Being healthy is a choice. It is not an accident. Personally, I took my health for granted. So in 1995, I started to learn what a body needs to thrive. Then I started to provide those nutrients. I think the biggest lesson (from personal experience) I ever learned is that our bodies can heal you ONCE you provide the proper ingredients. Yes, even with Meniere’s Disease!
If you are willing to change things, start with just taking one step at a time.
As I became aware of my lack of knowledge, I reached out to others around me. You would think anyone in the medical community knows what is needed to be healthy.
Wrong! This information is not taught routinely. You have to do your own thinking and searching.
As I started my “health” journey, I was also overwhelmed by conflicting information: it was so frustrating! In my case, I intuitively knew I needed to “supplement” to fill in the missing nutrients. But which ones?? This wasn’t easy and many times I felt I really didn’t need to do any of this. Luckily that didn’t stop my desire to learn, to change. I needed to change my attitude to change my health, as I have proved to myself over all these years.
Strange to admit, but luckily for me, my initial teaching came from three unexpected mentors: a PD coach, a real estate developer, and a stock market trader!
This, in turn, has resulted in life-changes for thousands of people, our Meniere’s friends. Our path in life is so unknown. Here I was getting myself healthy in 1995. Then suddenly in 2000, I shared an email with David from another person with Meniere’s who used the same supplements to manage his Meniere’s.
Who could foresee the life changes for so many people!
So…this newsletter is going to be a bit unusual. I know many of you have been loyal readers for years and have followed our information and explanations of personal health conditions.
In the end, I always encourage people to get healthy and stay healthy. Allow your body to be the healer of any problems, as it is capable of being.
So…imagine being woken up at 4:00 AM December 1/21 by our son to tell me that our house is flooding and we need to figure out what to do!
As we looked around, we stood in 2 inches of water, over the entire first floor.
Over the last few days, it had been storming, but we felt our drainage system was adequate and in good shape. Frankly, we didn’t give it much thought: we just took it for granted.
Bad idea!
After 3 days of heavy rains, and the local creek’s water table being so high, everything backed up: some of it into our home!
What a mess!
All the “living areas” were carpeted. Furniture stood in water. And more water was coming in as the rain continued. At 4 AM in the morning, pump rental places are not yet open.
As you will read, I am so very grateful for many things and the very first one was a son who took charge – immediately.
A little background information…. We moved into an area which was then rural, but is now being developed as city residents move outward. City storm sewers were not yet in place. So all our storm sewers were a drainage pathway, shared amongst several neighbours, ending up in the nearby creek.
Again…. city storm sewers were not available back then, as they are now, for which I am also very grateful. It is this set-up that my quick-thinking son used to start pumping water out of the house. He put the shop vac into the shower stall and proceeded to drain the water from the house into the city storm sewer! To me, that was a brilliant idea!
As soon as the pump rental place opened, we were renting all the necessary equipment, including heaters and dehumidifiers.
The next weeks were a blur of activity, doing all the things that are necessary…using the shop vac on the carpets frequently to dry them out more quickly, room clean ups, parting with unsalvageable family treasures, and the ongoing, frequent water level watches. We also had to get the entire drainage system pumped out to make sure things would not flood again.
Well….it did!
What we didn’t realize was that with all of this water pressure and the dynamics of water, some rocks and soil shifted, and a block showed up in the neighbor’s yard!
Luckily, my son had been “programmed” by now to do frequent checks day and night. So before going off to his karate session, he checked. He saw that the drainage box was overflowing once again. You realize that being flooded like this, “conditions” you to think “flood”. You become very cautious and wary: it’s like the feeling of being “off balance” is now the new normal…
So…Back to the rental place for more equipment (and amazing support!).
I won’t bore you with the next 6 weeks of our “busyness”. Just to say it involved being home day and night. Listening to weather reports (aviation weather reports turned out to be more reliable).
Then came the snowstorms! Keep in mind we live in the “lower mainland” of BC: we don’t get a lot of snow. So we were now doing flood watches and trying to keep up with snow removal.
With so much other flooding in the Lower Mainland, we had to wait for the repair company that was going to dig up the neighbour’s yard and repair the blockage. Until that block was fixed, water could back up into our drainage box: we had 30 minutes before the house could flood if the pump failed (the float would shift).
Yes, we had sandbags, courtesy of our City. (They even offered to deliver them!)
Why was this not fixed by now?
Remember this was now the “holiday season”: fewer people were available to work.
And the repair company had its own challenges. It needed qualified staff. It needed an excavator and a driver. It needed better weather for the excavator to dig the drainage site and…it was the “holidays”.
Why am I telling you this?
Because we managed extremely well despite 24 hour pump watching, the threat of imminent flooding, scratch meals (mostly soups and scrambled eggs), and very little sleep.
Each “watch trip” to the drainage site took Bruce 5 minutes, but it took me 15 minutes. Why? Because the snow was so deep (and icy in parts) that I had to use a dandelion pick as a stick. And a stick with a sharp pick had no business near snow covered (i.e. hidden) hosing. So my route was somewhat “circuitous”… once the snow melted, I could see my tracks very clearly.
The BIG REPAIR was done January 6th & 7th. At that point, although we were relieved, happy, and confident that our flooding as an “experience” was over, I think both of us were amazed at how we managed to get through all this: no days off, no sickness (remember, it was “flu and cold season” still with lockdowns in place).
We were tired, nervous, exhausted, hungry at times, but never sick…always ready to take our shifts.
So my gratitude goes to so many people: the rental place, the neighbours who brought us Christmas dinner and shovelled the next batch of snow in our driveway, the repair company.
Personally, I am immensely grateful for a son who “just did the next thing that had to be done”. No complaints. No questioning whose turn it was.
But I think most of all, I am grateful for my healthy body. 25+ years ago, I made a pledge to myself to be healthy. To not use drugs to deal with any conditions that showed up. As a nurse (I was now also doing community nursing), I came to realize how people became so dependent on drugs, never realizing they could do things differently, without the side effects of these chemicals.
I studied and learned what my body needed to thrive. I think, through all of this flooding experience, I didn’t exactly “thrive”, but I had all the reserves I needed in a healthy body, to get me through.
Can anyone ask for more? I can’t. I am incredibly grateful for my staying power. Daily I recognize the hidden gift , the value of a healthy body.
It’s now February. Most of the cleanup is done. Trips to the local charity shops are done and recycling is almost finished.
So my message to you is to get well, stay well, and know that your body can get you through many undiscovered challenges.
As always, I am happy to help you look at your own situation. Please realize that you do not have to live with these symptoms, no matter what anyone tells you.
Respectfully …. With hope.
Karin
- If you would like a copy of our Meniere’s Disease Study Guide, please click here. This guide is a step by step journey exploring your symptoms and what may be causing them.
- If you would like more information on the system that David, and numerous others, have used, please click here; What Finally Worked.
- If you have any health questions or concerns, please feel free to Contact Us and we will be happy to share our knowledge and ideas with you.
Karin Henderson, Retired Nurse
(604) 463-8666 – Pacific Standard Time