a little road trip coming up

Sunday after Church I scoot onto the highway and make my way 300 miles to the north - to stay at a nearby mid-range hotel and meet with the folks at the Holistic Medical Clinic of the Carolinas in Wilkesboro NC. I must be getting better! I'm twitching with a happy smirk to be going on a little road trip for a few days!

The field of sunflowers is from a really goofy roadside not-quite-attraction called Uncle Shuck's Corn Maze, about 40 minutes north of Roswell. I think being aged 2-5 was a prerequisite for getting the most out of it. I passed on paying $9.00 to walk through the maze and made my way back to the land of all that is here for me, which considering What Happened nearly a year ago, is growing considerably! And so I pray that these discerning steps for a healing team aren't a maze of confusion.

I have met with the first group, Covenant Health Clinic right here in this town. I didn't have the most gracious attitude coming into it since attempting to liaise constructively with the support staff found me growing grouchier by the day. The short answer is that my bullshit meter was triggered to not a small extent by my 1st hour there with two technicians running this machine that was purported to measure my life force energies along acupuncture meridians. Attempts to have it described left me probably failing at graciousness and instead crumbling into a palpably challenged belief system. With NO flyers in the front office's rack nor any information on their website, I was finally able to learn that this thing is called Bioenergetic Testing, created by a German fellow named Reinhold Voll in the 1940's. Hooked up to a laptop and making full-on 1960's piss poor synth sounds as the metal probe kept applying pressure to my middle finger (go figure!), I thought the thoughts of she who has swallowed more snake oil potions than any semi-sane human has a right to have done.

This isn't to say that what they were doing was remotely invalid or unhelpful. I'm stumbling around in here while 'fessing up that in the past 30 years, I have been to authentic healers as well as have fallen prey to the most gussied up 'new age bullshit' on the planet, often priced in the thousands of dollars. I have embarked on today's path of holism with prayer and deliberation. I endeavor to be a wise discerner. "Easily triggered" however is also a part of my arsenal of goods....

It's no surprise to have been told that I was extremely weak in my liver, kidneys and lymph systems. They also try and ferret out emotional traumas, with the CSA device acting as a sort of electronic kinesiology meter. "What happened in 1980?" I was asked. Hell, I hadn't even gotten sober then. I looked calmly at the gent and responded, "I don't remember. Probably blocking it." I have also paid substantial sums of dosh to uncover the traumas of my life. Therapy? Hah! Child's play! We're talking.... well, I've been there and done that, often repeatedly. What works for me TODAY is my Christian path and my 12-Step programs..... breathing in and breathing out.

Granted, asking me this when I was hooked up to a 3-pump IV would've generated another response. Today the scars remain on my arms from both PICC lines. Today I feel guided to seek a manner of healing that addresses all of me without pouring poison into my veins.

Mary Travers - Rest in Peace, my songbird unmet friend. Her bone marrow transplant gave her I believe 2-3 years before the side effects finally overran her life force.

Later meeting the head of Covenant, Dr. Rhett Bergeron, was a delight. As guarded as I was with the booping machine techs, I warmed to Dr. B's easy manner. He understood that I would meet with the North Carolina folks this week, and the half page of products recommended to me could wait. I felt he was a balanced combination of kind, professional, humorous, and far-sighted. "Call us when you get back!" he said with no edge. He too reiterated that their protocol attempts to address their understanding of the cause of disease rather than treating symptoms. There was no blood draw that day. Their focus is on "How did this come about in your life? And then.... how can we help you be restored to a whole state where the cancer CANNOT live?"

I spent 2+ hours with three different people there and paid $481.00. They don't bill insurance. They're considered out of network providers, if that. The healing I seek isn't on the radar of most insurance policies. And as of January 1st, the one I've had for several years evaporates. The short teaser is that my Blue Shield of California policy went from $356/month to $733/month (post-leukemia). You'd think I'd get some pat on the head to just transfer to another "Blues" provider here in Georgia?

Try $1,400/month, which I cannot and will not pay.

But back to life..... I have one today. I have a damn GOOD one today! Even when I'm a brat and eat too much sugar, or my friend the brain spins around and wreaks havoc yet again with my peace of mind and heart... I have a life and I pray to the God of my understanding that it may be luscious as long as it may be.

How 'bout an amen to that? I thought so!