Flu diary: Great Pandemic 2009, part 11
Colorado Springs — A happiest Thanksgiving, but I will not be doing too much today, as I am a tad murky, a little punchy. Feeling better, but nowhere near up to normal everyday living kind of life.
I rise early and fix my specialty, hot spiced apple cider. Starting with a gallon of organic apple cider, I add cinnamon sticks, cloves, a spiraled naval orange, about half a cup of Bragg's apple cider vinegar, four tablespoons of organic dark amber wildflower honey, a few tablespoons of natural lemon juice, a tablespoon of cinnamon powder, a tablespoon of ginger, and a sprinkling of nutmeg and allow bubbling a couple of hours in a crockpot.
That stuff, that apple cider vinegar, ooh all spicy and hot, that stuff it good, and healthy, and fun.
I probably should have made it when we were all crawling around on the floor, it would have lifted our spirits somewhat. Sauerkraut does that, lifts the spirits, as well as Tofu Noodle Soup, and natural ginger ale, not to mention natural ginger-brew beer, and ginger candies (made from ginger root), and I'd practically give anything for some real gingerbread boys, but I have been told that if I want these I have to make and bake them myself. Which I will accomplish, just not today, Louie, not today.
My main job, other than the apple cider vinegar, will be basting and roasting the two Tofurkies. Oh they are good. I know that every television sitcom has a heyday making fun of the Tofurky (which must do wonders for Tofurky sales), but what a delicious treat, basted in honey and balsamic vinegar and red wine and ginger and oregano and onions and garlic and so many other good, healthy, tasty things. And nobody has to die. Okay, a lot of soy beans have to die, but they were created to be food for humans, whereas animals were created to be boon companions. How is it that we tend to reverse the meaning and origin of everything?
On Thursday, November 26, 2009 all the kids are doing great, and everyone feels good. Grandma and Uncle Michael are back for Thanksgiving, and Grandma is going to be preparing the feast (I usually do that, but not this feast), and thankfully neither of them caught the flu when they were here last weekend (and they came the day after Bronté became so ill and Wolfy relapsed).
I firmly believe that the sliced and diced onions were the reason they did not contract the virus from us, and it could be part of the reason Carolena never caught the virus. I reiterate, I do not think that the onions yank the viruses out of the air, attract, catch and clobber the influenza viruses. But I do think that the sulfur that emits from a sliced onion has medicinal value, and that the sulfur released into the air as well as the humidity created by the vaporizers, actively inhibits the spread of influenza.
It beats the flu better than washing the hands or getting the flu vaccine or shouting magical words or hollering harsh language at the flu.
If this virus rears its ugly head again — oh, yet again, alas, alas, I do not know if I can handle another infection — and it very well might come again, it or a worse mutation: the first thing I plan to do is to slice the onions and spread them through the house. Also, I take several bits of onion and load the tiny dishes beneath the steam spouts on the vaporizers (where usually you load Vicks Vaporub).
At night the onions bits are plump and wet and stinky, but in the morning when the vaporizers are depleted, the bits of onion have shrunk down to slivers, like discarded fingernails.
Here is something else I have noted with the use of onions in this manner: you wake up several times during the night, dehydrated, gasping like a fish for water. My theory is this, that the plumes of sulfur released in the air entice the body into producing more mucus than normal, even the normal mucus-producing volumes when combatting the h1n1 flu.
Mucus is mostly water, and is the first-line of defense against flu, and the body draws upon all the stores of water to create more mucus. This creation of mucus induces the sensation of dryness, and thirst.
Do not use mucus-inhibitors when sick with the flu! Using such things, which seem nice when your nose is clotted with snot, is robbing your immune system of its first line of defense. The body surrounds the invaders with mucus and attempts to creep it right out of the body, and truly, mucus creeps us all out. We do not like the stuff. But it is necessary.
In the morning, flush your nose with the NeilMed Nasal Rinse (they need to change the name to Nasal Flush). It is amazing the amount of mucus that is washed out of the body. Note, this nasal flush which eliminates the old mucus from your nose and nasal passages is not a mucus inhibitor; rather it cleans the slate and provides the body with a fresh battleground, and rids the body of the debris of war.
My in-laws did not catch the h1n1 flu virus from us, and I thank the onions for that. My in-laws do not employ the nasal flush, but they are considering it.
We had some scares with this bout of influenza. When your child within moments goes almost comatose, it can make the most brave feel terror. When your darling daughter wakes in the morning with a fever, severe headache, overwhelming nausea and red blossoms in her cheeks, that can make you go cold and panicky. But you do not, you do not panic. You do your best, and pray, and give love and comfort, and man the vaporizers.
Are you afraid of the mutations that are sprouting likes weeds all over our Earth? If you are a smart person, you are certainly afraid. Do not feel shame, there is nothing wrong with fear when it arises from very real motivators. We are facing such a motivator now. It is real. It is not hype. True, it very well have been man-made in origin (if not in a laboratory for biological weapons research, then certainly in the "laboratories" of modern factory-farmed hog slaughter grounds, where millions of sick pigs are crammed together and drugged and killed).
It is not just conspiracy-theory fodder any longer, there is quite a lot of evidence to suggest this nightmare, either nightmare, this killing virus, from killing practices, from killing appetities, from killing religious fervor, this celebrated society of killing and everything death from news media to video games to movies to literature to the words we speak every moment, deathly sprouts from the diabolical mind of man, and truly, humans are this vile, this virulent, this violent, and vain.
But whether or not the h1n1 Swine Flu virus was man-made or not, it is a moot point. It is here. It walks among us.
If you believe in evolution, then you can take comfort in the fact that plants evolve right along with viruses. If anything can keep up, to hold the balance, it is the plant world, regardless of the intent of man to crush and inhibit plant life, wipe out forests and fauna and ocean and sky. If you believe in the Bible then you know it was a far-seeing Creator who installed the balance between humans and plants, and He knows better than the most wretched human attempting to weaponize viruses.
Our best anti-virus drugs and antibacterial medicines and soaps and hair gel, do not stand a chance, ultimately. The super bug is here, alive, well, and very hungry. Scientists tremble. Drug manufacturers giggle and dance about in circles clapping their hands — job security is a good thing, in this economy, is it not?
My family has recovered from a second infection of h1n1 Swine Flu, and it was much, much worse than the first bout we faced in July of this year. I acknowledge, we might have to face it again, and it is exhausting just to even consider it. I know, I know, the experts assure me that you cannot catch this flu twice. Those silly, funny, cuddly experts. Let's get together and have a big hug. Why I...otta!
Check out the facts in the 1918-1919 Pandemic, many people caught the flu twice, three times, even four times. Some people caught the flu once, and it killed them. Others survived two bouts and were killed in a third infection. Some survived every infection. Hardly anyone was untouched, by death or disease.
I do not know what is going to happen in the next couple of months. I am no prophet and have never claimed to be one. From knowing history, and observing how the media is almost desperately lying just as they did in 1918-1919, I cannot see good on the near horizon.
But it could happen. The flu might just go away, like a little bird, flap and flap and flapping. Bye-bye birdie.
Tomorrow golden coins might rain from the sky, it is not out of the bounds of possibility. But it probably will not happen. Maybe, most likely not (still, those gold coins would be nice, huh?).
Mankind messes with the world. Mankind believes there are no consequences. Mankind loves to say the phrase "butterfly effect" but does not think very deeply about what it means, the reality of kicking a system off kilter, even slightly, and the vast tsunamis of consequences that reverberate away from that tiny little off-kilter kick. Ripples turning into waves, turning into mountains.
It is time to wake up. It is time to start thinking for ourselves. Be afraid, but be smart. Do not panic. There is hope, there is help, and there are real alternatives to the magic-bullet vaccines.
The flu is the flu, not too much different than the common cold. It is little, so little we cannot even see it. And if you cannot see it, perhaps it is not there...? Perhaps, with the bolstering wisdom of Wayne Dyer, if we tell ourselves it will not happen, it will not happen.
My family is fine, thank God, and Carolena never even got sick, and I am on the road to recovery (it is true, Mr. Coughy will be my partner for some time, but I know him well, and have beat him many times before). Best wishes, and keep fighting, and absolutely never give up.
Never, never, never, never, never, never, NEVER give up! Soldier On!
God bless you and your family!
Art et Amour Toujours
Plagues that roam the dark, epidemics that strike at noon. They will not come near you, even though a thousand may fall dead beside you or ten thousand at your right side. You only have to look with your eyes to see the punishment of wicked people. You, O Lord, are my refuge! You have made the Most High your home. No harm will come to you. No sickness will come near your house.
Psalms 91:6-10 (God's Word Translation)
