Latest Video Explaining RSD/CRPS from "RSD Doesn't Own Me"

Ketamine Coma for Severe RSD/CRPS

My daughter as you know has RSD/CRPS in both legs, and is in a wheelchair.  She is not, however, considering a Ketamine coma, and neither am I.  She does want to try a Ketamine infusion, but the doctors she has seen are refusing to do it.  They keep saying she needs to 'force herself to work through the pain.'  How much do they really understand about this disease?

We will try to find out if it is possible to do this treatment (the infusion) after we get there next week.  Here is a video of a girl with extremely severe RSD/CRPS who decided to undergo the Ketamine coma treatment.  It is frightening to watch.  Please pray for my daughter...

Phyllis Chesler Tells the Truth-Again

An Emerita professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at CUNY, Phyllis Chesler is an active feminist and has been extremely outspoken in her pro-Israel stance.  She has written often about the world's obsession with and accusations against Israel, calling it an apartheid state, railing against its 'occupation of Palesinian land' et al.

Here she does it again, calling attention to the U.N.'s totally ignoring the plight of Hindu refugees, and drawing a parallel between Jews and Hindus who have both been persecuted and driven out of their holy places throughout history.  In a speech she gave in Pune, India via Skype, she stated:

When one tries to talk about Islamic religious and gender apartheid or about Islamic terrorism, one is immediately demonized as an “Islamophobe” and a “racist.” One loses one's reputation as a “good” person. One also loses one's friends and employment possibilities.
This has just happened to one of India's true heroes, Dr. Subramanian Swamy at Harvard University. I have recently written about this and will say a few words about this travesty shortly. Today, a person may find herself on trial for committing the crime of “hate speech” by telling the truth about certain Islamic practices. This is happening all over Europe. One is censored. One begins to censor oneself. Cartoons that offend, criticism, however accurate, that offends…Muslim fundamentalists and their western supporters, are simply not published.
The speech, the illustration, is seen as the “provocation.” The violent response is overlooked. Let me be clear. Not all Muslims are terrorists. But today, most terrorists are Muslims. Many Muslims wish to live in peace, yearn for peace. And yet, they do not risk standing up to their Islamist leaders. Those who do are in prison or have already been tortured or murdered.
But let the facts be known. Eighty million Hindus were slaughtered by Muslims in only five centuries. Hindu Temples became mosques and masjids. Even today, Muslims are entering India illegally and carrying along with them both criminals and terrorists.

 The only "refugees" the U.N. cares about are the fictional Palestinian ones, whose leaders are living quite well, thank you, on UNRWA money.  The UNRWA doesn't care about the Hindu Kashmiris, or any others, because the U.N. is a "morally bankrupt" institution which, in her words (and I agree), should not be supported by the United States. 

Black is white and white is black.  The world is hurtling towards its end.

One Week Left...

I have been "sick" since Chanukah with my acute nasopharingitis or chronic rhinosinusitis or GERD or whatever the heck this is, having been diagnosed, re-diagnosed, and misdiagnosed by various and sundry doctors, forever!  That is why the word 'sick' is in quotes.  I still, after all these years with the same symptoms, have no idea what this is that I have.  I have had no fever, no muscle aches, and alternately feel weak, tired, and constantly coughing up...well, never mind. 
And I'm leaving for Israel in a week.  Just great.  Today I am feeling a bit better, but still coughing up, and losing my voice.  How to teach in that situation? No clue.  I do have a doctor appointment with my new (yes, another doctor) physician on Thursday, but that leaves very little time to get Rxs and rest up before flying.

We will be in Israel for six weeks, and probably most of the time we will be helping our daughter, Rambo, with moving to another apartment, if she's found one, visits to the hospital, etc.  We will be seeing our grandchildren (whom my D. H. has never seen) and spending time with our children.  There are friends, old friends from thirty years ago, whom we want to see, several up North, from Haifa to Ma'alot--but with our crazy schedule (we will also be going to the U.S. Embassy and Sochnut) I don't see how we can.  In other words, this is not a touristy 'fun trip.'

I am stressed out, which is probably contributing to my illness.  In addition, we have to plan for the end of the trip in New York, where we will be for my niece's wedding. Where to stay, what to do for Purim and se'udat Purim--and how to do all this without spending lots of $$$, which this trip is going to cost us, anyway.  Now, I really feel old.

Here's to wellness, energy, and family--unstressed!

Orchard of Delights: A Beautiful Book, Inside and Out

                                                  
 While in Israel this past summer, I bought Rabbi Trugman's (of Ohr Chadash) new commentary on the Torah, Orchard of Delights, recently reviewed in the Baltimore Jewish Examiner.  I had already been listening with rapture during Shabbatot at my younger son's home to several divrei Torah, or Torah lessons (literally,"words" of Torah), which he gave over at his Shabbat table from Rabbi Trugman's book.  The manner in which RavTrugman interweves the spiritual and physical filled me with wonderment. His teachings lend credence to physicist and theologian Gerald Schroeder's philosophy manifested in his books (two of which I have read, and a third, God According to God, which I am currently reading), that not only does science not disprove the veracity of the Torah, but rather the opposite--and that the two, Torah and Science, are compatible and even interdependent.  From the introduction to Dr. Schroeder's book, God According to God:

Albert Einstein discovered that matter is actually pure congealed or condensed energy, energy in the form of solid matter. Everything from our bodies to boulders on a mountain is made of the energy of the big-bang creation. The scientific discoveries of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have gone a step farther in closing ranks with the creation, finding that matter and the energy from which matter formed are made of something totally ethereal. In physics we call it information or, more extreme, mind. In the words of the knighted mathematician James Jeans, the world looks more like a great thought than a great machine. Biblical theology agrees totally, telling us, as we will learn, that God used a substrate of wisdom with which to build the world. This Divine wisdom or mind is present in every iota of the world's being. It explains how the energy of the creation, essentially superpowerful light beams, could become alive and sentient, able to feel love and joy and wonder. Divine wisdom was and is present, guiding and forming the way.

So too, in the Rabbi's magnum opus, the physical and metaphysical are intertwined, shedding new light on the meaning of the Torah--the Old Testament--for our time.

For those of you who missed the live webcast (see my previous post), here it is in its entirety.  Sit down with a cup of coffee or cacao cham* (tea is good, too) and enjoy the depth of the Torah learning in the video below.  Especially pay attention to the mention of the revelations of quantum physics with regard to what we think of as the "real world," starting from around 35:00.
Happy learning. 




*cacao cham: hot cocoa

New Shiur Live NOW!

This is a bit crazy, posting a blog post about a live webcast, but here is it anyway: Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman is giving a shiur (Torah lesson/lecture) right now, right here: http://www.bethereisrael.com/live

Live, learn, and expand your minds in 2012!

Last Post of the Year

The way I've been not posting at all, this could be just the last post. There have been so many events to write about, from Israel sending aid to Nigeria to bombing targets in Sudan.  From the insanity of the Haredim spitting at an 8 year old girl because she was not modestly dressed to their standards, to Syria considering Israel as an enemy forever, to the crazy changes in the Republican contenders for president of the U.S., with Cain out, Gingrich in but slipping, and Romney moving forward, all towards the Iowa caucus in a few days.

But the only thing I can think of right now is my daughter, Rambo, who is still in a wheel chair and not doing well.  All her therapies have stopped.  The hospital is throwing their hands up, not understanding that her therapies must continue even if she is not showing much progress.  She also needs to leave her apartment (she is not happy their, for reasons which I will not go into now), and doesn't even know where to look, if she won't continue therapy at this Tel-Aviv hospital.

We (my D.H. and I) are going to visit her and the rest of the mishpachah towards the end of January.  Maybe we can accomplish something and help her.  At least, we'll be with her and her siblings and their families for a long awaited visit.

The next time I will be posting, it will be "next year" already.  For those who celebrate the secular New Year, have a happy and safe New Year.  2012.  It will take me a week to write the correct year on checks.  Oh wait, I use a debit card...

Beautiful Presentation on Health

There are plenty of subjects to write about, but I have little time these days to just "sit" at the computer.  And Dr. Mike Evans agrees: don't sit so much!
Here is a beautiful presentation on how to improve our health, by not sitting (I'd better get up from the pc right about now...).