will completely go away, at least for a while. They'll continue to see a long and painful (I've seen countless people get laid off) decline in subscribers.

There will always be a need for a gathering place for people to come, catch up on the latest stories from their community and kibbutz with each other.  I had hoped I could create an online place for that to happen as the magazine was losing traction quickly. I wanted to produce a new forum for local women using the magazine as the brand. I was hoping to set up an online gathering place as a contingency plan — much like a lifeboat for a sinking ship — to save the magazine.

Recently though, my hopes were dashed. The company won't spend money on a new website. The magazine is going to continue (for now) to be the same. It will still have a one-day shelf life as it is distributed one day per month to a dwindling newsprint population. Sadly, the writing is on the wall for me.

I've received an offer to become an online marketing director for an up-and-coming online conglomerate. I'm excited about the company, it's standards and values, the potential for growth, and their vision for the future. Most of all, I'm excited that this new company embraces my role as a mother and will allow (expects, even) me to work from home half the time. The people there are cheerful and energetic; I'm going to love it there.

What's going to happen to my writing aspirations? I guess I'll be on the other end of pitching stories now. That's okay. I know how editor's think. I was one.

Funeral for a Friend

Today I attended a funeral for a man in my neighborhood. We went to church together and worked on several activities. I didn't know Bill very well, but I thought highly of him. He didn't tell many people that he was sick, nor did he ask for any attention once people knew about his quickly deteriorating condition. He thought more about others than he did about himself.

At his funeral several people spoke about all the kindness and service Bill was always doing while he was alive.  They spoke of his skills as a chef and gardener, how he loved to bring by little gifts and leave them without any recognition or fanfare. One neighbor recounted how he left a brand new barbecue grill on his front porch — as a gift. The widows and single women in his building knew he was their watchdog. Bill made them feel safe.

He didn't solve any major world problems, didn't leave behind a family, didn't know a lot of people either. He was quiet, simple, and humble. But, Bill left a lot of positive impression on those who knew him.

I thought about what was said about Bill at his funeral and started to think about what will be said at mine. In the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey the second habit states, "Begin with the end in mind." Covey encourages you to write down what you want people to say about you at your own funeral. He then goes on to point out that you should live your life in such a way as to be worthy to have those things said of you. I wrote things I wanted said at that point, several years ago, but attending this funeral today has me re-assessing what I would want said about me.

Here are a just a few:

From my kids:

• She built us up, believed in us and made us a priority. We knew we were important to her.
• She was loving, caring, fun and affectionate.
• She was a great example of how to treat others.

From my spouse:

• She was a great listener.
• She loved me and showed that love frequently.
• She was fun to be with and made us all laugh.
• She kept us all together and focused on being close knit.

From my friends:

• She had strong moral values, but never made you feel like she thought she was better than you.
• She loved her family very much.
• She had a positive attitude that was contagious. 
• She was a problem-solver and helped me solve many of my own problems.

If you could write your own eulogy, what would it say? What would your family and friends say about you?

Sick Daddy

My husband is sick. By sick, I mean throwing-up-seven-times-in-one-night sick. I'm not sure what's going on with his health, but he's been sick nearly every two to three months for the last year or more.

I try to do all the things a good wife should do for a sick husband. I tell the kids to be quiet (or take them out) while he sleeps, I pick up Gatorade and crackers (or Nyquil and zinc lozenges) for him at odd times of day (or night), I stroke his forehead, tickle his back and kiss him gently on the cheek. He's no wuss, nor does he act like he has a man cold. But, he is visibly sick.

I don't let myself express how I really feel. I'm worried. I notice, though, that I distance myself emotionally from him when he's sick. Lying in bed next to him as he sleeps, my mind races. Will I be one of those women who have a chronically ill spouse? Is this how it is going to be from now on?  Is he going to die before me? Am I going to have to raise four daughters by myself? Is this all happening because of our age difference (he's 13 years my senior)?

Pushing out fatalistic thoughts gets harder and harder to do...but, I don't want to tell him. My kids say things like, "Why is Daddy sick so much?" and "I bet you wish you'd married someone closer to your age, huh?" How do you respond to that? Am I overreacting? I know he doesn't want people to pity or look at him differently.

My father-in-law had leukemia for twenty years before he died. In that time he lost his strength, shrunk down to 150lbs (at 6'2 he was a stick) and became quiet. My husband says his dad's personality  changed. He used to be strong, husky and a doppleganger for Robert Wagner in his prime. Illness changed him so much that, my husband tells me I "never really knew him."

Is this what I have to look forward to in my marriage? I'm sure plenty of couples deal with this...but, I didn't expect to have to deal with this for another 20 years. How do people handle illness in their marriage without totally losing their sanity? The person they love...robbed of good health. Scary...and sad.