The
diseases of inflammation.
An
important learning while a pneumonia patient in the University of Homburg
Hospital in Germany, September 2016, was the importance of the inflammation number. My container
for understanding and connecting the dots is expanding and all the implications
are yet to be discovered.
My
initial discovery came about indirectly. The three German doctors were very
regular with the morning visit. Standing at the foot of my bed in long white
coats without a stethoscope around their necks the chief resident would ask me
questions. By the third day I was starting to feel better so I had a question
for them. “How can you listen to my lungs when you are standing at the foot of
the bed?” They reached in their deep pockets and pulled out a stethoscope. All
three listened to my lungs and that was the last time I saw the stethoscopes.
They did this American a favor.
Now
I had some questions for them and in the process the chief resident began to
instruct me. They follow the inflammation number. I came in with a very high
number. They were aiming for a number before I would be discharged. And then
there was a difference of opinion on my discharge plan. The chief resident won
out and we went to Basel, Switzerland, to board the Viking Rhine cruise to
Amsterdam.
Back
home to learn more about the inflammation number I went to a doctor friend to
continue my learning. My journeys with a word or pattern usually seem more like
that of a detective. Where will this lead? How will the dots connect? Life-long learning becomes an exciting adventure that
is always beginning. I was informed by my doctor friend that a discussion was
in progress about the best way to treat pneumonia. The German doctors had not
given me a steroid and I think my strength came back faster. The inflammation
number reflected the infection in the lungs
The
next dot came from friends of Annie who were following the Whole30 way with
food. Whole30 addresses the effect different foods have on inflammation. We
went on a thirty-day commitment to eating as prescribed. As a result, I lost 14
pounds. The daily menu has plenty of food. I can have what I call a farm
breakfast every morning. The bacon is sugar free. The potatoes are fried in an
omega 3 olive oil. And there are the two eggs on the side. Along with a bowl of
fruit I am satisfied until lunch. The foods eliminated are significant, sugar
is one of the five. Amazing how many processed foods have sugar added.
https://whole30.com/
1.
As featured in the New
York Times bestselling book, The Whole30.
Add
to this a change is in how we talk about disease from an inflammation understanding.
The Cleveland Heart Clinic newsletter will call cardio vascular disease a
disease of the inflammation.
This
puts all of us on the front lines of the health care delivery system in the way
we eat. I will also show in future blogs how we are all on the front lines of
the health care delivery system in how we listen.
To
be continued.
Marlin
Whitmer
Begin
to train your eyes and ears to be open to information on inflammation as the
future unfolds.
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