Today they WERE letting us inside OUR Statehouse

The Signing of the Treaty of Green Ville

by Howard Chandler Christy

is inside the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda

This plane and "Kill the Bill" sign flew over the Ohio Statehouse just as the crowds were getting even bigger

Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridum a.k.a. Echinopanax horridum)

or "prickly porcupine ginseng"

Powerful plant medicine from the Pacific Northwest

Why is it that we humans seem to resist the suggestion of medical advice? Some of us will only listen to Doctors. Some of us will only listen to this or that holistic health practitioner. Others of us still try everyday to listen to our bodies. Some of us do a little of each.
Are we that invested in our egos that we cannot begin to consider that something that may have worked for a friend/family member/fellow cancer survivor , might just help us? Is this resistance genetic?

As the "Crazy Flower CHild" only oldest daughter (or "My favorite Daughter" as my Dad sez) I have studied, created and utilized many herbal remedies as alternative and complimentary medicine for many stages and aspects of disease for myself and have suggested many herbal remedies to the members of my immediate family, sometimes to friends and very rarely to acquaintances. Many years ago I tried to tell my Mom about the powers of Echinacea and Goldenseal to boost the immune system and maybe help her get off of allergy medicine, and of course it came from me, so she ignored it.

Years later, she heard it from her sister Katie and then believed it. Same with many other supplements and/or herbal remedies that I have tried to tell her about over the years. Right now I am distraught (and unfortunately fearful) and find myself again doing what I know I should not...( DO we ever really learn?), as she is (in my view of course) out of control with sugar and starch consumption while simultaneously trying to recover from the assault of chemotherapy and radiation upon her body after surviving Lung Cancer. Fear can motivate bizarre powers/methods of persuasion at times.

A few years back I wrote to a friend who had been diagnosed with a rare malignant blood disorder to recommend that he steam nettles and eat it in everything. Nettles (all parts steamed to remove it's thorns/defense mechanism) are a blood builder/cleanser and help the body fight infections by boosting our own immune systems. He hasn't spoken to me or returned my emails since. Later I read something on his blog to the effect that he had been receiving too much unsolicited advice from too many people. It hurts that he still won't talk to me but I should have learned my lesson 16 years ago, in my own "dealing with Cancer".
Every person dealing with disease has to decide her or his own cure. For me it's all about belief. I can't really ever tell someone else what to do, but I can always hope that someone in a suit and tie or outfit of a priest would tell my Mom about Stevia. In the meantime, may ice cream and cookies and oatmeal pies and chocolate heal my Mom's body. May the aspartame in her diet soda lift her spirits. May corn and potatoes have the same power to heal the body as all green vegetables.
May I learn to keep my mouth shut...someday.