By Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light
All content copyright Nancy Rynes
Focus on what you can do in this moment, not on what you can't.
~ Cathy McKeen
January 8, 2014: It had been five days since the biking accident which had traumatized my body, and less than two days after my near-death experience (NDE) during surgery to repair my spine. I was still in the hospital, but at least today I would be allowed to get up out of bed. Finally! I never have made a good patient, and already I was feeling anxious to be up and moving again.
I was incredibly lucky and knew it. From having both a nurse and physician who “just happened” to be on-scene at the crash site, to the “angel” who kept me still while the paramedics arrived, to a skilled first responder team who transported me safely, to all of my care teams in the hospital, and then the surgeon and his team who repaired my back, I was incredibly lucky to still have the ability to walk. And I was looking forward to roaming the halls of the hospital.
I was in the afterglow phase of my NDE just a couple of days before, which meant I was feeling as if I was still embraced in love, peace, and Divine joy. Everything was beautiful…every person, every thing, the mountains and trees outside of my window. All of it was Divine.
The nursing team came in that morning to help me into my new hard, clamshell body cast. Even though I had titanium rods put in my back during surgery, I still needed a body cast so my spine would heal properly. Getting into a clamshell cast was more of a challenge than I expected but after a frustrating ten minutes, I learned how to maneuver my broken body so I could roll into the thing. I didn’t enjoy feeling confined by the cast, but I knew immobilizing my torso was absolutely necessary so that I didn’t injure myself more and my spine would heal straight. Knowing that it was keeping me safe didn’t help my feelings of confinement. The surgeon’s team thought that I would need the body cast for up to 16 weeks which felt like forever to me. I could not imagine being in it that long and decided to do everything I could to heal quicker. That’s when I made the vow to help my body heal by taking good care of it.
The nursing team helped me walk around my hospital room, then my physician came in to talk to me about what was next in the healing process. He laid out the basics: No sugars. No refined carbohydrates. Basically, no junk or processed food at all. A lot of good quality protein, calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium to help my bones, tendons, and ligaments heal. I also needed to stay away from alcohol, cigarettes, and recreational drugs of any kind, which was easy for me because I never even touched any of them anyway.
OK, so now I had a plan for fueling my body so that it could maximize its ability to heal.
Then a few days later, while I was still in the hospital, I got hit with a bout of C. difficile, a nasty intestinal bacteria that is all too common in healthcare institutions.* My body had been recovering well from the surgery until this little bug took hold. And then it almost took my life. This nasty little bacteria made me so ill that I really just wanted to die. Yeah, it was that bad. None of the usual antibiotics worked on me, but my niece, who was also a nurse, saved the day by convincing me to take high doses of professional-quality probiotics. Those probiotics took care of the infection and saved my life. That was when I began to learn about the incredible, healing power of probiotics, and natural cures in general.
A few weeks later when I saw my primary care physician for follow-up, he added one more thing to my list of healthy habits that would help to heal my concussion. He put me on high doses of Omega 3s. Since the structure of the brain is made of Omega 3 fatty acids, in order for my brain to heal I needed to give it as much Omega 3s as possible. And I needed to exercise too. Since getting back on a bike was out of the question for at least 6 months, that meant a lot of walking.**
I came away from my doctor visits knowing that if I wanted to help my body heal, the best way to do it was to give it the nutrients and exercise it needed, while avoiding anything that would interfere with health. The regimen they laid out for me forms the core of my personal care routine today.
But I didn’t realize at the time that this kind of regimen would help more than just my body…overall, I felt better physically and emotionally than I ever had in my life. Even while my bones were still healing from all of the breaks, I felt more energized and “light” than at any time in the past. I also felt calmer too — less anxious, less fearful, happier. Some of that was very likely due to the NDE itself, but I know that part was also due to eating healthfully and taking omega 3s and probiotics.
My body healed surprisingly quickly from the trauma. Again, some of this was probably due to having an NDE and being immersed in unconditional, Divine love, but a good part of the healing was also dependent on self-care. I came to see for myself, clearly, just how much capacity the human body has for healing. Giving it the right ingredients (exercise and healthy nutrition), removing the harmful ones (unhealthy choices), optimizes the body’s ability to come back to a state of wholeness.
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| Nancy Rynes at 4.5 weeks post-accident |
Within 4.5 weeks, I had ditched all of my casts. My orthopedic team said I didn’t need them anymore. Having expected to be in them for 12 to 16 weeks, I felt ecstatic that I was out of them so quickly. My concussion took a bit longer to heal but in time and with continuing to follow my care team’s nutritional guidelines, that healed up too.
We will continue with more self-care topics in the coming weeks...
Blessings,
Nancy
** https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-exercise-protects-your-brains-health-and-what-kind-is-best/
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues
TODAY Show: Nancy's Interview on NBC TV's TODAY
Messages of Hope with Suzanne Giesemann: Exploring NDEs with Nancy Rynes
Article: Seven Lessons That Dying Taught Me About Truly Living (Aspire Magazine)
Article: Lives Changed by NDEs (Boulder Daily Camera)
Article: Awakening to Life(Pages 6-10, Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Summer 2016)
Article: The Meaning of Life (Excellence Reporter)
Simply Peace Part 1
Simply Peace Part 2
Downloadable, Audio-only versions of the webinar are available on my SoundCloud site: https://soundcloud.com/nancy-rynes
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