http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html The Singing Patient (Carla): Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:58:19 -0800 http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/man_cannot_live_on_gluten_free_bread_alone
I've been eating a gluten-free diet for two and a half years. I'm a lousy cook to begin with- I have literally burned a pot of water, set both the oven and the stove on fire (not on the same day)- I've even ruined jello instant pudding. My disaster-in-the-kitchen track record is bad enough without the restriction of "no wheat"- and not just "no wheat," but nothing allowed with any trace of wheat. Now we've got a "recipe" for a long string of unappetizing meals.

I'm always on the lookout for anything that makes GF (gluten-free) cooking easier and most of all, tastier.

My first attempt at eating a gluten-free diet was in 1994. The diet was suggested to me by a healer because of my several autoimmune conditions, the scariest of which being lupus (SLE). The lupus was attacking my vital organs, including my kidneys and lungs. The drugs were nasty and I was willing to do anything that might help me get off of them.

In 1994, there were not many choices for gluten-free snacks, bread, dough, etc. It was rice cakes, rice cakes, and - oh look, more rice cakes.

I've since learned that rice cakes, while gluten free, are cooked at such a high temperature that they contain toxins. Great. Now I can't even have rice cakes.

Man cannot live on bread alone. But woman cannot live without bread.

Perhaps that's why I eventually fell off the gluten-free bandwagon. My health was stable, and I was tired of not being able to eat pizza, pasta, sandwiches, pretzels, cookies (there were gluten-free cookies on the market, but it was all I could do not to break my teeth on them).

Fast forward to 2008, when I decided again to go gluten-free after another lupus crisis (more drugs, more side effects, and more resolve to get back off the drugs).

For a year, all I ate for dinner every night was 2 heads of romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing. Once in a while, I'd get really creative and have one head of lettuce for dinner- and the other for lunch. Finally, I got tired of that and started shopping for something else to eat.

Was I relieved to find out things had changed. There are a *lot* more GF choices out there now, and some of them actually taste *good*.

- Bob's Red Mill homemade wonderful gluten free bread mix (that's not an editorial; that's the name of it).(Bob's RM also makes a GF pizza dough. It's really good if you have the time to make it)Bob's red mill can be bought on the health food aisle or ordered online.

-don't feel like making your own bread? me neither. Udi's makes GF bread that tastes and chews like bread. Freezer section, health food aisle.

- Amy's has a bunch of GF frozen entrees, including Palak Paneer, Mexican casserole, Rice crust pizza, Amy's vegetable bowls, and even GF Mac 'n' Cheese (She also makes regular mac n cheese, so you gotta read the box!).

- Pacific Foods makes a *fantastic* carrot cashew ginger soup. Just heat and serve. YUM!

- There are other frozen entrees popping up that are labeled gluten free- look in the health food aisle of your grocery store, if there is one.

These items are all completely gluten free- and aside from the pizza dough, require no culinary skills whatsoever. Just my speed.

I've learned if you're *really* going to go gluten-free, you have to read labels. You've got to look for any trace of wheat (regular soy sauce has *&^% wheat in it! So I buy Bragg's Amino Acids- soy sauce, no wheat. Things with barley and oats are usually not gluten-free except for certified GF oats).

It can be really tough to eat out. Here is a tool that will help you: Triumph dining cards. It is a collection of ethnicity-specific cards with various kinds of foods (Indian, Mexican, Italian, etc) telling you what to avoid in each place.

Is it worth it? For me, yes. I would suggest anyone with an autoimmune disease give it a try for a month. You can try tracking your symptoms and see if they improve. I kind of like not having migraines or joint pain, and fatigue only when I've earned it. It's not going to harm you, so you have nothing to lose but annoying symptoms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient, is a comedic performing songwriter and the author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This?"
http://www.thesingingpatient.com
http://tinyurl.com/348hroc]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/man_cannot_live_on_gluten_free_bread_alone Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:58:19 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/interview_with_the_singing_patient
What does the title “How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This” mean to you?

CU: To me, it means when things are really bad and you just can’t take it anymore, you’re either going to cry, strangle somebody, or laugh. And if you’re sick, then you’re too weak to strangle anyone. And laughing is so much more fun than crying.

Comedy, they say, is pain plus distance. The more painful it is now, the funnier it will be when you have some distance from the situation. You can either create distance by letting time pass (“we’ll laugh about this later”) or by just stepping outside the current situation and seeing the absurdity of it.

It can seem impossible to laugh when you’re in the middle of a really tough situation. But the thing is, who needs a laugh more than someone who is suffering?

In the book, you write about the importance of humor in healing; can humor also be hurtful?

CU: Yes, of course. Humor can be mean. I think we all remember being taunted in the schoolyard. Some of those comebacks and nicknames were pretty witty, but they were mean-spirited. It’s really important that we avoid laughing at others' pain when they are suffering, at least until they are able to laugh at it themselves. At one point I had lost my hair and was wearing a wig. I was at a folk festival with friends, and we were hanging around backstage cutting up, and I was laughing so hard I lost my balance and fell over. And my wig fell off! My friends all showed concern and helped me get back up. Then we had a good laugh about how I literally had laughed my head off. But if they had started laughing at me before they were sure I was okay, it wouldn’t have been funny to me at all.

You call yourself the Singing Patient. Did you write the funny medical songs on your
CD "Sick Humor" while you were sick?

CU: Yes, I wrote them while I was recovering from a pair of strokes. Even though I was writing about my problems, the act of writing humorous songs about my problems actually (weirdly) distracted my from my problems. I suppose that's because it helped me create that distance required to make pain funny- it helped me step outside of what was going on and look at it from a different perspective. It also helped me feel like myself, because I am a songwriter, and I was back to doing what I do- being creative. I find creativity to be so life-affirming. And as a huge bonus, it gave me something really fun to do during those long waits in the doctors’ waiting rooms.

So were you a musician before you got sick?

CU: Yes, I’ve been playing guitar since age 4 and writing songs since high school. I always wrote songs about my struggles — boyfriend problems, annoying roommates, difficult teachers, lousy jobs. So I suppose it was almost inevitable I would turn my lyric-writing efforts towards illness and medicine when those became the main struggles in my life.

Do you consider your book to be an illness memoir?

CU: I don’t think of it as an illness memoir so much as a collection of thoughts about what I’ve learned over the course of 19 years that I think might help other patients- and maybe help myself if I forget what I've learned and get sick again. I wanted it to be in bite-size chapters that stand alone, so that you could read it on the toilet — because heaven knows when you’re sick, that’s your second home.

You have lupus, but your book certainly seems to appeal to people with a variety of chronic illnesses. How did you do this?

CU: Oh, it does? Great! I guess because my illness led me to a lot of specialists, and lots of drugs, and multiple hospital stays, I think I wound up with a lot of experiences that everyone who has any illness goes through. It wasn’t intentional, but really for the most part it does seem our struggles are the same — trying to get good care, struggling with blaming ourselves, seeking balance and meaning, dealing with friends and family.

In 2002 you had a pair of strokes that left you unable to use your left hand for months. Were you scared you wouldn’t recover?

CU: I would not allow that thought to take hold in my mind. I just refused to believe it. I did all kinds of crazy things to get my left hand to work again, so I could play guitar. I squeezed a tennis ball a lot, I got a cheap ukulele and glued corn pads to my fingertips, I put those rubber tips that cashiers use on the ends of my fingers, and I even gave pep talks to my hand. Most of all, I believed. I believed I would play even better than I did before the strokes.

What inspired you to write your book?

CU: I wanted to write a book about this for years, to share with others in a neat package all the ways that I’ve found to make the challenges we all face more bearable. Also, a deadline is amazingly inspiring. :D

You’ve performed your humorous medical songs as "The Singing Patient" for organizations such as the Lupus Foundation, Medicaid, the Alaska Palliative Care Conference, and Nursing in Practice. How do you make illness and pain funny?

CU: My number one rule is to only joke and sing about things I’ve actually been through. Since comedy is pain, and someone has to be the person in the joke experiencing the pain, it is best if it is me. I don’t want other people laughing at my pain until I give them permission, and so I don’t laugh at theirs.

Are you well now? How do you stay healthy? Do you think you’ll get seriously ill again?

CU: Yes, I’m doing well now, thanks for asking. I am on a gluten-free, vegetarian diet. I do chi gung. I work out. I have a great husband and a sweet dog, and we usually have a good belly laugh every day- what I like to call "vitamin F" (fun!).

What have you learned from your experiences?

CU: Friends are everything. Creativity is healing. Laughter is a great release valve. Pets are angels covered in fur.

I can have a tremendous impact over my own well-being. I am not a victim of illness. I can get better. I can get my life back. And from that, I’ve learned that I can make a lot of other dreams come true as well, by deciding to pursue them, asking for help, and believing.

What do you hope readers will get from your book?

CU: Hope, and the ability to find humor in tough times. A few good laughs. And some ideas about dealing gracefully with chronic illness. Most of all I hope they feel less alone and more empowered.

What’s next for you?

CU: People have asked me about whether there will be a second book. Probably! But... not until I have something more to say. Meanwhile, I’ve been doing more and more performances for medical events as The Singing Patient, focusing on the funny medical songs I wrote when I was recovering from the stroke. Those shows are really rewarding. I feel like I can make a difference in that setting. I like to help people laugh at things they never thought they could find funny.]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/interview_with_the_singing_patient Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:21:46 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/finding_support
However, things do not usually get better all by themselves. It takes some work.

But it really can get a whole lot better. It has for me. I was so sick I had a stroke and kidney failure, congestive heart failure, anemia, the whole schmear.

Fast forward to today: I am now married, got my hair back, kept my kidneys (they are functioning normally), got full function of my hand back, and I'm happy.

I work out, teach guitar, wrote a book, I travel, I perform comedy-music shows, I go out and have fun with friends. I can even get an "A" on dance dance revolution. In fact, sometimes I'm doing so well, my lab tests turn up completely normal. You would never know I had lupus if I weren't sitting here typing about it. I'm only at about 90%, but heck that's better than a lot of my so-called healthy friends.

I say all that not to brag, but to let you know there is hope.

None of us get better all on our own. We all need help, including -and especially- emotional support.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a support group in their town that is specifically for their illness. But there are some other resources.

There are lots of great chat rooms on the web for just abtu any disease you can think of.

I'm listing here the ones specific to lupus.

I like this one (though I haven't been on it for a while):
http://forum.wehavelupus.com/forum.php

And this one seems quite active:
http://chronicbabeclub.ning.com/

This one has an active lupus section, but also sections for all kinds of other illnesses, and over 94,000 members:
http://www.healingwell.com/lupus/

Of course, meeting face to face is even better, if you're feeling up to leaving the house.

Start with the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA):
http://tinyurl.com/45gzkvq

If there aren't any chapters of the lupus foundation in your area, there may be some meetup groups. Go here and enter your zip code (Some groups cost a few dollars per event; some don't): http://meetup.com/

Sometimes there is a support group at your local hospital. Open up your options by attending groups for any autoimmune disease.

Additionally, when you're surfing around on the internet late at night lonely, bored, or in pain, there are a number of lupus blogs out there you can read (including mine) by bloggers who post about their journey. You can read, leave comments, or - if feeling ambitious- start your own blog to vent feelings and ask readers to interact. It's free. check out blogger.com or wordpress.com (blogger is easier to use).

This is the lupus foundation's blog, but if you look along the right column, there is a list of links to a bunch of blogs written by lupus patients.
http://lfa-inc.blogspot.com/

Carla
~~~~~~~~~~~
Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient, is the author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This? Reclaim Your Health with Humor, Creativity and Grit"
http://www.thesingingpatient.com
http://tinyurl.com/4j8qfc4]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/finding_support Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:29:00 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/being_normal_is_overrated_or_is_it There are a few times in life that make us say that. For example:

1) being in Junior high school
2) lying around in pain after being diagnosed with something chronic and incurable.

Junior high school aside, I never wanted to be normal. Exceptional, yes. Strange and wacky, definitely. Outstanding, indeed. Memorable, talented, funny, smart, anything but normal. Up until I got sick. Then, suddenly, "normal" started looking pretty good.

I recently went through 6 months' worth of PT for tendinitis (in my arm), and in attempt to get back to- you guessed it- normal. I also did some sessions for my back, because for years I've been crawling up the stairs, as my legs would not support me. Now I am in the kind of shape that most normal people are in when they show up to start a fitness regimen. I've graduated from "remedial" to "normal."

First I want to tell my friends with chronic illnesses that it is possible to get back to feeling "normal." And if that is your goal, 1) it's attainable and 2) it is a worthy goal, and if you stop at that, I got no problem with it.

But naturally, once I got back from being sickly and weak to "normal," my desire to be exceptional resurfaced, and I am again dissatisfied with being simply "normal." But I am keenly aware of how difficult just getting back to normal can be.

Sometimes, you're falling apart so fast you're just trying to not die.
Like, the three times I've gone into kidney failure- my muscles started wasting away, I got so weak I couldn't get up and down the one stair to the outside of the house.
And I gotta say, the hospital is certainly no place to get in any better shape.
How can you regain your strength when they don't want you to leave your bed?
Prisoners have a better shot at getting healthy than hospital patients.
I hobbled into an emergency room once with chronic pain (and kidney failure) and after a week in a hospital bed, I couldn't even stand up without a cane and -no lie- a giant leash around my waist.

Add to that the fact that stress can trigger any illness, and you do have this worry in the back of your mind that if you work out too hard, you're going to end up sick all over again.

Add to that the pain factor (who wants to exert themselves when it hurts enough just sitting around?), and you've got a mess of challenges to overcome.

I have gone from very sick and weak to "normal" 3 times now, and this 3rd time was with the aid of Physical Therapy, but the other 2 times I did it on my own. The first time, I started with walking. I'd set a goal to go just a little further every day, starting with just going to the stop sign and back. When I got up to about 2 miles, I joined a gym, where I used a stationary bicycle (I rode so slowly that it cut off because I guess it thought no one was riding it, but you gotta start somewhere!). Then I joined a bicycle club (I was the slowest one in the club, and was usually riding way behind everyone else- but the key was to measure my progress against what I could do the week or month before, not against what others were doing). As long as I saw progress, I was happy with myself.

The second time I got sick and got better, I was too weak to walk. My legs were blown up with water retention from the congestive heart failure, so instead I got in the pool and held onto the side and kicked. Then I swam. Then I walked.

The third time, I was really weak but I had good insurance and access, so I got a prescription for PT, and I went to a sports medicine place for 6 months. When I "graduated" I got a regimen of exercises to do on my own to stay in shape.

With or without a PT, the idea was the same each time: start really small, deal with the pain issue (heat, ice, massage, whatever works), do exercise that doesn't aggravate the pain (swim, walk, cycle), set *gradually* larger goals, and watch inspiring movies and read inspiring books to keep yourself going. Maybe join a club of some sort for the social aspect, if you can find one where you won't feel left behind by the more fit people. And if you have setbacks, back up a bit and start over. Because in the words of Rocky Balboa, "It's not how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up."

And now that I am "normal," I've set my sites higher, and am looking into what I can do next, because I want to have *fun* living inside a body- wouldn't it be great to celebrate living in a body, not just try to tune it out all the time? It's certainly what I did before the illness struck. So what's next? Tap dance lessons? Aerobic dance? Soccer club? My plan this year is to explore some of these until I find something fun. I think that is what a lot of normal people do.]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/being_normal_is_overrated_or_is_it Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:38:19 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/singing_the_national_anthem
That's nothing. I'll tell you how to screw up the Star Spangled Banner.

- Start too high, get to a part where you can't hit the high note, and start over. Repeatedly.
- When you're done, grab your crotch and spit (Roseanne Barr).
- start stuttering and laughing (although in the case of a disabled person, this actually brought out the best in the crowd- but if you're not disabled, it might not work).

Seriously, in light of how badly this song has been done by so many, Aguilera's was a rather respectable performance- at least she took the task seriously. Actually, it would be nice if she would try a little *less* hard, and sing a few less notes per syllable. Tone it down to maybe 5 or 6 notes per word, perhaps.

It's a hard song. I sang it once at a swim meet- mercifully held indoors. I sang poolside in what was essentially the world's largest bathroom- who doesn't sound good in the bathroom?

I brought my guitar out, even though i wasn't really using it- it wasn't amplified, wouldn't be heard. But I was using it to get my starting pitch and I have the words on a tiny cheat sheet taped to the side of the instrument.

Start low, that's the trick. Don't want to get to "the land of the free"- the climax of the song- and not be able to hit it.

What's weird about performing the anthem is that people applaud at the end, but it's not really for you, so you're not sure how to react. You don't say thank you... but you don't want to be rude. So, I just wave. Kind of a happy medium.

FWIW, I really wish we could change the national anthem to one that celebrates the beauty of America, instead of glorifying war. My nomination: America the Beautiful (best version: Ray Charles).

But for now, this is still our anthem. Check out Huey Lewis and the News a capella 1985- now *this* is how it's done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azqp5Qxxvnc]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/singing_the_national_anthem Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:05:18 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/what_does_being_diagnosed_with_a_serious_disease_mean_to_you
This is a really interesting question, and oddly, one no doctor has ever asked me.

Talk about a great open-ended question. If you're at a cocktail party and want to get someone else to handle the bulk of the talking (specifically someone who has been diagnosed with something serious at some point in life), this question will let you off the hook for a good half hour. Come to think of it, I guess that explains why doctors don't ask that question.

Bernie Seigel asks this question book, Love Medicine, and Miracles. That book was targeted towards cancer patients, but when I fell ill in 1992, there weren't many books out there for lupus patients. Nor was there an internet. I didn't even have cable TV. I was alone with my illness a lot, so I asked myself this question over and over.

And my "friends" offered me ridiculous theories about why I was sick: I was a good Christian, so the devil was attacking me. Oh wait, I was sick because I had a hidden sin in my life and therefore I was out from under God's care. Maybe I was sick because pretty much everyone who worked in the music store where I was working got sick, including my boss, who developed vasculitis (which is so similar in symptoms to lupus, that I think if he had been female he'd have been diagnosed with lupus). People try to blame viruses, and genetics. I even entertained the thought that it was a metaphor for my life: I had become something I wasn't (I wasn't being true to myself), therefore my body was rejecting me. My current belief is that my life was out of balance, I worked too much, and my diet was horrible. I did not detox or get enough nutrients and I was unhappy and stressed, so my body broke down.

But really, whatever you think of these answers, none of them are asking the question "What does this illness mean" so much as "Why did you get sick?" And ultimately, most people, God help them, are trying to conjure up a reason that you got sick that will reassure them that it won't happen to them (she worked in that building, and I didn't, so I won't get sick. She has a hidden sin, and I don't, so I'm safe, etc.).

So what does it mean? At first, it meant an escape from an unhappy life and a fresh start. Then, it meant a choice between either working constantly at being healthy or just giving up and taking drugs and powering through, settling for less than optimal health and not looking my best. Now, finally, it means achieving balance between taking care of myself and taking care of everything else. But I know this now: I have to put myself first, or there won't be any of me to put anywhere else.

Carla Ulbrich
_______________________________
Humorous songwriter, Speaker, and Author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This?" (coming Feb. 1, 2011)

http://www.thesingingpatient.com]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/what_does_being_diagnosed_with_a_serious_disease_mean_to_you Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:50:30 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/believable_affirmations
Lots of folks suggest using affirmations as a way to create change in your life, whether it be improving your health, your relationships, your financial position, your weight, stopping a habit such as smoking, etc.

I first heard the of the idea of affirmations in church. Whatever we wanted in life, we were supposed to "name it and claim it." In other words, you would just declare out loud repeatedly all day long things like "I am incredibly healthy! I have all the riches in the world! I am thin and gorgeous!" The idea being to make statements that represented not where you actually were in life, but where you wanted to be. And that this version of you already existed in the spirit realm, you just needed to claim it for it to manifest in the material world.

That's the idea. And here's the reality, for me, when trying to make statements that are the exact opposite of my everyday reality:

"I am wealthy and have abundance"
My brain mocks me: "You are an idiot. Look at your checking balance."
"I am in perfect health"
My body "Oh yeah? Well, *I* am in pain and I'm not letting you forget it"
My brain chimes in "Yeah and I saw your lab tests"

How do we deal with this committee in our heads?

Let's just look at the definition of affirmation, shall we?
[af-er-mey-shuhn]
—noun
1. the act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed.
2.assertion that something exists or is true.
3. something that is affirmed; a statement or proposition that is declared to be true.
4. confirmation or ratification of the truth or validity of a prior judgment, decision, etc.
5. Law. a solemn declaration accepted instead of a statement under oath.

And that is the problem- part of me knows this stuff just is not true. And maybe it's true in a spirit realm, yada-yada-yada, but the rest of me is just too immersed in the real world and my years of experience to the contrary to shout out things that couldn't be less true and that would actually be considered perjury if I declared them under oath. All it does, frankly, when I shout out what I feel are vastly untrue statements in an attempt to create a new reality, is tick me off and make me feel sorry for myself. And make me want to avoid church because I feel like a failure.

So... here are 2 more (in my mind) reasonable approaches:
1) keep doing this, and when your mind objects, tell it "I know it isn't true yet, but I'm giving you instructions. I'm programming you about how things are going to be in the future.

2) if that doesn't work, try using what I like to call "believable affirmations." These are things that, instead of being 180 degrees off from reality, are instead just a few degrees off.
For example instead of "I am living in total abundance and am wealthy beyond measure" how about "I am still living indoors." "I still can afford groceries" Those things are true, and in some parts of the world, would make me very wealthy. I celebrate the things that are going right, however small, and work my way up to the bigger things. No one goes into the weight room and on their first visit, tries to lift the heaviest weights. (OK, a few guys do, but they're morons). Reasonable people, people setting themselves up for success instead of failure, start small, achieve small successes, build confidence and take a next, slightly bigger step.

I encourage you to start small. When you find yourself thinking about lack, about things that are bumming you out, and all that you do not have, challenge yourself to say a believable affirmation, even if it's "well I'm not the biggest jerk that ever walked the earth."

Try it. Let me know how it works for you.

Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient (www.thesingingpatient.com), is a humorous songwriter and author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This," available now at www.tellmepress.com and amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/348hroc]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/believable_affirmations Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:37:35 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/power_of_love_and_postive_intention_rep_giffords_recovery
Giffords "absolutely could hear everything we were saying," Gillibrand said. "And Debbie (Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida) and I were telling her how much she was inspiring the nation with her courage, her strength, and we were talking about the things we wanted to do as soon as she was better."

Gillibrand mentioned having another night out with Giffords and her husband for beer and pizza. And Wasserman Schultz recounted telling her, "Come on, you've got to get better, because we expect you up in New Hampshire this summer" at Wasserman Schultz's vacation home.

"And just as I said that, that's when she suddenly was struggling to open ... her eyes," Wasserman Schultz said. "First just a little bit. And the doctors couldn't believe it. They said, 'This is such a good time.'"

Kelly saw her struggling, Gillibrand said, and he and the others began to encourage her, saying, "Open your eyes, Gabby. Open your eyes."

And Giffords did -- actually opening only one eye, as the other remains bandaged, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"She took a moment to focus, you could see she was focusing," Gillibrand said. "And then Mark said ... 'Gabby, if you can see me, if you can see me, give us a thumbs-up ... She didn't only give a thumbs-up, she literally raised her entire hand. We were just -- we couldn't stop crying ... It was just one of those moments that life brings you so rarely."

But Giffords didn't stop there, Gillibrand said. She reached out and grabbed her husband "and is touching him and starts to really choke him like she was really trying to hug him." He asked her to touch his wedding ring, "and she touches his ring, then she grabs his whole watch and wrist and then the doctor was just so excited, he said, 'You don't understand ... this is amazing what she is doing right now and beyond our greatest hopes.'"]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/power_of_love_and_postive_intention_rep_giffords_recovery Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:30:40 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/some_writing_about_writing
I write usually when I get up, while my mind is fresh, or late at night, when the whole neighborhood is quiet. I’m usually teaching guitar lessons in the afternoon. My next-door neighbors have lots of keg parties, so I don’t even bother trying to write on weekend nights.

I don’t deal well with noise distractions. There’s nothing I can do about that stupid leafblower that shows up every Tuesday for five hours. My husband is far more cooperative. Sometimes when he’s listening to music, I gently offer him a pair of headphones. Or if he’s playing the guitar, I suggest maybe my office upstairs might be more comfortable for him. He always obliges.

every couple hours i have to get off the chair before my butt molds into the shape of the chair. i find doing something really mundane, like sweeping the sidewalk, helps me clear my head and even sort out something i might have been stuck on. Julia Cameron (the artist’s way) refers to these kinds of repetitive “mindless” tasks (mowing the lawn, taking a walk, sweeping, taking a shower, washing dishes) as “artist brain” activities- they occupy your left brain, the side where the critic lives, enough to allow the right brain to work uninhibited.

i don’t like to work in clutter, so sometimes part of my procrastination ritual is cleaning. Just the clutter. I leave the sweeping for later, to placate my right brain.

Why aren’t I using my office to write? Too messy. Plus, if I go downstairs to get a snack, I might not remember to come back up. I pushed a couple card tables together in the kitchen and put a big piece of plywood and a tablecloth over them and took it over. There’s room for the laptop, the manuscript, my scraps of paper, my pens, liquid paper, and a big glass of green tea. And a couple squares of chocolate. All my projects are chocolate-fueled.

My absolute favorite place to write is on an airplane. You’re trapped and there is nothing else to do. That’s a pretty expensive office, so I only write on the plane when I’m already going on a trip.

As far as time goes, I try to take a somewhat disciplined approach to writing. if I only wrote when the muse struck, I wouldn’t get much done. And I find when doing a large project, like a book (as opposed to writing a song or a blog entry), I need to work in one large block of time so I don’t repeat myself. I use my iCal program, and every month I block out writing time for almost every day. Some days it’s just an hour, other days 3-4 hours.

As far as planning what I’m going to say, I have a very undisciplined approach. I try to write from a place of deep honesty, as much honesty as I can muster. I don’t want to sound contrived or academic, or preachy. I still have my papers from high school to remind me I’m capable of that. So, for that reason, I don’t plan out the book in advance. I like to let it reveal itself to me as I write. I basically splat my feelings all over the page, then try to mold them into something slightly less maniacal later. Sometimes you don’t know what you have to say until you start saying it, so I like to allow myself the chance at the beginning to say anything and everything I need to say.

Keep in mind, however, this is my first book, and not only are the reviews not out yet, the book isn't even out yet. So judge for yourself whether this approach to writing is really one you want to follow. It seems to work for songs, but, aside from Freebird, Stairway to Heaven, and American Pie, songs are a lot shorter than books.]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/some_writing_about_writing Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:07:47 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/gluten_free_and_eating_out
And remember, gluten intolerance and celiac disease aren't really helped much by just cutting back on gluten. If you were allergic to shrimp, or bees, you wouldn't have a little shrimp or an occasional bee sting. If you really want to feel better, you have to be gluten- FREE, not gluten-reduced.

Eating out has been challenging, but I have found a few places near me that have great salad bars (stick to oil and vinegar dressing to be sure you're not getting hidden gluten), no croutons, no crackers. One chain I have found that is extremely gluten-free friendly is Uno's. They have a gluten-free menu that includes, among other things, PIZZA! It still has cheese, and people, we shouldn't be eating tons of cheese, but as an occasional treat, once every couple months, it keeps me from falling off the wagon after watching everyone around me eat whatever they please all day long. Uno's is also extremely careful about not contaminating gluten-free food with gluten. If you order gluten-free pizza, the manager comes out and delivers it to the table.


I think if you join their page on facebook you can get some coupons, sometimes really good ones like buy one get one free entree.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/UnoChicagoGrill]]> http://thesingingpatient.com/blog.html/gluten_free_and_eating_out Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:07:19 -0800 The Singing Patient - The Singing Patient (Carla) - Blog