Getting Stuck

I have this blood condition that causes my bone marrow to produce too many platelets and red blood cells, which might sound like a good thing but is really a bad thing.  For one, too much blood makes too much thick blood which makes a stroke, G-d forbid.  Since being identified a few years back, my condition has been monitored regularly, and  it appears that my platelet numbers are rising.

I can reverse the disease's course by taking a medicine with a list of side effects I'd only wish on Hitler and his friends.  So my husband and I searched the web for alternative procedures and came up with acupuncture.  After my last blood test proved discouraging, I made an appointment at the local acupuncture school for a consultation.  It's like going to a dental school to have your mouth fixed - the real dentist tells the trainee what to do and you just sit there and hope for the best.

After my initial interview (it appears my yin is in bad shape and my spleen along with it), I got into a hospital gown and laid down on the examining table.  The doctor, with her interns around her, began her examination.  She wanted to know if pressing various parts of my stomach hurt.  Well, yes, it pretty much all hurt.  I made a mental note to go to the bathroom before doing this again.

The doctor and her students conferred, I believe in Chinese, and decided on my course of therapy.  I would need at least 4 or more procedures, which involves sticking needles everywhere, including my head.  We're talking hat pin needles, and it hurt.  I thought acupuncture didn't hurt, but it does.  The pain passes, of course, but it hurt.

After being stuck in my feet, legs, stomach, hands, arms, chest and head, I had to lay still for 30 minutes.  Well, don't you know what happens when you are told not to move for 30 minutes?  Everything begins to itch, of course.  But with the lights out, I did my best to relax.

Afterwards, with all the multitude of needles removed, I was asked if I felt better.  Not really.  Well, maybe I'll feel better in the morning, they told me.  The truth is, the only alternative I have to this alternative is a leukemia medicine that can bring on the curse with the cure, so I'll be back for future treatments.  I don't know what G-d has in store for me, but I thank Him for making all of us different, with different strengths and  takes on what the body needs.

Diversity, I love it!

Pulling Another Fast One

Today was the 18th of Tammuz, the day after the 17th of Tammuz, a fast day commemorating the beginning of the end of both Batei HaMikdash, the Holy Temples.  Centuries apart, both the Babylonians and the Romans laid siege to, and eventually destroying, Jewish-held Jerusalem. We're talking thousands of years ago, at precisely the same time of the year.  No coincidences here.

Since the only fast that must be held on Shabbat when it falls out on it is for Yom Kippur, the fast of the 17th of Tammuz was pushed off until today, Sunday.  Silly me, I tried to eat as much as I could yesterday, and only ended up sick last night.  But by mid-day today, I definitely wished I had eaten even more.  I was fading fast.

But I managed to make it to a Brit Milah (never been to a circumcision without loads of food!), and then took my children to a local open library to check out books.  I couldn't wait to get home and lay down.

We broke the fast on home-made lasagna and salad, and a bit of chai green tea.  Now begins the three weeks of mourning for the way it used to be, when the Jewish people had a commonwealth and Jerusalem with a Holy Temple, a place for all the world to connect to G-dliness.  May it happen speedily in our days.

Getting Old Again

I've been studying like a madwoman for the Registered Dietitian's exam.  I went to a 2-day review session, and have been rewriting the package of information I got.  I find that if I write the information down, it somehow gets in my head that much better.

But it's tiring, and last night I took the kids to the library and brought my writing along.  About 15 minutes into it, I put my head down and fell asleep.  I hardly ever sleep in public, since I'm a mouth breather, but I was so tired I couldn't help myself.

And it felt good.  Until my son came along, and out of concern, woke me up.  Those few minutes of bliss were all I needed to keep going.  Yes, I'm fine Mendel.  Just taking a nap.  Sometimes, a little nap goes a long way.

Happy Birthday Ameerica

I have this tradition of watching the movie "Independence Day" every July 4th.  It makes me feel real good to watch a Black and a Jew save the world.  Again.  And again.  Nothing like watching space aliens eat dust.

Happy birthday to my favorite country on earth.  America may not be the only country I'm concerned about, but it's the only country I feel a part of.  Sounds silly, but I'm an American.  My father and mother were first generation Americans from immigrant parents who left Europe and never looked back.  There was never a sense of dual loyalty.  Europe, the land of Jew killers extraordinaire, never held much appeal for my family.

As a teenager, I worked on a kibbutz in Israel (obviously dating myself since shortly afterwards, many kibbutzes went out of business), and then traveled through Europe by rail.  Most people my age did that, and for the most part I encountered underlying hostility towards Americans.  There was a feeling of superiority among Europeans, especially since Nixon has recently been ousted.

In fact, one Euro, in France, approached me on the street to ask me how I felt about it.  I had been traveling,  at the time, with a Canadian, and I really got pissed.  I told this man how proud I was to be an American, and how our system works.  We got rid of a corrupt politician, and the republic held firm.  He was shocked, and ran off.  The Canadian was impressed, and me, well, I decided Europeans were just stupid.

My opinion of Europeans hasn't changed, nor my pride in my country.  Happy Birthday, America.  For all your faults, you're the best there is.  G-d bless, and keep you strong.

They Grow Up Fast

 Today was a special day - it was the Hanachas Tefilin of my youngest son, Moshe.  It is Chabad custom that a soon-to-be Bar Mitzvah boy put on his Tefilin for the first time 2 months prior to his birthday.  That's today.

Here we are, afterwards.  My soon-to-be big boy on the right, his little sister, and slightly older brother on the left.  That's me, Blondie, in the middle.
I had to shed a tear - my baby boy is almost grown up.  How did that happen so fast?  Can't I have my baby boy just a little longer?

A Day Of Miracles

Graduation Day.  A day of complete nervousness.  The ceremony was set to start at 5 pm, Shabbos was set to start at 7:48 pm.  But with the help of my friends, and an amazing administration, I walked today, got hooded, and joined the alumni of California State University, Los Angeles.

It actually started with Moav, who told me to walk the walk.  No way - and risk being stuck outside my dalet amos for Shabbos?  I ran the idea by the administration, and they told me whatever I needed, I'd get.  If that meant bumping me to the front of the line, then so be it.

Still, I spent the whole day nervous that somehow I would be late for Shabbos.  So my friend E told me to knock it off, and go immediately to the front of the line.  Still jittery, I lined up with my class, Mo and Maria arriving in the nick of time.  I had worked everything out with the ushers and marshals to go first.  They told me to wait until the last minute before going up.  I agreed.

But then the speeches dragged on, and there was no way I would wait any longer.  My friends told me to go and up I ran, to be the first graduate student hooded for the class of 2012.  Oh my gosh, it happened so fast.  Both my family and friends missed it.  But I didn't miss a moment.

Afterwards, the family and I rushed out of the stadium, jumped in the van and headed home.  It was like our own personal Red Sea, the 101 freeway, parted and we marched right through.  I have driven back and forth to campus a million times, and never have I gotten home as fast as tonight.  It was a miracle.  G-d's way of telling me I had made the right decision, and were in possession of the right friends.

Miracles all.  Proof positive that when a Jew wants to be a Jew, the world is totally okay with it.

Life Changes

I've applied for so many jobs in the last few days that I'm actually getting giddy.  It's so strange to  write in that I have a Master's degree.  A Master's!  I'm the first in my family to have a Master's degree.

I wonder when the reality of not having a job will sink in.  I'm trying not to worry, it's all in the hands of G-d and that sort of thing.  But still, I'd feel a whole lot better if I could start working tomorrow.

The truth is, I have to learn how to behave without a deadline.  I just gave up carry around my highlighters this week, to lighten my load.  Because I don't have any more articles or textbooks to highlight anymore.  I've been carting around murder novels as a way to transition to reading something other than required texts.

I remember when this all started.  I had to learn how to read text books, and really dedicate myself to studying.  Now that's all done.  Except for the studying for the Registered Dietitian exam, which I will begin shortly.

Ah.  A new day.  A new life.  Gonna miss my daily routine.