George is Getting Well Again!

George & I at Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Spring ’11.

Looking forward to more wonderful times like this!

It seems that all of the things that we have been doing are working! We now need to concentrate on rest, and getting weight back on. George’s diet has been so restrictive that it has been a challenge to keep him nourished every day, but we have worked very hard here to do so. Now the doctor has told us to definitely add some foods back in (I had already started giving him a fair amount of homemade yogurt, cream, and some fresh milk). Dr. B. wants him eating aged raw milk cheeses, more meat, and more fat (all from clean, pastured sources-of the utmost importance). No vegetable oils other than EVOO and coconut oil, but lots of those as well as butter, lard, etc. As a general rule we always exclude the polyunsaturated oils from our diet anyway, but George’s condition has been living proof of just how necessary this is for health.

Bone broth has been the cornerstone of George’s (and our family’s) diet, and we are so grateful that our hens are laying very well right now. George eats the equivalent of at least 6 eggs (much of that being just raw yolk) every single day. Eggs on top of eggs (fresh hollandaise and homemade mayo) washed down with a cup of hot broth, but now we can add cheese on top! This morning I sent him off with egg salad (made with lots of mayo that I made fresh), guacamole with more mayo, and Manchego cheese, along with smoked mackerel chowder. Dr. B’s wife is giving us some farmer’s names for more reasonably priced pastured beef & pork which even I didn’t know about (with my WAPF connections) so that I can send him more things like sausages and such for “snacks” throughout the day to go along with all that good cheese! He even prepared a generous serving of foods for George to eat while we were there so that we could see how satisfied George can be: cream cheese sandwiched between olive & avacdoe cooked potato chips (yes, potato chips-I was surprised, George was pleased!), tuna with homemade mayo on a bed of water cress, and some lovely Emmantaler cheese! He let me sample a little bit too, much to my delight !-)

So happily I believe we are well on the road to recovery, although it is likely to be a couple of years before he is fully recovered. It is so exciting to see the old George returning; he sometimes has a spring in his step, and he is beginning to whistle again! I am dreaming of exploring DC again in the spring time, bike rides, hiking, and much more of the life we used to have, when George felt good; maybe he will even feel better than ever?! I hope to have a much younger husband in the year to come !-) He definitely looks much better now, except for being super thin.

Oh, and no sign of Lyme Disease! We really have no regrets about the treatments we did with the Lyme doc as we believe it really was helpful, but it is great to be able to stay away from the drugs and just concentrate on building strength and resistance with good food and a few supplemental nutrients & herbals.

Your prayers and concern are still greatly appreciated; you have all been such an encouragement as we have struggled through this, thank you! I’ll keep you updated as more hurdles are crossed.

All the best,

George & Maureen