Day 23 - The Last Treatment... Thank You IPEC!

Today has been quite a sensational day, and as I sit and write this at 11pm, without having had an afternoon nap, I am still full of energy - although ready to sleep!

Something happened in todays treatment, an emotional / physical / spiritual shift of some sort that made me feel 100% better.

We worked on synovial fluid and urine, as part of the bodily fluids we started working on a few treatments ago, and we revisited the 'I take things lightly' emotional part of the treatment and added to it 'I am growing a thicker emotional skin.' These two sentences are very important things for me to work on as it turns out my sensitivity to, well, everything could well be the cause of many physical ailments. It was a very long treatment as we released all the emotional attachments from all organs through reflexology touching on all the organs these emotions are held in for example the liver, kidneys, heart, bladder, spleen and stomach. Each one hold different emotions. for instance the stomach holds fear, others hold anger, self esteem, worry etc.

I'd like to give a special mention to Fanny, the very special lady who performed my treatment today. She spoke to me during the treatment, explaining what each point she was working on was for, and how in turn I could help to let go of the non-positive attachments to them. She reaffirmed many things that I already knew, things like 'that which I see in my mind, I hold in my hands', which when I got so sick a few months ago that I couldn't walk, I gave up hope on, after so many years of belief. It was a hard time, when after so long of being positive I got so sick regardless, so I decided to give up hoping and trying anymore. I gave up meditation because I stopped doing it properly enough to believe in it. But today all my belief and positivity came back in one hit. I saw myself dancing at my wedding, being pain free and most importantly, not even worrying about it.

After a long hour and 45 minutes, I said goodbye to Ady and all the therapists, and left feeling exhilarated, healthy and light - as if a huge weight had been lifted off me and I was now free.

I went the entire day feeling like this and although I had some slight jaw pain by the end of the day, I truly believe it is simply the after effects of the treatment and that after the next 2 weeks (it usually takes around 2 weeks after the end of the last treatment to fully recover), I will be pain free.

Having Daniel here has obviously helped, and it was lovely to be able to have him to share it with, but I truly believe that between IPEC and my own mind, we did it ourselves.

After the treatment Daniel and I enjoyed a lovely day together of walking around in the sun, having lunch, and sitting on the beach together watching the sun go down. I really appreciated the opportunity to enjoy his company without having 'pain' as a third wheel in our relationship.

I still have 2 full days left here, but after the end of the last treatment, I feel like I have nearly come to the end of my journey and I am so positive for the future.

I hope this post gives hope to anyone suffering with anything at all, whether it be physical or emotional. You don't need to give in to illness. Illness or dis-ease are just ways for your body to tell you it's not happy with something. If you choose to take conventional medication, you are simply suppressing what your body is trying to tell you, which is why more often than not, that medication will bring on other ailments. Until you listen to your body naturally, your problems won't go away, but if you have the strength and courage to listen and work on yourself, and you have the DESIRE to get better, and the BELIEF that you can, anything is possible. I am living proof.

People may ask then why I still get flare ups. I believe we are constantly being taught lessons, and perhaps these flare ups are a way of bringing me back to the point where I need to believe, where I need to work on myself again and that way through hard work and perseverance, I can teach myself that the mind is capable of pretty much anything.

Today is a great day! And tomorrow will be even better :)

Love and light xx

Day 22... The Reunion

Has anyone seen that episode of Friends where Rachel refuses to go on a run with Phoebe because Phoebe runs like a lunatic weirdo?? Well that's pretty much what I looked like running towards Daniel when I saw him at the airport, an 'I love you' balloon in one hand trailing behind my flimsy uncoordinated body, my handbag hanging down the side of my arm... He laughed. That was his first reaction. So I'm guessing I looked as stupid as I am making myself sound... but it was worth it. I couldn't bare to move myself away from him so when he was sitting in front of the taxi and I sat behind, I was sat forward with my arms over his chest holding his hands. (sick bucket anyone?!) A short 20 minutes later we were back at the hotel and we went for dinner.

What a new experience it was to not be eating alone. Dinners I usually ate with people but lunch today, well, I'd forgotten what it felt like to eat lunch with another human being! Anyway you can pretty much get the gist of it - I am thrilled to have him here and it has only made me more excited to return home in 4 days. Don't get me wrong, even when it's cold here (and by cold I mean 16 degrees), you are likely to see the sun at some point in the day. No 2 consecutive days go past where you can't sit outside a cafe enjoying the buzz of Tel Aviv and watch the sun set beautifully into the sea, so I am going to miss that, and I am not looking forward to 10 consecutive days of grey sky - making it near impossible to remember what it felt like to have Vitamin D in my body - but still, looking forward to getting back to reality all the same.

We had a few wedding errands to run today which all went smoothly and we just generally spent time together which was lovely.

Today was my 6th day without a headache but I started feeling the beginning of one at around 6pm but it went away within an hour. My jaw has still been stiff but definitely easier, there are no more new bruises - although the ones that are already there are pretty dark now, and the tiredness was a little better today. The wrist and ankle were also much better today.

All in all a good day physically and emotionally! Last treatment tomorrow! EEEKKKK

Happy Monday everyone!

Love and light xx

Day 21 - Treatment 6

I am writing this blog before the day is over, because my fiance arrives very shortly after 3 very long weeks apart and I am going to collect him from the airport in half an hour so I thought I'd write this now as I won't have time later and today was the penultimate treatment so quite an important one!

Every time I walk towards the clinic, there are a group of Filipino people who are carers for elderly people, who sit in the sun with them every morning and they always seem to be there around the time of my treatment. Every time I pass I see the Filipino people sitting playing on their phones, very occasionally in conversation with each other, and the elderly people are just sat in their wheelchairs staring into the sky and although it always upsets me, today it really upset me. Maybe I am being overly emotional (what's new), but why are they not talking to them? Why are they sitting there playing on their phones ignoring them like they are vegetables when in fact most of them seemed pretty lucid. Do these carers not know that they were once intellectual beings, and perhaps still very much are? Do they not realise that these people were once daughters, sons, and perhaps still are mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, friends? It really upset me and I wanted to walk over and tell them to talk to them, to stimulate their minds, make them feel useful and needed. But of course it is not my place and I can't change the world.

Before that, there was a cat outside an office right by the hotel which has been sat there every day for 2 weeks and looks like it is dirty with oil or something black. It doesn't move but is very much alive. This also upset me. I wanted to take it back and wash it and feed it.

There are so many other things that upset me on a daily basis and they are all things I cannot change, not on a large scale anyway. The money I give to charities and the charity work I do myself help a very minute fraction of people and animals that exist on this planet. The statistics overwhelm me.

So I told Ady.

It is something I told him about last time I was here but we didn't have so much time to work on it and the older I get, the more other peoples problems and problems around me generally, seem to affect me. He said this could be a big reason for my jaw not getting better. I am carrying the worlds problems on my shoulders and that is exhausting - no wonder I'm tired! It is carried in acupressure points or organs so certain emotions are carried in the liver, the heart, spleen, bladder, lungs etc and we worked on releasing all of them.

So he worked on this as well as digestive enzymes which apparently was something my body wanted to work on. It was a long treatment! But I came out feeling way more positive. Also because he asked my body if these 2 remaining treatments were enough for now to help me through the wedding and forseeable future pain free and the body said yes. And I believe in this treatment so I feel happy!

I then went to meet cousins who are here from Paris and we sat and had a drink on the beach. I haven't seen them for years so it was really nice.

Anyway, off to pick up my fiance now!! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Love and light xx

Day 20 - Last Single Day!

I probably moaned about the same thing last week but Saturdays are sooooooo boring in Israel! Nothing is open and it is worse if it is raining which it was today. If it is sunny it doesn't matter because it's a beach town so even if it's not hot, people walk along the promenade, sit at cafes on the beach or in the street and just enjoy being out.

I slept until 10 which is great for me and went down for breakfast. Then I managed to get six hours of writing in which I was very happy with. I then went over to friends who have a new Siberian Husky puppy called Leila. She is the most beautiful thing ever and made me miss Milo even more - if that is possible. She is only 9 weeks and has broken her elbow by being too active and is now recovering. Poor little thing was feeling very sorry for herself but wanted extra cuddles which was lovely.

I left after Shabbat went out and went for a mooch around the Dizengoff Centre which is basically Brent Cross in Tel Aviv - just not as good, but I had nothing else to do so I bought myself a top, had dinner - on my own (sad loser I am!) - and came back to the hotel which is where I am now at 9pm. I intend on getting into bed right now and hopefully watching a film if there is a good one on.

Tomorrow my fiance finally arrives after 3 very long weeks without him. I have my treatment in the morning and he lands in the evening which gives me time for an afternoon nap! (what will I ever do without afternoon naps when I get back!?)

Treatment wise, the bruises have got worse which is so strange. My legs are completely covered in bruises! But not strange I guess because it is just my body throwing the toxins out in any way it can.

Feeling generally mobile and pain free except of course the jaw and the exhaustion. 2 treatments to go so please keep your fingers crossed!!

Good night all!

Love and light xx

Day 19 - Laundry Day

My poor friend. Since I've been here every time I go to her house I take a bag of washing with me and we sit there like a pair of old Moroccan housewives drinking tea, waiting for the washing to finish. But on the upside it is one of the few places in Israel where I can get a nice cup of PG Tips. Being a devoted expat, she keeps boxes of them at home and she was even kind enough to give me a handful to take back to the hotel. I have since had 5 cups... I don't even drink it that much at home! I guess we just enjoy things that make us feel at home... (Thanks Lee!)

As you all know by now I've been feeling extremely exhausted and yesterday was no different. I came back to the hotel from my friend and all I wanted to do was sleep but I didn't really have enough time before my uncle was picking me up to take me back to theirs in Ra'anana for dinner. Have you ever got to the point where you're so tired you could cry? If you have you'll know how I felt. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for as long as I could. The pains in the rest of my body had improved but my jaw was still stiff and throbbing.

Anyway I got myself ready and headed off to Ra'anana for my cousins sons 4th birthday party surprise. My uncle has his own Shawarma machine so they made shawarma with all the hundreds of salads, borekas, chips and loads more, followed by 3 different cakes, cake pops and nuts and fruits. You gotta love Israel! And more importantly, family. I feel so at home with this particular group of cousins (my dad is 1 of 10 so there are loads of them scattered around) and it kind of made me feel better.

It sounds like a cliche but sometimes when you get out, however crap you're feeling, you start to feel better, and I did.

Suffice it to say that the exhaustion has returned with a vengence today but it will all be over soon!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend.

Love and light xxx

Day 18 - Culture Shock

I started off the day by going to the gym again - yay! But despite this my joints have been a little achy. The treatments do throw toxins out of your body, which I see from the spots on my skin, the random bruises on my body, my hair being weird, the headaches and the stomach problems, but when my joints have been better, then get achy again, I get a bit worried. The wrist that had been so much better, started hurting again, as did the other wrist (which never usually hurts) and the right ankle and jaw. I should just leave it and not think about it too much but I tend to start thinking, I only have 2 treatments left, is it enough? When I first came here 9 years ago, I never bought a return ticket. I stayed indefinitely and after 3 months of intensive treatments Ady said right, you're ready, we're done here! And I was fixed. But this time I have chosen how much time I have to devote to it and a month was quite a long time to take out of my life as it is but it was the longest I was able to do. So I am hoping that the 7 treatments are enough to keep me going at least until after the wedding. Meanwhile I have to stay positive and think that the pains are reactions to the treatments and not anything else.

Anyway I still went to the gym because I'm not swollen, just a bit stiff, and still enjoyed it. I then took myself to the flea market in Jaffa as I had to buy some props for the wedding and I just love it there, it is such an experience. I keep thinking for all my friends who have never been to Israel, or don't know it too well, I wonder what they'd think if they went there. It is not really a place that tourists get to and it would be such a culture shock. All the screaming and bartering, the random antiques and clothes on sale amongst mini humous restaurants and juice bars. Men sitting outside their 'shops' on tables as old as the market itself playing backgammon. People like me trying to disguise my British-ness by speaking in as firm an Israeli accent as possible in order to not be over charged. In the 'Shuk Ha Pishpishim' (flea market), you have to walk with conviction, like you know where you are going and what you are looking for an how much you are prepared to spend for it. The moment they see you dawdeling they realise you could be a tourist and therefore highly vulnerable to their Aladdin like 'come, let me show you what I have in my store of wonders' *insert scarily spoken Arabian accent here*. But I got what I needed, had a bit of a mooch, and left to go meet an old friend for lunch.

This is becoming a bit of a daily 'thing', but todays 'Only-In-Israel' experience came when my friend and I were walking to a cafe to have lunch and there was a cute little dog on the main street trying to crawl underneath a garbage tip. It had a collar on but seemed as if it was alone. I couldn't bare it, so I kept asking every person that walked past if it was their dog. Everyone said no. I asked the few shops around and all the people in the shops said no. I said to my friend, what do we do, the collar had a name on it but not a number and I wasn't prepared to leave this dog on a main street to get run over. I asked her who we call in a situation like that... then we went into a shop a few shops down and the lady said so flippantly, 'ah yes it's my dog'. I literally went mad shouting at her! I told her to keep her dog where she can see him and if she can't look after her dog properly, letting him eat from underneath a garbage tip and walking over the road, then she shouldn't have a dog. She went out to get him and stayed silent but this seems to happen all over Tel Aviv. People take their dogs to work and just let them roam around. There are so many strays here too and it is really upsetting. But the nice thing is that most people who get dogs get rescue dogs that have been strays and are now in shelters.

Dr Lauren Dolittle to the rescue!

We eventually got to lunch, had a lovely catch up and then I came back to rest, and decided not to leave! I was too tired. The tiredness is started to get to me and make me angry. There's only so much of it I can seem to cope with on a day to day basis but I don't have a choice and my mum keeps telling me to stop complaining about it so I better had!

Tomorrow is another day!

Have a good weekend everyone

Love and light xxx

Day 17 - 3 Weddings & A Funeral

I woke up feeling great. Jaw was a bit stiff but I'd had an early night - went to bed at 10pm the night before - and woke up at 9.30 so I was feeling pretty energised.

I needed to get a few bits from a place called Neve Tzedek so I took myself down there. Neve Tzedek is a tiny neighbourhood tucked away in South Tel Aviv that a lot of people, especially tourists, might not know about. It is actually the oldest neighbourhood in Tel Aviv and is just beautiful. They have kept the original style of all the buildings, some of which are different colours, most of which have shutters and flower pots on the outside - more like a quaint French village but with an Israeli twist. It is what I would call 'Shabby Chic / Vintage'. There are lots of jewellery and clothes shops, as well as gorgeous homeware stores and very quaint cafes and restaurants. At night it is beautiful as most of the neighbourhood is lit up with fairy lights.

I had breakfast at a place called Dallal(http://dallalcoil.rest-e.co.il/) which I would highly recommend if you are ever in Israel. Then I did some homeware shopping at which point came the 'only in Israel' experience for that day... I was walking along the street, and out of nowhere came a man with a beautiful German Shepherd. The man came out of a side road and was walking in the same direction as me, practically next to me as the roads are so narrow and I asked if I could stroke the dog. We started walking together, talking about dogs, Israel, London and weddings and it was as if he had come out of nowhere, joined me on my walk and we started speaking as if we knew each other, then said goodbye when I reached my destination. To contradict yesterdays story about the moody bus driver, most people in Israel are that open that you can just start up a conversation in the middle of the street with someone you've never met. And in the same note it just proves what I said yesterday about Israels people being a paradox of themselves..

I then took myself back to my hotel where my friend picked me up and we went back to the area near Neve Tzedek to sit in 'Ha Tachana'.

Ha Tachana means 'The Station' and was an old railway station from war years that they have restored and put a little museum there. There are now also lots of cafes, restaurants and shops, and because they have restored the area to its original character, it is a choice destination for couples to have pre-wedding photo shoots.

It may seem weird to those of you outside of Israel but people get married pretty much any day of the week here (except Saturdays), and the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony to have pictures in the daylight. So they often choose a nice place near enough to the venue where they can have some good pictures, and because of its quaint vintage character, Neve Tzedek is a great place for it.

My friend and I sat at a cafe drinking hot apple cider in the sun and we saw 3 sets of brides and grooms posing for their own pictures and it was beautiful. I started realising that my own wedding is just around the corner and I got a bit emotional! (To which my friend of course laughed!)

While we were sitting there watching these brides posing with their grooms, we got a text from our friend who told us that her aunt had passed away and we left immediately to pick her up from work and take her home where she had to wait to hear about funeral arrangements. After a few hours she had to go and pick up her mum from the airport so we left her to it and went to another friend for dinner.

All in all, a day packed with many different emotions and physically, although my jaw was still stiff, it was the 2nd consecutive day without a headache and pretty much the 5th day without any other joint pains.

Have a good Thursday everyone!

Love and light xx