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Tromping Around NYC Teaches Doc A Remarkable Lesson About Pain…And A Christmasy Way To Fix It!
Dec
So, I’m in New York City for the holidays…well, actually I’m in New York City getting my brain blasted with gamma rays for fun. If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll know I had brain surgery earlier this year. I’d been growing a benign meningioma that was squishing my optic nerve. Nothing cancerous, just an obnoxious Vienna sausage in a very inconvenient place. So anyway, I’m in New York City because there’s a very smart physician here that does a technique called gamma knife which involves an extraordinarily focused, micro-beam delivery of radiation to kill stuff that shouldn’t be growing in your noggin. The mass I had couldn’t be completely removed surgically because it was all tangled up with my optic nerve and a few other fancy things with names in my noodle and although these things aren’t cancer and grow really, really slowly, it makes more sense to kill the dumb thing now using a very safe and non-invasive modality than to have surgery again ten or twenty years from now when I’m an old coot.
So why doesn’t this handsome herbalist use an herb for that? Well…because there isn’t one. There are some herbs that can help with cancer, but I’m not aware of one that likes to kill normal tissue that’s behaving in a confused but benign way. So, I’m in New York.
My wife Lori is here with me. Our hotel is about a 30-minute walk to the hospital. So every morning, we walk to the hospital so I can get my mind illuminated. They usually only do gamma knife once but because my little friend’s remnants are attached to my optic nerve and other important goodies, they’re doing it at a lower dose for 5 days instead of a higher dose for one. That way my optic nerve won’t get mad. So, anyway, we walk to the hospital and back every day. Unfortunately, tonight (day three of our urban hiking adventures) my sweet wife’s feet issued an official complaint…plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis is a really painful inflammation of the connective tissue between the muscle layers of the soles of the feet. It hurts like crazy and is tough to resolve. She had it years ago and I treated it successfully using a rolling pin on the backs of her calves and the bottoms of her feet…yeah, naturopaths are weird…but that took several weeks and, I can’t seem to find a rolling pin in my hotel room.
So, my wife who is also a crazy naturopath, herbalist, and midwife started going through the bottles of tinctures we’d brought on our trip. There was nothing in there but respiratory and immune system stuff we’d brought so that we could enjoy New York, the world’s most populated Petri dish.
“What do we have in here that could help my feet?” she asked. I started to say “Nothing I know of” when something odd happened. I felt a dusty little fact trickle out of an old box stored in a dark, forgotten corner of my brain. Maybe the radio surgeon had burned a hole in the bottom of the box with his ray gun…hard to say. Anyway, I remembered that I’d once read in an old, dusty book that American Indians used to use pine bark (actually the inner bark or cambium) for joint pain and inflammation. Hmmm…I thought, I wonder if the needles have enough of the same phytochemicals as the cambium to work as and topical anti-inflammatory? Heck, the needles grow pretty close to the bark. Maybe it’ll work!
So, I grabbed the Pine Needle tincture bottle (which I brought to New York for respiratory stuff…Read Here) and started dabbing it on the bottoms of my sweetheart’s feet. Then, like a good scientist, I sat there and stared at her to see if anything would happen. About five minutes later a remarkable thing happened. My good wife and fellow hospital hiker was changed from gingerly walking around the room in pain to dancing like a school girl.
I thought that was a pretty nice Christmas miracle and to make things even nicer, the miracle came from a Christmas tree! :0)
So, what are the lessons learned?
First, that walking around New York a lot is better for your heart than riding in a taxi, but worse for your feet.
Second, and more importantly, poking facts into your brain is a pretty good idea. You never know when circumstances will arise that make even seemingly arcane info pretty danged useful. Pasteur said; Opportunity favors the prepared mind. So, stuffing your head with information makes you more likely to see an unexpected solution to an unexpected problem.
Thirdly, curiosity, an openness to new ideas, and the gumption to try something you’ve never heard of can be a useful mindset and lead to interesting developments and discoveries. Pay attention to that quiet voice in your heart and your head. It’s almost always right.
And, lastly, Christmas trees are good for something besides poking presents under them. That said, please don’t use your actual Christmas tree for medicine. They are almost always covered with all kinds of insecticides, antifungals, preservatives, and other nasties. Get some pine needles off the tree in your backyard instead.
I hope you all have wonderful holidays.
Doc Jones
PS: if you agree that poking herbal info into your brain might be a good idea, this would be a really great time to enroll in The HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine.
It’s a remarkable program. You’ll have access for life (which is good, because the crazy professor keeps learning new stuff).
There are no time constraints of any kind (life is a journey, not a race). And, perhaps most importantly, the price will be going up in January.
We are doing some remarkable things with the school in the coming months…now is a really good time to invest. Besides, if you enroll now, you can help pay all the nice doctors that have fiddled with my brain this year. Those rascals are brilliant, capable…and expensive. :0)
– Doc Jones
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Great story and hope all goes well with your amazing brain and optic nerve issue.
Could you have one of your minions send me a cleanse instruction sheet.
Oh…. You’re so close. I wish you could come up to New Hampshire so I could pick your brain (in a different way than those surgeons). 🙂
Best wishes for a complete return to good health and a safe trip home.
Excellent information, Doc Jones. I have been dealing with plantar fasciitis for several weeks and I cannot seem to stay off it. Animals to tend, walks through the woods to do, laundry to hang on the line etc. …you understand. I don’t have any pine needle tincture but I do have pine needle essential oil and numerous rolling pins. I need to get to work! Maybe I will drink some pine needle tea and see if that helps, as well. Have a safe and successful treatment/visit.
Merry Christmas Doc and family! My Dad had a tumor like yours. No surgery was done, just the targeted radiation. He was treated in Spokane, Washington. A lot closer than NYC, but only slightly less tyrannical…
my homemade St Johnswort oil (hypericum perforatum, specifically– fresh flowering tops infused in olive oil, six weeks) helped calm my inflamed foot tissues– also alleviates all sorts of muscle & nerve pains I may have at any given time. Works very fast too. love that plant.
Wow! What a tender mercy! I love your little Christmas miracle. I often wonder if my head is going to explode because of all the knowledge I’m trying to stuff in there. Here you go, helping me feel better about gathering truth and keeping it stored for later use. I would love to hear how it goes with her feet and if you have to keep re-dosing or not.
Merry Christmas Doc and Family! I am glad you are doing well and can’t wait to hear what’s coming for the school! I also think I am going to have to harvest some pine needles soon. I am planning on some pruning of pine trees in the spring so I may get some of the inner bark too.
Plantar fasciitis is a painful thing I’ve had to deal with. Sure wish I’d had some Pine Needle Tincture at the time! I was searching for ANY pair of shoes that I could wear, and ran into a waitress in the shoe store. She mentioned that she’d cured her plantar fasciitis wearing some Sketchers sneakers. I bought a pair and they worked a miracle for me. They kind of create a “rocking” motion as you walk. Your foot actually lands on the arch of your foot, and you kind of “rock” your foot as you walk. Hope the Pine Needle Tincture continues to work for her and that your treatment goes well. My SIL had a similar brain tumor years ago, and she chose to have them go back in and remove the bits they left the next day after surgery. I don’t think hers involved the optic nerve, and it was 40 years ago, so don’t know if they even knew what a gamma knife was back then. Enjoy the Big Apple! There are a LOT of things to do and see there, and this time of the year is magical in the city.
I use 2 things for plantar fasciitis. I cut a chunk out of the heel of a pair of crocks under the hot spot. I only excavated half way through the shoes heel. It makes a great way to cushion the hot spot. Only downside is it sounds like a suction cup on some surfaces.
The other thing is a ball about the size of a tennis ball to roll back and forth under the affected foot. The fasciitis usually breaks loose all at once while walking up or down some stairs.
Just here to say you are SO enjoyable to read, I laughed out loud several times!
I’m so glad I follow you and I’m praying for your benign brain tumor issue!
Have a safe treatment and wonderful Christmas with your family!
I hope you and your lovely wife get to enjoy the city even under these circumstances. I’m in NJ so you’re definitely close. I have had plantar fasciitis and it is painful. Glad the pine needle tincture worked. Will keep that in mind not only for myself but my dtr who’s an ICU Nurse. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2022. Blessings
I’m so glad you’re getting something done to quiet that pesky growth so you hopefully won’t need more surgery in 20 or 30 years! Enjoy NYC! It’s magical this time of year, especially when it’s snowing. The Big Apple was my stomping grounds when I was a teen…, and where my parents met on a blind date (in front of Radio City Music Hall). I’m so glad you always make lemonade out of lemons! Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to you, your wife, your family, extended family, and friends! 😃🎄🎉🌃
—Leza <
May your hectic NYC adventure bring you an incredible Christmas gift. Perfect healing. Blessings to both of you. Darn, this is probably the closest to Rochester you’ll ever get. What a bummer, I have a trail that goes through woods and large meadows and it’s packed with wild herbs I’d LOVE to have you see and talk about!
Wishing you both growing better health
Pine Needle tincture is now officially on this Physical Therapist’s list of items to have on hand! Hoping for the best from your New York adventure!
I do SO enjoy reading your posts! You always bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart. Best of luck with your treatment. Blessing to you and your family!
So good to hear our multipurpose plant world offered a solution for your lovely spouse.. And to you fine Sir, sending healing your way
Dear Doc, you are an absolute treasure, not just to your family, but to all of us scattered all over the world. You have such a beautiful way of writing and no matter what life throws at you, or how dark your days may be, you always find it in your heart to make us laugh. I am proud to be a student of your school. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us. Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
I wish you God’s blessings through this whole process. You bring not only great knowledge but great joy to those of us who follow you. Thank you for all that you do. Merry Christmas and God bless you and your family.
I have a friend with a similar tumor on his auditory nerve — what is the name of the doctor you went to
The technique is called Gamma Knife. There are facilities in various parts of the country that do it. They do it in Spokane. My brother does it in Michigan. The only reason I went all the way to NYC is that the guy that did it is a friend of my brother.
Have your friend ask his radiation oncologist. He’ll know where the nearest facility is and whether it would be effective in that case.
Patrick, Love reading your stuff. What variety of pine would you use to harvest needles?
I use white pine or red pine. Those are the two that have the most research. That said, Native Americans and herbalists have used a wide number of pine and spruce species over the years and have found their effects to be similar in many applications.
Also, would pine needle oil work, too?
I don’t use essential oils. Being in the same room with most of them is a bad idea for me. Touching about any of them causes a blistering rash for fun.
It’s very possible that pine EO would work, but I have no idea. If you try it and it does, let me know. :0)