Posts Tagged ‘cannabis’

Christian stoners … praise Jesus, dood!

Posted: February 27, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine, Spiritual/Emotional/Energetic
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So how can one claim to be a Spirit-filled, tongue-talking, healing-believing Christian and still extol the virtues of weed? Easy, my dear. Easy. I was online last night, reading some of the thinking that is out there about Christians and cannabis … I’ll tell you what. Talk about living with blinders on. It just amazes me how people … and not just Christians … just don’t read or think for themselves. They hear something someone said and they take it as gospel. Look, I don’t take my pastor’s word, or my doctor’s word, for anything. Both my spiritual and physical health I cannot afford to lay in the hands of others. I need to know what I believe and why. I need to know what therapies I’m using and why. But so many intelligent people … many of you who are reading this right now … just believe what they’re told without looking for themselves. Marijuana is a drug. It is an illicit drug, at that … with no medicinal value whatsoever. And the only reason anyone would ever imbibe in marijuana is to get stoned.

First of all, marijuana is an herb. A plant that grows readily … that has been used for thousands of years with plenty of medicinal benefit. The first documented use of medicinal marijuana (MMJ) was in childbirth thousands of years ago. The Middle East and China had it going on from the get-go. There are those who believe it was used in Biblical times. Those people quote the recipe for the holy anointing oil in Exodus. The term kaneh bosum has been determined by some to be cannabis. I am not a BIble scholar and can neither agree nor disagree on this.

What I can tell you, however, is that I believe God is our Creator. I also believe that He created everything around us, as the Bible says. What I didn’t know, and I’m betting most of you don’t know either, is that we are created with an endocannabinoid system. This is a system in our bodies that regulates all the other systems in our bodies. According to Dustin Sulak DO of Maine Integrative Healthcare, “The endogenous cannabinoid system, named after the plant that led to its discovery, is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment.” For the entire article, click here.

It was the cannabis plant that led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Within this system, we have cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. We make our own cannabinoids which can activate our cannabinoid receptors. For example, that’s why hot baths relax us. It stimulates our endocannabinoids. You know what else activates cannabinoid receptors? Phytocannabinoids … and only one plant has them. Cannabis. And what all, in the animal kingdom, has cannabinoid receptors? Everything from the nematode to the sea squirt. All vertebrates have an endocannabinoid system so, yes, your dog can get high too. And your cats, birds, lizards … you get the picture.

So now let’s look at the math here. I believe God created everything … including the plant and animal kingdom. Let’s call that 1. God created us with an endocannabinoid system to create homeostasis in our bodies. He also created a plant that activates that regulatory system. Let’s call that 2. In Genesis 1:29 it says, “Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” Let me tell you, if you don’t already know, that particular plant bears a boatload of seeds! It doesn’t say I give you every seed-bearing plant except the cannabis plant. Let’s call that 3.

My equation is 1+2+3=6. If you believe God created everything (and He doesn’t make mistakes); and He created us with a system that only one single plant can regulate, (which He created as well); and He gave us every seed-bearing plant to use, then let me ask you one question: Why aren’t you leading the charge to legalize marijuana? I know I sure am. He has given us “everything pertaining to life and Godliness,” so I just don’t see why Christians get their knickers all in a wad over this healing plant that He created.

Now that we have established marijuana is an herb, since I have explained the ECS, now you see that it does have medicinal value but in case you need more proof that we are being lied to, did you know the US Department of Health and Human Services has a patent on cannabis? Yes they do and why? For Alzheimer’s and dementia-related illnesses because they know it has medicinal value. But didn’t they tell us it is a Schedule 1 drug that has no medicinal value? And as a Schedule 1 drug, scientists can’t even research it. Despite what they are telling us, it is hardly illicit.

What about the argument that the only reason anyone would take a toke is to get stoned. Seriously? Just think about that for a minute. That’s like saying the only reason anyone would have a glass of wine is to get puking drunk. Sure, there will be those who abuse marijuana just like there are those who abuse alcohol and their pain pills.  Most of us only use what we need for relief just as some of us have a glass of wine with dinner. A great number of people still have that nasty image in their minds whenever someone says “pot,” of a junkie nodding on the couch, drooling, and not being a functioning member of society. The only thing that puts me in that particular condition is opiates. But they’re jussssst fine for us, right? I am a retired military officer. So is my husband. Fully functioning members of society … well, the only thing that keeps me from being that these days is a disease, but not the pot. The pot keeps my abdomen from spasming. The pot helps me eat. The pot keeps me from having total panic meltdowns. The pot eases me into sleep like I haven’t had in more than a decade. And even more than that, the oil. The concentrated oil, that I posted about here, that is spoken of in the Run From the Cure video in my Resources section, enables cures. There is no doubt in my military mind that pot has extended my life.

So yeah, pot is of the devil, you religious, legalistic Christians. Just keep believing that. More medicine for the rest of us. For more information on the ECS, see the links below.

http://www.medicalcannabis.com/Cannabis-Science/endocannabinoid-system

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gOYVJu__14

http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/journal/en_2006_01_2.pdf

The anti-THC

Posted: February 17, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine
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The psychoactivity of THC is a hindrance for many. Though you can work your way into tolerance and past the high, there will be many “uh oh” moments despite the most careful dosing and that can be very inconvenient, say, behind the wheel of a car.

But THC is only one cannabinoid. There are hundreds of cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. Another one that is showing much promise in research is called cannabadiol (CBD) and is the anti-THC in every way. It has absolutely no psychoactive properties. When you ingest it, you might feel like you need a nap. My eyelids would get tired and heavy like I wanted to rub them, but my head was totally coherent! It was just freaky and amazing.

Dr Manuel Guzman, from Spain, has done some excellent work researching CBD and glioma. You see, cannabinoids cross the blood-brain barrier … that pesky little thing that makes most cancer drugs powerless. And CBD seems to show a particular affinity for getting there. Breast cancer (ding ding ding) is another one for which CBD seems to be effective.

Most recently, I did a run with an oil that was testing out at 30% THC and 30% CBD. Alas, for me it wasn’t the magic bullet but I still take a good 1/2gm each night because after all the research I’ve read on it, and my knowledge of the endocannabinoid system, I just believe in it. Period. I honestly believe it is one of the reasons I am still alive to even write this blog.

Here are a couple more articles for you to read about CBD and how much good it does for us … without the high:

http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/6/11/2921.long

http://medicalmarijuanadoctors.org/cbd-and-cancer%20

Oil, oil, toil and trouble

Posted: February 16, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine, Spiritual/Emotional/Energetic
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So I started taking cannabis oil in Jan ’09. This was all new to me at the time. I had no idea what kind of solvent was used, what kind of pot was used, etc. All I knew was that I wanted to get well and I had a source that Rick Simpson’s organization had recommended (just FYI, they no longer make recommendations like that). So I started taking this oil and went through the first 60 grams. According to Simpson, most cancers are cured by 60 grams if you take it all within 2 months. I did. I still had cancer, and it was still growing. I bought another batch from the same source. Took it and realized perhaps this particular medicine was not the right medicine.

During this time, I had met a guy in Colorado who was making oil and I got my next batch from him. I had become so used to the oil I had been using, that I didn’t treat this new oil with nearly enough respect. I knew this oil had been made from sugar leaves and trim mostly, so figured it would be a piece of cake since, allegedly, the last oil I had was made from all bud. So I measured out a dose … subtracted a little, but not nearly enough.

John and I had to go run some errands and I was sitting right smack in the middle of a Direct Buy club when it hit!!!!! Holy crap! I was already sitting down, but now I was having trouble holding my head up and that head was starting to feel very uncomfortable in a public place. I informed John we needed to leave and fast! Unfortunately, we still had a 45-minute drive before I could get horizontal.

By the time we got home, that stuff was rocking my world and not in a good way! I felt like I was having a heart attack and I was stuck somewhere between passing out and consciousness. I needed to pass out, but just couldn’t quite let go. Oh it was awful. I could’ve sworn I was having a heart attack. And there was John, stroking me and telling me it was all in my head; assuring me everything would be alright. Boy, that was a valuable lesson learned. When using any new oil, always lower the dose quite a bit, just till you know how it’s going to affect you just like any other medication.

So why then, you might ask, would I continue spending the money and paying the overdose price for this stuff? Because of all the research I had been reading, much of which is listed in the Cannabis Research List above. The way cannabinoids work within the body create healing in the body. And the fact that we have receptors and a system designed to accommodate a single plant in the plant kingdom … well, I just can’t ignore that. Couple that with the many people I know, personally, who have been healed (not just relieved) of addictions, hepatitis C, skin cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis … let’s just say I’m thankful to live in a medically legal state.

And why oil? Isn’t that a bit extreme to be ingesting such concentrated doses of THC and CBD? Many reasons. First of all,one can’t go around smoking, or even vaporizing, all the time. Not to mention, it can’t be done in public anyway. So then, why not edibles? Still not concentrated enough of a dose plus most of them are made with sugar. If we’re talking healing, not symptom relief, we need the best medicine possible and eating a bunch of sugar would never be in a cancer patient’s best interest. Also, unless you make the edibles yourself, you don’t really know how much medicine you’re getting. I have had edibles from dispensaries that would either do nothing at all or make me forget how to breathe. So they’re just too unpredictable and sugar-laden for me to want to use for healing.

Enter cannabis oil. Not to be confused with butane or honey oil. If it’s golden, it has almost all THC and is mostly for spiritual or recreational use. Plus, butane is not made to be ingested even though the extractors will swear they got all the butane out of it. I don’t trust anyone that much. At least grain alcohol is relatively meant to be ingested. That’s just my personal comfort zone.

Another question one might have is how do you function if you’re that full of THC all the time? Well, that’s easy. You don’t at first. But that’s the point of starting tiny and slowly working up the dose. While you’re working up that dose you are slowly building your tolerance. Before you know it, you’re taking 1/4gm at a time and you’re not even feeling its effects. At that point, you’re off and running toward healing.

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2012 and beyond …

Posted: February 6, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine, Spiritual/Emotional/Energetic
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Once again, I had come so very close to achieving remission … only one marker out of limits.  And then they started inching up again.  I went back to Vegas to see Kurt Peterson on Dec 3 for our fourth session together.  When Kurt examined me, he said there were tumors in all eight lobes of my liver, small intestine and spine.  There were some in my sacrum and pelvic girdle, but they’re not life-threatening.  The most important thing, right now, is the liver.  So he worked hard on that, the small intestine, and three spots on the spine.

I had a PET CT scan a month later and, compared to last spring, there was one helluva lot less cancer than there had been. My spine was clear and, of all the tumors I had on my liver, there was only one left.    A month later, none of that was there except one lesion in the liver.  But the downside to that is that one of my markers quadrupled within that same month.  So, as usual, a mixed bag of tricks in my results.  One thing looks really good and the other looks really bad.

Now, there is something that most alternative folks know about and, I would assume, many medical folks, but I never hear them mention this.  It’s called tumor die-off.  When cancer dies in your body, where do you think those dead cells go?  Into your bloodstream and lymphatic system to be processed out of your body.  If you kill it too fast, and your body can’t clear it quickly enough (and this applies to other conditions too), you may hit what is called a Herxheimer reaction or healing crisis. You pretty much get laid up with headaches, flu-like symptoms, etc.  And your markers can jump.  So I am, at this very moment, waiting for lab results that will tell me if that number jump was a die-off or if it is progression.  I am also packing for a trip to Georgia to the Immune Recovery Center.  There, I will be doing insulin potentiation therapy (IPT), IV Vitamin C, cesium chloride, and God only knows what else.  But the reason I’ve been writing so hard and fast, for the past week, is to bring the breast cancer journey up to present so I can write about my experiences there while they’re happening.

I’m really excited.  There are several places in the US that do IPT and immune therapies, but this one came across my radar in that magical way that I know something is meant to be.  Out of nowhere.  It was in a post in a group of which I’m a member and it was by a woman who had been to a similar clinic and was posting about her experience.  She said she had found out about this one in GA about three weeks into her treatment in NV.  The one in GA bills Medicare which the others do not do.  So it cuts my out-of-pocket expenses in half.  I had been considering doing something like this for quite some time. But why would I say that this was magical?  Because of the timing.    Disease is just starting to show signs of being on the move again and I will have a much better chance of kicking ass early on than if I let myself get in the shape I was in this time last year.  

I also think its magical because I had never even heard of this clinic before and I’d been aware of the others for years.  So here this one came, out of the blue.  It also happens to be 30 minutes from my brother/sister-in-law so we’ll get to stay with
family … and they have a huge house so we can bring my beloved companion sister doggies.  My cousin, whom I haven’t seen since I was a teenager, also lives there and another cousin four hours away.  That will be an awesome reunion!  And two other old friends, each of whom live in different directions, but still only a four-hour drive.  Everything is just dropping into place and that’s how it rolls with it’s the right path, I have discovered.  When something is meant to be in my life, it just all fits just like it’s supposed to.

So stay tuned for more big adventures in cancerland starting next week with my test results and then, a week later when I’m embarking on this new chapter.  But in the meanwhile, I will be catching you up on the other aspects of my story that intertwine so intimately with this cancer experience.

We’re getting ready to get back to all that cannabis stuff for a minute where I will be sharing with you the scientific stuff I have learned about it, its interactions in the human body, and why it is a  not just a way to get wasted, though like all such substances, can definitely be abused … but is, indeed, a medicinal herb.  My chemotherapy was made from diterpenes from the yew tree … that’s natural … and deadly.  Did you know that cannabis cannot kill you, no matter how much you take?  Do you know why?  More good times to come!

Like a Phoenix …

Posted: February 4, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine, Spiritual/Emotional/Energetic
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… I have risen from the flames, as my old fave Dan Fogelberg once sang.  And it was FAST!  I mean scarily, supernaturally fast.  When I left that hospital I was down to 99 pounds but the ascites fluid had never returned!  That was definitely a positive sign because as you know by now, ascites comes right back unless cancer is backing off.  I kept that NG tube until the day Kris Kraft worked on me.  That very afternoon, I had been almost 24 hours without the pump turned on, so it was time to lose it and give my poor throat some relief.  Every swallow, after three weeks of this, had become excruciating.  So the nurse pulled it that evening while Kris watched.

I was still on IV nutrition for a couple more months but I was able to eat little bits of soft things myself.  But I had a disappointing thing happen.  While I was hospitalized with that tube in my stomach, every little bit of food I smelled was torture.  Not because it made me nauseous … it made me hungry and I wasn’t allowed to eat.  I hadn’t been hungry in so very long and now that my bowels were resting, I wanted everything I smelled!!!!  I had such big plans for when that tube came out and I could enjoy eating again.  But it didn’t exactly transpire like that.  Once that tube came out, it was as though all that torture had never happened.  Now I was back to my old tricks of not wanting to eat, but I did eat whenever I could squeeze something in because I was on operation weight gain in a big way.  And gain I did!  I kept the IV nutrition going till July and I gained almost all my weight back.  I had gotten up to about 127 and figured that was enough.  And the risk of getting this port infected, with it always being accessed, was very real, so I didn’t want to stay accessed any longer than I needed to be.  But I was still concerned about this lack of appetite.  I had hoped that perhaps my body was just saturated and didn’t “want” anything more and that when I stopped the TPN my appetite would return.  Unfortunately, it did not.

That spring, I concentrated on returning to adequate levels of weight and some degree of strength.  I can’t even describe what happened.  I was on weekly chemo and monthly shots of Faslodex and infusions of Aredia for my bones.  My numbers were dropped quickly, fluid had not come back.  Of course that was my oncologist’s biggest concern with this rapid weight gain.  Fluid does that too … but every time I saw him, he declared me still fluid-free.

While I had been hospitalized, I had to stop using my oil.  God knows I was on enough heavy-duty, mess-with-your-head drugs anyway while I was there, so I just didn’t do it.  When I got home, however, it was time to get back to work, but I had to start all over.  My tolerance had been reduced to that of a little girl’s!  That’s a beautiful thing about cannabis.  If you just leave it alone for a week or so, you can jump start the meds’ effectiveness for you.  So I started with teeny doses again, but built up to full dose much faster this time.

A month out of the hospital

During chemo, one usually gets so run down and it’s cumulative.  Each treatment lowers your white and red counts just a little bit more and makes you feel just a little crappier.  Wow, was that ever not my experience this time!  I felt good.  No, I felt great!  I was energized and felt better than I had felt in years.  That was not the chemo.  That’s not what chemo does.  But that’s what was happening.  There were two possible explanations for this and, while I don’t know which one is accurate, I really don’t care.  It was either the cannabis oil and/or Kris’ energy work.

I never have one set of labs that made me have to push back a treatment.  Not once.  My white counts held steady the whole four months.  That translates to roughly 18 rounds of chemo with no anemia, despite bone mets.  No dropped white counts.  No postponement of treatment.  Loads of energy and stamina … no need for naps at all.  Those of you who have had chemo, did you feel like that?  I honestly believe that cannabis and energy work are two things every single cancer patient needs.

Down the rabbit hole

Posted: January 30, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine, Spiritual/Emotional/Energetic
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Now I had been using pot medicinally for only a few months when something crossed my radar.  I don’t rightly know where it even came from, but I’m learning that’s how it works.  God (I call Him God and it’s easier to type, so that’s how I’ll keep it.  You can feel free to translate into your preferred reference) drops something randomly on you but only when He knows you’re ready for it.  I saw this video and I can’t even remember whether I found it on a website or someone suggested it to me in a email, but it sounded like a bunch of bunk and waaaaay too good to be true! It is called Run From the Cure. Catchy name, huh?  And pretty appropriate for where I was in my life at the time.  I wanted nothing to do with their cure.  I was running as fast as I knew how.  I took the time to watch it but it was pot, for crying out loud … and it took a pound of pot to make a batch.  God knows where I would get that or how I would afford it.  And the video kept stressing how dangerous the process was, so I pretty much ruled it out at that point.

But months later, after I’d started using medical cannabis, it came across my radar again.  Now I was ready for it.  Now I was open to it.  Now I was intrigued and interested.  I couldn’t believe that anyone would claim that marijuana cured their cancer and thought that, if that were true, there would be way more stoners in the world today because they wouldn’t be dying of disease.  I contacted the organization and was told of a person who could make the oil for me.  They have since stopped doing that.  But I contacted this person and purchased my first batch of cannabis oil.

I started with a dose no larger than half the size of a grain of rice, as the instructions directed.  This stuff was certainly not what I expected when I thought of oil.  It was really more like so-green-it’s-almost-black axle grease.  And the taste? Aaaaaacccckkkkkkkkk!  Vile … in my opinion anyway.  So I always recommend folks to purchase a digital postal scale so you know exactly how much you are taking.  And purchase some Now brand #3 veggie caps to put it in because, trust me, you do not want a big dollop of this stuff lingering in your mouth.  You’ll be looking like a dog trying to swallow peanut butter trying to get that thick coating of nastiness off your tongue!

You do this several times a day, for a few days, then increase the dose.  You keep at it until you are able to ingest 1 gram of oil per day.  That process usually takes two to three weeks to build up to therapeutic dose.  I was rapidly becoming emaciated due to the cachexia process, which is typically considered the end.  But that oil immediately put 13 much-needed pounds on me.  My oncologist was so impressed he was considering sending some of his other patients my way so I could point them to some oil because even he admitted he couldn’t do much about cachexia.  But the first 60 days came and went and I still had cancer. On the other hand, my insomnia was a thing of the past.  I didn’t spend my days focused on a cancer death any more.  And if that was all there was … if all it did was make me gain weight, sleep, and not be so terrorized, that was worth its weight in gold alone.  But then there was the research …. oh how, with all the reading about alternative cancer cures, did this escape me all this time?

Again, I truly believe that we are only given info as we can handle it.  When this crossed my path before, I was nowhere near ready to even consider it, much less do it.  And despite all the research I was doing every day, I was not seeing the research I’m seeing now.  And it was there all along.  Just not in view to me.  But that’s one of the things I’ve learned and, just recently, it has brought me much comfort.  When things get uncomfortable, all I have to do is stay open and relax.  The bread crumb trail has not been visible in the distance for me.  It’s only as I turn a corner that the next bread crumb appears.  Kind of as the Bible refers to “a lamp unto my feet.”  That would only light the path ahead for a single step.  You would not see the whole road.  Just the path that is directly before you.  So you take the step … and the next step becomes visible.

But what if you’re not at home?

Posted: January 28, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine
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Magic Flight Launch Box

We have talked about two different types of vaporizers so far but both of them require an electrical cord.  The Purple Days (rest in peace) had an automobile adapter but I don’t know if the others do or not.  Now, before I go any further, I do not … I repeat, not endorse driving while consciously altered in any way.  So don’t go getting high and driving.

But when you’re in the passenger seat and you need appetite or relief, this little baby is the way to roll.  It’s called a Magic Flight Launch Box and it is stealth, stealth, stealth.  It requires no power supply except for a rechargeable AA battery.  The batteries and a charger come with it.  But it fits in the palm of your hand and puts out so little vapor there’s no smell at all (I know this from a bathroom stall or two).  Perfect for camping trips and other times when you’re without a private electrical outlet.  I mean look … how close to nature can you get, anyway? Chipmunks even dig them!

Chipmunk and Launch Box

The pic to the left was taken at my favorite lake where the chipmunks love us dearly, as you can see. But I dug this picture where it looks like the chipmunk vaped, then got the munchies.

So what’s the big deal about vaporizing anyway?  People have been passing around a pipe, in a gesture of community, for eons. But now we know that when we combust a plant and inhale it into our lungs, the charred material can be carcinogenic.  So since it’s part of my daily life, I don’t take any chances.  When you vaporize, you don’t set the plant on fire.  The plant material is in a bowl that is held up next to a heat source.  When you inhale, it draws air through that heat source, where the air is heated to somewhere between 275 and 375 degrees.  Then, while you are inhaling, that hot air travels through the plant material and heats it up so you get pure cannabinoid vapor … not smoke and no carcinogens. The result is a much cleaner experience … smoother and easier to inhale … and the head buzz is much cleaner too, if you care about such things.  I didn’t like the muddled, paranoid feeling that smoking gave me.  I haven’t felt paranoid one single time since I’ve been using weed medically … and I think it’s because I’m vaporizing instead of smoking.  For the past couple of days, I haven’t posted, so I’ve been remiss on my educational foray into cannabis.  So here’s a little info as to why vaporizing is better for you than smoking, if you want to inhale on a regular basis.

This particular vaporizer is also primo for those who don’t have a very large tolerance to the plant.  It delivers delicate hits, but make no mistake … it definitely does the job.  And it has a lifetime warranty on it.  Ever stops working and can’t be fixed, they’ll just send you a new one.

Now if you do wind up with one of these little babies, there are a couple of handy tips to know.  First, the more finely ground your meds are, the better it will work for you.  So grind well before you load the trough.  And your inhalations should be itty bitty, teeny little sips of vapor.  Take a couple of those little sips, then pour the material back out into the palm of your hand.  Crunch it up with your fingers so it turns to powder, then put it back in and it will work really well for you.

In a purple haze … from my Purple Days

Posted: January 26, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine
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I got tired of being knocked to that drooly, fetal position by that Extreme and the lengthy warm-up time.  Then, God bless him, a guy spoke up on that vaporizer website and told me that what I needed was a Purple Days.  It was designed to stay plugged in 24/7, so was perfect for a medical user.  Plus it delivered small hits so it would be perfect for me.  And was he ever right!  This thing took me six … yes six … weeks to get but it was worth every day of that arduous wait.  It changed everything!  It is a handmade, beautiful piece.  Very warm and inviting.  Sadly, Purple Days is no longer in business, as I just discovered.  I am taking a moment of silence in memoriam of an incredible, and lovingly made, vaporizer.  OK that’s done now.  But fear not, loyal readers!  If you want a piece like this sitting in your living room, there are alternatives to be had, I also just discovered.  The Extreme, that I wrote about yesterday, is known as a whip vape because of the silicone tube through which the vapor moves.  These little beauties are known as log vapes for the obvious reason.  Here are the ones I just learned about.  There is the Aromazap that looks identical to what you see here.   And then there is the Underdog.  This little beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes and woods.  Very unique and cool looking, but I have no idea how well it works. The vaporizer website I posted yesterday has threads on each of these, so you can learn about peoples’ experiences with them.  And last, but not least (so far as I know), is the Toasty Top.  It kind of looks like it sounds … shaped like a wooden spinning top.

Again, for the medical user, these are sublime.  My husband doesn’t have nearly as much tolerance as I do, so he’s really enjoying this Days.  Just too bad that when it wears out, instead of a repair job, it’ll be time to replace it.  A sad day that will be, indeed.  Ode to my Days … has given me some really good Daze!  Rest in peace.

Couldn’t eat without it

Posted: January 25, 2012 in Breast Cancer, Cannabis Medicine
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Sure, it made me eat … and eat … and eat and that was wonderful.  But I still had to medicate before lunch, which meant my afternoon was shot, and then again before dinner.  So if I was going to be up and running, I needed to get all that done early in the day cuz the rest of the day I was pretty much on the couch.  Which is not my preferred state of being every day, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.  So there I was … a retired military officer, married to an active duty military officer … smoking weed every day.  Here I  huddled in the garage, blowing the smoke out the cracked door hoping the neighbors couldn’t smell it!  And then my daughter mentioned a thing called a vaporizer.  A what?  I had visions of those big steamers we would put in our bedrooms when we had a cold as kids … you know, those things you put Vicks VapoSteam in?  Could not imagine how one could get high with that thing!  But she assured me it was a smoking device of sorts, so I immediately got online and started looking.  Good LORD!!!!  There were so many contraptions … all different shapes, sizes, and functionalities.  What in the hell do I do with all of this?  Where do I even start?  So I found this website that is a community of vapor afficionados and they talk about every vaporizer made.  Here’s your way to it so I don’t have to post the name of it so as not to offend those more innocent than I (which includes just about the entire universe).  After much reading, asking questions, and head scratching, I settled on an Arizer Extreme.  The contraption you see below is the Extreme.

When it arrived, I hadn’t a clue where to start, so I called the vendor and he asked me if I’d ever vaped (the act of using a vaporizer to use cannabis) before and I told him no.  He said I was in for a real treat, explained how to use it, and told me that smoking weed was like a “hillbilly high” (hey now WAIT …. I’m from NC … watch yer mouth!) and vaping weed was more of a “Beverly Hills” high.  Was he ever right!!!!!  Since I have discovered vaporizers, there have been no more coughing fits, no more paranoia … it was like a religious experience except that I’m not religious.  But you know what I mean.

So this vape (short for vaporizer cuz us stoners are inherently lazy, ya know) had so many functions.  You could take single-use hits from the whip (the silicone tube that transports the vapor from the bowl to your mouth) or you could fill up a big “balloon” for a more social event (read recreational use) to pass around.  It delivers big, ripping hits so as a baby stoner with no tolerance at all, it actually taught me some mathematics.  So here’s my math education for that semester:  top-shelf, medical-grade weed + a big ripping vape = me freaked out in a fetal position.  I knew I hated math!  I learned to tread lightly with that thing and use only half a hit or so.  Was a very steep learning curve and, even so it took 10 minutes to warm up to full temp, so it wasn’t the best fit for a medical user.

By this time, I was beginning to have some minor blockages in my small intestine, so things got pretty crampy/spasmy on top of the fluid.  This was the second thing where cannabis kicked serious ass for me!  I had tried the anti-spasmodics, but they only gave me relief for a short time and then I couldn’t take them again for another four hours.  But not so with cannabis.  Wow, those spasms were nothing for the mighty cannabis plant.  That stuff would melt my belly into soft submission within a minute or two.  Now, when it got really bad, I might have to vape every 30 minutes, but with cannabis, there’s no risk of harm with that.  It was a long night, to be sure, but that cannabis and vaporizer kept me from a trip to the hospital that night.  But I also learned that waiting 10 minutes out of every 30, for the vape to heat up, is just not my thing.  It was time for a new addition to what was to become my collection of vapes.

In this section, I’m going to give you, along with my personal experiences, the science to educate you about cannabis.  And here’s the first lesson regarding vaporized cannabis and pain pills.  If any of you are currently using opiates, guess what?  Vaporizing cannabis can reduce how much you have to use!  Win win situation, IMO!

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In a very unusual way

Posted: January 24, 2012 in Cannabis Medicine
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Due to my ever-worsening cancer symptoms, which were mainly in my abdomen, I had totally lost my appetite.  This had been slowly going on for quite some time, but it had finally hit critical mass.  We were on vacation in San Francisco, and I was carrying about seven liters of ascites fluid in my belly (that I endearingly termed cancer juice).  For those who are unfamiliar, this is a fluid that comes off of certain abdominal cancers and it fills in your abdominal space until you look pregnant.  But boy, did I ever learn how helpful those pregnancy hormones were to a body to be able to stretch like that.  I didn’t have that luxury this time!

My homegrown

Anyway, we were eating at a place on Fisherman’s Wharf.  I ordered crab, my very favorite thing.  After only a few bites, I just couldn’t eat it.  Didn’t want it.  Had no appetite so it just didn’t even taste good.  When my husband saw that, he realized we had a much bigger problem than we thought.  For me not to be able to eat crab, I must be sick!  We lived in California at the time, and I was already retired from the military, so he asked me if I had considered trying pot.  OMG NO!!!!!!  I despised feeling that way back in the day.  Well, of course … as I said before, I was in the discos all night back in the day and I didn’t like that feeling one bit.  So of course, I objected.  But I knew, as well as he did, that something had to be done … so I made an appt right away with a doctor to get legal.  No sooner did I have that piece of paper in my hand than I was trotting down to the nearest dispensary … well, maybe not trotting … maybe it was more like sitting in the passenger seat with my swollen feet on the dashboard, and waddling in when we got there.  But anyway, I came out of there with a few different strains after being just amazed at how things had changed since my last experience with weed!  I mean, this place was like walking into a bar, complete with “bud”tenders waiting to fill your order.  Since I knew nothing about nothing, I asked him to educate me and school was in session.

Now, having been away from such things for 20+ years, I discovered the botanists had been hard at work in my absence!  There were so many strains to choose from and each of them felt just a little bit different.  I had no tolerance at all, so tentatively took a puff or two.  After nearly coughing up a lung, I got hungry alright!  But I quickly realized if this was going to be part of my daily life, I would have to stop that smoking business.  That’s when I learned about vaporizers.  Oh what a difference they make!  No carcinogens, so efficient, and very smooth.  Not to mention, no smoke and no nasty smells in your house.  I’ll post a vaporizer post before long and show you pics of my babies.

So from despising the feeling of that plant, and believing it was ultimately harmful, in a very unusual way I have become a total cannabis advocate!  In the posts to come, I will show you how I went from one extreme to the other.  Can’t believe I actually stood in front of other peoples’ children (in high schools) and told them this was bad for you.  Thank you, DARE!  But now I know better!  And if you’ll keep an open mind, and stick with me,  you will too by the time we’re done.  :)

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