care to take a turn

Things have not been going well.  I have a lingering cold, which my husband and I seem to be passing back and forth.  I'm starting to feel the effects of the falling hemoglobin levels - I am constantly tired and my body aches, my feet are twin icicles and my ankles and wrists/hands swell quite frequently.  I can feel my pulse as my heart struggles with the lower oxygen levels. The dark patches are back and my hair is falling out again. Other symptoms, however, are more troubling.  Increasingly I've been experiencing something that I can only describe as "my guts hurt" - abdominal discomfort in a twisty-wrenchy-burny sort of way.  And there is another indicator that the cancer is thriving within my bowels - more blood clots are being expelled.  I know, "eww!"  But I promised to be honest here, so there you have it.  My body is determined to lose blood, and since I took away the 'via the girly-bits' option, it has found another outlet.

But, I've found another way to fight back.  I've begun a promising herbal treatment program that has had some success in other countries.  After extensive research, this particular blend appears to deal with most of my odd array of symptoms and disorders: the smooth muscle cancer, the immune system gone haywire and the low hemoglobin levels.

Brewing the stuff makes my little witchy self all sorts of happy.  Though I have the herbs in a pre-blended package, the process is somewhat intensive.  Boil a gallon of water, add 4oz of the herb blend, stir, cover and boil for 10 minutes, stir, turn off the heat and let sit for 12 hours, stir, bring back to a boil, sitr, strain and decant into a bottle.  Ok, it's not labor intensive so much as it is time intensive.  The smell is rather pungent, but it's not so bad once you get used to it.  I've just taken my first dose and the flavor isn't bad at all.  I expected bitter, but was pleasantly surprised.  It does have a somewhat woody taste, but overall it's smooth.  I'm glad it doesn't taste horrible since it has to be taken on an empty stomach, and I have to wait an hour before eating anything after each dose.

At this point, what do I have to lose?  At worst it will have a placebo effect - which might give me a little more time.  At best it will kill the cancer and help my immune system and hemoglobin production.  Heck, I'd be thrilled if it would just fix the blood problems.  At least then I'd have the energy to tackle the rest of the issues.

And speaking of issues.  I'm still looking for work... and still getting rejection notices.  If it weren't so sad it would be funny.  One company told me that they wouldn't hire me because my facebook profile photo wasn't a picture of me - and my having a profile photo of an aardvark wasn't presenting the professional image they expected from their employees.  I guess if I'd been in a low-cut top doing duck-face I'd have a job.

Meanwhile, I've started the process to attain my teaching certificate.  Essentially that process is: pay the DOE lots of money.  Oh, and send transcripts to prove you have a degree.  I am optimistically applying for admission to an EPI (Educator Preparation Institute) program at the same local college where I earned my AA.  The class cycle starts in August, and is eligible for financial aid.  So, that should be fun.  I keep looking to see if any of the local (or semi-local) schools need English/Reading/Speech teachers, but no luck thus far. 

So I'm occupying my time by working on The Schubark Chronicles, a series of puppy-point-of-view stories that will be e-published (hopefully) in March.  Don't worry, as soon as they are available, I'll let ~everyone~ know.


My main project right now, though, is preparing for a Kitchen Witch demonstration that I'll be doing for the FSU PSA (Pagan Student Association) on March 24th.  I have no idea if I'll be doing this in an actual kitchen or not - so I'm trying to be very flexible with my plans.  I'm sure it will be fun times, regardless.