PsA and Forest Fires

General
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I can't begin to thank all of you for your great wishes and messages. We aren't able to return to our home yet but it will be safe as the Hot Shots finished some burnouts yesterday. My granddaughter and support specialists (she calls them Nannys) are having a great time at the Hotel as it has a water park Attached among other things. She discovered room service (which we put an end to really quick.

The fires are not so good three small fires of less than 10 acres each blew up yesterday and a now a complex (you never want to hear complex in regards to wild fire) They jumped the Highway and joined each other were over 7500 acres last night. The highway was closed and will remain closed I can get home but its a 300 mile drive now.

8 homes ares ash. While that may not sound like a lot compared to what we see and hear from the fires in Cali, These homes are often a mile apart. It would have been thousands of homes in more developed areas.

So what does this have to do with PsA. Well it appears we have had a forest fire here.

Yesterday afternoon and night as we are used to doing we helped evacuate our neighbors. The "real cowboys" showed up with stock trailers/ They are ranchers used to handling stock. Its quite a shock to the Californians living on their 20 acre ranchettes with a horse a couple of llama's and some chickens to find out the Ranchers are their to help but animals are animals and we need to get them moved and to the corrals at the stockyards and fairgrounds. They aren't treated as special pets. The cool thing is that in time of crisis people get it. and they pull together the gruffness and get it done attitudes of the ranchers is understood (when the job is done they can even have a beer together and) the ranchers understand the different attitude the gentleman ranchers have towards their pets. but make sure it doesn't get in the way (even the crustiest are likely to have sugar cubes in their pocket)

We have a similar community and job to get done here. For some its very critical, others its not. If we keep the job in mind, it will get done and we can all have a glass of wine together sometime (it won't be blackberry they are on the other side of the fire)

I understand all the natural approach, and can explain in detail with charts and graphs why it works for some of you. It just doesn't work for enough. I also understand why some of you have no choice but to go that direction. We provide a place for you to discuss and share Please use it. But for the vast majority of PsA victims, aggressive medical treatment is necessary. We have a job to get done. I asked SK to come over and help for a while, we have added as of today one new moderator and will be adding several more in the next little while. WE ARE UNITED however. Discuss what you wish but keep it in the proper area. I want to make it perfectly clear none of the mods will tolerate anything that appears to discourage anyone from seeking mainline evidence based treatment. If you have a disagreement or question what is being said/done all the moderators take messages the main boards are not the place for it. It doesn't matter which one so don't bother looking for the easy one we discuss all decisions amongst our selves)

I was pretty much working alone, and whether you saw it on the boards or not there were many many complaints about way too much natural stuff getting in the way of learning. I chose not to stop it lock it or delete it in my stubborn way I decided to deal with it head on. Big mistake! My frustration showed and I am sorry. The board has come together to help. We have additional moderation, they reviewed the membership and there will be changes.

In short I am not going anywhere, but I hope you will see a less uptight me. Understand I see a very definite mission and job to get done. The one member who suggested I had many handicaps might not have been far from the mark. I am very driven. My wife took over her family business and suggested I take a few accounting classes to help her understand the numbers she was getting so I did. Just finished my MBA I took no small amount of ribbing from my colleagues as I showed up in their classes. One gave me B. (I get to vote on his tenure so there is justice as I have pointed out to him)

Please don't misunderstand my drive to make a difference as anything else (somewhere is my sisters story and a big part of my motivation and dislike of natural) I'm no different that those old ranchers showing up to help.

Louise said:

Lamb, Hope you're not out of your house for too long, and that the forests around you aren't totally incinerated. It's horrible.

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Hi Lamb! Wow, I am away on a get away with my husband and just checking in! Sorry to hear of the fires burning! My heart goes out to you all<3. Great post and thank you for all you do here! Your knowledge an support is greatly appreciated and I must say you have been a great help! As a fairly new member of this site I was and still am slightly in denial. Your advice has been wonderful and this site has been an eye opener. I understand we are all at different stages of PSA and I also understand the frustration of having PSA. Thank you for all that you do! Take care

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Lamb, I have always viewed your gruffness as part of your charm. Perhaps since I am from Vermont I am use to farmers/ranchers. I have been a nurse for 38 years and yet you teach me all the time. I need frequent reminders to get on with it. As in do your exercises, eat right, take your meds. Seems I have a lot of denial around being the patient. You have a lot of knowledge about PsA and give it out freely. I have enjoyed our time together. I also get frustrated with the amount of natural cure posts. I believe all of us go in and out of remission sometimes for years. I did not go to a Rheumy nor here until I had run out of remissions and denial. I have had PsA at least 30 years and perhaps was born with it. I need aggressive treatment at this time to prevent long term problems. i am glad this site has an area for natural treatment discussions but also glad it is not on the main boards.

I am glad you and your family are safe. I am glad your grand daughter is enjoying the water park and room service. She's my kind of girl!

You are in my prayers and thoughts.

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Lamb, Don’t ever change…your humour often makes me laugh out loud, even when I feel grumpy. But maybe with more help on the site you will be able to ease back. God knows you have enough stresses in your life without taking us on too :slight_smile: I have learnt so much from you and many others on this site, and thank you all from the bottom of my heart…Keep safe X

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I for one would be very disappointed if you ever left this site. I like reading your replies,I love your sense of humor & dry wit. I’m glad your staying.
I’m very sorry to hear about the forest fires but happy to hear your home is safe.

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Lamb, first off, glad you are safe, your granddaughter is doing well. I grew up in farm country on a family farm, and I know how the community pulls together in an emergency.

Thank you for explaining part of why you have been brusque and cranky sometimes. I too have very little patience with the natural cure posts. If you were managing that alone, I can understand the intense frustration.

Right now I'm reading Paul Offit's book Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. He's a very clear author and I think many people could benefit from reading it. I first ran into his writings reading Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure. As you know my son has autism and I had to fight off a million alternative treatments in that realm too.

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Lamb, Glad your family and home are ok. I worked in Yosemite for 5 years, lots of natural disasters. One year the Mono Winds started dropping and tossing trees over 100 feet tall. They started hitting cabins and hotel rooms. All employees went out (as we always did) to help. We were given hard hats (like tht would save you from a 100ft tree hitting you on the head - LOL). We evacuated and relocated thousands of people. We had one death, a young boy with down syndrome hid under the bed in his cabin and didn't get evacuated. A tree hit and destroyed that cabin and took his life. Of the thousands of people we got out of harms way, we all mourned that one boy and felt our evacuation was a failure. Park Service dropped trees in the high wind to make a safe area for everyone to wait it out. So many people in such a small space and we all pulled together. No fights, no problems, lots of fear and tears, but we all waited together.

A site like this is much the same. A safe place. Many of us are so beat down by the "you don't look sick" crowd, family who think we are less than, friends who think we could do more if we just tried to push ourselves. If you are dealing with a severe case of PsA you may get 10 minutes with your doc every month or two. That leaves you with few other people in your life who understand. There are days when I feel if one more person tells me I will be fine if I eliminate nightshades- I will really lose my sanity. A balanced diet and vitamins are important, but without the bio's I am unable to walk and unable to care for myself. My youngest son has been helping with my care, he has a job opportunity and may be moving away. I am fearful. If I want diet advice I'll go to weight watches, If I want alternative medicine advice I'll go see the accupuncture and chinese medicine guy in town. I am here for support and information. I am also here to offer support and information.

My youngest stepson has down syndrome. I know how cruel the world can be. I am here for a safe place, an internet home, a non-judgement zone. Thanks to all of you for being here.

Lamb - I hope you get to go home soon.

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Thank you for this post. It means a lot. :-) I hope everything works out for the best! Glad to hear you and your family survived!

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Don't know anything about your "gruffness" or what went on but, living in Cali, I do know about evacuating for fires. Glad you are safe and your home is okay.

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Glad you’re safe :slight_smile: I haven’t been around much lately so I guess I didn’t notice the flames on here. Keep doing what you’re doing - there’s always going to be someone who disagrees no matter what you do so you might as well do what’s right to you. If someone can’t handle that, I’m sure they can find the door on their own and hopefully it doesn’t hit them on the way out.

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Here I go...

First and foremost, lamb is the safety of you and your many loved ones, I know with all of your kids and grand kids that you always have a houseful. I also know you take in any stray person or animal, and make them your family, repeatedly.

I've known you long enough to know you pretty well. You don't give out much information at one time, but you do. I know how very ill your sister was and because this was then considered the 'young man's disease', you watched her go through the absolute worst this atrociously destructive systemic disease can dish out. It stripped her life, and ended it too soon. This man knows, like I know, what this disease does. I watched generations of my grandmothers so horribly crippled that it tears your heart out! Suffer, my God did they suffer! IF they ever got a diagnosis, there were NO MEDS available to them!

ALL of my grand kids have Psoriasis, the great grandson was BORN with it on his legs! It never stops getting passed on.I cannot treat them with Enbrel, so I have cupboards of natural things, salves, ointments, oils, soaps, so I GET the natural thing!

WE ALL UNDERSTAND 'IF' you cannot tolerate the best meds the AMA has to offer to slow this monster down, we all understand if you live in a country that will NOT allow you the best meds available IF you do not show positive blood work, we understand if your Insurance, or income does not allow you the best meds available. However we will work into the night to find you any programs for help that we can! KNOW THIS!!

If you CHOOSE not to take traditional meds, you are certainly free to do this, but when someone ill, who is doing all they can to find out about AMA meds, PLEASE DO NOT CLOG UP THE THREAD ABOUT JUICING AND GINGER!!!

Let the MDs, PhDs, nurses, teachers or others taking these meds answer them. They may only have so much time to get this information, they may be so desparately ill, they can only be up a few moments!!! THINK!! OKAY????

THIS IS THE POINT!!!!

We are not against combining these things, and will tell you what we can about them, put them in the natural healing group. Realize that you can do anything you want with it. You are NOT taking advantage of it! Build it! OWN it! On the fibro group we have something like 65 groups, Fibro and arthritis have about 165 members, it JUMPS over there 24 hours a day! The groups are tremendous sources of info, but there are people with genuine interest and dedication to sharing it, who are building them! YOU can be one of those people here!

Anyone can start a group and 'run it', as long as it is in the Ben's Friends Guidelines. Those are on the main page.

I did not come back here to cause trouble or step on anyone, I came back to give 'my bud' a hand, I know if I needed help, if any one of you needed help, he would be the first one there! This is priceless! They just don't make 'em like this guy!

Please work with him to make this site a good one!

Wishing you ALL well!

Love and hugs,

SK

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There really needs to be a ‘like’ button for comments like that last one from SK :slight_smile:

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not a good day for me willkepp this brief, tntlamb you are wise intelligent educated and cofndient it shows in how you respnd to members . you have compassion and empathy and you say it like it is . I respect tha t about you. im also happy you now have some awesome help with seenie jen and grumpgycat. this forum rocks. stay safe and hopefjlly those fires will be out soon

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I have been to Forest fires and wild fires as a Firefighter helping to get the fires down and out and have worked on the medical side providing medical care to the firefighters and residents of the areas affected. I worked EMS in LA during Hurricane Katrina and In Southeast TX during Hurricane Rita and have seen the needs of the people affected with all types of diseases that loose their medications and the stress alone can cause flares

Now that I have PsA I never thought about the stress that this can have on people as I read this Post.

We need so much care from our medicines, canes, walkers and orthotics that we use. With all this stress plus trying to get everything we need to evacuate can cause unneeded flareups

I have posted this on Facebook and Google+ and have asked my followers to help out with medical equipment such as canes, walkers, and other things needed for the care of OUR FAMILIES with PSA in this time of need.

Also have been asking for lots of prayers and positive energy for those affected by this.

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Well said, I feel like this last dustup has united the network and made it stronger.

thanks for your contribution. there are 1k+ people here. It's an amazing place. thanks for being a moderator this whole time and cheers to many more years to come.

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Well if you ever come to oir town during fire season rjnaef wear your yellow shirt if you still have it. you won't pay for drink orfood.I love your action thank you.

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:)

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Thanks Sir I have to have my hands fixed b4 I can get out anywhere. But still have my helmet and yellow shirt still smells like fire lolz

tntlamb said:

Well if you ever come to oir town during fire season rjnaef wear your yellow shirt if you still have it. you won't pay for drink orfood.I love your action thank you.

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We get to go home. My best friend lives up lolo creek the other valley where the big fire is, lost everything but his dog and wife. They were in town at work when the word came and had no time to go in for anything. Hard to feel sorry for yourself isn't it......... Just spoke with him. Apparently the word from his wife is she has been trying for years to get him to get rid of the Harley and even before he even thinks of replacing it the answer is no. You really gotta feel for the guy. That is one harsh woman. Like Ben said" bet she expects a new washing machine"

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Just makes your heart ache! So sorry to hear this!

Glad you are home! Have to sleep with one eye open!