A nice long weekend ahead!

Hi Stephen,

I hope you're enjoying your week. The weather here in the 'burgh has been nice and warm, I hope it'll be that way when we go to camp!  It's really hard to pack a suitcase LIGHT when you're not sure what to expect with the weather, as you surely know. (How the heck did you manage doing laundry and packing for those long tours for so many years?! That must have been a headache and a half)!

Ah well, but you survived.  (Thanks to the heavens above for that). You're my favorite human ya know. I mean, sure, you're not perfect---who is?!  Today I was flipping channels on the t.v. and found a show on TLC (The Learning Channel)---which I never watch----but this show was all about strange addictions, and I immediately thought of "Strange Medicine."  Weird how my associative brain works sometimes. But anyway, this woman (53) was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, and she refused chemo treatments in favor of treating herself by doing URINE therapy.  That is, drinking her own urine.

Yeah. Kinda gives ya the cringe, dunnit?

This is NOT exactly socially acceptable behavior, to say the least, and yet the doctors had given her an 18 month window left to live when she received her diagnosis, but she's been doing this urine drinking therapy for FOUR YEARS now, and SWEARS that it works.  Doctors are all very adamant that it's only making her worse, but she doesn't believe them.  Her urine sample was normal, but her blood sample came back abnormal...she could be killing her own kidneys by doing this, yet she continues to do it.  She bathes in her own urine, she uses a netty pot to inhale it, she puts it in her eyeballs, she drinks it all day long, every day, (nearly 900 gallons consumed so far in 4 years)...I mean, she even brushes her TEETH with it....I cannot even imagine how LOATHESOME she must SMELL to everyone else around her.

But ya know what?  To each his own.  It may sound "gross," and it may be a bad idea, but who are we to judge?  If she swears by it, AND has cheated death by 4 years as opposed to 18 months, maybe there's something to it that the doctors are completely missing.  But, unfortunately, a large discolored mole has appeared in the center of her back.  So, the melanoma has NOT gone away.  The show left the viewer wondering if she'll ever get a real cancer treatment or not.  Or, is she just killing herself slowly as a psychological preferred CONTROL issue of her own imminent death?

My thoughts were this.....(probably NOT what most people think, but here it goes).....if your PISS tastes so good and helps heal you from cancer (as she believes), why not eat your own CRAP then?  It has WAY more toxins and WAY more germs and WAY more bodily gunk in it, it's free, it's more filling, and ya know what?  I'm sure some people DO....eat...their....doo-doo.  EWWWWWWWW.  Some people are really into scat-play, but I'm not.  Also, my other thought was based on common sense, "Pick up the phone, it's a 1-800 number, call the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and ASK A FRIGGIN' NURSE about it."  How difficult is that?

Obviously, the psychological issue this woman has must be preventing her from facing this fear, of being told to discontinue this "treatment."  She wouldn't even go to a doctor at all, until her 3 daughters had an "intervention" about it with her, and begged her to go.  She had never told her best friend about this "secret," either, but she did on the show, and the friend didn't freak out, the friend asked her why she does it, what does she believe she's accomplishing by it, and how can she help her get more information about it, from doctors or other sources?  I thought THAT was a great friend to have.

Now, I don't know about you, but this subject matter is NOT exactly my favorite thing to discuss.  However, my theory is, LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT, right?  So if SHE makes her life more "safe" and "secure" by drinking her own urine, and if it's acting like a placebo that fools her brain into accepting it and BELIEVING it, who are WE, and who are the DOCTORS to take that away from her?  Isn't it selfish of the rest of us, to dictate that she discontinue something that she is convinced actually works??

I've seen much worse things in my lifetime, than somebody drinking their own pee.  (Hello? Holocaust Museum, 6 years, every day...death, doom, war, destruction, genocide....9/11...)  but, on a personal level, I know people who do weirder things than that.  I know people who enjoy CBT (cock and ball torture), and I've SEEN IT DONE to guys who love it.  I've seen people put large metal hooks in their backs, and be suspended by them.  I know a guy (a good friend) who gets CRUCIFIED every year, at camp....yes, crucified.....real nails, real hammer, real cross, and he heals within 3 days or less.  Not kidding.  He's amazing.  I cannot WATCH this crucifixion though, I've just heard details about it.  There are people who get staples all over their bodies, (like medical staples), attached to ribbons, in the form of a corset back enclosure....(I find that rather pretty actually, but I've never tried it myself).  I know people who are into all SORTS of bizarre stuff, and I am cool with it.

This woman would be PERFECT for someone who likes to give golden showers.  AmIRight?!

Now, I may not WATCH those bizarre things that other people do, and I may never DO IT myself, but I am aware of various fetishes that may not SEEM very socially acceptable to the masses, but are absolutely essential in people's lives. It's none of my friggin' business in the first place, and secondly, if she's not hurting anybody, leave her alone.  Live and let Live.  Isn't that a rule in the Bible?!!

Like gay marriage, why the hell are so many people upset about it, when IT DOESN'T AFFECT THEM AT ALL???  Sure, we're "all connected" on some level, okay, I'll buy that.  But, if two people LOVE each other, then who the hell are WE to say they CAN'T?  The days of Romeo and Juliet (or in this case, Romeo and Romeo) really are long gone, and if we're all connected in this world, don't ya think this world NEEDS MORE LOVE in it???  I do.  I don't care where that love comes from, or who's sharing it with whom.  Love overcomes evil and hate, and that's a biblical fact, so let THAT override any other BS biblical stuff they spew in the name of God at the LGBT community. That, and the Golden Rule, should be the two main rules that we all follow.

I just wanted to toss this stuff out atcha, to see what you think.  I mean, it's a weird topic, sure, but then again, I am a weird person, and I watched a weird thing on t.v., so why not talk about it?  It's a conversation you won't forget anytime soon, right?  So, toss it around in your gorgeous head awhile.

The way I look at it, this woman is being her own proxy Dom.  She's in control of her life, and death, and it shakes her to the core if someone tries to deny her that right.  Treating it in her own way is her own business.  She is single, she's alone, she's handling a lot of stress from health-related issues, and she's doing something that makes her feel good, calm, and positive that it's helping her.  Chemo, as we all know, only makes matters worse.  I watched it kill my grandmother sooner than the cancer would have, and my friend Monique recently died because the chemo wrecked her liver more than the cancer did.  So, I'm not a big fan of chemo, so who the hell am I to force that kind of treatment on anybody? Let her drink her pee.  If she likes it, so be it, let her do it, and leave her alone.  Let her die in peace.

Yeah, I'm from the same state that Dr. Jack Kevorkian was from....Michigan.  Nuff said.

Pete and I are off to Ohio, for the weekend. We're leaving tomorrow morning, and won't be back until Sunday.  Should be fun.  I'm not sure what to expect from Rammstein, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. The other event, "KDM" as it's known, is going to be fun too, I'm sure.

As for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....well....I know it's not your favorite place, but I have never been there.  I do not agree with some of the people they have chosen, and NOT chosen, to be included though. I know that a lot of BS and politics goes into just about every Museum though, so I'm not surprised by it at all.  It's really a crock, the whole thing, and I know it.  But I'm "suspending my disbelief" and trying to keep an open mind about it.

I'll be sure to give you a full report after we return.  Love you more than the sun and the moon. You rock my world, always have, always will.  Be well, have a great weekend, and go have some fun!!!

Bye for now.

Love, Rebecca