I'm groggy after 5 1/3 hours of straight sleep .. my longest stretch in over a week. A little shaky and losing weight with the juicing fast so I need to email my Naturopath Doc in Nova Scotia about tuning up the diet. More protein and fat? All I'm getting is what's in fruits and veges. But, don't want to mess with success. Body scan shows continued improvement - less redness and bumps reducing. Discussion with Johns Hopkins Derm Doc will be very interesting. She will be surprised.
I see from the mailing list this morning, two members report good results with Methotrexate in reducing symptoms. But not completely and one said it "came back with a rage". So, still appears to me to me a symptom, not a cause "cure" and not a permanent one. And with huge risks from side effects. But curing symptoms here is not a trivial matter as the symptoms - your skin covered with a rash all over the body - prevents this vital organ from carrying out its functions. In addition the symptoms add to stress - not good for health. But, my treatment program which appears to working deals with the cause and should, I believe, end the disease once and for all.
Saturday, I broke free of my confinement to Baltimore. With the juice fasting, I've been kind of tied down, having to make and consume fresh juice. So I made enough for 2 pitchers - around 100 ounces - stored in a temporary cooler created from a styrofoam packing box given to me by a clerk at the Korean food mart (they don't sell coolers and mine must have gone off with my kids) and headed up to Pennsylvania Amish country on a very warm sunny "summery" early fall day to attend the evening's concert of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra with a friend.
Compared to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's hall a 10 minute walk from my house, the Lancaster Symphony's hall, The Fulton Opera House, is much smaller and is classical vs modern. Both are beautiful. 
What struck me most in the performance, was how happy the members of the orchestra were. Repeatedly smiling at each other and the conductor whom they appeared to actually like. I can't recall seeing such a display of affection and enjoyment in a symphony performance. Hostility is a more normal and quite accepted condition between resident Maestro and orchestra, It was wonderful to see how much they enjoyed what they were doing and how well they did it! Without the full rich sound of a large major orchestra, like the Baltimore Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony nevertheless had a perhaps greater sharpness and clarity that was spirited and totally engaging.The piano soloist, Leon Bates, pounded the piano. (in Tchaikovsky's 2nd Concerto) with a vigor that brought this conservative audience to its feet at the finish.. Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser conducted without the intricate hand arm and body movements so fascinating to watch with the great conductors. In so doing he proved they are apparently unnecessary to make great music. All and all a wonderful evening and a great break from the consuming focus on my disease. Oh, and no "thousands of bright yellow pinpoints" floating in the air at this concert, or in my mind in the last few days". Nice to have been able to experience them, but I shall not miss the quiet alarm they produced in me.Big day tomorrow as I discuss my rapid (and for her unexpected) progress with my Johns Hopkins Derm Doc. I hope to learn why I wasn't better informed about the drug treatment that she and her associate, my Johns Hopkins primary care Doc, recommended and its quite horrific risks. I also am eager to find out how she regards the competing Alternative treatment that appears to be working so well without the risks that I instead adopted. Will she welcome this., To her, new and radically different approach?
I'll let you know. Til then, thanks for reading!
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