Hey Folks!
As many of you know, I had a little unexpected brain surgery a few weeks ago. It turned out my meninges got bored and grew a nice sausage in the middle of my brain to surprise me with so my life could be interesting and I could have fun things to write blog articles about. My meninges are very thoughtful little guys.
Late last year, I started having some vision issues in my left eye and, after lots of diagnostics, the doctors discovered I had a benign brain tumor squishing my optic nerve and got all excited about cutting it out. Since I wasn’t doing anything that day and they were sooo excited, I decided to let them do the surgery so they wouldn’t be disappointed.
I drove down to Salt Lake City and a nice man strapped me to an ironing board and proceeded to puddle around in my noodle for about nine hours. When I heard the procedure would likely take all day I asked if there was going to be a snack break. I mean, after all, they’d made me skip breakfast. You’d think for the kind of dough they charge for the visit, that they’d include a snack! But no…NO SNACK.
After the surgery, I woke up in the neurosurgery ICU. For two days, a nice nurse came in every half hour or so and asked me my name, made me count fingers and wiggle my toes, and asked me what day it was. I never knew what day it was…so they knew my brain was working just as well as it did before the surgery.
The pain from the surgery was actually very mild in my noggin but my sacrum and sciatic nerve were killing me. Apparently, being immobilized on a surgery table all day made my lower back pretty mad. I could scarcely walk due to the pain. Fortunately, the only pain medication they offered was Tylenol because they didn’t want me to take anything that would interfere with their ability to assess my brain function. Unfortunately, Tylenol didn’t touch my back pain so I rarely bothered. They also put me on an anti-seizure medication as a “preventative measure” because having brain surgery can make your brain grumpy and occasionally cause a seizure…which makes your brain even more grumpy…Nothing worse than a grumpy brain.
After a week or so of being in the hospital, my sweet wife took me home. As soon as we got there she took me into the office and put me on the massage table. My wife is an herbalist, a midwife, and a naturopath. The first thing she did was spray my sacrum with two tinctures, Rest Easy and Muscles-NoMoSpazms. The Rest Easy formula is a wonderful combination of nervine herbs that help with lots of things like insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks, and most importantly for me that day, nerve pain. Muscles-NoMoSpazms is a combination of anti-spasmodic herbs that relax crampy muscles. After giving the topical tinctures a minute to soak in and do their work, she did naprapathy on my sacrum as well as tuning fork acupuncture and Chinese cupping. Half an hour later, I got off the table and was vastly better. Several days later my sacrum popped out again. Fortunately, my son-in-law was visiting. He’s a physical therapy student. We sprayed the two tinctures on again and he roinked my legs a bit for a minute and I was good as gold again.
So, why didn’t I take those great formulas internally? Well, because I was taking an anti-seizure med internally and it was a med that didn’t like herbs at all.
Some medications are pretty anti-social that way.
Topical application of those particular formulas did just as much good and posed none of the risks of taking them internally with that med.
Another fun thing about the anti-seizure medication was that it completely shut down my guts. The doctors anticipated this and sent me home with all kinds of laxatives and such. Sorry, but I wasn’t going down that road. My guts were already a mess from one drug. I wasn’t going to give them another one to confuse them or give them a dependency. Besides, I had a much better tool. Years ago, a dear and brilliant friend of mine, physical therapist Sharik Peck, invented a remarkable tool, the The Rezzimax Tuner. The Rezzimax Tuner uses specific frequency vibrations to stimulate normal nerve function and counter abnormal nerve function. It is very useful for pain and for nerves that have forgotten what the heck it was they were supposed to be doing all day. One of these days I’ll write a full blog article about that amazing tool. Anyway, we contacted Sharik and told him my guts were asleep. He gave me a simple protocol that required nothing more than putting the tuner on my belly button and running it through two different frequency cycles. Fifteen minutes later, I had very happy guts which have remained happy ever since. The Rezzimax Tuner is also amazing for countless other things including pain, TMJ, headaches, emotional issues, and lots more. Like I said, one of these days I’ll write an article about it.
So, why is it that I didn’t just take some of my great Colon-Constant Patience Formula for my epic constipation instead? Because some of the herbs in that formula wouldn’t behave well with the anti-seizure medication. The Rezzimax Tuner provided a different modality that worked beautifully.
After three weeks on the anti-seizure med, my brain suddenly started having one of the serious and common side effects that medication often causes, suicidal depression. Yay fun. Fortunately, I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky, optimistic guy so when my brain told me that life was terrible and that I should go find a tall building to jump off of, I explained to it that my dog didn’t mean anything by looking at me that way and that it should probably not be so melodramatic. I’d been on the medication for three weeks and was directed to be on it for four. Three seemed like enough to me even though there were no tall buildings in my living room. Besides, getting off that med opened the door for me to do some other important herbal things I wanted to do internally. So, being a medical guy and having weighed out the risks, pros and cons of the situation, I decided to quit taking the seizure med and gave my body a couple of days to clean things out and then got started on some serious internal herbalism. Within 24-36 hours, my brain felt happy and normal again and I headed to the herb cabinet.
The first thing I wanted to do was to render some aid to my injured optic nerve. The best thing for that is my Memory & Alertness Formula. I usually use that formula to get past three in the afternoon without a Mountain Dew, or to get through a long herb conference, or to help me remember my kids’ and grandkids’ names (there are a lot of them!). But I have also used it repeatedly over the years on brain and nerve injury cases; usually immediately following strokes. I’ve had excellent success with this because the formula contains ashwagandha and ginseng both of which promote healing of brain and nerve tissue. It also contains ginkgo which helps brain circulation and thus delivery of the goods. My plan is to give my optic nerve the resources it needs and see what it can do for itself. By the way, don’t take the Memory & Alertness Formula right before going to bed. Nobody wants to have to count that many sheep! So don’t take it after about 3 pm unless you’re driving home late some night and want to stay awake.
Speaking of sleep, my next step was to get some. The anesthesia drugs and the anti-seizure med had gotten my sleep cycles all wonky. So, for a couple of nights, I took a little Rest Easy, internally this time, a half-hour before bedtime. It worked like a charm. I can’t tell you how many insomnia cases I’ve addressed with this formula over the years. Most folks don’t need to take it for very long as their brains figure out pretty quickly what they were supposed to be doing at night. I only had to take it three times.
Next, I wanted to clean up my system and get the remnants of the drugs out of it. How do you do that? Liver Support and Liver Builder. The liver is the primary organ for the elimination of chemicals and toxins from the body. Pretty soon here I’ll also probably do an herbal cleanse with the Herbal Cleanse Kit. It’s getting to be spring; so it’s time anyway.
I also wanted to feed myself a little better. I was astounded at the nutritional offerings at the hospital…Nicest people in the world but very little actual food. So, I’m upping the nutritional ante with some of the Nutritive Formula. It contains a lot of high-vitamin and high-mineral, deep-rooted critters to feed my innards and give my body what it needs to heal up. I like the powdered form best. That way you get the fiber too. The Pre-biotic Formula is a good idea as well. I suppose that they gave me a good dose of antibiotics during the surgery to keep me from dying of encephalitis (which is a good idea). Antibiotics can be pretty tough on the gut bacteria so some good fermented foods and/or probiotics can be a plus. The Pre-Biotic Formula is also excellent because it’s chock full of plants that the gut flora love.
Lastly, about a week ago, I started feeling sick…like I was coming down with something. I started coughing and sneezing and feeling lousy. Interestingly, coughing and sneezing isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be, and I was a little concerned that my noodle might completely disintegrate every time…I mean it REALLY hurt. So, I grabbed the three formulas I always grab when I think a respiratory virus wants to play; Cold Away, INFXN-ShooFloo, and Immunity Support. I took each one several times a day. Within the first 12 hours, I was feeling pretty normal and haven’t sneezed or coughed since. Of course, I took it for a couple of days even after I felt better because that’s the smart thing to do.
What? No comfrey? Comfrey or The Poultice Formula are really great for accelerating healing. I have an incision from the middle of my forehead down to my ear. My brain apparently isn’t very big and they had to make a big hole to find it. They peeled half my face off and made a hole in my skull. About a week after surgery, I started accumulating some fluid under the skin. This didn’t surprise or alarm me because I see it all the time when I do surgery on animals’ heads. You can’t suture the tissue back to the skull so there is always a little empty space that the body sometimes likes to fill with nice, sterile serum. My first inclination in such a case would usually be to use some Comfrey or some Poultice Tincture topically. But I didn’t. Why not? Well, comfrey markedly accelerates cell division. That’s why it shortens healing time. It would have been great for healing up the incision and decreasing the production of serum under the skin by leaky, alarmed tissues. But, in my particular case, I also had an exceptional complication. Inside my brain was a benign tumor. They got virtually all of it out; even on a microscopic level. But there are likely still a few of those pesky little cells in there. The good news is that this particular tissue grows extremely slowly and will likely never be an issue again for me. Unless of course I markedly accelerate its cell division rate and make it really happy by giving it some comfrey. So, in this case, though the risk of topical comfrey on my head causing an issue was pretty low, the risk of the subQ fluid causing a problem was even lower so I passed. I love comfrey and use it on cases all the time. But I don’t use it to help tumors behave. That could be a bit like using gasoline to put out a fire. Bad idea. If the topical comfrey were going to be applied anywhere else on my body, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But applying it a few inches from those rascally meninges cells who were so excited to grow fun, new things for me, felt like a bad idea.
So, that has been my post-surgical herbal journey. I’ve felt really blessed to have such wonderful weeds in my life. I’ve also felt tremendously blessed by your prayers, kind thoughts, and support. My recovery is going well. God is good. His plants are good, and all of you nice children of His are good.
Thank you so much,
Doc Jones
HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine
How Your Own Herbal Interventions Can Help Doc’s Noodle…And His Wallet…And Your Own Wallet.
Because I’m a health-conscious herbalist who is rarely sick…and when I am sick I just use weeds from my backyard, I chose to have a wondrously-high insurance deductible.
To celebrate my good sense in cooking my own financial goose by having a real-man deductible, we are having a “Help Doc Pay The Doc” Sale.
Everything on the site is 15% off!
Please feel free to buy lots and lots of herbs, herb school enrollments, books, Kits, DVDs or whatever else makes you feel happy and healthy inside to help ‘Ol Doc shovel some dough at the nice brain surgeon and hospital. :0)
Get 15% OFF SITEWIDE with coupon code “helpdoc”
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. Really amazing how we become our own lesson material. Thank you for the constant education and thank you, especially, for agreeing to the journey you are on in this life-cycle.
I think one of the principle purposes of this life is for us to have experiences to help us to learn and grow and strive to become better versions of ourselves. No sense fussing when the teachers show up. :0)
I have to reveal that your story brought up one of my deepest fears, that despite attempting to feed, nourish, and nurture myself holistically, some unknown Rascal could be brewing inside. And then I wonder if I am prepared. Thanks for all the insight, much love and prayers.
There are great advantages to driving carefully and watching all the signs along the highway of life. But there are still occasional pot holes we didn’t expect. Don’t worry about those in advance. Just learn what you can to take care of yourself as best you can and enjoy the drive.
Very good wisdom, thank you. I am so grateful you are well and writing your stories again.
Carmen
Thanks Carmen
Thank you for sharing your journey. What an amazing recovery! God IS good and His herbs are amazing. I know you had many prayer warriors out there during this time. I’ll be taking advantage of the sale to help with those pesky doctor fees(I can’t imagine!) Take care!
Thank-you Christie. I really appreciate your kindness and support. :0)
While I was reading your story about the tinctures you used, it dawned on me that I had purchased several oral tinctures I could use for my sinus infection which is in the sinus canal under my lower teeth. There has been excruciating pain in my teeth and gums. So, I pulled out the cloves tincture and rubbed it on my gums and teeth and I had immediate relief.
Thank you again for writing about your experiences. If I hadn’t read your post I would still be in extreme pain. I told my sister, “Doc Jones to the rescue again”.
Yeah cloves are wonderful for numbin’ the gums when they’re sore. Glad it’s helping. :0)
Get well soon and I will be waiting for your next update. Prayers for your health and praise God for all the blessings he has given you…
Thank-you Deborah. Praise God indeed. I’d have learned great things from Him regardless of how He’d had all of this turn out. But I’m quite thankful He had it turn out like He did.
I am glad that you are recovering! Been wondering how you’ve been doing. It’s good to see you back!
Oh! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
Thanks Kathy. Good to be back. :0)
Oh! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
Thanks but that was actually a different Patrick…though I do play the Irish flute and did have a lot of pet snakes as a kid.
Yes, I was just going to ask you about that! One of the instruments that I used to play was a wooden recorder; which came very easily for me. I miss it. I’ve not played the Irish flute, though. It’s hard to find a good quality wooden recorder or flute. Even the wooden recorder sounds “plastic”. Ugh!! I think I remember you delegating your flute store to someone else when you got a lot busier with herbs. Is that store still open for business?
As for being another St. Patrick, you have a lot of saintly character traits in you that qualifies you for such a title. Not that I find playing with snakes very appealing, I’ll leave that to you!
Nevertheless, most things “Irish” calls to me. It was quite interesting that my Ancestry DNA results showed that I am more Irish than anything else. It really explains a lot. That’s a long story that I can leave for another day. I’m sure you’ve got plenty other things to get to. 🙂
Yes, I used to own the business Irishflutestore.com just for fun. I sold it to Blayne Chastain who’s doing a great job with it. It’s easy to find a good Irish flute or whistle there.
So appreciative of you sharing your journey and valuable insights with us. Truly inspiring! Nice to see your sense of humor is full speed ahead? Sending prayers and heartfelt wishes for continuing to a complete recovery.
Thanks Paula.
Doc, I sure am,happy you are on the mend. As always thank you for sharing your knowledge.plesss behave and do not rush things!!
That’s very good advice Arnie. I always tell folks I work with that have had some sort of serious medical condition to keep their foot off the gas pedal while they’re healing up. A little extra time and care pay good dividends in the long run.
Thank you for sharing your journey and sending out an update – have been thinking of you and sending healing prayers.
Thank-you Deb. I appreciate the prayers.
Thrilled to hear you are doing better, AND you still have your sense of humor. Messing with the head sometimes changes personalities. We’ve prayed for your health multiple times a day and
count your recovery and the herbs all apart of his miracle.
Adventures ahead!!
Yes. The Surgeon said my sense of humor was pathologically tangled up with everything else in my brain and that he couldn’t do anything to remove it.
Thank you for your sweet prayers.
So glad you are doing well and haven’t lost your sense of humor!
Thanks Deb.
Thank you so much for this extensively informative and entertaining update! Prayers were heard and I’m glad to have your newsletters back in my email!
Thank-you Sue. I’m grateful for your support. :0)
Thanks for the health update. Joan and I wish you the happiness of a gopher in loose dirt. Keep on keeping on and enjoy the day. Speedy recovery to you!
Thanks Larry & Joan.
So very happy you are speedily recovering! Would be lost without your humorous blogs! God bless you!
Glad you enjoy the blogs Shirley. Thank-you. :0)
Great to hear from you! Thankful that you are progressing forward little by little. You are correct: God is good, always. Prayers for a full uncomplicated recovery continue. I’ll scoot over to the “store” and see if there is anything I can’t live without :).
Thank-you Diane. I appreciate it.
I love your after surgery plan! God has protected and kept you because he has lots more for you to do! You are his gift to humanity! I appreciate all you do for God and his creation ?????⚘
You’re very kind Wynette. All of us can and should be His gifts to others. I think that’s the big plan. Sometimes God takes someone home. Sometimes He leaves them here. In either case, I suspect He has plenty for them to do to bless others.
I am so happy you are doing well. I have kept you in my prayers the past few weeks! I am also glad you didn’t lose your sense of humor, because we need that in the world!
Thank-you Rebecca. I’m so grateful for your kindness and support.
Hey Doc, I’m so glad to hear of your speedy recovery and your reasoning as to how to use herbs around the RX drugs. Your terrific view of all the critters in and around our lives whether they be human, or otherwise. Even when you’re not really trying to make a joke, I love your approach to things that may be difficult to deal with.
As a student in your School of Botanical Medicine, I know I’m gaining knowledge about how to better care for myself and family. There are many weeds growing on our 15 acres, some I’ve been able to identify, many more to learn. Thank you for your tending to our growing in self-sufficiency.
Thanks Loretta. I’m glad you’re enjoying the school and making new green friends on your place. :0)
We are so glad to hear you’re on the mend! We’ve been keeping you in our prayers and were anxious to hear an update. So glad the surgeon wasn’t able to eradicate your wonderful sense of humor! Take whatever time you need to heal and recover. Looking forward to continued learning in the school and your posts.
The surgeon was a wonderful guy and did a really great job. I’d guess his back was as sore as mine from hunching over a microscope for nine hours.
Thank-you for your prayers. I’m very grateful.
So glad to hear that you are on the mend and appreciate how you incorporate herbs with prescriptions. Am also grateful that God has answered our prayers for your healing. Know that He has much more work for you to do and am grateful for your humor, insight, and for a loving family that can assist you now. You are a blessing and always look forward to what you share on herbs. Thank you for keeping us informed on how you are doing. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!!!!
Thank-you Roxy. I appreciate your prayers and kindness.
I’ve been praying for you and am so happy that you’re recovering and getting better each day! Many many thanks to you for all that you teach us about herbs, wellness and lessons learned. I just got my “When there is no doctor” from Marjorie’s site and am already learning so much. Blessings to you and your family! Keep us posted on your progress.
Thank-you for your prayers Delores.
When you are ready to upgrade to the full school, let me know and I’ll give you a discount code to honor your When There is No Doctor purchase.
Forgive me but what is this magical site? …and who is Marjorie? I’d love to learn more.
Glad to hear you’re recovering well. You are a gift to many and I have learned so much from you. Thank you!!
Marjory Wildcraft from The Grow Network. She is an affiliate for my “When There Is No Doctor Course which is a part of my full school program as well.
You can get the When There is No Doctor course here:
https://homegrownherbalist.net/product/when-there-is-no-doctor/
The full school is here:
https://homegrownherbalist.net/about-the-school/
Both are on sale right now at 15% off. Remember that the full school contains the When There Is No Doctor course too. If you do the No Doctor course so if you do that one and decide to do the full school later, there is a discount on your enrollment.
Glad to hear you’re making a good recover. My late father had a benign tumour many years ago, near the stem, which risked impacting on his ability to move, not just walk. The operation was successful, and for a while he was even quite good tempered, though too late as I’d left home some years before.
I remember when I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy many years ago. I was given loads of info, including about the medications I could be prescribed, and possible side effects. (Being in UK, this was on the NHS, so no cost to me aside of the minimal amount deducted from my salary) I looked at this info, & my conclusion was that the side effects sounds worse than what I was experiencing when I got stressed or looked at green flashing lights (in the days when cash machine displays were green & flickering). So my doctor got me an appointment with the best neurologist in London (or the head Head man, I he called himself when we met). Having looked at my test results & talked to me, he gave his blessing for me to forego any prescription meds, as my condition was mild enough to not put me at undue risk. He was a little surprised, but not unduly worried, when I told him what I ingested to held me recover from any attacks I did have – a small amount of good quality chocolate. To this day, I try to make sure I have some at least a couple of times a week as a preventative.
Pharmaceuticals are powerful things and can often cause some serious side effects. My mother in law came to live with us for her last days. She had significantly impaired memory, no balance and significant physical weakness and was, personality-wise, nothing like she’d been all her life. She was on about 20 medications, most of which were to control the side effects of others she was on. My wife and I looked at the meds list when she arrived and were appalled.
We took her to a local physician who was also appalled and he took her off all but one or two of them. She went through withdrawals for about six months (which was no fun) and then had a great memory, was mentally fit, not crazy and was physically in great shape for her age. For years physicians had been adding meds every time she went to the doctor or hospital without looking at all the other stuff she was on. Many of the drugs she was taking were only indicated for short-term use and she’d been on them for years.
Pharmaceuticals, as I said, are very powerful, useful tools. But, like all powerful useful tools, they need to be managed with great care so they don’t do more harm than good.
I must say, it takes a certain kind of inner strength and resilience to make that leap from harrowing personal experience to opportunity for sharing some life lessons. You are a wealth of knowledge, a delight for all who appreciate a finely honed sense of humor, and a very special sort of human being. Prayers have been answered and you’re back at it. May you have many days of clear sailing, bright skies and the bloom of good health, surrounded by everything, and everyone, you love. Thank you, always, and God bless!
I look forward to the sail. Thanks for your prayers Wendy. :0)
In 2017, I had an 2 cm ACTH immunoreactive tumor removed from around my pituary gland, optic nerve and carotid arteries. I can identify with your neuro ICU fun and pain meds (but I got benadryl as well to help me sleep). Other than my optic nerve and pituitary stalk being permanently bent (not unlike my humor), most of my vision is back. This is what caused me to change my lifestyle towards herbal medicine. Miraculously, my tumor was clinically silent, or I would have exhibited Cushing’s disease. God is good, and I’m glad He brought you through things safely.
That’s exactly where my rascal was…squishing my optic nerve and pituitary and threatening my internal carotids. When the surgeon was going over the location and risks with me prior to surgery it made me remember a time in veterinary school when I was doing surgery a horse’s neck. My professor leaned over my shoulder and said “Careful Jones. There’s a lot of stuff with names right there.”
I’m glad your surgery worked out well Terry. :0)
Hi Doc, I am so glad to have you back in our lives, getting better with each day that passes. I have missed the wisdom and humor you bring to us as you give us nuggets of wisdom. Still have you in my prayers, as God has you in his hand for continued healing. We all love you.
Thank-you Norma. I appreciate it.
Your neurons are definitely not social distancing! Great writing and humor! Welcome back!!
Yeah the little rascals are spinning around pretty good. I fell pretty fortunate and am grateful for everyone’s support.
Wonderful news!!! You’ve been in our prayers! Hope your recovery continues to go well! We’ve missed getting your emails. It was a happy moment to see this one in the inbox!
Thanks Dani.Its good to be back.
Hey Doc, glad you’re back. Really appreciate your explanation of how you are treating your recovery.
I have finished your “When there is no Doctor” and have learned a lot. Have even convinced my wife to investigate the info.
Take care and be safe out there.
Holler when you’re ready for the full school. We’ll give you the “No Doctor Course” discount. :0)
I really appreciate you sharing this with us. God is good. He gave you back to us with your knowledge and humor intact. Your humor gives me encouragement to remember my own. May you continue to heal. Big cyber hugs!
Thank-you Beth.
I’m so glad to hear you are getting back to yourself again. Thank you for updating us on the journey.
Thanks Christine. :0)
Wow, that’s an amazing deal! Any hints for how long the coupon code will last? My next payday won’t come for a while yet.
I never even know what day it is…so hard to say. Probably for a bit.
Such wonderful joy to see this in the mailbox today. Thank God , our prayers have been answered and you are back with your humor , which I love is still intact . God Bless You , Doc , you are so special to our family. Both my daughter and 2 of her children and me are students in your school . My daughter finished and got her certificate . I fell and hit my head on the bathtub , knocking me out and causing a very serious concushion from which I have not recovered all the way from it. The cluster headache and short term memory are the worse. I hope to get back to my studies soon , I will go to the store and get a bunch of things to ” Help Doc Pay The Doc.
I love you my Brother Doc Jones . Please continue to get well and much stronger . Stay safe and healthy and enjoy your wife and your special Children and grandchildren .Sending lots and lots of love , hugs and healing prayers , Millie
You’re very sweet. Thank-you Mildred. Hope you get to feeling better.
Doc Jones you are LOVED! By your clients, by your students, by your patients, by your colleagues, by your family and all your green and colored friends outside your door! What a fabulous human being you are! We are so privileged to know you and learn from you. Thank you for being you and recovering with flying colors! May the Blessings Be!
I learn great things from you and lots of others as well Dorothea. Thanks for your kindness and friendship.
Everyone else has already expressed what I want to say, so I’ll just add DITTO!! God bless!!
Thanks Janet. I appreciate your ditto. :0)
What a blessing you continue to be!! Sharing your reasoning behind each do and dont w herbal meds and pharmaceuticals is so informative. The other Dr obviously only got the sausage and not your noodle! I am betting the medical drs are scratching their heads and trying to figure out how their star patient is making this rapid (& likely better than expected) recovery. Wouldnt it be wonderful if at least one of your kind docs opened his or her eyes to the benefits of both pharmaceuticals and herbals medications?? Anyway you’ll continue to be on our family prayer list. Loving your school and herbal remedies. Now dont overdo it just because we miss you. Take care and God Bless!
Modern medicine is a culture of control of and elimination of variables. It’s really the only model that works on a large scale with multiple specialist players constantly passing the baton of patient care to the next care taker and having insurance pay for everything. They do great work with the tools they have. And, because of their precision and predictability, they can control a great deal.
Alternative medicine is a culture of trust in the body’s own healing nature. We give the body what it needs and allow it to heal itself.
Both systems have a price to pay for their approach. Both have some significant advantages over the other in some respects. Both have pros and cons.
For decades in my veterinary practie, I’ve learned that on those occasions when the two can be married and their opposite powers support each others’ weaknesses, the outcomes can be really remarkable. In an ideal world, both systems would abandon the turf war and get on the same page of doing what’s best for the patient. Maybe someday that day will come.
Well said! I really like the marriage analogy of complementing weaknesses to make a more robust and effective team. I also think in many ways, modern medicine is often best suited for fast-action on acute issues, whereas chronic issues are often best nurtured and more deeply healed by alternative medicinal approaches. But that’s just my opinion in this particular stage of my life.
I think you’re quite right in your assessments. Modern medicine is particularly good at diagnosis and at mechanical corrections. Anything more long-term or metabolic is less their forte. But, when playing their strong suits, they can do truly amazing things.
Welcome back! I’ve been praying for you and so happy to have my prayers being answered! I’m a student in your school and I’m so grateful to be able to study in your incredible course. I too had a brain tumour (malignant). Amazing how the body can heal. I have had incredible longevity (33 overall, 14 years from brain tumour) Funny that no one ever asks me what I do…Hang in there and I pray for your speedy healing. I thank God for you and I thank you for all you do. Blessings to you and your family!
Glad you’ve done so well Susie. A malignant brain tumor is lots scarier than my benign sausage.
May I ask you how you healed from your malignant brain tumor? My dad has a 5 cm tumor in his medial temporal lobe. He chose not to have medical intervention and we are scrambling to find everything natural to help him heal. If you don’t mind, please share what you have done to heal. Thanks!
My tumor wasn’t malignant. It was just a benign meningioma growing in a bad spot. I had 9 hours of surgery. After that I didi the herbal things mentioned in the blog articles. I also did a super-precise radiation treatment called gamma knife.
Oh! And, play that Irish flute! It’s good for your brain cells. Worked for me too. Still does!
Yeah I need to get one of my Irish flutes out…and the harmonicas. They’re good for brain oxygenation. LOL
I started to read this blog and had to start over and read it to my son, who is here for a few days. I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t continue reading for a bit there. 🙂 I have told him about you so he was forewarned… 😉
I’m awfully glad you talked sense into your brain and that you decided not to take a flying lesson.
Like others have said, it was sure good to see your e-mail in my inbox, and it’s very nice to have you back. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it Deanne. And glad you get to hang out with your son for a few days. :0)
Glad to know your surgery went well and you are on the mend.
Thanks much. I seem to be coming along pretty well.
So glad to see you ‘in the flesh’…or well..’in the type’. 😉
Glad everything went well! Praise the Lord!
I hope you’ll continue to recover well. Take care and God bless!
(I’m going to swing over to your site and have a browse…)
Thank-you Michele. I’m grateful for your kind support.
So excited to see an email from you!! God is so good and prayers have been answered!!! Praising God for all His goodness!!! I am also just going to say ditto as my thoughts are the same for all the comments ahead of me!! Take it easy, many thanks for all you do and may God bless you more!!! Love ya, Doc!!! 🙂 Elaine
Thanks Elaine.
Thanks for that detailed explanation of what you have been doing and why. Love learning from you Doc!
Well thank you Sharik for developing that amazing Rezzimax Tuner so I could get my guts working again in just a few minutes without using any pharmaceuticals or herbs that didn’t agree with each other. The fact that that instrument could get the nerves to those organs happy again so quickly is remarkable. The fact that it could do it while a powerful drug (the anti-seizure med) was actively impacting the gut to the contrary is dang near miraculous. I love those tuners. Your work has been a great blessing to many of my naturopathy clients and family members over the years.
https://homegrownherbalist.net/product/rezzimax-pain-tuner-pro/
As so many others have said, I’m so glad you are back and healing well–with sense of humor intact and sharing your knowledge with us! Positive energy continues for you.
Thank-you Genene.
Many rooting for you here in the comments, and I’m sure many more quietly smiling gladly to see you back. It’s very good. Keep well good doc Jones. The world needs more of you and your energy. Thank you.
I’m glad to be back. Thanks for your kind words and support.
Continued prayers for quick recovery DOC!!! This test will be your testimony to continue to help others.
Thanks for your prayers Annie.
Doc Jones, so so glad to hear from you and that you are recovering well from the surgery and post adventures as you heal up! You are a blessing to us and I continue to pray for your complete healing, comfort, and abundant support. Your sense of humor is the BEST! I have often tried to figure out what herbal medicine to make or safely recommend to my family and friends when they are undergoing surgery or have just discovered they have very serious illnesses (my daughter with MS, my granddaughter with type 1 diabetes, my best friend undergoing wrist surgery for carpal tunnel, another friend undergoing brain surgery to repair a leaky brain capillary)… I’ve confidently used plants I’ve harvested and made into medicines for 40+ years, but, when it comes to people using “modern” medicine and pharmaceuticals, I hesitate in recommending any herbal medicine to them because of the interaction issue, so I don’t say anything, or just talk about nutritive foods. I deeply appreciate your guidance and experience in working with both of these healing modalities, and like you, wish the two of them would get together in mutual respect for each other and share information between them. Deep gratitude for you and sharing your information and experiences with us!!!! Much love and green blessings to you!
I think your conservative approach is wise. The correct combination of the two modalities can be a powerful thing. The incorrect combination of them can make a real mess. Unless there is an understanding of the interactions of a given combination of drugs and herbs, a conservative approach is a good idea.
I really appreciate your prayers and kindness Diana.
Wonderful post, sounds like you are healing well. I’m so glad that your sense of humor is still intact! Thanks for all of the information in this post, I especially enjoyed reading about comfrey and cell division–fascinating.
If I whack my finger open, I’ll still use comfrey topically without concern but I won’t be taking it internally. Accelerating cell division is a great idea most of the time. But, if you’re growing a tumor anywhere near where you want to put the comfrey, it’s a pretty lousy idea.
So glad you are doing well. This was a fun blog to read as usual, and of course, very informative! You’re a great teacher. Thanks for sharing your journey with us! May you continue to heal well and enjoy life.
Thanks Annett. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was was a fun blog to write…though the research was a little inconvenient. :0)
I love reading your stuff. I love your sense of humor. I got my sister Kathy Jones interested in you, too. She told me about this blog that I had left buried in a bunch of old emails, so I found it and read it. So glad you are doing well.
Thanks Anita. Give my best to the family.
Thanks for walking us through the process of your actions and your thought reasoning during your recovery. It was very informative! I do have one question (as usual). Are herbs generally safe to use topically while using pharmaceuticals then? Do they usually only conflict if taken internally? I hope no one has already asked this–I was going to read through the comments to be sure so I didn’t bug you about it twice, but….there are a LOT of comments. 🙂 Everyone is very excited to have you back!
Hi Maree,
In my experience and opinion, topical herbal applications are vastly less likely to interact with systemic pharmaceuticals than oral herb applications. I don’t worry about it.
It is such good news to hear that you are doing well! It doesn’t sound like a fun experience at all. I am so glad that you have the herbal resources and knowledge necessary to make things better. I have also used Rock Tape for SI joint stabilization and it relieves spasms. I don’t know if that helps but there are videos on it. Thanks for sharing all of that valuable information on healing. I think herbalists often become the best critical thinkers.
Yeah I think things have gone much better because of the weeds. :0)
Dear Doc, Thank you very much for your update and the information on the herbs you have used, especially the information on the comfrey. Please know that you have been, and still are, in my thoughts and prayers, as is your family in this difficult time. I am so very grateful to God that you are recovering, You are a blessing.
Thank-you so much Gail I do appreciate it.
So happy to hear you are doing well and on the road to recovery. God is good! You have been in our thoughts and prayers. May you continue to be blessed by God’s abundance.
Thank-you Sue. I’m grateful for your prayers
So happy to hear everything went well and they didn’t remove or damage that part of your brain that is your humor center. So interesting to hear your treatments on your healing journey of the herbs used. You have a wealth of knowledge and are an incredible teacher. Wishing you the best with your healing journey!
I’m guessing he couldn’t get to my my funny bone. It must be located in some other part of my brain…like in the spot that most people can use to determine what day it is.
Thanks for your very informative and detailed recovery blog, Doc. You have been, and continue to be, in our daily family prayers for your health and well-being. We appreciate you, your traditional medicine and master herbalist knowledge bases, and your dedication to sharing what you know in your professional, helpful, enlightening and uplifting ways. Though we all have a “humerus” bone in our bodies, your special gift of humor is an added bonus. May God continue to bless you and your family as you continue to reach out and teach us all! Take care. Hope my order today helps with those medical expenses.
Thank-you Pam. I appreciate your kind words and your order. :0)
Doc, I had no idea!!!! Woah!!!! What an experience you don’t want to repeat.
I’m so glad you are recovering.
We are blessed to know you and to be helped by you.
I like the thought of being able to keep you around when I need to ask that brain of yours a few questions .
I’m still wanting to join your school.
I’ve just got to get er done!
Thank you for all you do and stay healthy, we Care about you greatly.
Thanks for the kind words Cindy. I look forward to working with you in the school when you’re ready. :0)