Abbott Francis Pfanner

What a lovely story of a man who gave his life for others. The founder monk of Marian- hill Monastery whose handiwork still stands today in testament.

Apparently a sickly young man who ministered in albania and europe and then come out to “africa”, landing in PE after having vomitted for most of the sea journey. He made his way up to durban and then established the monastery at marian hill. He had a different way of working to the vatican and ended up being dismissed.

He was passionate in his faith and demonstration of it, yet differed from his superiors on some of the doctrines which seemed to be deal breakers at the time.

Yet his work, handiwork, leadership etc still stands for all to see. He died feeling a great sense of injustice which I feel is so terribly sad and yet I am fairly sure that once he arrived on the other side his joy would be complete.

My own mind still boggles at the strangeness of man, I can only imagine how God’s must.

 

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Coxsackie,yuppie flu, post viral fatigue

Anybody who has not witnessed firsthand or experienced this evil is willy-nilly able to say that this vile vulgar viral disease is “all in your head”. I can tell you that there is no-one on this green earth who voluntarily goes through the ordeal that comes with this virus. It literally flattens you in more ways than one.

I have seen countless patients afflicted with it and whilst “science” on many levels questions this disease (instead of getting on with more accurate diagnosis) it is a disease that no-one wants and is more than happy to get rid of the day it leaves their bodies.

I have to ask though why the medical profession at large is sceptical and ridiculously pathetic when it comes to diagnosis as well as treatment (of which there is little). And once again in my mind it goes back to something similar to semelweiss. The washing of hands idea disdained by so many pompous egotistical physicians turned out to be one of the most important discoveries of science and prevention of transmission of disease. Why are we so arrogant? Who gave us this “god” complex?

When we don’t fully understand something or don’t know we simply say it must not/can not exist and therefore the patient themselves must be “mad” ????????????

Surely surely we have gone past this aged way of thinking ?

No, alas it seems we have not. We will not admit we don’t know. Rather make it the patients added problem.

I think it is sad and poor.

I only hope that none of these arrogant physicians ever actually come down with it as they may lose their egos in the process.

Google the semelweiss history – it’s interesting and very very sad. Sad because why can we not drop ego and rather try to understand what the very truth of the matter indeed may be.

The world – divided or united?

Where are we at in 2017. Have we learnt anything from our existence up to now?

What is life? What is quality of life? Who are humans? What is power?

From the year dot – and who really knows when exactly that was, humans have lived on earth and by definition had to co-exist. We have grouped ourselves into various different groupings. We have fought wars. We have progressed in many ways and regressed in others.

There are places on earth where justice exists and there are places where it does not. Most of us would prefer to live/be born where there is an inkling of justice and freedom?

So many people were convinced that Trump would not actually become president. They laughed scoffed and said it would never ever happen. It did.

Now here we are in 2017 in a fairly regressed place – I believe. Where one person signs into being orders that blanketly prevent movement of “free” people categorising them by a set of rules. Abortion is bad – terrible and to be frowned upon but living people who are living in a war-torn unjust places are even worse, cursed and must remain that way with no redemption? And America – the once – free world is now becoming an insular, inward focused country with walls around it. No boogy men or women allowed in. Are you really that narrow minded ? Mr Trump? The message preached sounds really quite extraordinary, quite two-faced, quite astonishing.

As the CNN reporter put it – americans risk of being killed in america by any one of these nations so called terrorists is a very very small number with the total counted up to now being zero.

However countries that provide profit to Mr Trump (whose citizens may be more dangerous) seem to be fine for the moment (don’t hold your breath though).

I wonder where this is all headed. In about 2 weeks a brand new landscape opens up across America – no longer the free world. No longer an american dream. No longer.

And yet there is support against Trump worldwide ?

I really wish that the way I see things is perhaps not the way they are – can someone point out a positive here? Is Trump actually doing a good thing? A thing I can not see?

A spoon full of sugar :)

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. This is a philosy that buys into disguising one thing as another. A way to make something that is hard easier. Something that tastes bitter taste sweet in order to get it down and in so doing to heal.

While this may be a technique that could work for say antibiotics, it is maybe not the way to go for a general philosophy in life. Sometimes we need to face the hard truth – the music even if it is damn hard to hear.

The hard facts are that simple carbs – boil down to sugar – in copious amounts are bad for you. Simply put sugar makes things stick to other things – your arteries and veins and organs – eyes and kidneys are unhappy campers if you load the body with sugar.

There are even some studies that show the effects of sugar on the brain being something similar to cocaines’ effect on the brain. And the more you have the more you need kind of scenario plays out here too.

How many spoons of sugar in that coke ? or fruit juice ?? Too many.

Think about what you drink.

Think about quality of life, and longevity with quality.

Think blue – diabetes, type 2 is preventable as well as treatable.

 

 

 

Zithulele – mercy vision week

I have just returned from spending a week at a very special place in deed. Zithulele hospital in the transkei (about 1.5 hours from Umtata) is your average government hospital in a rural setting only it is FAR from average due to the staff that work diilgently, tirelessly and passionately to change rural people’s lives on every level of functioning.

I had the privilege of performing scleral tunnel surgery to remove cataracts from folk who were “blind” due to the cataract and allow them to “see” again. This is one of the most amazing gifts that I have been bestowed – the ability to do this surgery.

To see their smiling faces day one post-op is a sight that I never grow accustomed to – it “overflows” my happiness well every time.

The mercy vision team at large is incredibly passionate at what they are doing for a population previously forgotten. The whole experience costs the patients nothing. They get transported from home to Zithulele, fed for the time they are there and then transported back to their home. For a rural dwelling person the blessing of this is not something that a privileged person can understand, for them it is truly a huge blessing and life changing.

Their other alternative is to pay (about R400 one way) to Umtata and have a few trips like this before their surgery is scheduled. This is something most of them simply can not afford and so they just accept the blindness.

Back in my own practice I am a little tired after the long journeys with my two littlies but have a very happy heart.