Right I am going to be cheeky here and use the excuse that my Dad is dying to get away with shoving four blog posts into one.
Who knew dying would be so…busy. First few days I just coped by cleaning. Dad had decided to drop alcohol completely after the doctor told him it would speed his death. So he was dealing with the recent diagnosis stone cold sober. He is not a chatty man. This made that much more pronounced as he processed. So there wasn’t much discussion the first couple of days. Then the hospice team arrived and when the verbal damn opened so did the waterworks (for me). I was a bit of a mess by the end of the day and felt I wanted to stay with him until the very end even know I knew this wasn’t possible. It was a guilt loaded sentiment. I thought of leaving him and never seeing him again was breaking my heart. In the end, I decided to plan a return trip in March and do daily skypes with him.
He has decided to prolong his death (and who of us isn’t on this mission?). He doesn’t believe he will beat the cancer but he does think he can do something nutritionally to give himself a bit more time and comfort. So he had me research what was the best diet and it looks like it would be a raw/fresh organic food vegan diet. So how did I respond in my typical fashion? I hit the bookstore. Here was my haul.
Overkill? Probably. But I figure in the sea of opinions and recipes I might be able to find something that he enjoys eating and some info that might give him a few more days with us. So why the hell not. The best book for solid research seems to be the ridiculously titled “How Not to Die.” Some of the books can be opinionated, all or nothing, this one is straight facts, research, and suggestions. LOVE IT! IT basically takes the most current research as it applies to specific diseases and boils it down tells you the why of what is known and then makes some darn good suggestions. YEAH!!! So Gluten free Vegan rich with Turmeric it is. Trying to find ways to sneak the turmeric into his food. The smoothie yesterday was a fail but I have ideas for today.
I suppose the side effect of all of this is my eating is getting cleaner by the day as well. I was very close to choosing to go vegetarian anyway and this has pushed me right into that camp anyway. By the sounds of it Craig is as well…Emma might struggle now with three vegetarians in the house with our youngest son Wills gently leading the way.
tidbit from the research –
Turmeric (the spice that makes curries yellow) apparently is one of the most effective means of killing / slowing / not triggering cancer to start with because it turns off the immortal reproduction button that the cancer cells have managed to turn on and can even kill some. This with one teaspoon a day approximately. No sideeffects either.