July 17, 2007    Jane's Story

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS from Arnold's Way!

I awakened with a somewhat abrupt sense of excitement and a somewhat urgent sense of being on a mission and a great and intense desire to share a woman’s story who was an eighth of an inch away from getting part of her intestinal tract removed because of a lack of better words: "Medical Ignorance". These are my thoughts on a Tuesday morning as I write about Jane, and as I write about diverticulitis (inflammation of the intestinal tract). As I write about what can happen when we as a people have so much trust in a system that is failing, the health of our country, and about the greed for the almighty dollar.

Jane, for lack of a better word, is a beautiful woman who is so trusting, so caring, so honest, pure in her thoughts, and in her every action of her being. She could be anybody’s mother, anybody’s teacher, anybody’s friend, and all who meet her would say the same thing about her. Wow, I am so blessed having her in my life. She is that type of woman. Everything she did was out of the goodness of her heart. She wanted to be in a continual state of happiness and love. She wanted to always do the right thing. What she didn’t know was that everything she was taught about her dietary habits was affecting her well being. What she didn’t know was that the medication she had taken for 10 years (Prozac for depression) was making her worse. What she didn’t know was that the medication for anxiety and concentration she had taken for one year, even though it was not working for the reason it was intended, was doing more harm to her body than good. She still felt obligated to take it because the doctor told her she had to take it.

Jane assumed that because she was getting older that you are supposed to feel tired, supposed to feel depressed, supposed to feel stomach aches supposed to feel that as you age, life becomes dreary, and one should turn to little treats to ease the pain. She did not realize that good health and having a good mood can be obtained through an explosion of watermelon and cherries just gushing down the river. Everything that Jane thought, believed and felt about aging, in my opinion, was wrong.

Jane thought that everything she ate was right (for Heaven's sake). She was a teacher of little children who has given her all, and who has read up on the most recent and up-to-date information on what is the best food to eat. She ate her vegetables and salads. She did not eat red meat. She was careful to take the skin off the chicken every time she ate it. She only went out for pizza once a week. Her biggest weakness was ice cream. This was her one little treat that would help keep her mind off the depression, off the anxiety, off the feeling that life is not a continual bowl of cherries and watermelon rushing down the river without let up. This is the one treat that would make her forget that getting old is just a fact of life, and once your youth is lost, it is gone forever. I, Arnold, a man of 60 years of age, told Jane from the bottom of my heart to the bottom of hers, that it doesn’t have to be this way.

I met Jane about a week ago. She had just spent six days in the intensive care unit in the hospital. Jane, who had that typical American diet, and who never ever wanted to go to the doctors, about a week ago, had felt so sick that she felt she had no choice in the matter. Jane had developed chills, had a high fever, and her bowel movements were coming out green. Jane did the only thing she knew how to do. She went to the doctor who examined her, and did the only thing he knew how to do which was to rush her to the hospital for further treatment. They all believed in the medical system. Jane did not realize, in her wildest imagination, that the food she has been eating for all of these years was creating these serious medical symptoms. Jane knew only one thing. She wanted to get better, and she thought that the hospitals would know what to do to help her to get better. She thought that the doctors would know what to do to help her to get better. They each, in turn, told her to trust them. After all, this was their job. Hey, they had all of these years of experience behind them. They had millions of dollars invested in the best equipment in the world. They had the best doctors who went to school for all of those years to learn the best ways to treat her and the illnesses she was suffering from. Jane believed every word that they said to her. She did everything they told her to do.

The first day in the hospital, Jane was given two antibiotics and was given the hospital's healthiest fare to a woman who was in terrible pain suffering with fever, chills, and, in my opinion, a menu regimen that can literally cause Jane to get much sicker than she already was. The hospital gave her chicken broth, Jello, and water ice. Unbelievable!! All of these items contained sugar, no nutrients, no fiber, no enzymes, no vitamins, no minerals, and no life force in the food that could truly help her heal. Needless to say, Jane got worse. Her pain did not go away. The hospital on day three tried a different approach. They gave her solid food, and if I am not mistaken, meat in the evening and bacon in the morning. Jane, in her infinite wisdom, knew from the bottom of her heart that this food that the hospital had given her was not in her best interest. This much, she did know. She was not a doctor, not a hospital, and she did not have all of those years of medical experience, all those expensive machines, and all of those super duper tests that tell us all of those things that go on inside of one's self. What I mean to say is that if they offered her bacon knowing the serious medical state that she was in and while experiencing unbearable stomach pain, then how much did they really know? It was for her good to eat this food, and for Jane, it was a serious mistake to listen to them. Jane got much worse after eating all of the food that they offered. She vomited. She had diarrhea, and she was in so much pain that she was beside herself. The hospital and these medical authorities, in their infinite wisdom, decided on day four that if Jane could not put anything down, that they would had no choice but to operate and take part of her intestinal tract out.

It is at this point that miracles of miracles occurred. It is at this point that Jane's sister, who was watching her sister's life’s force slowly disintegrate before her very eyes, came to her rescue. Her sister knew both sides of the health spectrum. Her sister, who also had her own illnesses, which she beat, who also went through the medical route for years, who after year's of being sick, and who had changed her lifestyle to a mostly Vegetarian raw diet and who had all of her symptoms simply disappear, came to her rescue. It was with this kind of wisdom, with this kind of awareness, with this kind of strength and knowing that her sister took control of Jane's diet. Jane received a bowl of organic apple sauce from her sister. Jane, on day 4, for the first time, was able to eat something without feeling sick. Jane on day 4, after finishing the apple sauce, knew from the wisdom within her, from the truth deep within her soul that she had to change to a mostly raw diet. She knew that she had to refuse the operation. She had to see me after leaving the hospital.

That was then, this is now. Almost one week later, Jane, after experiencing the miracle of miracles, being saved by the organic apple sauce, and after being in the hospital with no hope by the doctors of her getting any better, after being an eighth of an inch away from having part of her intestinal tract removed, after feeling so much better after eating more of her sister's raw food which was mostly green smoothies, Jane decided to quit taking her Prozac, quit taking her other medications, became a Vegan. She gave up her ice cream, her chicken, her once a week pizza, and is slowly recapturing her youth which she richly deserves.

I thank you for your time.

Arnold