New Year - New Challenges
As you may suspect.... we've been rather busy around here. I wish I could say we've made progress on the house... but we're still marking time on that project. We've discovered that researching the shadow world of alternative cancer therapy is dang near a full time job. Also it's not cheap... although it is *much* less expensive than traditional therapies.
All we've really done with the traditional medical establishment is confirmation testing and follow-up on those tests. That *alone* has cost just over $19,000. (OUCH!) Also getting the items necessary to support a new lifestyle costs a bit of money. Becky is fortunate in that she is rather popular at her office. They surprised her with a "Christmas Present" consisting of a touching card and an envelope with the results of a secret donation drive. I will not reveal the dollar amount but it was *most* generous indeed! With that gift we were able to purchase a very nice twin gear juicer to aid in her therapy.
Part of her therapy involves adjusting her diet to one that is more alkaline and almost vegan in nature. The theory is quite simple.... your body cannot fight cancer if it's immune system has been destroyed.... which is exactly what your first bag of Chemo drugs do. So her diet consists of a lot of freshly processed vegetable and fruit juices plus a whole/raw food diet utilizing foods which tend to raise the alkalinity level of the body as a whole. This is commonly referred to as "buying time" to treat the cancer by staying as healthy as possible. So far we've managed to raise her Ph level by nearly a point and a half.... which is progress. I have another blog that deals exclusively with the cancer thing and I'll post the link later. (See the bottom of this post)
On other fronts Becky's Isuzu Rodeo finally broke down on her. The radiator had developed a crack directly opposite of the inlet hose a while back and was leaking some. We kept a close eye on the coolant level and were limping it until the parts got in and the weather improved enough to change the radiator. However... on her way to work one afternoon it just gave up the ghost and died on her. So she called a wrecker and we had it towed out to Forney where I knew a guy that did radiator work. Well the new radiator is in but now they can't get the truck to start.
MY guess is that the leaking antifreeze managed to make it's way inside the timing belt cover and got on the belt. Antifreeze is a natural lubricant and it would make the timing belt *very* slippery.... which could allow it to slip on either the cam pulley or the crankshaft pulley and throw the timing off. That is exactly what it sounds like when they crank it and try to get it started. It *wants* to start... fires a cylinder now and then... but just doesn't quiet get running. We need to go out there and clean it out this weekend and get ready to sell it for whatever we can get. IF they can get it running it's still solid otherwise and would make a good work truck. It's just that it's 19 years old and Becky doesn't need to be worrying about if her vehicle is going to get from point A to point B and back reliably every day.
To that end we just acquired a gently used (30,000 miles) KIA Spectra SX sedan with a 5 speed manual transmission and a whole bunch of other easy to live with features. It's black with 16" wheels, little spoiler on the rear deck.... fog lamps.... power windows and locks.... AM/FM radio with 6 disc CD changer and an AUX port to feed in an alternate audio source. Power delivery is quite surprising! Unless you are *really* paying attention you are past the posted speed limit before you are even aware of it. Speed wise it's a sleeper. Doesn't look like much but can go from 0 to 140 MPH in about 90 seconds! Nice to know you can accelerate if you *need* to.... but I doubt it will see anything over 80 MPH while we own it. (Speed limit in west Texas) Oh.... roughly 24 city and 32 highway for mileage.
The only other excitement was a water heater that froze up on us during the cold snap. The unit itself has built in freeze protection so it was okay. But the copper pipes that bring in the cold water and take away the hot are under that part of the system. I had them wrapped with foam and the connection box packed with fiberglass insulation.... but that didn't seem to be enough to combat 16 degrees.
An hour or so with a propane torch finally convinced water to move through the unit. We left the hot on a trickle and I headed out to Home Depot to see what I could round up. I got new foam pipe wrap and snagged the last of the heat trace units.... plus a heavy duty extension cord and..... since it was getting dark.... a nice 500 watt work light / hand warmer. :-)
Back at the house it was just a matter of kneeling on wet ground between the house and the air-conditioning condenser in 20 degree weather with a north wind blowing while working with cold pipes and numb fingers. (thank GOD for the 500 watt lamp!) Still the 8+ hour exposure to cold and wet left my hands split in several places.... but the job was accomplished. That night got down near 16 again and we had hot water like we should.... so everything worked as expected.
Otherwise all the kitties are doing okay. Paige and Kali are still the two anti-social ones and they have to be separated or a fight breaks out. A good fight *might* settle things and ultimately result in a peace of sorts.... except that Kali had been declawed somewhere along the way... so she is at a huge disadvantage. I do feel sorry for Paige because she has to live in near isolation. But on the plus side....her buddy Amber (a very clever kitty) manages to get past whatever barrier we set up so she can be with Paige. :-) They run and chase and play.... then snack and nap..... then do it all over again. We do love our kitties! :-)
Gotta scoot though...... y'all take care of each other!
http://cancer-onecouplesstory.blogspot.com/
All we've really done with the traditional medical establishment is confirmation testing and follow-up on those tests. That *alone* has cost just over $19,000. (OUCH!) Also getting the items necessary to support a new lifestyle costs a bit of money. Becky is fortunate in that she is rather popular at her office. They surprised her with a "Christmas Present" consisting of a touching card and an envelope with the results of a secret donation drive. I will not reveal the dollar amount but it was *most* generous indeed! With that gift we were able to purchase a very nice twin gear juicer to aid in her therapy.
Part of her therapy involves adjusting her diet to one that is more alkaline and almost vegan in nature. The theory is quite simple.... your body cannot fight cancer if it's immune system has been destroyed.... which is exactly what your first bag of Chemo drugs do. So her diet consists of a lot of freshly processed vegetable and fruit juices plus a whole/raw food diet utilizing foods which tend to raise the alkalinity level of the body as a whole. This is commonly referred to as "buying time" to treat the cancer by staying as healthy as possible. So far we've managed to raise her Ph level by nearly a point and a half.... which is progress. I have another blog that deals exclusively with the cancer thing and I'll post the link later. (See the bottom of this post)
On other fronts Becky's Isuzu Rodeo finally broke down on her. The radiator had developed a crack directly opposite of the inlet hose a while back and was leaking some. We kept a close eye on the coolant level and were limping it until the parts got in and the weather improved enough to change the radiator. However... on her way to work one afternoon it just gave up the ghost and died on her. So she called a wrecker and we had it towed out to Forney where I knew a guy that did radiator work. Well the new radiator is in but now they can't get the truck to start.
MY guess is that the leaking antifreeze managed to make it's way inside the timing belt cover and got on the belt. Antifreeze is a natural lubricant and it would make the timing belt *very* slippery.... which could allow it to slip on either the cam pulley or the crankshaft pulley and throw the timing off. That is exactly what it sounds like when they crank it and try to get it started. It *wants* to start... fires a cylinder now and then... but just doesn't quiet get running. We need to go out there and clean it out this weekend and get ready to sell it for whatever we can get. IF they can get it running it's still solid otherwise and would make a good work truck. It's just that it's 19 years old and Becky doesn't need to be worrying about if her vehicle is going to get from point A to point B and back reliably every day.
To that end we just acquired a gently used (30,000 miles) KIA Spectra SX sedan with a 5 speed manual transmission and a whole bunch of other easy to live with features. It's black with 16" wheels, little spoiler on the rear deck.... fog lamps.... power windows and locks.... AM/FM radio with 6 disc CD changer and an AUX port to feed in an alternate audio source. Power delivery is quite surprising! Unless you are *really* paying attention you are past the posted speed limit before you are even aware of it. Speed wise it's a sleeper. Doesn't look like much but can go from 0 to 140 MPH in about 90 seconds! Nice to know you can accelerate if you *need* to.... but I doubt it will see anything over 80 MPH while we own it. (Speed limit in west Texas) Oh.... roughly 24 city and 32 highway for mileage.
The only other excitement was a water heater that froze up on us during the cold snap. The unit itself has built in freeze protection so it was okay. But the copper pipes that bring in the cold water and take away the hot are under that part of the system. I had them wrapped with foam and the connection box packed with fiberglass insulation.... but that didn't seem to be enough to combat 16 degrees.
An hour or so with a propane torch finally convinced water to move through the unit. We left the hot on a trickle and I headed out to Home Depot to see what I could round up. I got new foam pipe wrap and snagged the last of the heat trace units.... plus a heavy duty extension cord and..... since it was getting dark.... a nice 500 watt work light / hand warmer. :-)
Back at the house it was just a matter of kneeling on wet ground between the house and the air-conditioning condenser in 20 degree weather with a north wind blowing while working with cold pipes and numb fingers. (thank GOD for the 500 watt lamp!) Still the 8+ hour exposure to cold and wet left my hands split in several places.... but the job was accomplished. That night got down near 16 again and we had hot water like we should.... so everything worked as expected.
Otherwise all the kitties are doing okay. Paige and Kali are still the two anti-social ones and they have to be separated or a fight breaks out. A good fight *might* settle things and ultimately result in a peace of sorts.... except that Kali had been declawed somewhere along the way... so she is at a huge disadvantage. I do feel sorry for Paige because she has to live in near isolation. But on the plus side....her buddy Amber (a very clever kitty) manages to get past whatever barrier we set up so she can be with Paige. :-) They run and chase and play.... then snack and nap..... then do it all over again. We do love our kitties! :-)
Gotta scoot though...... y'all take care of each other!
http://cancer-onecouplesstory.blogspot.com/
posted by Rev. Joe Ruyle | 9:09 PM
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