emergency averted .... thanks, laurie partridge!

photo: off the grid along the galloping goose cycle trail.

yesterday morning i panicked. i phoned some poor guy at shaw (sounded local, at least it wasn't far away in the philippines or something) and insisted they get over here and check the wiring because ever since they'd been here, to upgrade our cable (rent increase, cable upgrade) and change over our phone to digital (telus was so much better when it was publically owned) i've been experiencing some rather severe physical discomfort. over several days i'd had changes to my breathing, a heavy feeling in my chest, my heart felt like it was beating erratically, and the tinnitis ringing in my ears was like a train was whistling its way through my head. i tried desperately to think about what was new, what might be causing this, it couldn't possibly be that i was suddenly sensitized to the enormous power conductor things or whatever they are outside my balcony window. it must have been shaw's fault. the guy, adam, was sympathetic, but assured me they use coaxial cables which don't emit any electromagnetics and if they weren't connected properly the phone and tv simply wouldn't work.

what could it be? it was driving me mad. i woke up in the night about ready to grab my sleeping bag and go sleep in my friend's back yard. then, luckily, i remembered that partridge family episode where laurie partridge had to get a mouthful of metal braces and found herself receiving radio signals. maybe that's what's happening .... maybe my herbal/homeopathic detox was releasing huge amounts of mercury and lead and arsenic and all the other heavy metals we human accumulate as a consequence of being alive. i remembered that i had, the week previously, specifically asked the amazing patsy, acupuncture student extraordinaire, to focus on helping my mouth release the mercury from the amalgam fillings that had accumulated in my jaw. certainly my second abscess (the first having relieved itself in previous years) was leeching crap on a regular basis ... it sounds yucky but it's actually a good thing ... and i've been drinking lots of water and stuff with antioxidants like green tea and rooibos and organic vegan red wine ... maybe the stuff that's leaving my body is just reacting to the many and various waveforms that circulate around us on a daily basis. stuff like radio waves, and cell phone waves, and wifi, and tv signals, and all the other electricity based 'conveniences' of life in the industrialized world. maybe i had evolved some mystical ability to monitor electromagnetic energy.

there certainly is a lot of it. my flat mate suggested it'd be interesting to draw an image of what the air around us actually looks like, with the am and fm and ac and dc and wifi and all the rest of it. he's also experiencing some tinnitis, so whatever's going on with me isn't only about my detox, but i'm not feeling as panicked as i was yesterday. the symptoms have settled down somewhat, especially after a good yoga sweat session (also good for detoxification), and hopefully i'll just learn to live with the tinnitis and i'll survive it.

soon, on july 3rd, i begin my second annual adventure to cuba with the pastors for peace who are on their 20th annual. i remember, last year in cuba, feeling physically different. no tinnitis, for example. but things are changing -- they were talking about underwater cables for internet, and i hear that hugo chavez and the venezuelans have developed an affordable cell phone.

i guess change is the only constant. it's oddly amusing to consider that laurie partridge has been one of my (many) health advisors on this detox journey. unfortunately, canada's great health system hasn't provided any of the others. it's a good system if you need emergency surgery, or pharmaceutical drugs, but they're really not focussed on prevention. my friends with hep c tell me there are two options for their healing - a chemical treatment, or a herbal one. both work, the herbal one is better, and less expensive, but guess which one the government offers to low income people? gotta keep big pharma happy, i guess. still, we count our blessings while working for change - if we were american we'd likely be dead by now.

p.s. someone from shaw's customer service actually called me today, i guess adam had sent an email. this is why we support locally based businesses! they assure me they care, and that what they do is safe. they use radio waves, and they're federally regulated (not that that's any reassurance). i feel better, but still ... i can't help but wonder what impact all these frequencies might have in the long term .... maybe i oughta eat more seal heart (see next story i'm about to post!)