Today was about getting music together for Mantrini, who’ll be directing the choir for our Christmas concert, as well as copying parts for the choir itself!
Now I’m absolutely done for the day.
Christmas is coming
A bureaucratic kind of day
It’s been a day of phone calls, online searches, filling out forms, writing explanations, and making photocopies.
All in the interest of resolving whatever has been holding up my disability payments for the past two and a half months.
Sigh.
Gearing up for the next phase
I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the past couple of days preparing for the “nutritional cleanse” which was recommended by my naturopathic integrative oncologist.
It involves a number of self-nurturing activities in addition to clean and healthy eating, and I’m starting to really look forward to it.
I’ve been particularly intrigued to learn about the “Microbiome Mash” (a.k.a. “Veggie Mash Up”), which was developed by Dr. Datis Kharrazian. It’s recommended as a great way to get a variety of veggies into the diet every single day to nourish the diversity of the microbiome in the gut.
This is actually pretty exciting to me, because while I absolutely love cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale), and I’m okay with a few other veggies (mushrooms, spinach, and other greens), there are many vegetables that I can’t stomach at all (green beans, squash, bell peppers, eggplant, asparagus, and peas — to name just a few).
The idea of the microbiome mash is to gather a wide variety of vegetables (12-15 different kinds, including ones that you don’t eat often). Then you cut them up, mince them in a food processor, store the mixture in the freezer, and use a couple of tablespoons of the “mash” in smoothies, soup, or other recipes every day.
So, I had an entirely new experience while shopping this afternoon, filling my cart with leeks, beets, a turnip, cabbage, fennel, parsley, asparagus, collard greens, onion, radishes, mushrooms, and multicolored carrots.
Creating the veggie mash promises to be quite an adventure.
Awaiting their return
These great souls, Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi (who are also dear friends) have been traveling in Italy and India since early August.
It feels like forever since we’ve seen them but — thanks to the internet — tonight we’re listening to the beautiful talks they gave at an event in Pune.
And now I’m even more eager for their return to the Village in just a couple of weeks!
My patio happy place
I’ve been slowly gathering my plants (indoor and outdoor) from the homes of various friends who kept them alive for the two months we were living in Sacramento.
I spent this afternoon outside on my patio repotting four indoor plants; potting two outdoor plants; and rearranging my patio plants in general.
It was deeply satisfying. My patio is definitely another one of my happy places.
A relaxed day in town
It started out with a lovely early lunch with my dad and my sister.
Got my boots refurbished in time for next week’s rain.
Did some early Christmas shopping for family in Switzerland.
Paid a visit to Les Schwab to check my tires.
Spent time browsing Weiss Brothers nursery and bought both indoor and outdoor plants (after all, I have to indulge my green thumb a bit to make up for two months away!).
After a break for a decaf latte and a snack, I ended the day by picking up a prescription and doing a bit of grocery shopping.
Believe it or not, it was a deeply relaxing day of going with the flow and enjoying every location, every person, every moment.
But I think I’ll sleep very well tonight.
November 2 – final update
Greetings to all my prayer warrior friends and family!
There really isn’t much of anything to say at this point about my health per se, except that I feel almost completely normal.
I can think of only two physical reminders of the experience I went through so recently: the fact that I’m bald (although my hair is slowly making a comeback) and the fact that I still get slightly more tired than I used to.
I’ve been on disability since the end of August and will continue for a few more months (as needed). Even though my energy is back, I understand that my body needs to finish healing on deep and subtle levels. This means that I won’t yet be resuming my full responsibilities in the music office. However, I will be performing as much as possible because singing and serving as a channel for the music is incredibly healing for me.
In the next week or so I’ll begin a nourishing cleanse, guided by my naturopathic integrative oncologist. I’m also looking forward to being able to resume taking the nutritional supplements which I had to stop during the BMT process. All in all, while I’m deeply appreciative of what medical science has done for me, I’m ready to take a more holistic approach to my health and healing for the time being.
Besides continued physical healing, I also need to focus on allowing time to process and integrate; to catch up on those areas of my life that had been pushed into the background; and to figure out how to apply the lessons learned on this journey as I move forward into the future.
I don’t expect to be writing any more of these updates, although you’re welcome to check out my daily blog if you like. It’s titled Music.Life.Joy. and is nothing momentous; just my musings on things that occur to me from day to day — some more significant than others.
Well, that’s it for now. My heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you that have traveled this road with me. It truly has been a tremendous blessing.
Hooray for rain
It’s a bit of an adjustment, but I’m feeling extremely grateful for this cold, gloomy, rainy day.
Why?
For one thing, I appreciate moisture for it’s own sake.
I’m also hopeful that today, tomorrow, and the rain that’s forecast for next week will signal the end of fire season for this year. Wouldn’t that be great?!?
Halloween fun
These are photos from the neighborhood where we stayed in Sacramento.
The Halloween decorations started going up very early in October; people were really into it!
Wonderful to be back
What a joy to be back in the Temple of Light singing and chanting once again!
My ultimate happy place, enjoying my favorite healing activity, with some of my favorite people.