The chicken lady has some babies;
they’re going everywhere,
if she doesn’t watch out,
they are so little;
they will be in her hair.
Poem cred- My Cheery Yellow, Chin Up Buttercup, T-shirt Giving, Friend.
Sometimes the devil decimates the vegetable garden you have been growing from seed since February, with hail during a mini tornado, but the very next morning after that, God turns the decimation around and gives you 11 baby chicks (for free) and then your friend leaves poetic messages about it on your voicemail which makes you smile. True story- woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of a wicked thunderstorm. Looked out the window when I heard the hail popping against the windows (while shouting NO, NO, NO, to myself in my head) and noticed I could not see out very far in the storm, but I could see the torrential down pour, hail covering our deck, and wind that looked like it was swirling everything around outside. It left a mess; I’ll spare you the pictures of my broken garden and the tree leaves that it plastered on just about everything. I spent most of the day Friday, outside, working in my garden and enjoying it. In a matter of minutes on Saturday morning, the satisfaction of my hard work, and the beauty of it, was gone, and sadness filled my broken heart. But I woke up Sunday morning to find that we had been blessed with 11 chicks in our new chicken adventure- a new thing born out of the windy ash heap of stormy chaos, 11 unplanned chicks born in our back yard, born with no effort made on our part, other than giving their parents some of our woods to call home.
I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning up and then moved forward by planting my pole bean seeds, which upon further inspection, turned out to be bush beans of the same Blue Lake variety. I suppose I should update my resume to read-
used to be detail oriented, but not so much anymore.
I came this close to having a green bean meltdown, not really, but for drama’s sake I did stop myself from letting my mind shout swear words at myself for not paying better attention to what I was doing, but in my defense, I had this newsletter on my mind, so there’s that. I did decide to make some cheery, lemon-yellow, lemonade out of my bean mistake though by trying a new thing- I went back down the same newly planted row of bush beans and planted the pole beans in between them. If it works, I’ll have an early crop of bush green beans to add to my pole bean crop that usually produces after the bush beans are done making beans. My bush bean growing plans had previously been abandoned due to a heavy weed and grass seed bank presence that has been giving me fits for years. Why I hung on to the seeds, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure that harmonious organic JADAM farming technique I read about never met unharmonious weeds and grass like this before. I think I got today’s bean growing SNAFU inspirations from Clarkson’s Farm since me and the chicken whisperer just finished up season 3, which was as full of farming struggles and successes as the first 2 seasons, and oddly enough, included a cancer diagnosis (in this season 3) for one of the real-life cast members. It seems as if every time I turn around there’s another cancer diagnosis coming at me from somewhere. I shared this cancer anecdote with my acupuncturist during my last appointment, and he mentioned things like stress, lack of getting enough good quality sleep, smoking cigarettes, and dietary choices that make the body acidic as being the major causes of our cancer problem. After this very same appointment, the hubs and I visited the dermatologist who let the hubs know that what he has is sun damage and not skin cancer. After that, and a late Mother’s Day lunch date for me, we popped in to visit a young man in his early 20’s who is a testicular cancer survivor. I gave him one of our cheery yellow Leaving Death in the Dust t-shirts. He has an interest in organic farming, I hope he is as successful in making his organic farm vision a reality as he was in overcoming cancer.
I see stress as a root cause in my acupuncturist’s list of cancer causers as it probably contributes to a lot of sleep problems, cigarette smoking, and the making of poor dietary choices.
I want a life free from C.S. Lewis’ undulations. I could do without the stress and the Downs, just give me the Jesus of Peace and Love and the Ups. I want something, as Nancy Guthrie wrote, Even Better Than Eden. Unfortunately, you don’t get to experience the thrill of the peak of the roller coaster ride without traveling to and through the roller coaster valley. I’m a firm believer that this world can’t offer me anything that could ever satisfy the desires of my heart like living in The New Eden with Jesus will someday, and I’m quite sure that I’ve probably been longing for something peaceful and perfect from birth which is why my grandmother used to called me an old soul and which is also why I have no desire for fame, fortune, or the fornication that accompanies such things. I’m not the cool, famous, rock star or the groupie or the rebellious and adventurous run-away flight attendant of a sister in that movie about almost being famous. I think I find myself in that story somewhere between the psych professor mom who continually tells her son not to do drugs (which is really mom code for- I gave you your life and love you, don’t do things to yourself that will kill you) and the 15-year-old truth telling journalist (the enemy of the band) who has had his eyes opened to the fact that he will never be rock star cool and that being a deep thinker while having the ability to often see through other people’s crap will complicate your friendships and have consequences, especially if you have been hired by popular magazines to write the truth about famous living. Yep, I’m that person who will stick with what I’ve started even if it’s a movie about almost being famous like rock stars in the 70’s in which people are often doing things that are bad for them, which drives me crazy because staying alive is important.
As I leave you with this edition of our newsletter to think about, ponder the stress science and what you can do to better manage the stress in your life-
Stress is an inevitable part of life. Chronic stress on account of reasons like adversity, depression, anxiety, or loneliness/social isolation can endanger human health. Recent studies have shown that chronic stress can induce tumorigenesis and promote cancer development. This review describes the latest progress of research on the molecular mechanisms by which chronic stress promotes cancer development. Primarily, chronic stress activates the classic neuroendocrine system [the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis] and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and leads to a decline and dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus under stress. Stress hormones produced during the activation of both the HPA axis and the SNS can promote tumorigenesis and cancer development through a variety of mechanisms. Chronic stress can also cause corresponding changes in the body's immune function and inflammatory response, which is significant because a long-term inflammatory response and the decline of the body's immune surveillance capabilities are implicated in tumorigenesis. Stress management is essential for both healthy people and cancer patients. Whether drugs that limit the signaling pathways downstream of the HPA axis or the SNS can suppress chronic stress-induced cancers or prolong patient survival deserves further study.
Best wishes,
Stephanie
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. This is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.
Subscribe to ensure you stay connected and to be a part of our healing community (every edition will go straight to your inbox).
What you get with a subscription:
Free Subscription:
Access to some of the educational content in our newsletters which are primarily about long covid and/or cancer and restoring metabolic/mitochondrial health.
Paid subscription, monthly or annual:
Access to all of our newsletter content.
Founding Member Subscription (PAID):
Request a newsletter topic- ask me to research and write about something you are interested in learning more about in regard to cancer, covid, and/or mitochondrial health.
Bonus Links-
Reflections: THE LAW OF UNDULATION - C.S. Lewis Institute (cslewisinstitute.org)
12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Cute baby chicks!