3/13/2012
(corrections made to this post on July 24, 2012)
It's been a month since my biopsy.

A friend lended me her stress reduction CDs.
Doctors Andrew Weil and Martin Rossmann, and Bellaruth Naperstack use guided imagery.
I find it lends itself to a new perspective on the mind & body connection and I honestly feel much better after listening.

I spend 15-30 minutes with guided imagery before bedtime.
Naperstack's CD includes affirmations, which can be done in the car.
Guided imagery cannot be done in the car or while operating machinery.

POOL / BODY CONNECTION
I made a connection to my swimming pool today.
PH levels are important and are checked weekly in the summer.
The phamphlet reads that a pool with high pH creates scale (barnicles), and low
pH (too acidic) is corrosive and creates holes. I think it's the same with the body.
So, yes - I checked my pH by peeing on a test strip (Phion Test Strips).
My pH happens to be on the low side. 

I had a hunch pH could be related to ulcers and cancers.
My father-in-law had a serious ulcer and I wondered if his pH was
also too low. Because I was brought up in a home where both parents
were hospital professionals and was surrounded by medical books,
I mentally compared my father-in-law ulcers to the corrosion you would find in a pool
if the pH were too low. (God Bless his soul, he was going through all of this as I
was having all of my tests done.) In comparison, I thought my pH would be high because I
defined my calcifications as growths. In other words, at first I thought of
my unusual cell growth as liken to the scale growth in a pool.  But that is wrong.
High alkalinity leads to scale.  My body is not alkaline but the opposite.
That is, my pH registers as too acidic, which causes corrosion or, holes in pipes.
Nevertheless, I am still led to believe that a correct pH balance of 7 is necessary for good health.

In conclusion, because my pH is well below 7, I now think of a calcification as corrosion
that was created by a high pH, and then the cells that rushed in to fill the void became suspicious matter because the new tissue did not respond correctly to the corrosion and filled in the space all wrong (because of a pH that is too acidic and couldn't deal with it).
You can compare the process to a black hole to some extent, in that even a hole has content.

I could be all wrong in this hunch, but the events have helped me to pay closer attention
to the foods my family and I consume, the removal of un-necesssary stress, and exercise.

3/7/2012

I had an MRI at Hamot's Heart Center in Erie. It took about 20-minutes.
Classy FM was playing into the headphones as the machine clanged, pinged, and caboomed
as I prayed a full rosary. My doctor wanted a baseline, in addition to regular mammograms.