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Know
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THIS WEEK'S ISSUE From the Inside Out...
BE the World Throughout
my life, I've managed to feel young by maintaining an open mind
and continually knowing, at a deep level, that all is well in my
universe. I stay awake to 'signs' around me and am generally proactive.
With time and perspective things always turn out to be worthwhile
— often in unexpected ways. For, as Henry David Thoreau said,
"There is no value in life except what you choose to place
upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it
yourself." ~ Chelle Thompson, Editor
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From the Inside Out
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In
October of 2002, Emery James Peck was a 19-year-old top-ranked student
working his way to graduation as an elementary school teacher at
Ball State University. Emery
was "at the top of his game." After preparing a Hulk Hogan
Halloween costume for weeks, Emery and his band of loyal friends
went to a Halloween party on Nov. 1, 2002. Emery arrived at the
party to many compliments on his costume and said that he "felt
fine." The
Beginning — A Self-Diagnosis: Little did Emery know that
within 30 short minutes his life would begin to change forever.
Peck said that at the Halloween party he began to notice that the
left side of his face was losing feeling. Emery didn't want to spoil
the fun of the party, so he "just went on with the night and
made no issue of what was happening." After the party, Emery
didn't realize what would lie ahead for him. He went home to bed
hoping that he would wake up and all his problems would be washed
away. The next morning, Emery found out that sleep was not the cure-all
he hoped it would be. "I couldn't get my nostrils to flare
that next morning," Emery said, which worried him. Once the
worry had officially set in, Emery began to try and diagnose himself
on the Internet. After much searching on the Internet, Emery couldn't
seem to solve his problem - he didn't feel he had enough symptoms
to warrant an immediate trip to doctor. Emery's
worries deepened when he noticed that he had lost his appetite.
"I really got worried when I couldn't eat. I have eaten three
meals a day for years. I knew that something was happening."
Emery said his moment of clarity came when he tried to eat Tangy
Taffy on that dark Sunday — a candy he calls an addiction.
Emery said he put the candy in his mouth and it "tasted like
car keys." Emery
went to class that following Monday but was too busy with school
work to visit the Health Center. Peck spoke with his mother that
Monday about his concerns."She told me I needed to get a real
diagnosis fast," Emery said. The
Realization: Following a stressful weekend, Emery went to the
Ball State Health Center on Nov. 3, 2002. Peck told his doctor,
"I think I have facial paralysis." His doctor responded
with a somber look and told Emery that he had Bell's palsy. Emery
was prescribed to a steroid with the purpose of regaining/preventing
any further damage. The
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains
that Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from damage
to the cranial nerve. Approximately 40,000 Americans are diagnosed
with Bell's palsy every year, approximately 0.02 percent of the
population. Bell's palsy is not necessarily a permanent condition,
but in some cases people never recover full control of their face.
Emery did not want to become one of those people. Following
the diagnosis, Emery went to a friend's dorm room to break the news.
In true Emery Peck fashion, he and his friend tried to make a joke
of it. Peck said, "At first, I thought it was funny. How did
something this odd happen to me?" Emery
and his friend took pictures of Emery trying to smile with all his
might. The pictures were taken to try to help Emery see what had
truly been happening to him. After Emery saw the pictures "it
put everything into perspective." Emery knew he was facing
a major battle. The
Novelty Wears Off: After dealing with his Bell's palsy for
almost two weeks, Peck felt that "the novelty had worn off."
Many changes had occurred in Emery's life. Peck said he was accustomed
to not tasting food, but he now had to wear an eye patch. Emery's
doctors ordered him to wear an eye patch because he was unable to
blink and keep dust and other debris out of his eyes. Emery faced
a constant regimen of wearing an eye patch at all times and using
Visine to re-wet his eye constantly. By
this time, Emery felt discouraged and "sick of explaining what
happened." Wearing the eye patch made Emery feel as if he "looked
like a bad Captain Hook." Emery's classroom presence challenged
him as well. "In my Art Ed 200 class, I felt out of place.
I sat in the back like a freak. My face was disconnected."
Peck's Art Education 200 class was in a large lecture hall filled
with nearly 120 students. His distorted face made the once outspoken
student into nothing but a voiceless face in the crowd. In
a 2003 study by the Harvard Medical School of Health, research showed
that, "early treatment with corticosteroids improves the chances
for a full recovery by about 20%." Corticosteroids are what
Emery had been prescribed, but he had not been taking his steroids
at all. Emery said he didn't feel that the steroids were going to
help him improve. Recovery seemed bleak. Rock
Bottom: After two weeks, Emery showed no signs of improvement.
In fact, his eye seemed to get worse. Emery's doctor now required
him to use medical eye drops to keep his eye from drying out permanently.
"When I heard permanently, I was afraid my eye would fall out.
It was like I was away from reality for so long that my mind had
created so many worst-case scenarios. It was almost like my palsy
was becoming a Lifetime movie." Emery
reached his lowest point after that visit to the doctor. He felt
like he may never return to life that he once knew. Sure, his friends
had adjusted to his distorted looks, but Emery began to think further
into the future. Emery faced the fear of losing his motivation for
teaching. Emery's concerns focused on the thought of the students'
reaction to the teacher with the disgusting face. The thought of
all Emery's hard work being given away to an infection left him
frustrated and bewildered. The
Rise of Emery Peck: Emery packed his bags and began a drive
from his dorm in Muncie to his parents' home in Evansville —
where his family had yet to see his "new" face. Emery
said, "Somehow during my visit I had a moment of clarity. I
went back to the way I felt at first. I was optimistic." The
Peck family showed Emery support during his visit and, much like
Emery's friends, learned to love and accept Emery's condition. Helen
Peck, Emery's mother, said, "I had bought him his favorite
grasshopper pie for Thanksgiving, and he couldn't taste it. He took
the leftovers of the cake home and froze them. He was saving it
until he could taste again." Emery's determination to taste
the pie showed his parents that his optimism was beginning to flourish.
Emery's optimism helped create a new view of how he wanted to handle
his palsy. "I became strong by recovering that humor. I would
let food fall out of my mouth in the cafeterias. I ran into walls
on purpose. I was having fun with it again, but I didn't tell anyone.
Everyone was laughing. It was selfish, but what could I do?" After
recovering some of the social aspects of his life, Emery wanted
to overcome his palsy altogether. Early that December, nearly a
month after his diagnosis, Emery began his own special workout to
conquer his palsy. "I knew it all started at my eye,"
Emery said. With that realization in mind, Emery laid in bed for
hours trying to blink. When Emery wasn't lying in bed trying to
blink, he was walking to class trying to blink. After
days of attempting to regain control of his face, something incredible
happened while visiting some friends. Emery and his friends were
playing video games for hours when people began to complain about
their eyes hurting from a lack of blinking. Emery responded sarcastically,
"At least you can blink both of your eyes." After Emery
made that statement, he lifted up his eye patch and tried with all
his power to blink. And he did. Emery immediately rejoiced with
energy that hadn't been seen from him in many months when he said,
"Holy blinking Batman. I did it!" The room filled with
cheers of joy. Emery had taken a major step in his battle —
without ever taking his steroids. Five
days after Emery blinked for the first time in a month control began
to return to the rest of his face. Two weeks after regaining control
of his face, taste began to slowly return, and he unfroze his leftover
grasshopper pie. "I had never tasted anything so wonderful,"
Emery said. Emery could feel victory was near. He was right. After
six weeks of struggling with Bell's palsy, Emery appeared fully
recovered and credits his recovery to determination. Fast forward to 2004: Emery is approaching graduation at Ball State University and has fully recovered from his Bell's palsy. While reflecting on the experience, Peck said: "Faster than any research said I would recover, it was all back, and without medicine or outside help. That feeling is amazing. I fought it face-to-face, literally. I was me again, a soul survivor." The Harvard Medical School of Health said, "Most doctors believe that medications are effective only if the patient starts taking them within two or three days after symptoms first appear." Emery never took his medication and instead used courage to overcome his palsy. His story can be looked upon as a tale of the will of one man conquering something that can't be controlled. ~
True-Life Narrative ©2004 — By Zachary Sampsel, a 23-year-old
journalism student at
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Far Horizons SIERRA DE TRINIDAD
- CUBA
The
waterfall of El Nicho, in the mountainous region of Sierra de
Trinidad, is by itself an ideal place for lovers of Nature and
Adventure Tourism. In the mountains of El Nicho you can hike through
the caves, enjoy waterfall bathing and track the mountain's exotic
flora and fauna. Cuba has three mountain regions: the wild and
rugged Sierra Maestra in the east, rising to 6,560 ft in the Pico
Turquino; a lower range, the scenic Sierra de los Órganos,
in the west; and the Sierra de Trinidad, a picturesque mass of
hills amid the plains and rolling country of central Cuba, a region
of vast sugar plantations. The wet forests of Cuba retain exceptionally
insular flora and fauna, with many species unique to its forests.
The island’s long-standing isolation has made it possible
for some of the old lines to survive, yet they have become extinct
on the nearby continents. Expansion in the production of cacao,
coffee and tobacco as well as mining and other human activities
represent a serious threat in some areas. Untangling the Web
COMPUTER-EASE "Changing
the Size of Scroll Bars"
 Visit Our Signature Gift Shop 
Inspiration Line International Forum
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I WANT TO SEND A WARM & FUZZY THANK YOU
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Just for YOU
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The
hurricane came unexpectedly. The ship went down and was lost.
The man found himself swept up on the shore of an island with
no other people, no supplies, nothing to do. Only bananas and
coconuts. One
day, as he was lying on the beach, he spotted movement out of
the corner of his eye. It was a rowboat, and in it was the most
gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She rowed up to him. In disbelief,
he asked her: "Where did you come from? How did you get here?
"I rowed from the other side of the island," she said.
"I landed here when my cruise ship sank." "Oh,
simple," replied the woman. "I made the rowboat out
of materials that I found on the island. The oars were whittled
from Gum tree branches. I wove the bottom from palm branches and
the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree." "Oh,
that was no problem," replied the woman. "On the other
side of the island there is a very unusual rock formation exposed.
I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln,
it melted into iron. I used that for tools, and used the tools
to make the hardware. But enough of that," she said. "Where
do you live?" Sheepishly, he confessed that he had been sleeping
on the beach the whole time. "Well, let's row over to my
place, then," she said. "I can check my e-mail from here?" ~Contributed
by Bob in St. Cloud, Florida ARCHIVES:..
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Fascinating Facts
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In an article for Beliefnet.com Amy Cunningham explains that in the hot summer months we sometimes feel overwhelmed or stuck, like there is nowhere to turn ... "But then, in the heat, you expand. You tune into yourself as a living organism, absorb the rain and sun. These are spiritual months. You can grow larger in spirit as you move towards harvest. You can tune into your senses. And you can completely enjoy yourself in the process. 'Summer offers opportunities, not readily available at other times, to appreciate the abundance in the natural order of things and the cycle of life,' writes Virginia Beach healer MeeWah Reynolds. 'Verdant hues and bright colors, sunny days and soaring temperatures, the scent of newly cut grass and freshly turned soil, less and lighter clothing, trips to the beach, a vacation or holiday, travel, outdoor activities, weddings, gatherings of family and friends. Many of these associations and activities originated in ancient times and have been retained throughout man's history to the present.' It is easy, however, to become detached from all that keeps summer so sacred and spiritual. Hence, here are ten suggestions to help you fertilize your internal summer growth. 1.
FIRST, UNPLUG THE TELEVISION: Enjoy the extra psychic
space and time. Fair warning: if you enforce this on your
children, you must spend more money at first on art supplies,
bug boxes, nets, board games and building toys. That's the
tradeoff, but within a week, you'll see behavior changes you
hadn't known to expect. Sounds
like a refreshing new perspective to embrace and enjoy during
these hot months, doesn't it?
Joyful
Blessings,
HOW
YOU CAN HELP THE TSUNAMI & DARFUR/SUDAN SURVIVORS |
Thompson
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COPYRIGHT
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