"Home" a poem

This has nothing to do with my site,
but I took on a challenge to write about home, and I wrote my first poem!

“Home”

A homemade bouquet of pink simplicity roses
Puppies sniffing with little wet noses
Corn husking, boiling, buttering, eating
Family round the table greeting
The mud ‘tween my toes, the baa in the barn
Dew covered foreheads, the afghan yarn
The clothes on the line, Grandma baking
Hoeing, raking, noodle making
Poppies bursting, salvia springing
Putt, putt, Grandpa’s tractor singing
Sleigh bells clang on the kitchen door
Announce Dad’s return from doing the chores
Hummingbirds buzzing flower to flower
Entertaining us evenings, hour by hour
Thunderclouds form in the western sky
We in our lawn chairs, watch till they’re nigh
Cousins just drop in to visit a spell
Scolding wren playing her part so well
Sunshine that warms my head and my heart
Autumn colors, God’s wonderful art
Observing each tiny bee and each bug
Little arms stretched for an afternoon hug
Bushels of love, and chats on the swing
Bluebirds returning to homes every spring
Playing with kittens, hiking the creek
Sunday afternoon with friends at the lake
Tightrope walking on an old log
Lively days catching turtles and frogs
Sorting potatoes from common field rocks
Tall trees shading, and doors without locks
Long drives with ice cream to look at the crops
Fences with blooms from bottoms to tops
Spring peepers calling their song from the hollow
My Bible with pages that beckon me, “follow”
A stroll in the woods, praises ringing
Enjoy God’s creation, even birds singing
Dutchman’s Britches abloom in the woods
Mom showing off her garden goods
Hayrides, four wheelers, John Deere green
Help to set my favorite scenes
Swingin, bangin, screen doors slammin
Apple picking, campfires cracklin
Carving a pumpkin, and climbing a tree
That’s what “home” means to me!

Our Diabetes Story

Our daughter Katy was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes in April 2011. This was huge adjustment to us as we learned how to dose insulin, count carbohydrates, and accept what we were told, which was that she would take insulin injections, or wear an insluin pump for the rest of her life.

No one wants to hear such news, especially about their 15 year old daughter or son. Naturally, we began to learn all we could. On the advice of a friend, I immediately began reading about GLYCEMIC INDEX vales of foods, and changing our diet to foods with higher glycemic index values (more about that another time).

A strong faith in God leads my decisions, therefore a Bible verse from the book of James was on my mind: "Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up...James 5:13-15."
[I want to clarify that I do not believe that our healing is determined by the ammout of faith we have, or that our failure to receive healing demonstrates lack of faith. I do not believe that prayer is a ticket to whatever we want. Rather, God wants us to come to Him, and to know Him. His will is to glorify His Son, Jesus Christ, and if something in my life, or the life of my family can be used to glorify Christ, we should offer it to Him to use. If He heals us, we are blessed!].

Because of this verse, and believing God can heal, we met with the pastors and elders of our church, and Katy was annointed and prayed over by them. I prayed like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemene, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup (diabetes) from me (my daughter); yet not my will, but Yours be done."

My daughter began to improve over the next few months, and I was regularly on the phone with the doctor's office asking to decrease her insulin doses. The office was hesitant to let us decrease her insulin, rather wanting her to eat more to match the insulin they wanted her to take. But, over time it became clear that she no longer needed the insulin, and in October 2011, she was allowed to give up insulin altogether! One doctor said that she was in remission, and another said that it was a miracle!!! ~some of us still believe in miracles~I do!

So the question remained: What set this off? How do we prevent another occurrence like this? There were a few other medical questions unanswered.

Enter Dr. LSalle http://www.angelalasallemd.com/
DR ANGELA LASALLE is a physician practicing in an up-and-coming specialty area: Integrative Medicine. I heard Dr. LaSalle speak on the radio about how food intolerances can trigger or fuel
autoimmune disease. They do so becuse they contribute greatly to an ENVIRONMENT OF INFLAMMATION within the body. When the body is in a state of inflammation, it begins to destroy itself! Wow! the natural thing to do then is to find out what is irritating it, and get rid of it! So where do we start, and what do we eliminate? It is often related to the food we eat. Do we have to give up our favorite foods?

Long story short, we found that Katy does not tolerate GLUTEN. That's a common problem these days, so I will talk about it more in another post. But Katy is now eating gluten free, and is feeling better than ever! I have adjusted to cooking gluten free, and it is not longer stressful. In fact, we are experimenting with all kinds of new recipes, and I will plan to post some on this site.

I am so thankful for all the knowledge we have gained on this subject over the last year, and I cannot help sharing this story with others!

A great quote that sums up our healing experience:
Spread out your petition before God, and then say, "Thy will, not mine, be done." The sweetest lesson I have learned in God's school is to let the Lord choose for me. ~~D.L. Moody

Diabetes Types

There are two types of Diabetes, Type I and Type 2.

Type 2 Diabetes, or Insulin Resistant Diabetes Mellitus, is the Diabetes that is epidemic in America. It is characterized by a pancreas that makes insulin, but the body cannot use the insulin as it needs to because the cells RESIST the insulin (insulin resistance). While a person may be predisposed to Type 2 through his or her family tree, most can prevent it from occurring by managing diet, weight, and by exercising regularly.

Type I Diabetes is an autoimmune disease, quite a different bird. An autoimmune disease is one where a person's own body is destroying itself. In Type I diabetes (formerly known s Juvenile Diabetes), a portion of the person's pancreas that makes insulin is destroyed, and no the person no longer makes his/her own insulin. As a result, blood sugar levels skyrocket, and the person's body begins to starve because cells need insulin to receive their nourishment.

As of my writing this post, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, JDRF, is funding research on the complex causes of Type I Diabetes, but the official position of most doctors on the subject is that "We don't know" what sets it off. Certain substances in the blood called auto-antibodies are found to be the agents that destroy the area of the pancreas that makes insulin, but no one has nailed down how these autoantibodies get started working. One thing that is known is that once the insulin-secreting cells have been destroyed, The Type I diabetic will have to take artificial insulin for the rest of his/her life. Or will she??? Please read our Diabetes Story.

Move it!

Remember Sargent Carter on Gomer Pyle? He was forever yelling, "Move it! Move it! Move it!"

Well, it turns out, he had the right idea! Physical activity is important for more reasons than we previously realized. We have known for years that exercise builds muscle, helps circulation, lowers cholesterol, lubricates arthritic joints, lowers blood sugar levels, and a host of other benefits...

BUT did you know that when you move, your muscles actually produce chemicals called myokines that are released into your bloodstream to lower inflammation throughout your body? Doesn't this sound better than taking medication?

We were made to move, and we maintain our bodies when we do just that!

Brad Stockert, a fellow physical therapist, put it well in his article on Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Noncommunicable Disease:

"Chronic physical training is known to be associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality independent of any change in BMI (body mass index http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ ) . Physical inactivity is now considered to be a stronger predictor than hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and obesity for all-cause mortality.

Cross-sectional studies have shown a strong association between the level of physical inactivity and the amount of low-grade chronic inflammation found in young and elderly subjects."

In other words: MOVE IT to lower inflammation, and your chances of chronic disease.

Chronic Disease

The human body is an incredibly complex creation! With all we know about it, we still have only scratched the surface in understanding it! For decades scientists have been researching the causes(es) of chronic inflammatory diseases. The list is long:

Diabetes

High Blood Pressure

Arthritis

Kidney Disease

Heart Disease

Alzheimer's

Dementia

Multiple Sclerosis

Thyroid Disease

Infertility

Lupus

Some cancers

...and on and on...

Now we know that many of these diseases, even most, are caused by an ENVIRONMENT OF INFLAMMATION within the body. A what? What is an environment of inflammation?

This term refers to inflammation within the body that sticks around for many weeks to many years, under the radar. It doesn't initially cause pain, a fever, or other signs, but it slowly eats away at our organs and our health. Like sandpaper rubbing over the dining room table, slowly the damage will reveal itself, but often too late for the damage to be reversed. Research shows that 60% of all deaths world-wide are caused by inflammatory diseases--they are killing us!

So what can be done about inflammation? How can it be prevented and stopped? I plan to outline a number of POSITIVE IDEAS I have learned to fight inflammation. They will center around appropriate exercise, and improved eating habits. (I'm trying not to use the word DIET, as it means "die with a t" to so many people). Some of these ideas have not yet reached the mainstream with physicians or the media, but they are gaining attention. It is said that it takes 10 years for an idea to catch on in health care. I don't know about you, but I don't want to wait another 10 years to begin positive steps that I can take today to better my health! Please read other posts for inflammation fighting ideas.

Dedication

This site is dedicated to my mother, Marlene Goss Volkert, June 23, 1936-July 12, 2011.

Mom was a learner and a teacher every day of her life, and passed much love and knowledge on to others. Everything in her life was an opportunity to learn or to teach. One of her favorite topics was nature. I could never count the hours we spent with mom in the woods or in the fields talking about insects, leaves, wildflowers, and wildlife. Below are a few pictures of Mom, in her typical fashion, pointing out beautiful things that God has made. The little girl in the red sweater is Abby, at age 2.

Welcome

I am creating this blog in order to pass along many things I have learned in 22 years working in the healthcare industry. Good health is a precious thing, and there are so many Positive Ideas we can implement to maintain or improve our health. I don't exercise excessively, nor do I obsess about what I eat. I like ice cream, pizza, and chocolate as much as the rest of you! I do, however, make it a habit to exercise regularly, and I continually add nutritious new ideas to our family menu. We recently had a health crisis in our family (more about that another time), which has caused me to refocus my efforts in the kitchen. In my blog I'll try to discuss issues off the beaten path from everything else you've read, and I hope you will benefit from something I've learned!

Please feel free to ask questions, and If I can't answer, I'll give you an honest, "I don't know."

Here goes...