Wednesday, May 31, 2017

My Physical Restoration


 29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Isaiah 40:29 (NRSV)

In late February or early March, some four months after the major abdominal surgery I underwent last fall, at a time when I felt that I had been returned to full health, I discovered just how wrong I was in that assumption. (Please bear with me. This will be a longish post, but I guarantee the results will be worth your while!)

Of the hats I juggle, the most physically taxing is that of hobbyist farmer. Although my operation has downsized to practically nothing, it still entails covering several acres of hilly ground on foot, and moving hay bales, grain bags, and fence posts, rolls and panels.

Immediately after surgery I was forbidden to lift anything weighing more than a gallon of milk. By February/March I was again moving grain bags (50-pound sacks) short distances…even though I had been instructed to get help whenever possible.

To me, asking for help is something I can do when I feel the need. But, if I can do the task without effort, why ask someone else to help?

I was reminded of the answer when I tried to move some fencing in late winter. I call this type of fencing round pen panels because that’s where I first met these 12- and 16-foot tubular metal panels that stand nearly 5 feet tall, are easy to move, and lock together simply with metal pins.

Smart farmers with the appropriate equipment load panels onto flatbed trailers and haul the lot from site to site. Such luxuries are not available to me, so I move panels one at a time, on foot. Now, for a fifty-something woman to move these panels up and down hills, over uneven ground, can provide a good workout. I enjoy the physical exhaustion at the end of a session of panel-moving.

Liam watches Cinnamon from behind fence panels discussed in this entry.
In early March, when the grasses were greening and the weather was warming, I went to move one panel across a short distance—maybe 100 feet?) on flat (but uneven) ground. Hefting the panel with one arm, such that its “feet” lifted off the ground, I took about two steps—and had to stop. Two steps!

I thought I had perhaps missed the fulcrum point, and that an uneven load had thrown me off; however, I soon discovered this was not the case. Indeed, as I continued the task, I quickly learned that my body allowed me only two (rarely three) steps at a time before I had to stop, set down the load, lean on the fence and breathe for a couple of minutes before continuing. Each time I started off again—for about the first dozen tries—I expected that this time I would make more progress, and perhaps move a couple of fence-lengths before needing to stop again. Each time I discovered I was wrong. Very wrong.

Even though I soon realized that this task was perhaps beyond my physical capabilities, I did continue until the panel was moved. One panel. Moved from leaning against a fence to leaning against a shelter. Not useful on its own, but a small project begun.

That afternoon I spoke with a good friend who’s about 10 years my senior, and decades wiser, who advised me that this was to be expected, and that I ought to stop pushing myself and allow my body a good year to heal. A year?! Even with but a small handful of animals, I did not see how I could manage that long if I had to get help every time I needed a new enclosure. Exhausted and discouraged, I admitted my powerlessness and took a long, restorative nap.

New Dietary Additive
Fast forward ten weeks or so. In the interim I had discovered MyFlexFactor™ and begun taking it (at the lowest recommended dose) regularly. This bit of divine nutrition, with its 13 all-natural, organic, active ingredients, had reduced inflammation such that worrisome patches of eczema on my palms had completely healed, and nagging middle-of-the-night limb pain had vanished. In the interim shearing day had come and gone, an annual event that required a small enclosure (four panels would do). Although I had approached shearing day with trepidation, I was able to move four of the lightest panels downhill over a two-day period, to create a suitable enclosure. The remaining pair of fleece-bearing ruminants helped by willingly following a scoop of grain into the enclosure the morning the shearer was due. Phew! A necessary farm chore accomplished without having to recruit assistance. I could be self-sufficient, I realized, if I continued to break larger chores into the smallest of tasks and allow time (days) over which to complete them.

Results
Not three weeks after shearing day, I spent a day outside and active. My first chore was spraying an herbicide over one of the back pastures. (Yes, I use the stuff now—very sparingly—to combat one highly toxic weed that overtook our geographical area last year.) The sprayer holds about 3 gallons—or 24 pounds. Filling it requires gearing up (long pants, long sleeves, hood, mask and gloves) starting at the faucet on the side of the house, lugging the mixture uphill and over to the gate, then spraying along a hillside before returning to the house to refill.

After discharging some five loads of herbicide (three more than I had been asking my body to do on one day of late), I encountered a hole in some woven-wire fencing that required patching. That lead to patching the fence, yes, but also moving a cattle panel. (Cattle panels are welded wire steel panels, 4 feet tall by 16 feet wide. They are light but awkward to move alone.) I unfastened the panel from its location, heaved it over one portion of fence, walked downhill to cross through the gate myself, and then returned to pick up the panel, maneuver it through some woods and uphill across a grassy pasture before heaving it over another section of fence. There it lay—the beginning of what would become a chicken enclosure…another weekend.

"Mmmm, Johnson grass. My favorite!"
Tiring now, I looked at the nose-high Johnson grass that was supposed to be our front lawn, rued the fact that I cannot / do not operate gas-powered machinery alone—if someone else will prime and start a mower or weed-whacker for me, I can use them, but so far this season I had only been blessed with such help on one occasion that I used to redefine the driveway edges before running out of gas (both the weed whacker and myself)—and turned to a round pen panel found downhill in the woods.

That panel was maneuvered uphill and passed over the fence easily enough. By golly, I would finish this one task that day. Three more panels needed to be moved up hill and through a gate, but luckily the distance was short.

Between the light panels used for the alpaca enclosure on shearing day and the other panels I had gathered that morning (two of which were of heavier stock, but manageable), I was able to create an enclosure around a good patch of overgrowth, slide a large Rubbermaid water trough into the enclosure to serve as a bit of shelter from sun or rain, and get a couple of containers filled to provide water, before moving Liam—our remaining goat buck whose behavior that morning mandated he be separated from the two pregnant does—out to his new work site.
Liam Goat at work.

Only later that evening did I realize the magnitude of what I had accomplished. The work was like a “normal” day for me a year ago. Now, not two months after having been able to move only a couple of steps at a time without long pauses and total exhaustion, I was functioning again! The difference? Time and MyFlexFactor™!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for introducing this remarkable healing agent into my life! You gave me strength when I was powerless. I praise your holy name with much gratitude, and absolutely adore having another divinely-inspired, all-natural powerhouse in my personal stores to recommend to others in need. May your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.

With Gratitude,
Cynthia
31May 2017

Monday, May 15, 2017

Breaking Free from Pain: Early Results



Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4 (NRSV)

My adventures with MyFlexFactor™ are still in the formative stages, but I’m excited about the positive results I’m seeing. Here are preliminary results from two friends.

One friend, a Vietnam veteran who I’ll call Art, broke his neck in an auto wreck a few years back and continues to experience pain. After trying MyFlexFactor™, he walks more smoothly and surely, and assures me he feels better. He is taking more than the lowest recommended dose…but only because we have pestered him to do so. When I told his story to the manufacturer, Daniel recommended starting at double the usual dose and provided enough MyFlexFactor™ to give Art a solid start. 

Now, the label instructs one to take the product one capsule, three times daily, with a meal. It’s that last bit that trips up so many of my friends. “I don’t eat regular meals,” they tell me, and use this as an excuse to avoid completing the trial as instructed. So, I revised the instructions and attempted to tell everyone to take each dose with a full glass of water and, if possible, a bit of food—but not to delay a dose in the event food was not readily available.

This helped some people, but Art finally let me know that swallowing the large, “00” size, capsules was difficult due to his post-tracheotomy esophageal scarring. That made me feel badly because one of my first questions to Daniel had been to ask if the capsule itself was necessary. It is not. (I felt badly because I apparently failed to communicate this detail sooner!)

Skip the capsule and mix the contents into food or drink, I told Art, who was relieved but—like me—frustrated that it had taken so long for me to relay the information to him.

Another man with whom I’ve been working, I’ll call him Jed, also survived a horrific car wreck—wherein he was thrown clear of the vehicle—although his was some 25 years ago. After taking six months to learn to walk without a limp again, he continued to suffer with pain and weakness. These days he runs a cleaning service which means that he is forever on his feet, moving, bending, lifting, scrubbing—and in pain. After finishing his loading dose and continuing with the product for another couple of weeks, he cheerfully reported to me, “I can’t live without it!” with such conviction that it warmed my heart.

Each week I’m connecting with another person or two. Each week, I receive more positive reports. True, the supplement is not the answer for everyone, but it is efficacious enough to keep my hope alive that I can make a difference in the world—one life at a time. Thank you, Lord!

Blessings,
Cynthia
15May2017

Monday, May 8, 2017

Be a Blessing to Others




25A generous person will be enriched,
and one who gives water will get water.
26The people curse those who hold back grain,
but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.


Proverbs 11:25-26 (NRSV)

 Each day I rise with a prayer on my heart, “Lord, allow me to be a blessing to someone today.” In so many ways my prayer is answered. Today was no different.

The other day, when checking out at a local chain pharmacy, I asked the clerk how she was and her answer was equivalent to, “Meh.”

“Not outstanding?” I asked.



“No,” she replied, and then told me about how her apartment’s carpet had been saturated in a flood two days earlier and how mold was already setting in such that she cannot breathe properly to sleep at night.

My mind flashed first upon the FreshAir air purification units that effectively kill mold and mildew, especially new colonies of the stuff, and scrub indoor air clear of particles and odors. Also, I considered how MyFlexFactor™ might help with the inflammation from asthma. I wanted to share with her that I could help, but the line was such that I moved along.


After a quick trip home, I returned with my FreshAir Surround unit packed into a rolling suitcase for easy transport. The clerk—I’ll call her Jennie—took a break and I offered the unit to her on a 48-hour loan. Pleased, Jennie left with knowledge of how to operate the unit in an empty dwelling such that it would kill the mold already forming.

She also had a 10-Day Trial Pack of MyFlexFactor™, a supplement is designed to help the body heal itself. My hope was that it would help reduce the inflammation aggravating her asthma, and perhaps ease the soreness in her leg that had her limping. 

Thank you, Lord, for sending me across her path and matching the two of us that day. Your omniscient kindness is deeply appreciated.

With Gratitude,
Cynthia
08 May 2017