Paul's dear friend Trina Robbins came to visit this week, she was in town for Comicon and Alexander and I got lucky and scored 2 extra passes!
Alexander really liked Comicon, especially getting to meet his Lego Hero Factory hero.
Here he is on Tatooine with a few old friends and a bag of Lego swag.
Paul and his girlfriend from the 1960s reunite for an afternoon in Encinitas. Trina Robbins is a writer of books and comics for over 30 years. She and Paul met on a flight from LA to Boston in 1967 (he was reading a Vonnegut book and then scooted over in next to her) and dated for a while. Some of their adventures included hanging out in Laurel Canyon with Van Dyke Parks. Trina is the "wampum bead" wearing Lady of The Canyon in Joni Mitchell's song. Paul has always spoken very fondly of Trina.
Underground Comic artist Mary Fleener, CLB, and Trina Robbins, I suppose we're all "tearaways" in our own right. I was just picking Trina up at the Encinitas train station when serendipity struck and we ran into Mary....
CLB, Paul Williams, and Trina Robbins at Paul's nursing home Saturday 7/24/10. We had a lovely time with Trina over cinnamon rolls and coffee at the Panakin. Thanks for visiting Trina!
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ReplyDeleteHello, CINDY ~
What I am about to post, I have considered writing numerous times to you since I last commented on your blog, but always I decided against it because I know how ridiculous it will sound. But I've finally made up my mind to post it anyway, just because "some small voice within" keeps telling me to.
Many years ago, I was a newbie employee at a health food store. One day this customer approached and asked if we carried granular Lecithin. I knew where it was but not what it was used for.
The customer and I got to talking, and he happened to mention that he was something like 75 years old. I almost fell down! Never before (or since) had I seen anyone who looked THAT much younger than their age. He looked 50 at the very most! He said his youthful appearance definitely was not genetic (all his siblings looked their age) and he attributed it to the granular Lecithin he'd been taking for a long time.
[*Time Out: It occurs to me this is starting to sound like a product commercial. It's not. I don't own stock in Lecithin and I don't sell it. I only TAKE it. This post is all leading up to Paul's condition...]
So I started doing a little research into granular Lecithin (it's a byproduct of soy). The book "LEFT FOR DEAD" by Dick Quinn primarily pertains to cayenne and heart conditions, but chapter 16, which is about Lecithin, says this:
Contained in all the cells and organs of the body, Lecithin makes up 30 percent of the dry weight of the brain. ... Lecithin emulsifies fat in the body just like in a chocolate bar. Lecithin breaks up fat and cholesterol into little particles and suspends them in the blood stream. ...
Without Lecithin to keep the fat and cholesterol soluble, it collects on the artery walls, This condition, the narrowing and hardening of the arteries from cholesterol build-up, is known as arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis can lead to heart attack and stroke. ...
Lecithin not only prevents cholesterol from building up on the arterial walls but also helps remove deposits that have already formed. ... Normally, cholesterol dissolves only at a very high temperature, but when Lecithin is introduced, cholesterol will liquify at a temperature lower than normal body heat. ...
Lecithin contains choline and inositol, B vitamins responsible for helping metabolize fat. ... Choline is one of the few substances able to break through the brain blood barrier.
Cindy, that chapter also speaks of something called the "12-Day Lecithin Flush" (3 tablespoons of granular Lecithin taken all at once, once a day for 12 straight days), which is designed to clear away any arterial blockages. After which, one can maintain a diet of just one or two tablespoons a day.
Continued Below...
PART 2 OF 2:
ReplyDeleteMy Mom suffered a stroke in 2002 (i.e., not enough oxygen was getting to her brain due to arterial blockages). She was scheduled for a test to determine just how badly blocked her carotid arteries were. Prior to the test, and unbeknownst to my Mom's doctor, I had her do the “12-Day Lecithin Flush” to see what, if anything, it might do.
A couple of weeks later, after the test was conducted and the results were in, the doctor entered the room with a very puzzled expression on her face, and she said that she was unable to explain how my Mom had a stroke in the first place, because the blood flow in her carotid arteries was what the doctor normally found "in a sixteen or seventeen year old".
Now, I realize that Paul’s problem is not related to restricted blood flow to the brain, but has to do with neurological damage, or something along those lines, as a result of his bicycle accident.
And I’m no doctor (I don’t even play one on my blogs!), so I won’t even pretend to understand exactly what that statement, “Choline is one of the few substances able to break through the brain blood barrier”, actually means.
However, Cindy, something is just whispering into my head that a steady diet of granular Lecithin might actually help to bring some greater mental clarity to Paul after several months.
The husband of a woman I work with suffered a stroke recently and he was unable to speak. The doctors told her that they believed he probably would recover his ability to speak in 6 months to a year. I suggested that she give the Lecithin a try. She did, and her husband was speaking again in about 5 weeks.
I don’t know, but maybe you could check with Paul’s doctor to confirm that the Lecithin wouldn’t mix badly with any medications he might be on, and if not, perhaps give it a chance just to see what might happen.
The stuff is pretty cheap. It looks almost like yellow rice that has been ground up into tiny bits. (The liquid capsule form is not nearly as potent as the granular type.) Because I have had high cholesterol for years, I use the “Nature’s Food Farms” brand (Dist. By Mar Vista Natural Foods; Los Angeles, CA. 90066) which I find selling here in Phoenix at the Healthy Habit health food store for $4.99 a pound.
The big health food store chains usually sell Lecithin in these round metal cans, but it costs considerably more because you’re also paying for the container, and because the big chains mark everything up higher. Find a store that sells it in prepackaged plastic bags and it will be less expensive – anywhere from $5. to $7. per pound.
Anyway, Cindy, I’ve just felt for a while now that I ought to relate this information to you. I hope you and Paul will consider giving it a shot for several months just for the heckuvit. But if not, at least I can now have a clear conscience for having passed the information along to you like this little inner voice has been urging me to do.
Best Wishes To You and Paul!
~ D-FensDogg (STMcC)
Cindy Lee, such a gracious partner, mom, friend and student of life. The gifts you're giving, and possibly receiving, in this enrich others. Your stories are qualitative as well as personal and the way you tell them is like a cross between Joan Didion and Dr. Jerome Groopman.
ReplyDeleteAnd the reunion between Paul and his friend, Trina, is heartening, made even morso by the way you intuited it. A true empath. I can't believe you haven't been approached by a publisher or screenwriter - yet.