Written by Heather Zubiate

Dear reader, are you on the Hoxsey diet to regain your health ?  No? I am. 
The Hoxsey diet is a whole foods diet that is used in conjunction with an herbal tonic to cure cancer naturally.  So naturally, it has some expected restrictions, such as: no refined white and fake sugars, white flour. No GMO fruits, veggies, and grains.  No feed lot meats, especially pork. No hydrogenated oils, most vegetable oils, highly processed foods with artificial flavors and colors, caffeine, alcohol,  etc. are of course -- not allowed.  Only organic, non-GMO fruits, veggies and dairy; grass-fed meats, and healthy fats.  What is surprising is that there are a couple of food stuffs that are normally considered health foods, but are not allowed simply because they are believed to neutralize the Hoxsey tonic's effectiveness (Es no bueno!). And those two illegal substances are vinegar, and tomatoes! I know -- that pretty much rules out most condiments from the diet, including BBQ sauce!  

Dear reader, summer is just a few calendar page flips away, not that I intend to sink my fangs into grass-fed meats and organic veggies that are laced with charbroiled carcinogens -- no!  But I do miss the smoky tang of BBQ sauce on baked beef ribs, and chicken.  Two years into the diet and treatment, and I refuse to be denied this culinary delight any longer, and so I have decided to formulate a Hoxsey diet friendly BBQ sauce!

A good BBQ sauce has to have a perfect balance of sweet and spicy, to sour and salty flavors. Did I mention that the Hoxsey diet is low salt, too?  The agony!  I personally take exception to this stipulation, I feel it is unnecessary unless you have high blood pressure. But that's my opinion.  Besides, the 1 tsp. in the recipe is spread out through the 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of sauce!  Since tomatoes make up the bulk of most BBQ sauces, and due to all of the Hoxsey restrictions, some culinary re-engineering is in order if I'm going to be able to enjoy some saucy tang this summer, and let's not forget that the sour role which is usually played by vinegar.  So what fruit or veggie is similar to tomatoes?  Well, it seems to me that you can use beets, carrots, squash, strawberries, blueberries, plums, peaches/nectarines, or cherries.  I think I'll use cherries for my sauce!  I'd prefer sour cherries, but I'll just have to adjust the sugar to accommodate for the sweetness of the cherries.

Now let's focus on the mouth puckering sour element shall we?  Citrus is a natural stand in, either lemon or lime juice, even sour orange could be used if it is available to you.  Heck, if you have access to tamarind, then give that a try, but use it sparingly, I hear it has some pretty potent pucker power!  A word of caution, if you buy tamarind in a paste form, just check the label to make sure it doesn't have any offending ingredients!

​

​Now for the sweetness and spice!  I'm sure you've heard how sugar feeds cancer.  Well almost everything you eat is converted to simple sugars so your body can use it for fuel, so there you go.  Despite the ominous cliche, we are allowed a sparing amount of natural sweeteners on the Hoxsey diet, and they are: raw honey, maple syrup, molasses, evaporated cane sugar, stevia, and well, anything that is organic and natural.  Since maple syrup is low-glycemic and you can't have BBQ sauce without molasses, they are my sweeteners of choice. 

​As for spices, there are a plethora to choose from.  For sure I have to have black pepper for heat and cumin to give the sauce that smokey flavor without the cancer causing smoke.  I bet you were thinking I would use smoked paprika, right?  Well, I would, except that the  dried pimentos are smoked over an oak fire -- that means carcinogens, which forces me to cross it off the list.  I'm not a big fan of super spicy hot foods, so I'm going to forego on the presence of any scoville alumni.  I think I will add a mustardy element to the sauce by way of turmeric and ground mustard seed.  I feel that the lemon juice will aid in pulling off the yellow condiment palette deception. I'm going to add ginger for a slight Asian kick, and coconut aminos to replace the umami of Worcestershire or soy sauce.  So far, the sauce is coming together nicely, don't you think?  

The supporting cast is made up of oils that deliver flavor and the aromatics, such as onions and garlic.  (Some people would include bell peppers, but not me.  They don't like me and the feeling is completely mutual!) If you have to substitute dried or granulated onion and garlic then be my guest, just keep in mind a little goes a long way.  I'm going to use fresh because it will add to the bulk of the sauce.  Getting back to the oil, I'm going to choose avocado oil because it's neutral in flavor, it has a high smoke point and as far as I know, it isn't in the forefront of a fraudulent purity scandal like extra virgin olive oil is. 

And now, the moment you've been waiting for.....the recipe!

COOKS  NOTES:

• Wear an apron! Cherry stains are not easy to get out of your favorite shirt!
• I used one and half 10 oz bags of frozen cherries and packed them into a Pyrex measure cup to get 2 cups, so really, you could say 15 oz. of cherries by weight.
• All ingredients are organic, and Non-GMO, when possible.
• Keep stirring the sauce and make sure it doesn't burn! I cooked it for 10 min.
• To make ketchup instead, I'd leave out the coconut aminos, molasses, and ginger. 

Just look at that dark rich color!  I did some tweaking to arrive at the final recipe, and I will still probably fuss with it later, but I'm pretty happy with the result, I mean, I can have BBQ sauce again -- How great is that?  I put it in a saved coconut oil jar and allowed it to cool to room temp. before putting it in the fridge.  Oh, use it within 2 weeks since there aren't any preservatives to keep it fresh.  I'm not sure how well it freezes, but if you wanna try it, let me know what happens. 

​Well, tell me what you think.  Now instead of envying our loved ones their freedom to eat tomato based BBQ sauce, now we too can welcome summer with a saucy grin! I tried it on some grass-fed meatloaf, and it was delicious!  I'm SO happy!  As always, dear reader, I hope you enjoy this sauce and that I've inspired you to make your own.  And if you don't like cherries, well there are so many other veggies and fruits to try. If not due to the fact that some people may be allergic to some ingredients, then for the love of variety and experimentation. The next BBQ concoction I will be tying is blueberry BBQ sauce.

Bon Appetit!

Written by Heather Zubiate

We are at the beginning of another year, and it is my desire that we, in the body of Christ, start buckling down and do what Jesus told us to do. He told us to WATCH!  Watch for what?  Several things, but let's consider the end of the year and how the world celebrates December 31st in its own way, with drinking, feasting, gift giving, masquerade balls, promiscuity, false hope by making vows that will be broken, and standing in frigid weather to watch a large ball of light fall to earth - - uh why?  I never got why that was so great. The only good thing about this annual ritual is that at the stroke of midnight, the new year is ushered in with a kiss. Mmmm boy! Not that I ever need a reason to plant a smooch on my hunky husband, but hey, I'll take one for the team.  Then there's that song -- you know -- that song that no one understands or knows the words to. However, as time marches on, things change, and so the current trend is to sing John Lennon's communist anthem; Imagine.  Again -- Why?? Because no one thinks.  No one questions. They just watch and follow the bouncing ball.

As for the real biblical Christians, those who are in the world and not of it, we know what Jesus said, that the night of this age is far spent, and because of that knowledge, we are to act differently.  And with every passing stroke of the time clock, and with every grain of sand that falls through the hourglass' slender neck, the long awaited day of our Lord's return fast approaches, giving us all the more reason to watch! Not only are we to watch as the world falls deeper and deeper into a loving embrace with depravity, we are also to watch for the glorious day that we have been promised.  The day when Jesus finally appears in the heavens with all of his resplendent glory, which will brilliantly light up the inky darkness; what a dramatic contrast his sun shaming appearance will be set against the diminished lights in the heavens!

​But alas, do any of us hear our Lord's lament spoken in Luke 18:8: "Will he even find faith on the earth?" Will he? Will he find a sleeping bride that is not watching for her husband's coming on that wonderful day? Will he find her ready and waiting for him, all dressed in white without spot or wrinkle? The state he finds us in upon his appointed return is up to us, dear reader.  So I have to ask you dear reader, will the state he finds you in be that you don't know the truth from lies?  Will you have fallen for ecumenism?  Will you have believed in the Pre-Trib Rapture?  Will you have accepted the Anti-Christ's mark? I hope not.  Is this ability that important?  You better believe it is! Our whole sense of reality and sanity depends on our ability to see, hear, and know the truth apart from lies.  This ability doesn't come naturally to some of us; there are those who need to be taught discernment.  Let's starts with a simiple question: Where does the truth and the lie come from?

Reality, apart from idealistic notions, is established and grounded by irrefutable facts, or the truth, and helps keep the word "civil" in civilization. Whereas lies are based on fabricated fictions, and are the intentional twisting of facts for deceptive purposes, and are always selfish in nature.  The truth and the lie are diametric opposites and they are personified by their exclusive authors.  They are not just any ol' authors, either.  They are best selling autobiographers with vast numbers of followers with varying degrees of devotion. The originator of truth is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, while the father of lies is, Satan, a fallen angel.  So, in order for us to really understand how to tell the truth from lies, we must get to know these two bearers of these principle hallmarks of moral and immoral states of being.

We learn about the Almighty in his book, the Holy Bible.  Through divine inspiration given to his holy pen men, God gives us glimpses of who he is and how he operates. According to that literary masterpiece, God not only always tells the truth, he also embodies it.  And if we want to be able to discern the truth from lies, then it is very important that we get to know him -- the real him.  God is Spirit.  Jesus reveals to us that true worshipers of God will do so in spirit and in truth.  No surprise there. 

The surprise comes when we see that there are a lot of well meaning people that worship the wrong God even though they read the Bible, well, at least they say they read it.  Some have even taken what is said about him in his own word and twisted it, and in that process they have made a false god.  Some have made for themselves a Sugar Daddy God, one that never disciplines his children with war, famine, sickness, or wild animals, but only wants to bless them with health and wealth.  Or some have shoehorned three separate co-equal, co-eternal persons into one God.  Others insist that God will save you by your works, or no matter what you do, once you say a sinners prayer, no matter how much you sin, you won't go to hell. Still others have taken the lie in Genesis 3 to heart, and they have the audacity to claim they can become like God himself, with God's approval!  Everyone of these ideals can't be right, because many of these beliefs refute one another.  If all of these beliefs supposedly came from the Bible, the word of truth, then how can they be wrong?  Simple.  Ever play that game "Telephone"?  That game shows that people are natural born exaggerators, i.e. liars.  So if it were not for our conscience, or the Spirit of God that regenerates the human spirit through the washing of Jesus' blood, and a God given desire to want the absolute truth found in his word, then no one would know biblical truth -- ever!  

So let us humble ourselves, and call upon the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and ask him to reveal to us, to you dear reader, the knowledge of the truth in his word.  Here are some Scriptures that address God telling and being the embodiment of the truth.

As you can see, the Almighty does not lie.  Ever.  Love it, or hate it, every word that comes out of his righteous mouth is the absolute truth. Period. End of discussion. 

What does this fact tell us about him?  That he is just, and righteous, and that he can be trusted.  It also tells us that he can't be fooled by liars. Which is a good thing, because we are very susceptible to lies, especially the most subtle of lies.  We also learn through reading the Bible that those who love lies easily deceive themselves about who God is and how he operates, in order to satisfy their own desires.  This selfishness is the reason for the many factions of "Churchianity."  Another fact we glean from Scripture is that he delivers his truth out of love, be it through gentle or tough means.  I have found that God's delivery method of truth is entirely dependent upon our willingness and ability to hear it. For instance, if we are inclined to love truth and believe what God says, then the truth will be delivered to us in a loving and benign way -- as we see with faithful Abraham, and Mary and Joseph.

But if we are slow to hear, and love lies more than the truth, well, the Lord will have to get a little rough; like he did with King Saul, John the Baptist's father, and Saul of Tarsus.  Therefore, based on biblical precedent, may I suggest that we develop a deep and abiding love for, and ready willingness to hear, the truth no matter how painful it may be? I promise that that humble attitude will go over much better for us than outright refusal, or even worse, lukewarm indifference, which will spell out certain doom for the rebel without a clue. Pharaoh, and the majority of the Children of Israel are good examples of those unfortunate scenarios.

​Another sobering thought in regards to loving the truth with regards to any crime, if we do not report the crime to the authorities, then we will be found to be an accessory after the fact. In other words, according to Scripture, if we embrace a lie, then we will be found guilty of being a liar, because we believed the lies due to our hatred of the truth, or by extension, we are haters our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear reader, that carries a very heavy penalty-- eternal damnation!  Whoa Lord, that's harsh! Is this subject that important?  Yes! It most certainly is!

Yikes!  That verse from Proverbs should be very scary to evil doers, but scoffers don't even have the good sense to fear God. So, it is up to us to decided if we will hear the truth and accept it, dear reader.  The Bible informs us that in the last days, there will be deceptions so subtle, so cunning, that even the very elect might even be deceived. So, will we love the truth by learning to tune our ears to hear it and gear our hearts to embrace it, which will save our souls from eternal damnation, or will we love and embrace beautifully wrought lies that tell our itching ears what we want to hear and as a result, perish? Speaking of lies, lets now look at the diabolical author of falsehoods to find out his M.O.

Satan, a.k.a. the Devil, is rarely mentioned by name in the Good Book.  Why not? God doesn't seem to like giving him too much press.  We are, as always, on a need to know basis, even regarding evil, and the embodiment of it. So, when Satan is mentioned, it is always in a concise way to make it known to us how he operates.  Why?  Well, we need to know how our enemy plys his trade in order to resist his wiles.  How do we even know for sure that he is the author of lies?  Remember how God is well documented as being the author and embodiment of truth?  Well, then it stands to reason that when he tells us that Satan, or the Devil is the father of lies, then you can take that as gospel truth.  Besides that, there is documented proof of his wicked deeds, and lies.  Here is the first recorded encounter between "the serpent" and mankind.  Judging by the outcome, the encounter didn't go very well for mankind, or Satan, for that matter.

Here we have the first mention of our advisory, Satan, here described particularly in metaphor as "the" serpent. Not "a" serpent, but "the" serpent. He is secondly described as being "supbtil." It seems to be a relatively benign word until we look at its archaic meaning from the King James version, and it means: artful, clever, cunning, crafty, devious, ingenious, and wily.  Uh oh, that is a whole lot of negative connotation attached to one of the highest ranking angels that is being likened to a slithering, hissing, cold blooded animal of prey. Why a serpent? Well, the Bible likens many of the snake's attributes to Satan, even going so far to associate their hissing to the lies spoken by false prophets, which is what he was doing when he asked Eve that question he based on an intentional misquote.  And naturally speaking, serpents are masters of camouflage, and a snakes venom or coils kills their prey, but their death blow is not always instantaneous, it may be slow and painful.

This is what metaphors do for us in literature, they give us a word picture as a way of teaching us information. Don't we currently have the idiom of someone who speaks with a forked tongue, like that of a snake or other reptile, which means they are hypocrites, and duplicitous, or in short, a liar? Yes! That snake in the grass idiom is believed to come from the biblical metaphor found in Genesis 3.  What have we learned from this small sentence in Scripture about the sneaky serpent that is about to trick Eve into disobeying God? We have learned that Satan is very good at misrepresenting God, even to those who have personally spent face time with God, one on one. Wow, he is some kind of really good liar, huh?

On a side note, I don't believe that Eve was seduced to disobey God the very same day she was created.  Why?  Because, Satan is not omniscient, so he needed time to size up his prey. How long did that take? I don't know, he's very wise, so probably not long. 

Getting back on track: we can also gather from the serpent metaphor that Satan camouflaged his wicked intent, to tempt Adam through Eve to disobey God, with feigned concern for their physical, and spiritual well being.  He even lied by telling them that they would not die as God had said.  He wanted Eve to take his lie over God's truth. In order to pull off his heist of the turth, he may even have appeared to them as Lucifer, an angel of light, as Paul informs us he is capable of doing, in 2 Corinthians 11:14.  I simply have a very hard time believing that Eve would take a literal snake's word over God's.  But falling for the seemingly wise words of a beautiful angel of light all sparkling with jewels, that was there to maybe guard the tree, that's not so hard to believe.

We are further informed in other parts of Scripture that Satan is likened unto a dragon --a cold blooded destroyer in folklore.  We are told that he is a murderer and a thief.  These types of wicked activities are not carried out by lovers of truth.

Here in this verse, when Jesus called Satan "the devil," devil means false accuser, or slanderer. A slanderer ruins someone's good reputation with their lies.  Not something you want to be known as if you want to make it to the pearly gates.  And if anyone keeps this kind of company, it doesn't say much for them either.  It's a guilt by association kind of thing.  The diabolical traits of Satan are hidden at times by his alter ego, a light bearing angel, named Lucifer.  Very sneaky, because while he's in his shiny guise, he must not be taken at face value.  In fact, he is at his most dangerous while in this glittering gold disguise!  

​guy by their beguiled admirers.  "He's such a nice guy" often rolls off the tongues of his dupes, as they purr his praises, but they never suspect that the depraved person's agitated, and frazzle-nerved victim is really the nice one, or was, before the hypocrite got their fangs into them.  I believe that Scripture supports the metaphor of the snake being the shiny angel. Satan's beauty is only a mirage.  The Bible tells us that he is able to transform himself into an angel of light, just like this image here.  How could a being that looks so regal, and resplendent possibly be evil?  Very easily!  We would do well to be like our God.  He doesn't judge outer appearances, they are deceiving.  He judges the truer image of the inward being.  It has taken me quite some time, and personal experience to realize that Satan is this world's first narcissist.  Yes, I said a narcissist. Satan, like all narcissists, has a God complex.  He will never admit to being wrong.  He deals in lies.  He loves money and power.  He desires to be the center of attention, even to be worshiped.  He steals out of a sense of entitlement, and has no empathy for his victims -- at all. All of these evil traits and more are carefully hidden under a carefully crafted false self, that the narcissist will defend to the death, which is something they fear.  ​Do you see why we need to be well schooled in the art of being able to tell the difference between the truth and a lie?  But how, how do we learn this invaluable skill?

​The word of God, of Jesus, will train you in the way of truth, and it will set you free when we are discipled by it and abide in it.  What does that mean?   Quite simply, we must learn his word, hide it in our heart, and then do what it says.  Looking to Scripture and interpreting it according to God's perspective (not ours) is also a step in the right direction to reaching the prize, which is eternal life, through faith in Christ Jesus. We are told that God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  The night is indeed far spent, dear reader, and now more than ever, we need the light of God's word to set us free and help us to see the truth from lies!  Amen.

Written by Heather Zubiate

Well dear reader, I didn't get good news on my last visit to the Hoxsey
clinic, and so naturally, I've been dragging my feet about writing this post.  Yes, to be honest, I feel a little defeated.  Instead of the tumor shrinking like it was supposed to, my tumor grew a bit, and so did my thyroid. What the?? I've been reassured by the doctor that sometimes this happens, the tumor grows a little and then the cancer starts shrinking again.  Okay, that is still hopeful news; as for why my thyroid grew? I'm at a loss, and so was my doctor, except to say that I may have to have the left lobe removed after all.  

​Not the news I wanted to hear, but that's life.  The doctor said we need to be a bit more aggressive, which involves changing my tonic to the non-iodine formula, as the iodine may be affecting my thyroid negatively.  Okay, I'll try it. And she added 500 mg of laetrile.  As for my diet?  I'm dragging my feet on changing my diet to be more vegetarian.  At least I'll lose more weight in the process, that's the only positive I can really think of right now.  I just don't buy into the idea that vegan diets cure cancer.  And to be honest, I'm just very lazy about my diet.  Meaning, I'd rather read all day, or do anything else, than make food for my special diet.  Frankly. it's a pain in the butt. Oh to have my own personal chef!  Back to reality... 

I made an appointment with my GP doctor to see about getting a PSA test for my thyroid, which the ultrasound tech in Mexico recommended -- why?  I do not really know. I was not looking forward to this appointment, but then I don't look forward to any doctor's appointments.  Especially since allopathic medicine frowns on alternative medicine; now I was going to have to explain why I needed this test when as far as they are concerned, I should just have my thyroid removed, and take radio active iodine and be done with it.  

After the usual exchange of pleasantries, we got down to brass tacks. I objected to the conventional treatment and told him that I've read many articles that reveal that Papillary thyroid cancer is over treated here in America, according to European doctors, and this common sense approach is even reaching the ears of some American doctors.
He listened and then got on his smart phone.  I was silent while he typed on his laptop and then surfed the net with his phone. He told me in a rather surprised tone that they do give PSA tests to thyroid patients these days, so he was more open to requesting it. Yay! He said the insurance company might still shoot down the request (and they did). Boo! I asked him if I could just have the enlarged and cancerous left lobe removed, and he looked incredulous at me and snorted, "You are going to have a hard time finding a surgeon who will do it, they will think you're crazy!" I smiled and said, "That's okay, I can live with that."

While I gave my doctor my reasons for not giving in to the treatment status quo, he appeared to be mildly amused with my insistence on not going the conventional route. Then after a little while, with a wry grin he said, "You're a fighter." I couldn't tell if he was making fun of me, or it he actually admired me a little.  Maybe both.  I thought about it for a few seconds and said defiantly, "Yes! I guess I am." He finally agreed that my type of thyroid cancer is not the aggressive life threatening kind, and that I'm justified in not wanting to go conventional. Wow! Finally some empathy. Then he gave me a referral list of endocrinologists and gave me the blood tests I wanted, and that was that.  Now I have to try and find a doctor on the list that will work with "crazy" me! So far, the search isn't going so great, just another medical hurdle to jump over.  I was never good at jumping over hurdles, by the way.  I guess I better start mastering that sport!

My darling husband is still worried, of course, and so he watches me like a hawk.  If I rub my neck, or scratch it, there's that look. He wants to know what to do if my growing thyroid threatens my wind pipe before we can find a surgeon that will only remove my diseased left lobe, then what?  What if I wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air?  I told him to tell the EMT's my condition, that the left lobe of my thyroid is enlarged, and to not let the emergency surgeon remove my entire gland, under pain of lawsuit.  He didn't look happy.  Then he asked me to write down what I wanted, so he could have it in his wallet.  I called for my eldest son who was in his room at the time.  I asked him if he know what to do.  He said, "Yes." That's my boy -- a steady rock of strength in the face of troubled waters!  Then he looked at his father and calmly added, "You better write it down for dad." 

Written by Heather Zubiate

One year ago to the day, I received a life changing phone call from my ENT, Dr. Klau. He reluctantly told me that I had papillary thyroid cancer.  That diagnosis was a complete shock, especially since I didn't have any symptoms of the disease, except for the almond sized lump in my neck that was presumed to be fatty tissue or a clogged lymph node. However, the biopsy results of the lump that he skillfully removed said otherwise.  On that awful night one year ago, in the intimate seclusion of our bedroom, my darling husband and I clung to each other in the dark and cried. Our future together looked very grim.

If you recall, I was going to go through with their prescribed treatment, which was a total thyroidectomy, and radioactive iodine to kill any remaining thyroid tissue in my body, and theoretically, the cancer.  What stopped me from going through with it was the life long after care I would need; if you can believe it, that is what scared the you know what out of me. You may not realize this, dear reader, but you will die without your thyroid's life giving hormones.  It is amazing just how many things that this little butterfly shaped endocrine gland regulates!  With the thyroid removed, you will need to take synthetic thyroid hormone for the rest of your life.  And I did enough research to understand that the synthetic hormone isn't for everyone and many endocrinologists are less than responsive to their patients needs.  When you read hundreds upon hundreds of people's stories wishing they were dead after their treatment, it tends to give you pause and make you wonder, is this the only way?  Thankfully, the answer is, "No, it's not!"

I was fortunate enough to give into watching a video series called The Truth About Cancer, produced by Ty Bollinger, and it ultimately changed my mind. I say "give into" because to be honest, I had been down that dicey holistic road with my mom, who lost her long and painful battle with breast cancer. I only watched the first two episodes on Facebook, at the time I didn't even know I had cancer at that point. I figured this documentary was going to be about a bunch of quacks using Lord knows what to supposedly cure cancer, but for some reason, God knew why, I felt compelled to watch it.  
In the first two episodes of the 9 part series, I was introduced to actual medical doctors, and other well educated health professionals who offer real cures, many of them were cured of cancer using their own or other doctor's treatments. And when you really understand how Western cancer treatments came about, and how they just don't work on every cancer, that's when you begin to wonder why oncologists aren't sued and fired for malpractice, or indicted for premeditated murder.  

So, if you are facing a cancer diagnosis, may I highly recommend that you watch Ty Bollinger's documentary before you do start any chemo, or radiation treatments? Through that series I was given a lot of eye opening information that is not given by regular M.D.'s because they are married to their destructive "treatments." Even so, only now are things slowly starting to change, thanks in part to lightening fast social media that bypasses highly regulated media, and the quest for knowledge by people like Ty Bollinger, who are sick and tired of losing loved ones to this wretched disease and its inhumane barbaric treatments.  As proof of the slow change, I recently read a pamphlet put out by Blue Shield that a well known hospital is pioneering "new" cancer treatments using, get this, immunological therapies.  But it will take decades before they put the lucrative chemo, and radiation therapies completely out of business, if at all.

What that means is, that the medical industry, and it is an industry, is finally, sort of, admitting that killing the immune system with cancer causing agents like chemo, and radiation may not be a such a good idea after all.  Cancer is really an apoptosis, and immune system problem, and fixing the immune system and its response to cancer is the only logical means of curing cancer. Anyway, I was glad to see the change, but of course, this change comes at a cost.  People are still dying from the conventional treatment as well as the disease while they are exploring other treatment options that insurance will cover. They are even loosening their grip on test trials.  These days you may be able to choose a different experiential therapy trial, like cancer fighting virus injections, which are showing great promise, before you are maimed by surgery, burnt by radiation, or poisoned by chemo! Thank God for change, even if it is slow.  However, they still aren't going to embrace any treatment unless it is in the form of money making pharmaceuticals, which come with a whole host of side effects, which also can kill you.

After my diagnosis, I remembered watching only the first two episodes of The Truth About Cancer where I had heard about a Medical Clinic in nearby Tijuana, Mexico. I did my research on it, and the treatment they offer, and I even contacted a patient who is now cancer free.  She generously took the time to walk me through her cancer journey, and the Hoxsey treatment and diet.  After our conversation, where she didn't push the treatment, she just told her story, I was even more convinced that this was the way I should go.  Dear reader, I believe in Divine guidance, and I just knew the Lord wanted me to take this option.  I don't believe in coincidences.  I was supposed to watch at least the first two episodes of the series before my biopsy surgery, and I did, so the seed of hope was planted and it sprouted when I needed it. The hardest part was convincing my adoring husband to take the holistic approach with me.  Remember, he saw my mom slowly die of cancer while we tried many holistic treatments.

So I armed myself with as much information as I could, to help bring him up to speed and it paid off.  Well, that and the hellacious fit I threw may have helped a little.  I was so tired of no one listening to me. The doctors ignored me for decades, and one even implied I was a hypochondriac, until I was diagnosed with cancer, and even then they refused to hear my desire to keep as much of my thyroid as possible.  Now my husband was panicking and not listening to me.  I don't think so! After ten minutes of relieving years of pent up frustration and rage by walking around our home screaming my head off, he was ready to listen to me.  I gave him all of the information I had gathered, the good and the bad, and he read, and watched all of it.  He asked questions, and he listened to the answers. That is when he decided to support me in my decision to follow the holistic approach.  Had he chose not to support me, I still would have done it anyway.  I'm like that, stubborn. Besides, I knew my sisters would've supported me, they respect the fact that the ultimate decision was mine to make, whether they liked it or not.  If only everyone felt that way.  My Tio Daniel even gave me his support, as he too is going through his own journey with cancer.  He went conventional and is doing fine, and I hope he stays that way for a long time!

After one year of eating mostly fresh organic food along with the "infamous" Hoxsey tonic, a bunch of prescribed medicinal herbs, and some much needed enzymes, vitamins and mineral supplements, I'm FINALLY feeling, dare I say, normal?!  I dare, because it's true!  For decades I felt awful, and there were times when I didn't even want to get out of bed. No energy to do much, and to be honest, I felt like I was going crazy, even though I knew I wasn't.  Weird?  Thyroid disease sufferers will know what I'm talking about. But now, I have a lot more energy and I'm gardening again, for hours instead of minutes. Something as simple as cleaning the house, or making dinner doesn't wipe me out any more.  I sleep better, though sometimes I still wake up at 2 am.  My stomach doesn't ache all the time, especially after I eat. And I'm even losing weight; I've finally gotten below the 200lb. mark on the scale, yahoo! And the best part?  On my second visit to the Hoxsey clinic last February, I got the best news, the tumor on my thyroid shrank, yes I said, shrank, 1/2 a cm with no chemo or radiation! And there is no sign of metastasis, either. Praise God Almighty!

On a side note, say what you want, but herbs ARE medicine, God said so! And only a fool will mess with potent herbs without knowing what they are doing.  It takes many years of study to understand which herbs are used for what body part and in what dose for which disease and the size of person.  I also ran across an article in our local paper in the gardening section where the author, Josh Siskin, explained that as little as 70 years ago, many doctors grew their own herbs to give to their patients. That was one of the pieces I gave my husband to read.  Medical doctors growing and giving herbs to their patients? Yes!

Dear reader, is this not amazing news?!  I know I'm not officially out of the woods yet, but I'm looking forward to my next check up in July and expecting even better news. Apparently I'm a rare bird in that I came to Hoxsey unscathed by modern western medicine.  My body wasn't raped by surgery, chemo, or radiation therapies, but that doesn't mean there isn't hope for those who have undergone any of those procedures. The lady I talked to did go through a couple of those conventional treatments, and was even in remission, but it didn't last for more than two years.  So she hightailed it to the Hoxsey clinic before the doctor could kill her with the latest poisons and she is cancer free to this day!  The doctor actually told her that if she didn't take their deadly poison, then she would die! Does that make any sense??

​Like I told my husband, in my case, I had time to make a quality decision, the cancer I have is slow growing and not aggressive, so I didn't need to treat it with napalm,  but others aren't so fortunate.  Pressure from doctors and loved ones to go conventional can be tremendous when the prognosis is more grim, and many make a snap decision based on fear.  Who can blame them?  Not me.  The antidote to fear is information, so I spent time to educated myself and I made the best decision for me, and I can't hope for anything less for anyone else facing this death sentence. I want to encourage you to make your educated decision based on hope, not fear, and find someone, anyone, who is willing to support you no matter what treatment option you decide to take.  FYI, The Hoxsey clinic has a Facebook page where you need to request membership, but you don't have to be a patient of the clinic to apply. It is a tremendous wealth of support and information for people battling cancer.

Well that is my one year update.  I will be sure to post a follow up post after my July visit to the clinic, and of course I'm praying for the all clear, but I'll take what I get, even if the tumor only shrank another 1/2 cm.  Either way, it'll be a victory!

Written by Heather Zubate

he Hoxsey diet is basically a whole foods diet, and as cancer diets go, I have found it pretty easy to follow. Others who are on this diet may not agree, but for those of us who have been on any strict diet for various reasons know first hand just how hard it is to change the way you eat, but when it comes to saving your life, it's not much to ask, really.

Unfortunately, there are two items that render the Hoxsey tonic powerless and they are tomatoes (including tomatillos), and vinegar (i.e. acetic acid). Why?  I don't know, and the doctors at the Hoxsey clinic don't really know why either.  All the same, that doesn't seem too bad until you realize that these items, especially vinegar, are in a lot of products on grocery store shelves, and I happen to like eating tomatoes and vinegar-- a lot!  So, if you are on this diet, then you will have to become an avid and careful label reader, with a PhD in chemical names, if you aren't already, to make sure you won't consume any forbidden ingredients. Some soups, like chicken noodle for instance, have tomato in them! Even though it's next to the last ingredient on a very long list, it is STILL FORBIDDEN! 

Again, as diets go, the Hoxsey diet is really easy to follow, and more importantly, easy to stick to compared to a raw vegan diet or one like the Gersson Therapy diet.  If you're addicted to drinking coffee ( instead of using it for enemas as on the Gersson therapy), the option for you is to use organic decaf, but it has to be decaffeinated without chemicals. So the starting forbidden food tally is no: coffee, alcohol, tomatoes, vinegar, pork products, highly processed and fried foods, salt and the most addictive thing of all, refined white flour and sugars. These food stuffs are NOT on the Hoxsey menu. Oh boy, I think I just listed the diet of the American South right there. Amazingly, as far as sugar goes, I can do without sugar for the most part, but salt? NEVER!

Also a bit disconcerting, salt is restricted to a minuscule 1/2 tsp. per day.  Per DAY! That's inhumane for a saltoholic!  A salt fiend!  A salt vampire!  And so, I've tossed that prescription out the proverbial window.  I feel that the severe salt restriction is as archaic and wrong as the claim that animal fats give you high cholesterol.  The only exception would be if I had high blood pressure, which I don't. Even so, I have limited my salt intake quite a bit from my usual consumption, which I assure you, was a lot! And because of that limitation, things are so much more salty to me. This is my one real cheat, and I think it's a justifiably better than cheating with refined sugars.

Cheating? Moi?
Okay, okay, now and then I cheat with a few of the "sugar" fruits like pineapples and mangoes. And I indulge in the rare lick of the knife that cut a piece of chocolate cake for my boys, but that's it.  Okay, so I had a big spoonful of mac-n-cheese when no one was looking. In my defense, I've heard that some people on the diet cheated with a weekly doughnut, which I heard Dr. Guetierrez wasn't too thrilled about.

The reason I'm on the Hoxsey diet and tonic is that I was diagnosed with un-staged papillary thyroid cancer in May of 2016; un-staged due to certain factors regarding my age and what not.  Anyway, I've looked into other diets, but they seem to drastic, in my case, I'm not that bad off, or they aren't balanced.  I feel that this diet and treatment suited me the best.  And I think the therapy is going well, except for digestive issues that are not related to the therapy, since I've had them off and on for decades. I have been on the Hoxsey diet and tonic for a little over 6 months and I have lost at least 25 lbs. I haven't really weighed myself since I started 6 months ago at 222 lbs., because I don't own a scale; my gauge has been my clothes, which fit a lot more loosely these days thank you very much!  I was supposed to be journaling about my journey since that time, but I didn't. Sorry.  

I'm a good cook, if I do say so myself, but there's a really beautiful cookbook by the Sassy Chef, Alison Taafe, whose sister Laura, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, and again in 2010, and finally beat it with the Hoxsey tonic, and diet! You can read about their amazing journey toward health and healing here.  I have been meaning to order a copy of Taafe's book for the last 6 months.  And I could kick myself for not doing it, because it was a struggle for me in the beginning to figure out what to eat, it was kinda depressing.  So, I would highly recommend getting this book to save you from any anxiety, if you have cancer, and have been though the ringer, the less stress the better!  I think they even sell it at the clinic in Mexico.

The goal of detoxification is to open the routes of elimination in order to remove toxins from the body. This process is greatly facilitated by a wholesome diet with plenty of water along with the herbal and nutritional supplements prescribed. Your diet should be centered on whole low sugar fruits, vegetables (organic and GMO free as much as possible), fresh herbs, antibiotic and hormone free meats, and dairy. No (highly) processed foods, refined white flours, or sugars, artificial flavoring, colors, or preservatives are to be consumed. These foods contain toxins that burden your body by interfering with your treatment and prohibit healing, and are of course, cancer causing.  All microwave cooking or reheating is prohibited while on the Hoxsey Treatment! Also non-stick type cookware should not be used, as it is known to contribute to cancer. No aluminum pots or pans as they can react with certain foods and cause toxicity.  Only stainless steel, cast iron, glass, or lead free ceramic pots and pans are deemed safe to use.

As for what is considered to be approved foods, and unapproved foods that are on the Hoxsey diet, here's the list:

​Beverages-Drink 2 quarts of liquids per day:
Freshly squeezed fruit (avoid if diabetic)
Veggie juices (except tomato)
                              Grape Juice (white, or dark grapes diluted with equal amount of water)
                               fresh is better. (Avoid if diabetic.)
Low Fat Milk- Cow or goat in glass bottle or a paper carton. (organic if possible.)
Buttermilk – in a glass bottle or a paper carton. (organic if possible.)
Filtered Water – avoid plastic bottles if possible.
Non-Caffeinated Herbal Teas (organic if possible.)
Decaf Coffee- natural water decaffeination process
Cereals -    Made without sugar, or preservatives, and non GMO      
Grains-      Amaranth, Barley, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Corn (non GMO air popped),
​                   Einkorn Wheat, Kamut, Oats, Rye, Spelt
Condiments-       Nama Shoyu Soy Sauce,
Cheeses*-   Only Fresh Unaged Cheeses: Chevre, Cottage cheese, Feta, Mascarpone,
                     Quark, Queso fresco, Ricotta, Yogurt Cheese (a.k.a. Kefir, & Labne)
                     *low sodium if possible, or no other salt for the day consumed
 
Eggs- 3 to 6 eggs per week (organic if possible)

​
Fats/Oils- Cold pressed oils: Almond, Flax Seed, Grape Seed, Olive, Sesame, walnut etc.
                  (avoid canola and other liquid or solid vegetable oils)
                  Saturated fats: butter from grass fed beef (unsalted if possible), coconut,
                  duck fat from free organic range ducks, tallow from grass fed cows.
Fish* -   Fresh ocean caught: Anchovies, Butterfish, Catfish, Clam, Crab (Domestic),                          Croaker (Atlantic), Flounder, Haddock (Atlantic), Hake, Herring, Mackerel
               (N. Atlantic, Chub), Mullet, Oyster, Perch (Ocean), Plaice, Pollock, Salmon
               (Canned), Salmon (Fresh), Sardines, Scallops, Shad (American), Shrimp,
               Sole (Pacific), Squid (Calamari), Tilapia, Whitefish, Whiting (all the lowest
               Mercury level fish/seafood)
               Fresh water caught:  Bass, Catfish, Crawfish/Crayfish, Pike, Trout (Freshwater),
               Salmon, Walleye - *any fish consume 2 x per week
Fruits-  Low sugar fruits are preferable such as: Apples, Avocados, Berries, Citrus, and                   Figs, Guavas, Kiwis, Melons (like cantaloupe, and casaba), Nectarines, Papayas,
              Peaches, Plums, and Sour Cherries
              Organic, no sugar added dried fruits are permitted, but limit consumption
              as they are higher in sugar than fresh fruits (no sulfides).
Herbs- Fresh or Dried: Basil, Bay leaf (Laurel), Cayenne pepper, Chili powder, Chives,                    Cilantro, Curry, Dill, Fennel, Garlic, Ginger root, Ground mustard, Lemon balm,
             Lemon verbena, Marjoram, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Paprika, Rosemary,
             Saffron, Sage, Tarragon, Thyme
Spices: Allspice, Caraway, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Cumin,
             Curry, Fennel, Fenugreek, Ginger (ground), Juniper, Kelp (salt replacement)*,
             Mace, Nutmeg, Pepper, Turmeric, Sea salt*, Star Anise  
             *only use sea salt or Kelp (only ½ tsp. daily) sprinkled directly on food to help                    with blandness.
Legumes-  Black beans, Garbanzo beans, Kidney beans, Lentils, Lima beans, Pinto
                   beans, Soy beans,
Meats-        Free range poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) - 1 x per week
                    Grass fed beef and lamb - 1x per week
                    Wild game: Buffalo, Caribou, Deer (Venison), Elk, Moose, Quail, Rabbit -
                     1x per week Instead of beef.
Nuts/         All unsalted nuts and nut butters (except peanuts/peanut butter).
Pastas-      Whole wheat (ancient varieties such as Einkorn),  or gluten free, and that
​                   don’t contain vinegar (acetic acid).
Seeds -       Chia, Flax, Hemp, Pumpkin, Sesame, Sunflower, Wild rice
Sugars-      Natural sugars: Honey, Molasses, Raw Sugar, Real Maple, Sucanat, Stevia,
​                   Syrup, Turbanado, Xylitol. (Exercise restraint)
Veggies      All fresh and organic. Root vegetables (exercise restraint if diabetic)

​Beverages*- Carbonated drinks with caffeine, refined sugars, and with artificial
                      sweeteners,  flavorings, and colors.
                      Sweet fruit juices such as pineapple and straight grape juices.
                      Caffeinated coffee and black teas.
                      No Tomato based veggie juices!
                      *I thought I read somewhere no alcoholic beverages either. 
Condiments- Anything with Tomato or Vinegar (acetic acid) is not allowed: Ketchup,
                      Mayonnaise, Mustard, Pickles and Relishes, Steak sauces, Vinegar (acetic                            acid), Worcestershire 
Deep fried foods – Avoid All Deep Fried Foods!!!
Fats/Oils-  Liquid or Solid hydrogenated vegetable oils. They are highly processed, and
                   turn rancid quickly. Such as Shortening, Canola, Safflower, and Corn etc.
Fruits-        Any dried fruits with added sugar, or sulfides.
                    Fresh: Grapes, Mangos, Pineapples, Tomatoes, and Tomatillos
Grains-       White flours and rice, and GMO’s
Meats-       Deli meats (high in sodium and other chemicals)
                   Hormone or antibiotic fed animals.
                   Any and all pork
Salt water fish high in mercury such as the large predatory fish: Northern Pike, Orange Roughy, Mackerel, Marlin, Shark, Swordfish, Tilefish, and many Tuna (the smaller skipjack is lower in mercury than the larger albacore.)
Farmed raised fish, either fresh water or ocean fish.
Nuts/Seeds-  Peanuts (prone to aflatoxins) and peanut butter
Sugars-      highly processed: agave nectar, corn syrups, brown sugar, and white sugar
                   artificial sweeteners: Equal, NutraSweet, Saccharine, Splenda, Sweet n low

No foods with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives! You'd be surprised by how many "health foods" contain that stuff!

I'm going back for my 6 month check up in a week, and I'm hoping to hear good news, Lord willing, I will be cancer free! I've been feeling so much better lately, I have a lot more energy than I have had in years!  If I still have cancer, well then, I will give it another 6 months and get really strict on my diet, and I may even throw in some exercise!

Written by Heather Zubiate

ut of sheer necessity, I have recently learned A LOT about this little talked about essential trace element, which is not just vital to healthy thyroid function, but it is also vital to the proper function of many other organs and systems. If fact, like many essential things in this life, we would die without it.  Just take a look at how many things it does for us:

Who knew, eh?  I also found this article on Dr. Sircus' website about iodine, and here is a snipit of that article that will enlightened us about even more uses of iodine in the body:

Dr. Gabriel Cousens’ essay lists the important functions of iodine:
1)      Iodine helps synthesize thyroid hormones and prevents both hypo- and                              hyperthyroidism.
2)      Iodine sufficiency reverses hypo- and hyperthyroidism.
3)      Iodine supports apoptosis (cell death).
4)      Iodine activates hormone receptors and helps prevent certain forms of cancer.
5)      Iodine protects ATP function and enhances ATP production.
6)      Iodine prevents fibrocystic breast disease.
7)      Iodine decreases insulin needs in diabetics.
8)      Iodine helps support protein synthesis.
9)      Iodine deficiency is a global health threat.
10)     Iodine destroys pathogens, molds, fungi, parasites, and malaria.
11)     Iodine supports immune function.
12)     Iodine eliminates toxic halogens from the body (including radioactive I-131).
13)     Iodine regulates estrogen production in the ovaries.
14)     Iodine is anti-mucolytic (meaning it reduces mucus catarrh).
15)     Iodine neutralizes hydroxyl ions and hydrates the cells.
16)     Iodine makes us smarter.
17)     Iodine prevents heart disease.
18)    Iodine is needed with the use of cordless phones, cell phones and now smart                      meters to prevent hypothyroidism.
19)    Iodine supports pregnancy (as the fetus undergoes more apoptosis than any other            developmental stage). 
20)    High doses of iodine may be used to reverse certain diseases.
21)    High doses of iodine may be used for wounds, bedsores, inflammatory and                        traumatic pain, and restoration of hair growth when applied topically.
22)    Iodine helps in the diminishing of tissue scarring, cheloid formations, and                        Dupuytren’s and Peyronie’s contractures, which are hyper-scarring conditions.
23)    Iodine supports spiritual development.

That's quite a list dear reader.  I also learned that iodine deficiency may even be attributed to a myriad of mild to serious emotional and mental disorders, from panic attacks to ADD/ADHD. So before you allow your child to take Ritalin (or any other psychotropic drug), maybe it wouldn't hurt for you to have your doctor check your child (or even yourself if you've been diagnosed) for an iodine deficiency first. Well. That is if your physician even knows how to properly test for it.

He/she may even have a common ailment that has spread like wildfire in the medical community within the last 68 years.  It is known as: Iodophobia, and it started its insidious outbreak after 1948, thanks in no small part to Drs. Jan Wolff and Israel Lyon Chaikoff, who supposedly observed a reduction of thyroid hormone levels after ingesting a large amount of iodine. Their study involved rats, which may actually explain why so many doctors are infected by it, and readily accepted the Drs. findings without any critical review. That is until Dr. Guy E. Abraham got a hold of their biased findings.

Critical studies conducted by Dr. Guy Abraham et al, have revealed that these doctors may have crossed the honesty line in their research.  You can start your research about that here. It should be common knowledge that doctors falsify their research for what-ever reason (most likely monetary), and others will continue to do so, which is for the rest of us, unfortunate. That would include Dr. Abraham, so researcher beware, as always.
For example, there is a huge controversy still going on regarding the study done by Dr. Andrew Wakefield who supposedly linked MMR vaccination with autism. The medical community at large has pretty much proven that Dr. Wakefield is very wrong about his hypothesis, and has even retracted his papers from their medical journals - ouch!  But it's too little too late, as many feel that the damage has been done.  Many people are now convinced that his findings are true. I'm no stranger to conspiracy theories, but let's not lose sight of the truth, the man lied about his research, even if he meant well. (If you want to avoid autism, research shows how iodine protects children from it.)

And it's in this tradition, of debunking junk science, that Dr. Abraham has proven that Dr.s Wolff and Chaikoff were very wrong about their hypothesis regarding the overdose of iodine, which has lead to an epidemic of what Dr. Abraham has coined: Iodophobia, and as a result, billions of people have suffered needlessly, and are far more sick than they should be.

​There's also this saying that seems pertinent: "If it ain't broken, then don't fix it!"

The following is taken directly from a paper written by Dr. Guy Abraham and satirically (or more like sarcastically, maybe) describes Medical Iodophobia's symptoms and notes possible causes.  They are as follows:

• A) Split personality: resulting in iodophobia within the orthoiodosupplementation                                           previously used safely and successfully in medical practice and iodophylia for            

                megadoses of Iodide (up to 12 gm/day)

• B) Double standards: rendering physicians intolerant to the minor side effects of the

                inorganic forms and extremely tolerant to the severe side effects of the radioactive and                                         organic forms

• C) Amnesia: pertaining to the inorganic, nonradioactive forms of iodine when                                                making therapeutic decisions
• D) Confusion: attributing the severe side effects of organic iodine-containing

                 drugs to inorganic Iodine/Iodide

• E) Altered states of consciousness: allowing doublethink, doublespeak, and contradictory logic to               become acceptable.

Medical Iodophobia Diagnosis Notes and Observations
Dr. Abraham goes on to say:
​Although the factors involved in medical iodophobia are still unknown, decreased cognition seems involved. Since low iodine intake is associate with intellectual impairment, deficiency of this essential element cannot be ruled out, and if present, would create a self-perpetuating phenomenon.  Needless to say, medical iodophobia is contagious, and can be transmitted to patients and other physicians (iatrogenic iodophobia).  Medical iodophobia will remain a syndrome until the causes are discovered and effective therapy implemented.  It is very likely however, that medical iodophobia will eventually be classified as an iodine-deficiency disease. 

It seems quite evident, thanks to past generations of medical prescriptions written for iodine/iiodide, what the safe rage of consumption is and should continue to be.  Dr. J.G.A. Lugol came up with the much used iodine/iodide solution bearing his name, and determined that 12.5 mg is the bare minimum to keep ones health. Have things changed so much since then to change this fact?  If anything, we have been consuming less and less iodine, not more.   There are claims that iodine is in many of our food stuffs. Really?

How about getting enough Iodine in our diets?  I'm sure you've heard that iodine is found in milk, bread, and of course salt.

Therefore, if 13 mg of iodine is in fact too high, as determined by Drs. Wolff and Chaikoff, then obviously, most of the mainland Japanese should be very sick, or very dead by now, don't you think?  Why would that be true? Because of all the sea vegetables and creatures that are rich in iodine that they consume everyday!  ​

If a person suspects they are suffering from an iodine/iodide deficiency, or any deficiency, the best thing to do is to find out by ordering a test from a lab, or physician. Some labs won't give out the tests unless they are ordered by a physician, and some physicians won't order certain labs if they don't feel they are needed. Welcome to the catch 22 of our modern "health" system. Ideally, it would be nice to have a doctor that is willing to help their patient with any of their health problems, but in this day and age, a person is usually left to fend for themselves due to medical apathy. This is the oar-less boat I am in, wanna join me?  

The Optimox website has a great many articles that can help educate you on this subject. There is also a book called: Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It by David Brownstein. I'm currently reading in PDF.  So, if your a science type, and you can find a lab that will not require a doctor to order or read the lab, then you can take the DIY approach fairly confidently. The rest of us are left to wing it.

Iodine, though essential to our life and well being, is not a "magic bullet" to good health. We need to stop searching for a single or one size fits all solution to all of our health problems.  However, iodine deficiency should be ruled in or out before any serious medications are taken, or procedures are done. Well, that's it for now.  I will post more info when I have some to share. Until then, avoid all forms of iodophobia and be sure to get some iodine in  your diet!

Written by Heather Zubiate

arkness was all around.  Except for the distant sound of splashing, there was no other sound to be heard, that is until a male voice rang out. Harsh, and taunting, and in a foreign language. Spanish?  Two figures were swimming hard with one in pursuit of the other, and I could barely see their foamy wakes in the dim light cast by the silver sliver of a moon hanging low in the inky starless sky. I could feel the fright, and fatigue that took hold of the one desperately trying to evade capture, but every which way the shadowy swimmer turned, the other more experienced and stronger swimmer followed suit, effectively blocking any escape. Capture appeared imminent! 

My eyes flew open.  It was dark.  A clammy chill covered my body and my arms were tensed and achy.  The impression of the struggling swimmer clung in my mind as the faint sound of running water was slowly recognized.  3:15  A.M. Robert was in the shower.  It was a dream.  Not nearly as scary as others that I've had, but not a good one either. After staggering back to bed from the bright and steamy bathroom, I snuggled back into our nice soft and warm bed; my eyelids were heavy with sand and my body was exhausted, even so, sleep did not come. I got my goodbye kiss. Sleep did not come.
4 A.M. found me a tossing and a turning. Any hope of getting back to sleep was gone.  And so I decided to continue reading what I had been reading last night. 

I reached for my phone and started reading where I had left off, an article regarding iodine deficiency, and why it is related to goiter, and a whole host of other physiological problems.  I started reading that article because of a video (by Dr. Jorge Flechas, MD.) I found on Dr. Mercola's website yesterday afternoon.  I won't get into the specifics right now (that will come later), but for right now, I feel like that struggling swimmer in my dream.  The fear and fatigue of trying to get away from a foreign body (cancer) may be the reason for last night's  borderline nightmare.  But I think its much more than that. 

​The more I read about my condition and the lack of an absolute cure within the medical drug cartel, the more frustrated I get.  What I mean by that is that it's not so much that there isn't a proven cure to reverse thyroid goiter, nodules, and even cancer, but rather that the nearly extinct already scientifically proven and easy cure for most (if not all) thyroid maladies is marginalized, maligned, shunned, and completely blackballed by ignorant doctors that are in favor of treating symptoms with hormones that promote cancer, surgery that removes vital body parts, and radioactive iodine isotopes that don't kill cancer stem cells.  

The thought that I will not find one doctor that is willing to treat me as a person, who is in dire need of a cheap and readily available vital element is, at times, overwhelmingly depressing, and scary.  Big Pharma sponsored medicine and their foreign medical language (which as far as I'm concerned might as well be Spanish) is chasing me down with their harsh taunts.  You know, jeers like: "Vitamins and minerals don't cure anything," or "Supplements are snake oil and dangerous to public health,"...yada yada yada.

The good news is that I woke up before the desperate swimmer in my dream (me) was caught and drowned (by modern maniacal medicine).  Does that mean I have a chance to escape the maniacal medical menace that is chasing me? I think so.  There is always hope as long as I'm breathing.  

Yes dear reader, this morning, I was despondent after reading medical material that implicates the legalized wide spread (and socially accepted) medical malpractice (as well as the willful ignorance) of white overcoat clad men and women who took an apparently meaningless oath to first do no harm, and so I turned to the Lord Jesus in tearful prayer.  

​I pleaded with him to please save my precious life from those who would seek to take it from me with their prideful and willful ignorance. I asked him to please put me in contact with a physician who would be humble enough to read, think, learn, and see past the published lies of the biased egos who wanted fame and fortune more than the truth. I asked him for a doctor that will skillfully treat me with a past and well proven cure for thyroid disease -- inorganic iodine/iodide therapy. Amen.

Here is the video I saw of Dr. Flechas' lecture on Whole Body Iodine Sufficiency, which is very eye opening.  
Please watch to the very end as he gives his website: (www.helpmythyroid.com) and lists papers you can read regarding medical studies on iodine/iodide and its effects on the body.

Written by Heather Zubiate

"It's cancer."

I heard my ENT say those awful words on the evening of May 16,2016.  My heart sank into my stomach and my head began to swirl, so it's a good thing that I was sitting down when I took his call. Hearing that you have cancer is not what anyone ever wants to hear from their doctor, and you never think it will happen to you, right?  Cancer is instantly life changing.

I was silent for a while.  I mean, even though I had a sizable lump on the left side of my neck, I had no cancer symptoms to speak of, and my blood work was clear, and so I was assured by my doctor that all was well, even after the two previous needle biopsies came back inconclusive.  Those very same lack luster needle biopsy results warranted the incisional biopsy to remove the lump, and those results were now giving a much different, and a far more serious diagnosis.
​ 
"Do you have any questions," the calm voice asked after my long awkward silence. My mind was a blank. I heard myself say, "No, not at this time." i mean really, who has a ready list of questions after being blindsided by a diagnosis that wasn't even in view? Then Dr. K said he had an endocrinologist appointment lined up for me, and that I would also be consulting with a colleague of his in a few days regarding another surgery, which I must say, was really proactive of him.  And that, as they say, was that.   

My husband was, of course -- uh....destroyed?  Devastated? Yeah, all of those things and more. It would take several days (or was it a week or two?) after that life changing phone call before it really hit home with me.  For those first few days especially, I had to be strong for Robert, for my children, and for my family and friends. It's not that I was in denial, it's just that I was strangely - - let's say -- calm.  

I met with Dr. O (Dr. K's colleague) about a week later.  After he stuck a tiny probe up my nasal cavity, and down into my throat (very uncomfy), to see if my thyroid or the cancer had invaded my vocal cords, it was determined that all was well on that front.  Any interference of the thyroid cancer on my vocal cords would mean the possibility of losing my voice, and that would be catastrophic for someone like me, who likes to hear the sound of her own voice! He then proceeded to tell me his plan of action.  From here on, the details are going to get a bit dicey, sorry, my memory isn't that great thanks to my malfunctioning thyroid.

Essentially, even though the right lobe of my thyroid appeared to be normal in the CT scan, and no nodules were reported on that lobe in the CT pathology report (which I later read on my own -- no one told me that), he wanted to preform a full thyroid-ectomy and remove several (13 or more) lymph nodes, for no other reason then to see if the cancer had spread even further than the enlarged lymph node they had already removed.  In the incisional biopsy pathology report, I read that they not only took out the enlarged lymph node, but apparently they also took three surrounding lymph nodes. Again, if I hadn't requested the pathology report, I would never had known they did that. As I understand it, (if I'm reading it right) the three other lymph nodes they took (without my knowledge) were clear.

​Then I shared my plan, which was to keep as much of my thyroid and as many of my remaining lymph nodes as possible. He didn't advise it, because the cancer could come back. You see, even though they can't see the cancer by eye or on film, some cancer cells may be lurking somewhere in the isthmus, or in the right lobe.  So the hope of keeping at least some of my thyroid had flitted away from me like a butterfly.  

​Continuing with his plan, he said that I would be given radioactive iodine, presumably to kill what ever thyroid cancer cells that remained after surgery, or any that may have migrated through out my body, and past the initial lump in my lymph node.  I say "presumably," because upon further investigation, the effectiveness of this treatment is actually highly debated within the ENT and endocrinology community.  And I have read enough testimonials from patients that underwent the procedure to prove those doubts are well founded.  For many unfortunate patients, their thyroid cancer did in fact come back even after the radio active iodine treatment, and even spread and become more aggressive.  Now this isn't the case for everyone, but I sure didn't want to find out if I was one of the unfortunate few to experience this phenomenon.  For me, placing radio active isotopes in my body on purpose in order to (maybe) kill cancer isn't something I wish to experience, especially since it isn't an exact science. 

And this brings me to my complaint with allopathic medicine, as far as I'm concerned (and I am concerned), Dr. O's plan would ensure that I would be completely hypothyroid, if I wasn't already.  That means I was going to be trading one disease (thyroid cancer) for another (surgically induced hypothyroidism). I don't know how you'd feel about this dear reader, but days after that visit, I began to feel that this situation was completely unacceptable!  Again, I was, and am not, in denial of what is happening to me, I just don't like his plan!  Since Dr. O doesn't have another one, and he isn't changing his current plan, then it's up to me to do so.

Let me be clear, I didn't then (and don't now) fear the surgery itself. Dr. O seems to be a very confident, and skilled surgeon.  What scares the H-E- double toothpicks out of me is the decades of after care (or lack there of) that I was facing!  The endocrinologist I visited only added to my fears. She was the typical, "I don't listen to my patients, they are here to take orders from me" kinda doctor. NO! THANKS!  Even though I know she's not the only endocrinologist in the group, I wondered if that kind of attitude is the rare exception.  No. Apparently, it's the norm, just going by the dozens of desperate souls searching in vain for a good endocrinologist that listens to and works with their patients. 

​At any rate, the endocrinologist reassured me that the synthetic thyroid hormone that I would be put on for the rest of my life was safe, and many people have lived just fine on it.  I must have had some sort of look on my face after hearing that blanket state-ment, because she quickly and begrudgingly verbally admit that she wouldn't really know, because her thyroid is fine.  (ANNOYED STARE!) Well now, isn't that special?  Why not give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it!  This lady doesn't get it.  I haven't felt "fine" for decades - - truly I don't even really know what that is like any-more.  You see dear reader, I started feeling awful off and on when I was around 27, after a mis-carriage, almost 20 years ago.  I began to suspect my thyroid, only after I did my own research, because I had a lot of questions that weren't getting answered.  

Not one doctor that I went to for help took my suspicion, symptoms, or complaints seriously. Well, that's  not completely true, there was one.  Dr. N, after looking at my blood work results, he actually voiced his wonderment as to why I was deficient in Vitamin D3, and B12.  But instead of naturally following through that question with investigation, he literally shrugged it off, and gave me a B12 shot and a prescription for some D3 pills. As for my Free T4 level and TSH being on the low side of the mystically determined normal scale, well, it was after all barely in the normal range. I was this close (itty bitty pinch) to getting help, and that was two years ago. Come to find out, the Free T4 and TSH tests aren't enough and are misleading.  The better test is Free T3, or better yet, RT3 (reverse T3) but I didn't get either of those.  See how knowledge is power? I didn't know this back then, so I got screwed.

​Before and since that time, I was told I was just stressed out, or depressed, and one doctor even had the gall to imply that I was a hypochondriac!  To know me is to know that I HATE being sick, and I HATE going to the doctor even more than I LOATH being sick. Oh sure, some of them did some tests, but according to the results, they all came back normal, or once again, "just above" normal. Well, I didn't FEEL normal, just above, or otherwise.  I felt like c.r.a.p! And who says that "just above normal" is okey dokey anyway? My persistent symptoms meant bupkis to them, and their findable cause of those symptoms would've required time and effort on their part. This kind of thing, medical investigation, doesn't pay the bills, if you know what I mean.

​Dear reader, if you haven't figured this out by now, then please allow me enlighten you: allopathic western medicine is no longer concerned with finding out why the patient has symptoms, or why they are sick; it's all about treating, or masking those pesky symptoms. That's where the real money is to be made, prescribing harmful drugs.  This industry has no interest in finding out if you're a special case either, because what are the odds that you will have a serious problem that their standard tests don't reveal? What a waste of their time and money! Bottom line, your health issues aren't really worth their time or effort to think beyond the seemingly apparent. because there is no money in that.  Is this true for every doctor?  No. But the good doctors that really care are FAR AND AWAY out numbered by the crummy money grubbing ones.​ And that is the whole of my complaint regarding Western allopathic medicine. 

And then there is the double edged sword of specialization. While it can be good that a doctor has studied a particular part of the human body for decades, the specialist is cut off from the rest of the body, and that is bad; very VERY bad!  It's as if the particular system, organ, or gland that the specialist treats, apparently works independently, or without any help from, or without any symbiotic relationship with the rest of the body. We who have taken 8th grade science know better than this, don't we? Then there's the proof within that silly song...The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone...

For example.....​Does your tummy hurt, dear reader?  Well mine did, and it still does sometimes.  After your GP has filled your Prilosec or Zantac prescription over a few years to no avail (because you start whining again about how your tummy aches), he may refer you to a specialist.  Will said specialist find the real problem? Perhaps the specialist will do some tests. But that doesn't mean they will find the problem, or even treat it properly. I regards to stomach acid, did you know that some people can actually have too little stomach acid, while others may have too much?  That means food won't be digested properly either way, and you will get sick via malnutrition.  But without the proper tests, whose to know for sure either way? Remember, according to specialization, the gastrointestinal tract mysteriously works completely on its own, without the help of the nervous, and endocrine systems. Those systems have their own specialists that are in different buildings or on different floors. They NEVER see or talk to each other.

Vitamin deficiency, you say?  Bah!  Your doctor believes what the pharmaceutical companies tell him, which is that vitamins don't work.
Your glands, or nervous system may not be working, you say?  Bah! According to your GP, you're just

• stressed (in need of Valium)
• an emotional basket case (in need of Prozac)
• or a hypochondriac (you're crazy). 

Let's face it, doctors are human, meaning that they are biased, have egos, are lazy, make mistakes, and are susceptible to greed like the rest of us.

​As for me, and my situation, I followed a more natural protocol over the years. Instead of faithfully taking most of pills that I was prescribed to make my symptoms go away, I simply learned to ignored my symptoms for decades, figuring that this is what it means to get old.  That is, until I could not ignore then any more. Not a good choice either.  I should have fought harder to be heard, even if it would've been emotionally and physically exhausting to fight a giant when I wasn't strong enough to begin with.  But a bit of hope crept into my life and began to slowly grow just few weeks before I got the bad news.

Cancer has a great deal of fear attached to it, and that is because it is more or less, a death sentence in the world of allopathic medicine.  We all know that the "cures" that modern medicine offer for cancer are brutal, will anyone deny this?  That reality only adds to the fear.  And only time will tell as to what will kill the patient first.  Will it be the cancer? The "cure"? Or the complications that accompany them both?  Fortunately, there are some pretty hardy folks that actually survive the cancer, the cure, and any complications by going into remission.  "Strong is the power of belief it is----mmmm?"

Even though that's great news, let's be honest. Technically, remission doesn't mean you're cured, it simply means the cancer is temporarily inactive. And so, there is a dark and heavy cloud of fear that remains in the distance.  Will it reactivate, or "come back"? Or will it metastasize? Or will yet another type of cancer be found with in the medical industries magical five year time frame? The odds are against you for being fully cured in the world of allopathic medicine, which is designed to milk your insurance dry before you leave this world. 

Fortunately for me, the type of thyroid cancer I have (papillary) is very slow growing, not aggressive if left alone, and easy to treat, so I have a very good prognosis, even by the standards of westernized allopathic medicine, which is ten years.  Well, if you follow their procedure of course. So if I were to follow their one and only path to "wellness," then I guess my eldest son had better hurry up and get married and have some children before I meet my maker in the sweet by and by.  

​But, going by the testimony of some of those who have gone before, ten years is just a number they throw out there, it's not necessarily the norm.  However, there is an even darker side to all of this that goes unmentioned. There are people who have taken their doctor's advice, and have had their recommended procedure done, who NOW wish they
would have never done it, because now their poor quality of life leaves them wishing that they would have die! How awful is that? Very!!!

Fear and an incredible lack of treatment options leave many desperate souls with little, or no other choice than to live the rest of their miserable lives as one of the living dead. Call me selfish if you must, but I don't want to live the life of a zombie!

This is where that glimmer of hope I mentioned comes in. I am here to tell you that this zombie death wish scenario doesn't have to be your reality!  If you are staring down the long dark tunnel of thyroid (or any) cancer, I want you to know, there is a shiny sliver of light at the end of that terrifying tunnel!  Unlike what you've been told, you DO have treatment choices!

Thanks to an eyeopening video series, that I came into contact with via a friend(thanks Kc!)) called The Truth About Cancer - A global quest, I have been given the great gift of hope! This amazing series details where the debilitating modern cancer treatments came from, who continues to propagate them and why, and what you can do to stop the fear, and make a better choice of life saving cancer treatments that effect real cures. Yes, I said REAL CURES, as in no more cancer, unlike remission! This sounds too good to be true, right? Is it?

Well, let's be real. Just as is the case with the brutal cures that modern western medicine offers, there is NO guarantee that any of the natural based cancer cures will work on everyone, all of the time. There are limiting factors such as:

• being too far gone
  
• unique physiology
  
• not following prescription instructions
  
• negative emotions
  
• and ego
  

that can and do interfere with any kind of healing protocol.  However, the lack of debilitating side effects and the better quality of life afforded to those of us who wish to heal our ailing bodies with natural means, is by far more attractive than being butchered like cattle, burned to a crisp by cancer causing radiation, and being poisoned by carcinogenic chemo.  

Nevertheless, there are many real life testimonies of cancer patients who according to their oncologists are "walking miracles," because they shunned surgery, radiation and chemo in favor of a holistic cancer cure. Cures that use proven cancer fighting vitamins, minerals, herbs, and therapies.  The information is out there, but many doctors do not have the time to read the material, and even if they did, the chances are that their big pharma sponsored education, and lecture circuit indoctrination would override much of those peer reviewed studies supporting more natural approaches.   Besides, there's not as much money to be made in natural cures.  God (not men) holds the patents on nature.

When you are diagnosed with any disease, the physical and emotional support of family and friends is huge!  But what happens when you choose a path to wellness that isn't popular, or even deemed "safe" by popular opinion, or supposed research?  I know many people who would rather get between a mother bear and her cub, than tell certain family and friends that they are going to seek holistic instead of conventional treatment. How sad is that?  I too have faced this dilemma and have been met with varying degrees of support and discontent. 

But my greatest fan and supporter by far is my darling husband.  He is truly my soul-mate, and the mere thought of drawing a single breath on this stinking world without him is too utterly devastating for me to dwell on, and he feels the same way about me. And so, above anyone else in this dying world, I needed him to be on MY side, NOT theirs!
I knew he wouldn't be thrilled with a holistic approach, so I needed some ammunition in the form of information to help get him on the same page I was on.

The showdown between my husband and myself was inevitable.  I finally had my breakdown during our showdown, thus efficiently killing two birds with one stone.  Fear and panic were keeping the love of my life from listening to me, just like how bad medical instruction, out dated tests, ego, and the love of money all kept my doctors from listening to me.  The effort to get him to see this situation from my point of view was not going well at all.

And so I finally lost it! I literally went around our home SCREAMING at the top of my lungs that NO ONE was listening to me! I sobbed and swore, and raged on and on about how only I KNEW what it felt like to live in my body...etc.  I even hurt my shoulder during the violent fit I was throwing, because I had finally had enough! About twenty years of pent up frustration and rage spewed out of me in a matter of minutes.  I was going to be heard, even if it meant the neighbors two blocks down heard me, I didn't care!  It must have been quite a scene!

(On a side note: Later that week, when I sheepishly told our neighbor across the street why I was yelling like a fool, she said that she didn't hear anything.  Well, at least I got through to my husband!)  After my hellacious fit, Robert dutifully read everything I gave him and after many questions, I got what I wanted-- my man, the love of my life, on MY side where he belonged. Before anyone thinks that I bullied him, you don't know my man, he has a mind of his own.  But now he knows what I know, and knowledge sets you free from ignorance and fear.  

Are there risks with going holistic?  Of course there are risks!  This is the real world, but there are also HUGE risks going conventional.  Are there quacks out there in holistic land?  Of course there are. But there are QUACKS in white lab coats with medical licenses in allopathy land too; every hear of malpractice law suits? 

​And so the final decision was made, not out of fear, but out of hope. We will be going across the border to Mexico, to the BioMedical Center.  And once there, I will be examined by real medical doctors, who have real medical nurses assisting them, with real medical tests they preform on real medical equipment.  I will receive a personalized treatment plan that involves a cancer tonic and medicinal herbs, and diet.  A holistic treatment that I would never be offered here in America, one that will give me a fighting change to cure the cancer, and maybe even get my thyroid to function properly, Lord willing.  But we also have a back up plan, because I am not irresponsible.  If for whatever reason the holistic treatment doesn't yield any improvement (I'll give it a year), then I will have their surgery and take their pills.  Then if I perish (live like a zombie), I perish (I live like a zombie). Both I and my darling husband can live with that.

Now I realize that there is a stigma about Mexico, especially Tijuana.  But before anyone sticks up their haughty noses and totally dismisses the whole idea, perhaps some nose grinding research is in order.  There was a time (as little as 70 years ago), when doctors and pharmacists would travel all over the world in search of medicinal compounds found in plants, that they would acquire and even grow in their own gardens in order to help cure their patients.

Can some one prove to me unequivocally that petroleum based medicines are far better than plant based medicines? If vitamin and mineral supplements don't do any good whatsoever, then why even mention them as being important in our food supply?  And why is there a danger of overdosing on them, if there is no potency to them? That would imply there is such a thing as under dosing too, wouldn't it? If diet and nutrition play no role in healing, much less maintaining a healthy body, then why not eat a ton of sugar and triglycerides all day, everyday for the rest of your life?

Despite the maddening hypocrisy that doctors spew, diet does indeed play a huge role in human health.  But a healthy diet and supplements won't do you a lick of good, if can't properly digest them. So, you aren't really what you eat, rather you are what you digest. And that is of course, another topic!

​Getting back to the fear thing, fear can be an amazing and even a positive motivator in certain situations.  But it should not be used to force anyone to take a course of treatment that the ailing person doesn't feel is in their best interest.  Why?  Because they are the one who has to live in their body and deal with the aftermath of any treatment. That includes conventional treatments.  That is why it works on some people, because they believe in it. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow; we will all die someday, that's the reality of this life. As far as serious or terminal illnesses go, when you are staring down the barrel of imminent death, and you are fortunate enough to be given a time frame, long or short, not many people see this as a blessing.  But it is! In more ways than one!

Though my cancer is not as life threatening as say, stage four pancreatic cancer, I do have the blessing of a longer time frame, and I am going to spend it as wisely as I can.
It makes absolutely NO SENSE to take the napalm approach in my situation, when I have time for a kinder and gentler approach. They can always cut out my thyroid and lymph nodes, and burn my innards with radioactive iodine, but I won't be able to get those parts back after they are gone. 

There are those doubters and skeptics out there who will refuse to understand or support our decision, and that's okay.  All I ask is that they put their skepticism to work and look into the facts, and I mean ALL of them.  I don't want them to let fear keep them from searching for and finding the truth.  Is the natural cure I'm seeking perfect with a 100% money back guarantee? No.  But, NEITHER is the conventional cure I was more or less forced to accept.  I'm not unrealistic. All I want is the chance to save as much of my original equipment that Jesus gave me as I can.  It's a chance that I'm willing to take.

Modern western medicine scoffs at the existence of an Almighty creator God, and they insult him with the fairy tale of evolution, yet they fumble around half blind in the dark, grasping at straws trying to figure out how to aid the healing of the LORD God's most awesome work of creation, the human body.  And even then, their well meant (yet piddly) attempts often leave behind more damage and cause more harm then the original ailment, and all for the love of money. The more I read on the complexity of how our bodies work, the more in awe and humbled I become. We are truly fearfully, and wonderfully made!

I have papillary thyroid cancer.  I'm going to the BioMedical Center in Tijuana Mexico for holistic cancer treatment.  The people in my life can choose hope and support me, or they can choose to fear and oppose me.  Which ever they choose, I know my family and friends really do indeed love me, and I love them, no matter what!

For now, (for the most part) I'm on the special diet that the clinic prescribes.  I eat only three squares a day, no snacks.  I consume as much whole organic veggies, fruits and clean meat as I can (no pork!).  No white flour or sugar, no soy (estrogen is a problem in my case), no preservatives and low salt. That one is a killer for me!  I will put my self fully on the diet, which eliminates tomatoes and vinegar specifically, once I start the tonic. Apparently those specific items interfere with the tonic's potency.  I can certainly live without a few food stuffs for a while to help facilitate my healing. But I will miss you most of all, salt and bacon! 

I will be writing much in the coming months about my journey toward wellness, and healing.  My thoughts on the diet, nutrition, supplements, how the treatment is going, etc.  All will be chronicled here.  So please stay tuned! 

P.S Here is the first 2 hour installment of the 9 part series on the Truth About Cancer to help get you started on your journey toward obtaining a powerhouse of knowledge.  You can follow the rest of the series on You Tube, if it's still there.

Written by Heather Zubiate


ere is the follow up I promised. These are
Kyle's actual x-rays, and a picture of his scared back post surgery. Eww, huh?  Just look how crooked his little spine was in the image on the left! There's a glare preventing you from seeing the rod to the right of his much straightened spine, holding it while the bone grafts fuse permanently. The rod stays in there and won't need to be removed unless complications arise. So far, so good. Dr. S used super glue and heavy duty stranded packing tape to close the very long wound. Looks good. So, if this surgeon thing doesn't work out, then he may have a future in packaging.  Just kidding Dr. S, you're an awesome orthopedic surgeon!

Anyway, Kyle is doing great, and he has been cleared to participate in his beloved sport of baseball.  Where he can once again swing his new bat and either clobber the pitcher with a wild hit, or send that t-ball careening skyward toward the distant palm trees, a good distance behind the back fence.  We have an upcoming follow up appointment in August, but it's just a formality really.  I just thank God for sending Dr. S our way, and for giving him the skill and love for helping bring people with bone injuries and maladies healing and health.

Written by Heather Zubiate

Dear reader, the following is a rant, more like a lament really, about Downton Abby, an English prime time soap opera that I've recently been binge watching. I have suffered near sleepless nights worrying about people who don't exist (may God forgive me) and for what? To have one of the best characters snuffed out at the height of his happiness at the end of season 3? I mean really? He just held the heir to his fortune in his arms and kissed the only woman he would ever love, Lady Mary Crawley, for the last time, a woman he finally married after a lot of wretched (in my opinion) drama, and the question I have is, "WHY?" Well, as it turns out, like his former co-star, Jessica Brown Findley (Sybil Crawley Branson), Dan Stevens quit the show that made him famous in order to pursue other career options.  I'm pretty sure I know how Mr. Carson would feel about that!

According to dear ol' Dan's own lips, "It's nice that people care, I suppose, about the show, but yeah, you know ... I had to do what I had to do."  ​Well isn't that special?  I'm sorry, but this sort of thing chaps my hide, because obviously Dan doesn't care about the show or the fans that made him famous.

To creator Julian Fellowes credit, he did try to get dear ol' Dan to stay, but that was not to be, he wanted out--NOW! However, to Julian Fellowes discredit, he opted for the heinously easy way out, he killed him off.  As my son said, "This sort of drama is a lazy way out of a problem," and do you know what? He's RIGHT!  

The problem these days is that there is no creativity in the media, I mean really, Julian Fellowes and crew could have saved the character even though Dan wanted to bail out. How? This is so easy it's pitiful!  Have a car wreck, fine, but instead of killing him off, have Matthew horribly disfigured, and then have him go thorough controversial plastic surgery while having a pity party like he did when he thought he wouldn't walk from his war injury.  Think of all the plot angles they could explore! Heck, they could've dusted off John Cleese and had him be the scary yet brilliant avant garde plastic surgeon.  And while Mathew is in bandages sulking, they could've found an unknown actor (a doppelganger) who would be so happy for work, that he would NEVER EVER think of leaving the show until poor ratings were it's final downfall. There. Problem solved! In fact, the ratings would have gone through the roof on reveal day, especially if they found an even more handsome actor was hiding under the bandages! I assure you that no one would care if Dan left, or that the new guy might have a scar or two, or even an eye patch as a result of the accident and chocked up to the fledgling field of plastic surgery. The point is,  if the geniuses producing Downton Abbey really cared about the fans, then they would have made the effort to save Matthew Crawley so he and Lady Mary would be together to face, God only knows what the writers would throw at them. But alas! It's not to be!

Now I realize that this is make believe, but now, after this (dare I say betrayal?) I really don't care to watch anymore.  Especially since a few of the main actors didn't care to stay, well, then why should I? And so I bid a fond farewell to Downton Abbey....for now anyway. I have a couple of weeks to sulk before the final episode airs and then decide if I want to keep binge watching. I think I might, because I wouldn't want to be a quitter like dear ol' Dan!