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| Vancouver Island, BC |
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Vancouver Island. It didn’t start off as a pleasure trip.
It began with a startling text message from my sister, Rose, who
was in an extremely perilous health condition. Having just been informed by her internist that she was at
risk of dying because her liver was not working. I acted quickly and emailed another sister, Mary, the
subject line of my email was “road trip?”
Without hesitation she responded by booking her flight, and
we agreed to meet in Victoria, BC and drive up together for the 3-hour drive to
Port Alberni where our sister was hospitalized. We had no idea what we would be seeing when we got there, but
you can imagine that our thoughts were rapidly creating all sorts of scenarios,
and, all of them grave. I even packed black clothes in case the trip ended with
a funeral.
Not letting the seriousness of the situation get us down, we
decided not to tell our sister we were coming to visit her. I think, partly because we didn’t want to
draw too much attention to the seriousness of her situation, and partly because in my family we always love
to surprise one another.
That morning in Victoria, BC, I texted Rose to let her know
that I was going on a weekend drive, and my sister Mary also texted her saying
she was going for a drive. Both of
us live about 2500 miles apart, so we hoped she wouldn’t connect the dots. Hee,
hee, hee!!!
When we got close to the hospital we sent another text, mine
stated: "Done my drive, now I will be visiting. Love you."
Mary’s text was “Thinking of you sis, and feeling so close to you.” She responded to Mary’s text saying, “discomfort
by the bloating.” Mary texted back,
“You need a distraction!”
Within minutes after the last text we were in her room. She was nowhere to be found; we looked
around the ward and then went back to her room. She was in the bathroom. Whew! We drew the curtains around her bed and waited, and when she
moved the curtain back she saw us.
Her eyes were as big as saucers, and her smile lit up the room.
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| Mary on left, Rose on right |
But she was horribly yellow with jaundice, which made the
whites of her eyes a yellowish colour, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The results of her blood tests indicated
that she was close to succumbing to a coma. My heart sank, knowing that she was
indeed in a very critical condition. However, it was encouraging to see that she was walking of her own accord and eating. She was
placed on a low protein diet.
When I saw her dinner, I must say I was not surprised, but
still I could not believe what she was served on her “special diet”. On her tray were battered fried fish, mashed
potatoes, waterlogged vegetables, canned fruit cocktail, and a glass of
milk. I could only describe the
food as dead. The food had been prepared in Toronto, all the way across the country, frozen, and then thawed on the west coast, where there is no shortage of fresh fish and other nutritious local foods. I know all
hospital food is frozen then reheated at the hospitals. This is a cost saving
method at the expense of the patient’s health when they most require nutrient
for healing.
Fortunately, I was in a position to provide Rose with fresh
pressed juices from The People's Juicery in Vancouver, BC. She had ten 16 oz. bottles of cold-pressed
juice, enough for two days. She
immediately went on a two-day juice fast, drinking water in between the life-giving green
juices.
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| Rose after I cut her hair with her bottle of cold-pressed juice from The People's Juicery |
Food is indeed medicine! If I had any reservations before this, they are certainly dismissed now. Although, I admit that the fact that we, and other people, who prayed and who visited her also gave her healing energy that help in the healing process.
We left our sister light-hearted, knowing that she was healing in an extraordinary and natural fashion. A trip that began ominously, ended with laughter, and a promise of a brighter future for Rose. It's important to remember what we put into our body becomes us, so, eat whole living foods. It's never too late to adjust your taste buds towards a healthier diet. :)
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