Living With Gladys Full Time

Well, a week in, and all is well in the Glad -mobil. To be honest it feels like we are on holiday at the moment and we both keep wondering when it will stop feeling like that and ‘real life’ will kick in. Given that we are not actually on holiday though and the week has unfolded quite smoothly I can only presume that both Alistair and I were both born to be ‘trailer trash’!!

I have had a slightly unsettled feeling this week though, nothing to do with Gladys, more to do with visiting a Harley Street Doctor who uses alternative /herbal supplements to treat active Prostate cancer. The guy was Ok, you know, well spoken and friendly enough,but I found merely being there , across the desk from him, created an unease  in me that I had not experienced since ‘The Worst Day’ when we saw the last Consultant who only gave hope if we opted for the cut it, burn it, poison it routine that modern day Doctoring has to offer.

Knowing me I probably would have felt a lot happier if we hadn’t been separated by the desk and had instead been seated in a couple of comfy armchairs and surrounded by crystals, wind chimes and some floaty music!

I was heartened though that we seem to be doing over and above what he recommends and also that we knew so much more than he was talking to us about.

So what came out of the consultation apart from a £300 bill?

2 blood tests, one to measure Alistairs vitamin D levels, which for those of you who are interested is crucial in combatting cancer and the second to measure his PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen), not wholly accurate but the only measure really used in charting the progression or decrease in cancer of the Prostate. I think its these measurements that make me feel shaky, the readings seem so narrow and tend to shoe horn you down a path of either good or bad, right or wrong, working or not working. Still we await the results and will tailor our efforts accordingly once we have them.

There was an upside to our day out in London though, Alistair bought me an amazing book from the College of Natural Medicine (where I am enrolled and soon to be starting a 3 year diploma in Naturopathic Nutrition) called Healing Spices. What a read, you realise don’t you that mother nature has provided absolutely everything we could possibly need to heal from  every kind of ill there is. Funny isn’t it or ironic that this healing knowledge has been passed down and used in Ayurvedic households for generations and yet in our Westernised society scientific tests are in their infancy and nobody can have it until its been proven, measured, bottled and sold! How our forefathers and olden day folk must be roaring with laughter and shaking their heads with pity at our narrow constricted medical world.

But back to the book, I don’t mind telling you that Gladys’ tiny kitchen has been working over time this week and the wonderful aromas and tastes that have been created using spices that not only taste amazing but have the potential to shrink and kill cancerous cells have been a pleasure to us both.

Unusually for us, we also got to eat out in London. A real find for us, a whole food, raw food vegetarian hang out in Neals Yard, Yay, we didn’t have to have packed lunch or home dinners that day. Im planning on another stop there in the not too distant future if anyone fancies giving it a try.

So thats the curve ball update, Alistair is well and really beginning to unwind. Financial worries have been relieved and replaced by dilemmas about macerators, grey waste and whether the cats have come home or not!

For me, this week I have finally had a chance to unwind. I have found solace under the great Oak Tree that has become fondly known as ‘Earth Spirit’. I have spent quiet mornings surrounded by my crystals, meditating and giving thanks for all that we have. I have really understood this week that the more we have the more we need and yet the less we have the less we actually need.

Happiness and contentment have been our companions this week as we have lived, laughed and loved in Gladys. I think Kirt really summed it all up when he came for the afternoon yesterday when he casually remarked “Its feels just like home mum, just a bit further away”