Seeing the Gorillas in Rwanda or Monnie’s Big Adventure
My friend Monnie Biety shared the following wonderful story with me:
In May of this year, I spent 2 weeks working in Rwanda. Most of us are familiar with this small African country for 2 reasons, the genocide in 1994 and the mountain gorillas introduced to the world by Dian Fossey. I was lucky enough to visit the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park where Dian Fossey did her research. The park is about 2 ½ hours by car from the capital city of Kigali. It is in a very mountainous and lush area of the country surrounded by dormant volcanoes. The park sits on the border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In order to visit the gorillas you have to purchase a permit. I was able to purchase one at the last minute only because it wasrainy season. At any other time of year, there is normally a 6 month to 1 year waiting list. In the park there are 20 groups of gorillas, 10 groups are exclusively for research and the other 10 groups receive visitors every day of the year. In total, there are less than 800 mountain gorillas in the world!
Eighty people are allowed to visit the gorillas each day. When you arrive at the park, the rangers divide the visitors up into groups of eight and each group is assigned 3 rangers and 2-3 trackers. You then set off hiking to find your assigned group of gorillas. This sounds like searching for a needle in a haystack but it was all very organized. The trackers locate your assigned group of gorillas early in the morning and then the rangers guide you to their location.
I visited the Agashya group. Agashya is the silverback or mature male and the leader of the group. He weighed 450 pounds. Inthe mountain gorilla world, it is the silverback that holds the group together. There were also 20 adults and adolescents in the group and 6 babies. We found our group busily eating bamboo, their favorite food. We were surrounded by the gorillas; they were up in the bamboo, on the forest floor with us and just going about their daily life. They acknowledged us but we didn’t appear to bother them. The rangers told us that we could not get closer than 7 meters. But luckily, to enhance the experience, the gorillas weren’t aware of that rule. They approached us and moved freely about us. In fact, one ran right into my knee. After you locate your group of gorillas, you are allowed to spend 1 hour with them. It was the most amazing and memorable 1 hour in the bamboo forest, in the middle of Africa, spending time with 27 mountain gorillas roaming freely, gazing at me with soulful, gentle and intelligent eyes and nothing between me and them but bamboo!
- Published in Guest Blogger, Personal Interests
Seeing the Gorillas in Rwanda or Monnie’s Big Adventure
My friend Monnie Biety shared the following wonderful story with me:
In May of this year, I spent 2 weeks working in Rwanda. Most of us are familiar with this small African country for 2 reasons, the genocide in 1994 and the mountain gorillas introduced to the world by Dian Fossey. I was lucky enough to visit the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park where Dian Fossey did her research. The park is about 2 ½ hours by car from the capital city of Kigali. It is in a very mountainous and lush area of the country surrounded by dormant volcanoes. The park sits on the border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In order to visit the gorillas you have to purchase a permit. I was able to purchase one at the last minute only because it wasrainy season. At any other time of year, there is normally a 6 month to 1 year waiting list. In the park there are 20 groups of gorillas, 10 groups are exclusively for research and the other 10 groups receive visitors every day of the year. In total, there are less than 800 mountain gorillas in the world!
Eighty people are allowed to visit the gorillas each day. When you arrive at the park, the rangers divide the visitors up into groups of eight and each group is assigned 3 rangers and 2-3 trackers. You then set off hiking to find your assigned group of gorillas. This sounds like searching for a needle in a haystack but it was all very organized. The trackers locate your assigned group of gorillas early in the morning and then the rangers guide you to their location.
I visited the Agashya group. Agashya is the silverback or mature male and the leader of the group. He weighed 450 pounds. Inthe mountain gorilla world, it is the silverback that holds the group together. There were also 20 adults and adolescents in the group and 6 babies. We found our group busily eating bamboo, their favorite food. We were surrounded by the gorillas; they were up in the bamboo, on the forest floor with us and just going about their daily life. They acknowledged us but we didn’t appear to bother them. The rangers told us that we could not get closer than 7 meters. But luckily, to enhance the experience, the gorillas weren’t aware of that rule. They approached us and moved freely about us. In fact, one ran right into my knee. After you locate your group of gorillas, you are allowed to spend 1 hour with them. It was the most amazing and memorable 1 hour in the bamboo forest, in the middle of Africa, spending time with 27 mountain gorillas roaming freely, gazing at me with soulful, gentle and intelligent eyes and nothing between me and them but bamboo!
- Published in Guest Blogger, Personal Interests
Understanding Hypothyroidism
Did you know that 90% of all hypothyroid cases are autoimmune? Autoimmune thyroid, commonly know as Hashimoto’s disease is the most common autoimmune disease in the United States (estimated at 35 million). The body interprets itself as a threat and makes antibodies against the thyroid tissue, which over time leads to tissue destruction and symptoms. Did you know that thyroid medications do not address the autoimmune component of this condition? Thyroid supplementation is very important with an elevated TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) but the traditional model of medicine ignores the underlying autoimmune aspect of Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. Although patients are often told to “diet & exercise” or take another medication(s), these are ineffective and allow the hypothyroid condition to progress. So what causes Hashimoto’s Disease and what can be done to feel better?
Hashimoto’s Disease along with all other autoimmune conditions develops when three criteria are present in the body: Leaky Gut (permeability), Genetic Susceptibility, and a Trigger. There are several known triggers that exacerbate autoimmune conditions and hypothyroidism including: gluten intolerance, vitamin D polymorphism (the body’s inability to use natural vitamin D), iodine excess, heavy metal toxicity, estrogen surges, pregnancy (especially postpartum changes), gastrointestinal infections, and insulin surges. Perhaps the most common and most critical is gluten intolerance (not just celiac disease!), to which 80% of Americans have a genetic predisposition. The majority of these conditions are addressed at Red Tail Wellness Center and rather than symptom suppression, we focus on removing the root cause and allowing your body to heal itself.
People who suffer from this debilitating condition are some of the most rewarding clients to work with as great changes can be made very simply. Since autoimmunity is complex, a detailed history is always taken at the first visit. It is during this visit that many insights regarding your particular case surface and a more specific treatment plan can be determined. We have found that determining and addressing immune dominance is integral in the treatment of Hashimoto’s Disease. (As described in: Why do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian – #1 seller on Amazon). Put simply, is one side of your immune system driving the antibody reaction, thus destroying the thyroid over time? It is nearly impossible to manage an autoimmune condition without addressing and regulating the immune system! With new technologies, testing and natural therapies people have begun to take back their health and finally reach the vitality they’ve missed for decades! For more information please contact the Red Tail Wellness Center at 303-882-8447 or for more information on thyroid please visit my website.
- Published in Guest Blogger
Long-term ticket to a Healthy Skeleton
Joint pain is one of the most common ailments that individuals experience as they age. Lack of activity or too much activity without countering the effects of these can lead to dysfunction that determines the stability and mobility of the joint. If a joint moves poorly due to tightness of the connective tissue or inflexibility of the muscles that move it, it will lose its capacity to create fluidity of the body’s skeleton. We are intended to move using sequential patterns of muscle action for functional and athletic activities. When mobility is restricted, these normal patterns are interrupted and what replace them are compensations that are hard on the structure and can be a source of pain.
What is the solution to this aging issue? We can manage the change in function by performing exercises that mobilize the joints and improve the flexibility of the muscles and connective tissue. This allows a joint to move fluidly through its range of motion without undue pressure on anyone particular portion of it which can ultimately reduce the degree of wearing. Flexibility is as critical to the function of your joints as air is to the function of your lungs. Enabling the body to find correct movements by improving posture and flexibility is a long-term ticket to a healthy skeleton. Appropriate physical activity is essential to function.
The best way to identify your areas of tightness and mis-alignment is to be evaluated by a professional who understands postural position and movement patterns and will assess joint mobility and function. In addition to performing stretching and strengthening exercises, learning and maintaining good posture will support the balance of the muscles around the joints. When standing, the feet should be hip width and parallel to one another. Finding weighting in the ball of the big and little toe and center of the heel will help you evenly activate the muscles up the leg and position the pelvis properly. This should allow the hips to have a slight bend in them with the middle of the shoulders lined with center of the hips when looking at the profile. Finally, the middle of the ear should align with the shoulder with the gaze level. This is a neutral stance that you will not hold all of the time, but if you learn how to be stable here and improve flexibility, your movement quality will improve. And this translates to happier joints for life!
- Published in Guest Blogger
Breast Cancer Free-Ten Years and Counting! Part II
If cancer could happen to me, the picture of good health, it can happen to anyone, at any time. I learned, and continue to learn, many life lessons
We are our own best health care advocates – I can’t emphasize the importance of annual mammograms enough, even if you are convinced you are at little to no risk for this disease. My only risk factor is that I am a women – I had no other standard indicators for risk of this disease. I was (and am) physically fit, I was young, I have no family history, I don’t smoke, and the list goes on. Each risk factor they identify – I had none of them, except that I am a woman. Even the doctors were convinced that the palpable lump in my breast was nothing to be concerned about, and I agreed, but I also wanted a definitive answer about what it was. They were as surprised as I was when it came back as positive. Read last week’s blog entry for more information on the diagnostic process I pursued until I had a definitive answer.through this experience. As an extension of last week’s blog entry, I wanted to share a few key lessons that I learned.
Pursue Information – I learned that many doctors are reluctant to introduce patients to new information. It is not their job to educate us, it is their job to treat us. It is our job to educate ourselves. There is an abundance of information available at our fingertips, and it is up to us to filter through that information, and net out the information we need, and the questions we need to ask of our doctors. Doctors will answer questions once they are asked, they just won’t offer information for fear it will overwhelm us. So, come into your doctor appointments armed with questions, and if needed, ask a friend or loved one to join you, so they can help interpret the answers to those questions. When we are the subject of the discussion, sometimes our thoughts wander, and it helps to have someone else there to stay on track and take copious notes.
Take the Time – Even when they’ve heard my story, how my persistence saved my life, many people tell me that they are too busy to have annual mammograms – that they can’t take the time to have the screening. Between demands on our time at home and at work, we are all very busy – children need a ride to soccer, hockey, football or the like, or you need to have this proposal done for work, etc. I promise you, the one hour you take out of your busy schedule, once a year, for this crucial screening, is well worth it. Your family and your work colleagues will miss you a lot more if you don’t do it.
I recognize how fortunate I am that I pursued a more definitive answer to the initial medical response “We don’t know what it is”, and that my cancer responded to the medical technology that was available to me at the time. I also know many who are not as fortunate as I am. Medical professionals are very well meaning, but no one cares more about our own survival than we each do. Take the steps required to ensure you are proactive in early diagnosis, educated in order to ask questions to better understand your disease and your options for treatment, and take ownership over your own health and health issues, as best you can.
- Published in Guest Blogger, Personal Interests
Breast Cancer Free- Ten Years and Counting! Part I
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Susan G. Komen Denver Race for the Cure occurs the first Sunday in October each year. This year is especially significant for me, as it represents a major milestone for me – 10 years since my diagnosis in 2001 – a milestone I wasn’t sure I would reach when I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer at the age of 40.
It came as a real shock, given that I had my baseline mammogram the year before, which had not reported any issues. In addition, I had no contributing factors – other than being a woman – that would have put me at risk of Breast Cancer, particularly at such a young age. I had no family history, I exercised for more than an hour every day, I ate a balanced diet, and I had no health issues. In fact, it was only first discovered in an annual medical exam as a palpable (nickel sized and shaped) mass, and neither the Nurse Practitioner nor I were overly concerned about it at the time. I wasn’t actually encouraged to check it out immediately, but I decided that I should anyway, and scheduled a mammogram at the same place that did my baseline mammogram. That mammogram did not show any “interval change” from the baseline mammogram, but they too could feel the disk shaped mass, so they did an ultrasound. That too showed nothing. Again, I was not encouraged to pursue it further, but I called my Doctor’s office, and the nurse said I could see a surgeon for a biopsy. I was still not worried at all, but just didn’t want to ignore it. I saw the surgeon, who scheduled me for an excisional biopsy. That biopsy came back positive for Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma. Further pathology showed additional information about the characteristics of the tumor, and its spread, which helped direct the proper options for treatment.
One thing that hit home in this process is how random cancer really is. I was living under a false sense of security that if I did all the right things, and had no significant contributing factors or behaviors, I was at a near zero risk of Breast Cancer – it was not even a remote concern for me. I realized, after all I experienced and learned, that if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone at any time.
I am living proof that the messaging and awareness around Breast Cancer gets through – even if it is not at a conscious level. I am certain that I was as persistent as I was, and am alive today as a result of that persistence, because of the awareness that the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Race for the Cure brought to me over the years, and continues to bring.
- Published in Guest Blogger