PAST

A refrain which I heard frequently as a child was that I was “just looking for attention.” I had some intuition that this wasn’t a bad thing, but it was framed as just that by some of the adults around me who had other interests besides paying attention to a little boy.

Fortunately for me, there were other adults who were happy to pay attention. This included dozens of grey and white-haired customers on my paper route, my paternal and maternal grandparents, and my godparents. There was enough collective attention among them that I emerged from childhood without getting picked off by some predator who could smell the attention-starved boys and girls like a fox smells the rabbit.

When I was fourteen years old, my friend Larami’s parents sponsored me to go to a weekend workshop for young people. It was my first introduction to Re-Evaluation Counseling or RC, was held in a big old house in West Philadelphia, and led by an RC leader named Blair Hyatt. Larami was there too, as was another high school classmate named Tracy, and about a dozen other teenagers. That weekend changed my life, and how I thought about people—and attention.

The way these workshops go, each person gets a turn, if not multiple turns, in front of the group with the leader paying attention to them. Even the leader takes a turn. This last piece is important, because, unlike most conventional therapies in which the therapist is positioned as the knowing one, within RC, the leader has the opportunity to share their struggles with their community. It’s a different model of leadership, which has pluses and minuses, and doesn’t necessarily translate to the non-RC world.

One thing which I learned that weekend was that no matter how confident and together someone looked on the outside (e.g. Tracy), everyone had an interior emotional life, insecurities and old hurts that they were handling. This became clear to me as we took turns listening to each other in small groups as well as the entire group. The stunning moment was when Tracy was in front of the group with Blair paying attention to her in a light and playful way, and she burst into tears. I remember thinking, “What the hell just happened?” I didn’t expect this, and somehow the attention of Blair and the group made the difference. Tracy showed herself in a way that I hadn’t seen in the two years I had known her, and it made me care more deeply about her.

Another very important thing which I learned that weekend was that we all want and need attention, but that things go much, much better if we take turns. This immediately made sense to me. How many times have we been in a conversation where everyone is chomping at the bit to speak, and not necessarily listening to what the other people are saying? RC explicitly circumscribed this approach, by using timers, with each person taking a turn as client and counselor. You could begin to let go of formulating what you wanted to say while someone was still speaking, because you knew that your turn would come.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned that weekend though, was that I was a good listener, and that my listening could help another person to heal. People at that workship, and in RC over the years, showed me how to use attention to examaine what has been hard in life, with the aim of moving through it and moving on from it. I felt like I had discovered a superpower. We all have a need to be loved, but I would assert that our need to demonstrate our love for others, is far greater. RC presented me with a way to do this regularly, and skillfully.

RECENT PAST

One of the best decisions I ever made was to get a vasectomy in my mid-twenties. (I didn’t yet know that vasectomies don’t prevent you from adopting large numbers of cats, but that is a story for another day). For a year and a half I had been living together with the woman who would become my wife. I was still swearing that I would never get married, but was even more certain that I didn’t want to have children. She wasn’t as fervent on the issue of kids, but we both had come from broken homes, and had serious doubts about our capacity to be good parents. And so we came to an agreement that I would get fixed. So out-of-the-norm was this desire, that it took another year for my primary doctor to agree to sign off of the surgery, as he wanted me to take a year to “think about it.”

At this point in life, I don’t doubt that my wife and I could be good parents, if only because we have spent so much time raising each other into adulthood, and becoming relatively balanced human beings. But I’m still glad that we didn’t become parents. What we have had as a child-free couple is fewer financial constraints, more time, and freedom.

Parenthood doesn’t have to be the death of romance in coupledom, but it sure seems to be a common side effect. You can read romance to mean not just a sex life, but also closeness, connection and a fighting chance at finding intimacy, whatever that elusive relational state may be for you.

As a child-free couple, we have been able to step up during some very important times in the lives of our extended family. When my sister-in-law was in the hospital for a major surgery, I was able to take time off from work to help watch my three nieces while my brother worked long hours at a demanding job in finance. When my father was dying of metastatic kidney cancer, we were able to regularly drive five and a half hours to his home, and provide respite to my stepmother during the last months of his life. We did this at a time that we were both working retail jobs, didn’t have a car (we would rent one) and with finances that were very tight. When my paternal grandmother was dying from colon cancer, and had burned her bridges with my aunts and uncles, we were able to take her into our home and care for her during her last month of life. Each of these experiences was deeply meaningful and had its own intrinsic rewards for us, but I know also made a big difference for those receiving our time and attention.

My wife learned RC when we first moved in with each other in 1994, and quickly became a skillful counselor, better than me in fact, even though I had been at it a decade longer. We tried to use our super powers of attention to elevate the emotional lives of our nieces and nephew. We’ll never know what impact those efforts had, but we quickly understood the limitations of our influence, as parents often seen their children as their private property, and can quickly perceive competition and threat from other adults who have relaxed attention for them.

One summer we had two of our nieces come to visit us in Ithaca, NY and had a memorable week hiking, camping, and exploring together. My brother and sister-in-law expected the girls to be homesick, and were miffed when they didn’t get a call which affirmed this. The week was not without its challenges, as our nieces tested us and used our attention to show some of the struggles they had, but couldn’t get air time on at home. I think that all of us had a sense of closer connection to each other by the end of the week, and my wife and me were looking forward to another visit the next summer. When we later asked about having the girls come visit again the next summer, we were told that they would be going to camp. I suspect we did not get that opportunity again because my brother and sister-in-law perceived a threat to their parental exclusivity and validity.

Given what I have learned about attention, giving and receiving, and the healing power of it, I’ve long thought that many people shouldn’t become parents, or at least not as soon as they do. All humans need attention, but children especially. How rational is it that people become parents when they haven’t developed their capacity to pay attention to others? As far as I can tell, good parenting is more likely to flow from adults who have some capacity to meet their own human needs, including self-validation, without needing to extract it from the dependent little creatures they brought into this world. I have come to believe that developing our capacity to pay and share our attention can only improve our interactions with each other, and the children in our lives.

PRESENT

As a Family Nurse Practitioner, I was trained in delivering care to human beings from birth to death. If I had to, I think that I could do a decent job of delivering a child, but I’d rather not. I’ve cared for plenty of children during years of work in an Emergency Department which treated children and adults, but pediatrics isn’t my favorite. Yet, due to the uniqueness of thess post-Covidian time, there have been teenagers and pregnant women who have needed my care.

The most frequent appearance of pregnancy in my practice with the Leading Edge Clinic has been after a miscarriage or stillbirth. Women and couples who are seeking to understand what about COVID or the COVID shots is interfering with successful pregnancies seek out our counsel. I think that we have some insights into the pathology of the spike protein which have been helpful in those cases.

In one instance, a young woman who had started treatment for injury from the COVID shots, was due for a second visit, and became pregnant in the interim. During our second visit, I met with this patient and her husband, and the focus was on how we should modify her plan of care now that she was pregnant, and specifically, whether or not she should keep taking Ivermectin.

Medicine is perpetually an enterprise of risk vs benefit. What we witnessed in the last four years was the utter abandonment of informed consent, which cannot occur in any meaningful way without discussion of risks vs benefits of different treatment options. In discussing the use of IVM with this couple, I explained that there was some evidence of teratogenic effects (birth defects) of IVM in the first trimester, but at doses which were also harmful for the mother. We have been treating patients with IVM since February 2022, and I haven’t seen worse than blurred vision or GI upset in a minority of patients, despite doses as high as 0.6mg/kg. (There were two patients who were self-described as very sensitive to everything, who had what I would describe as Herx reactions upon initiation of IVM dosing, even at 1mg per day, but they were extreme outliers).

This particular patient had stopped IVM when she learned that she was pregant. She was taking only 2mg per day, which is far lower than I use in most patients, but she was also a self-described sensitive patient. Within three days of stopping IVM, the symptom of dizziness which had been plaguing her prior to taking IVM, returned.

To counterbalance our discussion, I asked the rhetorical question: “Have you been told that it is safe to take Tylenol (Acetaminophen) in pregnancy?” Yes, they had been told that it was safe. I then relayed my understanding of acetaminophen’s safety— or lack therof. For purposes of this Substack I’ll stick with the less impressive, but also less debatable numbers. According to the CDC, 1567 people have died from accidental Tylenol overdose between 2001-2010. During that same time period, annual acetaminophen-related deaths amounted to about twice the number attributed to all other over-the-counter pain relievers combined, according to the poison control data. A 2018 study published in a Scandinavian journal reported acetaminophen poisoning was associated with increased long-term all-cause mortality. The increased all-cause mortality was more prominent in the younger population, and in the first 12 months after poisoning. In July of 2009, an FDA panel of thirty-seven experts came very close to issuing a call for a ban on all over-the-counter sales of acetaminophen to reduce associated deadly overdoses and to eliminate the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. They instead pulled back and called for only limiting the amount of Tylenol used in combination with narcotics such as Percocet. A 2023 study found that this decision saved many lives. This 2013 report from ProPublica does a good job of chronicling the sordid and deadly history of acetaminophen, and Big Pharma’s dodginess in response to decades of efforts to curtail its over-the-counter availability and use. However, it is still widely considered safe to use in pregnancy.

Now, let us again consider IVM. In 2021, a French company which had developed a long-acting, injectable form of IVM, commissioned a sweeping study of the medical literature on IVM by the well-respected French Toxicologist, Dr Jacques Descotes. He examined 82 chapters in multi-authored books, 249 original scientific papers, 74 review papers in peer-reviewed journals, 486 presentations and posters at scientific meetings on the preclinical and medical safety assessment, immunotoxicology and immunological safety, regulatory safety and risk evaluation of medicinal products and chemicals. In more than three decades of use, in hundreds of millions of people, there wasn’t even a solid case to be made that IVM was associated with a single death. He concluded that “…the safety profile of ivermectin has so far been excellent in the majority of treated human patients so that ivermectin human toxicity cannot be claimed to be a serious cause for concern.”

I know which of these two products I would feel comfortable recommending for use in pregnancy.

A 2020 systematic review funded by Unitaid (read Bill Gates) found: “There is insufficient evidence to conclude on the safety profile of ivermectin during pregnancy. Treatment campaigns should focus additional efforts on preventing inadvertent treatment of pregnant women.” I find it noteworthy that the recommendation is to prevent inadvertent treatment rather than more closely study its safety in pregnant women, and the authors take pains to point out the low quality of the studies used.

No evidence was found for increased risk of neonatal deaths, preterm births or low birthweight. Some evidence was found for spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and congenital anomalies, but the number of cases was too low to be conclusive – fewer than 100 women were exposed during the first trimester, when the foetus is expected to be more vulnerable to the drug’s effect.

Alternately, in its discussion of the Unitaid (Gates) review, the Barcelona Institute for Public Health spends a moment longer on the pertinent point that if IVM could be shown to be safe in pregnant women, that would be very important for public health. That is because IVM is not only used to treat the parasitic infections of onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, Strongyloides, and scabies, but also has potential role as an endectocide to reduce malaria transmission by killing malaria vectors. The consensus of scientists and public health workers is that malaria kills up to 2.7 million persons each year. Nine out of ten of these cases and deaths occur in Africa and the vast majority of them are in children under the age of five years. If IVM got the green light for use in pregnancy, it could save many more lives.

The introduction to the Unitaid (Gates) review is worth quoting in detail; highlights are mine.

Before moving to the narrative description required by the 2015 labelling rule,⁹ the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had previously classified ivermectin as pregnancy category C—ie, “Animal reproduction studies have shown an adverse effect on the foetus and there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in humans, but potential benefits may warrant use of the drug in pregnant women despite potential risks”.¹ This classification is based on studies done in mice, rats, and rabbits during the original New Drug Application in the 1990s by Merck (appendix p 2).¹⁰ These studies showed adverse pregnancy outcomes at cumulative doses that are high enough to produce signs of maternal toxicity in animals, ranging between 20 and 600 times the human Mectizan single-dose target of 0·15–0·20 mg/kg. However, later evidence showed that the mouse strain (CF-1) used in the initial acute and developmental ivermectin toxicity studies was inappropriate, as it was later shown that CF-1 mice have deficient P-glycoprotein expression, which is an efflux pump key to preventing ivermectin toxicity.¹¹

My interpretation of the above is as follows. First, if we were to dose a pregnant human female at 20 to 600 times the typical single-dose use of 0.15-0.20mg/kg, for a 120lb (54.5kg) woman, instead of 12mg, we would use doses of 1090 – 6540mg. That ain’t happening. Second, the mouse studies which demonstrated teratogenicity to the fetus used a type of lab mice which have a genetic mutation that leaves them unable to avoid IVM toxicity. Hmmm.

I’ll report that in our clinical experience, whether a person has received the COVID shots or not, all of our patients have amyloid fibrin microclotting. If a person received two or more shots, they will typically have microclotting stage/grade 3-4 on a scale of 0-4. We know that microclots concentrate in the capillaries, where red blood cells (RBCs) are meant to deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, but can’t due to congestion and blockage. We also know that the dense networks of blood vessels within the placenta are responsible for exchanging respiratory gases, nutrients, and wastes between the mother and fetus throughout pregnancy, which is essential for proper fetal growth. And we know that IVM is very effective at blocking the clot- provoking impact of spike on the platelets, RBCs, and endothelial cells which line the blood vessels.

In a post-Covidian world, the risk of using IVM in pregnancy is inhibited by the inconclusive and weak body of evidence (per Unitaid (Gates)), and studies using mice which couldn’t avoid IVM toxicity at crazy high doses. On the other hand, we have a punctilious review by an esteemed toxicologist, basically saying that IVM hasn’t killed anyone over thirty years and hundreds of millions of doses. And our clinical experience reveals microclotting in everybody, which poses an imminent threat to the viability of a fetus. IVM is one of the most effective therapies to block that effect of spike to promote microclotting.

If it was my wife who was pregnant, after a detailed review of the above risks and benefits, I would opine that I think the risks of IVM at current dosing at 0.2mg/kg-0.6mg/kg for post-acute sequelae of COVID and COVID vaccine injury are not only safe in pregnancy, but likely to prevent fetal demise from microclotting. If my wife was especially sensitive and cautious, I would use as little as 1mg of IVM daily, but I would use it.

P.S. This Substack is not individual medical advice for you.

P.S.S. Happy Memorial Day!

P.S.S.S. Thank you to each of the paid subscribers who help support the long-term effort of writing.

PAST

This story takes us back to my adventures with the Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS), as recounted in Hot Mess Express. After my excommunication from the San Antonio Catholic Worker House, I became sick as a dog for a week. Physically recovered, I flew home to southeastern Pennsylvania and stayed with my Nana. For the next week she was loving, but firm and clear that she wasn’t going to tolerate a twenty one year old college graduate who was a failure-to-launch. She had spent too many years watching the shenanigans of the neighbor biker boy Donny who was still living with his mom and dad—in his forties!

In the meantime, the BVS decided to give me a second chance. The High Desert Ranch in New Mexico had decided that I was indeed a hot mess, and retracted their acceptance. But, there was a Church of the Brethren (COB) camp and retreat center in Hooversville, PA which would be glad to have me. Hooversville is a tiny hamlet in Southwestern, PA, and Camp Harmony was miles from the nearest neighbor, a dairy farm. The position was for a Maintenance Director, with on-the-job training.

And so I arrived in the middle of Winter via Amtrak from Philadelphia’s 30th Street station. Philadelphians tend to think that Pennsylvania is, well, Philadelphia. The fact that the state extends at least an eight hour drive westward, and has a snow belt in the southwest to rival midwestern winters was not part of this southeastern Pennsylvanian’s consciousness.

The Winter and Spring were long and lonely. There was a lot of work to do on the buildings and around the camp preparing setting up for weekend retreats and preparing for the summer. During the weekdays, the camp secretary and director would be in the office and available, but at night I was the only person for miles. The upside was seeing the starry sky in all its heavenly glory and without the light pollution from the city. 1992 was also a heyday for country singer Garth Brooks, and considering that the only radio reception I got was AM, and two stations—both country—it was a good thing. I learned to like country music out of necessity.

Sundays meant traveling with the Camp Director, Neal Harvey, to regional congregations of the Church of the Brethren to make a presentation about the camp and raise funds. Neal would play a recording of campers singing the folk standard “The Garden Song” —listen to this version by John Denver appearing on The Muppet Show. It was an ear worm and still lingers in my brain on the occasion that I think of Camp Harmony….

As the snow began to clear, Wednesdays were work days with a group of up to ten retired men. We cut down Black Locust trees to make new fence posts and strung them with barbed wire to keep the neighboring cows off the camp property. We also began clearing land to make way for a planned new retreat center, today known as Faith Hall. All of this involved a lot of work with an old John Deere tractor, and chainsaws, neither of which had been part of my upbringing.

We took care, and no one was hurt during out efforts—except for one incident. Howard Fyock was a retired “coal cracker”, Pennsylvanian for coal miner. Like many old time coal miners, he had black lung. Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), commonly known as “black lung disease,” occurs when coal dust is inhaled. Over time, continued exposure to the coal dust causes scarring in the lungs, impairing your ability to breathe. Considered an occupational lung disease, it is most common among coal miners.

I shit you not that Howard would be out there driving the old John Deere with his oxygen nasal cannula and the accompanying portable tank slung from his shoulders. There was an old gravel pit which we would dump the huge stumps we had dug out as we cleared the land. One day, Howard had the bucket end of the tractor elevated, with a large stump suspended below from a chain. As he approached the top of the gravel pit, there was a little too much swing to the stump, left to right, and the bucket was elevated just high enough that physics took over and the tractor began to tip. What happened next remains a marvelous miracle, and testimony to Howard’s quick thinking and spryness, even at the age of 80. He leapt off the tractor, in the opposite direction from which it was rolling, with his oxygen tank no less, and cleared the moving machine before it could crush him as it cartwheeled fifty feet down into the pit.

Neal and I visited Howard later that day in the hospital, and aside from some extensive bruising and a few broken ribs, he was already agitating to be discharged. The John Deere was also banged up, but after a visit to the shop to straighten out the engine splash guard and replace the damaged hydraulic lines, it was back in action.

I remember Howard and the other men who volunteered every week with a swell of love in my heart. Being a decent cook, I tried to show my appreciation for them by eschewing the basic fare of sandwiches, chips and iced tea, for more complicated and filling meals such as lasagna with garlic bread and salad, or chili with cornbread. Neal raised an eyebrow about the added expense, but that didn’t squash my light. He had a decent appetite himself, so I’m sure that helped.

When summer finally arrived, so did a whole community of staff and counselors, followed shortly afterwards by the campers. I had to surrender my apartment to the camp nurse, and move down to the lodge used for staff; those quarters had women on one side, men on the other, with a common room and kitchenette in the middle. Some of the lodge’s residents were still minors and as a result, even though I was what in Philadelphia street language would be called “a grown-ass man”, I was now theoretically under the nightly curfew watch of the camp nurse, with the young‘uns.

Always on the lookout for love and romantic adventure, I became friendly with one of the kitchen staff, a pretty young lass named Dawn. We managed to have a nice snuggle on the couch in the common lounge without any objections from our peers. What I hadn’t counted on was the late arrival of a camp counselor from Russia. Her name was Julia Samsonova, pronounced sam-Soo-no-va. We had eyes for each other from the start, with hers being dark, penetrating, and conspiratory.

About a week after Julia arrived, we ended up in the common lounge together one evening; she asked if I could play chess. Yes, indeed I could—badly, but I’d give it a go. It was unlike any chess game I have ever played, before or since, with the banter, saucy looks and a rising tension that left me so stirred up that I could hardly get to sleep that night. But what is a guy to do in the middle of a Christian summer camp, under the watchful eye of the camp nurse? Try to behave; try being the operative word.

I would leave you hanging if I didn’t share one last bit. Despite Neal’s generosity of heart in taking a chance on my hot mess and offering me a volunteer position, at the end of the summer I left Camp Harmony, and my volunteer commitment, early. There were a number of factors which, combined, led to this decision. It turned out that this region of the Church of the Brethren was more fundamentalist in nature, and I struggled with that. I also thought that volunteer doesn’t equate to servant, and Neal’s expectation of my position was that I would work 60-80 hour weeks throughout the summer, because previous volunteers in my position did. I have a strong work ethic, but this felt like exploitation of my good -faith intention to serve, and that didn’t sit well with me. I needed to move on.

The morning that I left Camp Harmony, Neal’s wife Karen had come to pick me up to take me to the train station. At the same time Julia was sneaking out of the window of my room and headed around the side of the staff building, Karen arrived at the front door and they made eye contact. Ooops. Karen wasn’t dumb, and put two and two together. I later learned that this news scandalized the COB community and, typical for small town gossip, lead to quite the storm of grandiose stories about how the Devil had influenced me, corrupted Julia and who-knows-else and who-knows-what. After we briefly considered her coming to Philadelphia to join me, Julia headed back to Russia. I wasn’t anywhere near ready for marriage, and the daunting logistics of obtaining an extended visa were enough to end our romance.

RECENT PAST

In 2018, my wife and I traveled to California to visit her father and his wife. Curt and Jane were high school sweethearts, who reunited after more than twenty years, several children each, and divorces from their respective spouses. They had recently purchased a large RV trailer and we took a small trip together to the coast, traveling through the Russian River Valley. On our way to the coast, we passed Russia House #1 and it caught my attention. It was an odd-looking structure which sat near the edge of the Russian River, with a sign advertising traditional Russian food. I filed it away in my head and, on the return trip, I asked Curt to pull over so that we could check it out.

When we pulled into the parking lot, there were no other cars, and when we entered the building, there were no other people. Just inside the entrance there was a room with an eclectic collection of puzzles and games. Further in, there were several large tables laid out with at least a dozen large crock pots, plates, and silverware. After a few minutes wait a rumpled-looking fellow came out from the back and introduced himself as the neighbor from across the street. He was watching over things as the three women who sponsored this culinary experiment were away for the day. He explained that we help ourselves, buffet-style, eat as much or as little as we want, and pay what we think makes sense. Hmmmm. What was the catch? I was both surprised, and a little suspicious, but when I read one of the postcards on our table, I started to understand what this was about.

Russian house#1 is a free cultural space, intentional community and an experiment in new economics. Russian House #1 is a unique Restaurant, where the food is being served like at Home. It means that we do not have menus, nor fixed prices. Our food is being prepared with an inspiration every day, considering our favorite Russian recipes and healthy local produce. We do culinary classes and we love to take best cooking practices from our guests. (Yes! You are welcome to cook with us or to cook for us ))) We have a great puzzle collection, intellectual clubs, meditations and breath work workshops .”

Everything smelled and tasted delicious, and some the food was familiar due to commonalities between Russian cuisine and Slovak dishes which my Baba would make. It was homemade Russian peasant food: hearty soups, stews, blini and salads were presented on a buffet table. Tea, fruit drinks and water were also available. The view of the Russian River Valley was lovely. Yes, I went back for seconds. I was grateful that my travel companions were willing to take a chance and explore this very special place together, and they all seemed to enjoy the food as well. I think I left $100 to cover the four of us.

Researching for this Substack, I learned that Russia House #1 closed in January of 2022, when the landlord declined to renew their lease. I’m betting that the inspired Russian women behind this culinary/intellectual/spiritual/diplomatic experiment will re-emerge in another location to continue their adventure. If you’re interested in more details, Russia House #1 was covered in these 2021 Washington Post, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle, and 2022 The Press Democrat articles.

PRESENT

Besides my Russian love Julia, and the yummy food of Russia House #1, I was inspired to write this Substack by my observations regarding a drug called Sulodexide. The only way I know of to procure this drug is via what I’ll call the “grey market,” as it is not available in the U.S. On websites which change from week to week, using similar graphics but different names for their business, people with names like Igor, Boris, Alexsandr and Dimitri bridge the gap between individual medical needs and the stupid greed of our Pharma-compromised FDA. I mention this at the start, because, as you will see, Sulodexide is not for the faint of heart, pardon the pun, as you will see.

What is reassuring about Sulodexide is that is has been approved by the European drug agencies and has been in use since 1972. When a drug has a long history of use, there has been plenty of opportunity to explore it’s pluses and minuses. Sulodexide is available as a generic medication, which makes it cheaper than comparable drugs such as Eliquis, an anticoagulant which is a factor Xa inhibitor. Eliquis has a good safety profile, and in our use of it to treat micro clotting-for more than 500 of our patients , there have been very few complications. However there is evidence that Sulodexide is safer than Eliquis. I would argue that it being cheaper and safer than Eliquis makes it very unlikely that we will see Sulodexide approved by the FDA anytime soon, as it would threaten the Pharma profits from Eliquis, Xarelto, and similar patented drugs.

Why am I talking about Sulodexide? First, the sheer scope of sulodexide’s clinical effects: it has anti-atherosclerotic, anti-coagulative, anti-fibrotic, fibrinolytic, anti-inflammatory, and endothelium-protecting properties. Second, I have seen noteworthy improvements in the symptoms of two vaccine injured patients who used a one month treatment of Sulodexide with 250LU (25mg) twice daily. I diagnosed the first patient with iliac venous compression (IVC). She took Sulodexide for one month before she had stenting with my colleague Dr Brooke Spencer in Denver, CO. She was noting improvement even before the moderate sedation was wearing off, and, among my growing list of IVC patients, has experienced one of the most rapid and dramatic improvements in her vascular system, chronic back pain, energy, and cognition. The second patient took Sulodexide for one month, and while he didn’t notice any tremendous benefit while taking it, his long-term recovery has been exemplary, as he has steadily improved in his reports re: ease of breathing, absence of chest pain, increased exercise capacity, and overall well-being.

From a 2014 review of Sulodexide:

Sulodexide (SDX), a sulfated polysaccharide complex extracted from porcine intestinal mucosa, is a blend of two glycosaminoglycan (GAG) entities, namely a fast-moving heparin (HP) fraction and a dermatan sulfate (DS; 20%) component. The compound is unique among HP-like substances in that it is biologically active by both the parenteral and oral routes. A main feature of the agent is to undergo extensive absorption by the vascular endothelium. For this reason, in preclinical studies, SDX administered parenterally displays an antithrombotic action similar to that of HPs but associated with fewer alterations of the blood clotting mechanisms and tests, thus being much less conducive to bleeding risk than HPs. When given orally, SDX is associated with minimal changes in classic coagulation tests, but maintains a number of important effects on the structure and function of endothelial cells (EC), and the intercellular matrix. These activities include prevention or restoration of the integrity and permeability of EC, counteraction versus chemical, toxic or metabolic EC injury, regulation of EC–blood cell interactions, inhibition of microvascular inflammatory and proliferative changes, and other similar effects, thus allowing oral SDX to be considered as an endothelial-protecting agent.

So, Sulodexide has two components, or fractions. The low molecular weight of both sulodexide fractions allows for extensive oral absorption compared to unfractionated heparin. The pharmacological effects of sulodexide differ substantially from other GAG drugs and are mainly characterized by a prolonged half-life and reduced effect on global coagulation and bleeding parameters. Translation: with Sulodexide there is less risk of bleeding.

We understand from our study and treatment of patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID and injury from the COVID shots, that endothelial (cells lining the blood vessels) injury occurred when the spike protein entered the blood and circulated. This happened to an exponentially greater extent from the shots, but can also occur in people who have had COVID, or who are experiencing shedding from exposure to vaccinated and boosted individuals. Therapeutics such as Sulodexide, which can counteract this endothelial injury, could be very valuable.

Sulodexide has been studied extensively in relation to venous ulcers, chronic venous disease, and diabetic neuropathy. There was one study of Sulodexide use in PASC patients with chest pain, which had positive statistical and clinical significance. One application which intrigues me, and which I will be exploring with patients, is its potential use in treating tinnitus, because that has been one of the hardest nuts to crack in PASC and vaccine injury. Sulodexide studies showed that when used in conjunction with melatonin, or as monotherapy, it was a viable treatment option for patients suffering from central or sensorineural tinnitus.

I expect that this brief exposition on Sulodexide will raise more questions among readers. Please remember that this is not individual health care advice for you. If Sulodexide sounds promising to you, please do more research on your own, as there are many academic articles to be found, and discuss it with your healthcare provider. I suggest starting with PubMed, the free online search engine available through the NIH. As with purchasing other medicine, such as IVM, from outside the United States, there are inherent risks which the regulatory structure of FDA approval is meant to protect us from (but which can also impede our access to safe, repurposed drugs). Personally, I obtained Sulodexide from abroad for a cost of ~$180 for a one month supply, and when I shared images of the package, medication blister packs and package insert with a Russian-reading pharmacist, he validated that I had the genuine article. Buyer beware, as I can’t speak for the ethics and quality control of the person on the other end of such transactions, and you would be purchasing the drug at your own risk.

P.S. Dr Pierre Kory and I are co-owners of The Leading Edge Clinic, a telemedicine practice. We work with a mission-focused staff of fifteen, including two extraordinary FNPs, India Scott and Laura Bevis. India and Laura also offer care in general medicine, and Laura specializes in geriatrics. We continue to study and learn in our treatment of PASC and vaccine injury. As one of five clinical sites participating in the five year FLCCC study using repurposed therapeutics as adjunctive treatment of cancer, Pierre and I are developing our expertise in this new realm. We will be joined full-time by another physician in August of 2024, who will focusing on cancer and which will significantly expand our capacity to help cancer patients. You can to go to our website at drpierrkory.com and initiate an application to become a patient in our practice.

The title of this Substack is inspired by one of my favorite movies, a quirky animated film called Waking Life, written and directed by Richard Linklater and starring Wiley Wiggins (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/). Waking Life follows the dream(s) of one man and his attempt to find and discern the absolute difference between waking life and the dreamworld. I think the funniest part of the movie is what I refer to as the ‘burrito doings’ scene:

(Main character, Wiley Wiggins, goes into the convenience store. The clerk, Bill Wise, is the same guy who drove the boat car)

BW: “What’s the word, turd?”

WW: “Hey, do you also drive a, a, boat car?”

“A what?”

“Like, you gave me a ride in a car that was also a boat.”

“No, man, I don’t have a ‘boat car’. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Man, this must be, like, parallel universe night. You know that cat that was just in here, who just ran out the door? Well, he comes up to the counter, you know, and I say, ‘What’s the word, turd?’ and he lays down this burrito and he kind of looks at me, kind of stares at me, and then he says, ‘I have but recently returned from the valley of the shadow of death. I am rapturously breathing in all the odors and essences of life. I’ve been to the brink of total oblivion. I remember and ferment a desire to remember everything.’”

“So, what’d you say to that?”

“Well, I mean, what could I say? I said ‘If you’re going to microwave that burrito, I want you to poke holes in the plastic wrapping because they explode, and I’m tired of cleaning up your little burrito doings. You dig me? ‘Cause the jalapenos dry up. They’re like little wheels.’”

DREAMWORLD VS. WAKING LIFE

Living in Ithaca during the pandemic and post-Covidian times has been a bit of a mind-twister. I spend 8-10 hours a day in my office, working hard to help people recover from the life-changing adverse effects of the Covid virus and the Covid vaccines. In my physical office, I share the space with a colleague who sees what I see. I work with the talented and growing team of the Leading Edge Clinic, now twenty of us including schedulers, an RT, RNs, NPs and physicians, and we all are dealing with the same reality every day. I return to my home and my wife is is injured by the Covid shots (hers Moderna), just like me (mine Pfizer). Yet we are surrounded by a city filled with people who continue to believe in the narrative that the shots are safe and effective, and in fact many continue to get boosters. This is despite the growing list of ailments which they are encountering, and for which their physicians have no answers or effective treatments. The bumper sticker “Ithaca, 10 sq miles Surrounded By Reality” takes on a sinister twist. On a midday walk, a public transit bus passes me with a fresh advertisement on its side promising “Safe and Effective Against COVID, Get Your Booster Today!” As far as I’m concerned, the bus might as well have an ad for Ithaca Gun Co., and we can just move forward as if we are all in a Steven King novel. Everyday life outside my home and office can start to feel like a dreamworld, some sort of Twilight Zone wrought large in Central New York.

MORNING INTO AFTERNOON

I push in the clutch, turn the key, shift into reverse and back out of the driveway. Squeeeeeeaaaaak! The lady who had my Volvo C30 before me put racing brakes on it, and they are quite noisy when they are cold. I wave to Kerrie and step on the gas, doing 30mph up the hill until, just a couple of minutes later, I take my routine right turn. I pull my little white car into the far right parking place next to the black and silver cars of the Dolson-Fazio clan. The monochrome color combo strikes me every day. I pop the hatchback and grab the Juvent, and trundle down the drive to awkwardly open the front door. I set down the Juvent, plug it in, shed my shoes and slip into my slides (a la Mr Rogers), and head to the office to turn on the computer. Green tea poured, check. Phone plugged in and charging, check. Glasses cleaned and on, check. VPN whirling, thinking, whirling, and…connected, check. Sign in, write good morning to my nurse, Kara, bring up the chart, begin the video, and ACTION!

It’s back-to-back patients, along with managing messages, but by 12:20pm I’m dashing out the door for a midday walk. This is a new, welcome and very important addition to my daily routine. It is inspired by Dr Paul Marik’s guidance in his book and evolving document Cancer Care: The Role of Repurposed Drugs and Metabolic Interventions in Treating Cancer. “Patients should be encouraged to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days of the week. Walking, particularly in the sunshine, has enormous physical, emotional and psychological benefits.” It has been a month since I started these afternoon walks, and it’s hard to fathom how I got along without them. As I am starting my day and securing a positive focus, the walks are something to which I can look forward. I notice the breeze, the sun, the trees, the birds. There is time to settle my mind, work through questions and clinical puzzles that my patient visits have produced – and walk off some of the burdensome emotions that can come with this work.

Sometime between 5pm and 7pm I wrap up my day. I pick up the Juvent and bring it back to the car, and it’s a quick drive back down the hill, and home. Kerrie makes dinner most weeknights, and I have kitchen duty on the weekends. Although we often eat at 7pm, we continuously aspire to eat earlier, and are careful to leave three to four hours between when we finish eating, and when we go to bed. This is very important for brain health. Sleep is the only time our brain has to clean and restore itself through glymphatic drainage. If we eat less than three hours before bedtime, we prevent this internal housekeeping, and will accumulate debris such as amyloid proteins in our brain. Cognitive function will inevitably decline as a result.

Over the course of multiple videos, Dr Been has gone into terrific detail re: how the glymphatic system and lifestyle changes which we can make to improve our brain health with a deeper understanding of glymphatic drainage. In glymphatic drainage, the cerebrospinal fluid flows into the para-vascular space around cerebral arteries, combining with interstitial fluid and parenchymal solutes, and exiting down venous para-vascular spaces. In plain terms, the brain has a mechanism of special blood vessels which maintain the blood brain barrier while also permitting waste be moved out of the brain. A good starting point to learn more about this is Course 49 of Long Story Short, part of a series Dr Been made on the FLCCC Alliance platform.

Recently, my wife and I have taken this understanding to another level, and fast between Friday morning breakfast and Saturday afternoon brunch. I have our patient Rodney to thank for this behavior. During a long-haul and vaccine injury support group which I led, Rodney remarked that hitting sleep time at least twelve hours into a fasting state exponentially increases the glymphatic drainage and neuronal repair in our brain. Another patient demonstrated the power of this practice when he decided to eat one morning meal each day for two months, and we saw his energy, focus, cognitive abilities, quality and length of sleep improve; and his lab measurement of Beta Amyloid 42/40 returned to normal levels.

EVENING

Most nights, weather permitting, we drive down to Cayuga Lake for a walk. The city of Ithaca is situated at the base of Cayuga Lake, which is one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York.  Just before the pandemic, New York State completed a mixed pavement and gravel trail around the perimeter of Treman Marina. Kerrie and I have been walking this trail for the last four years, a routine we developed during the early days of the pandemic, especially with lockdown. I think of these walks as essential to processing our experience of the pandemic – and to stay steady.  The avian life there is bustling, and the cycle of seasons and migration provided some reassurance of normality and continuity among so much chaos and uncertainty. In the Springtime the Osprey arrive at any number of nesting platforms to roost and raise their young. At this precise moment, the activity in the nest has ticked up because the fledglings are learning to fly and fish. It is heartwarming to watch their early efforts, as they circle the nests and call out to each other with what one can easily interpret to be excitement and encouragement. 

I don’t think one can overstate the case for spending time outside as a path to healing. Yes, the vapor trails which appear in the sky overhead can be distracting and discouraging. But, experiencing the sensations of breezes, the scents of vegetation and water coming off the lake, seeing the distant views which are never the same, the clouds which are always configured differently with an ever-changing colors — we need this for our spirit.

The rhythm of walking with its alternating left-right cadence helps our minds integrate our experiences by reconnecting our left and right brain.  This dynamic process is the foundation of EMDR, a form of therapy, which has a strong evidence base and has been used extensively by the Veterans Administration to treat patients who suffer from PTSD and TBI.  Human beings are bipedal creatures who were designed to walk.  It is our inheritance and an essential tool for promoting optimal health.

When we get home, Kerrie calls shotgun on the Juvent, and I go second.  We each spend 20 minutes standing.  As soon as one of us steps onto the Juvent, our young black cat Charlotte leaps onto the arm of the sofa next to it for her nightly pets from both of us. Kerrie will usually look at her iPad while on the Juvent and I will usually read a book.  I have even been known to do some ironing at the same time. In this way, and for these reasons, the time feels productive.

We have both been using the Juvent for more than three months at this point. There is a short list of specific benefits which I can identify so far. The Covid shots put me into heart failure, and the lower extremity swelling I have as a result has been reduced since using the Juvent. The myalgia and fatigue in my lower extremities is also significantly reduced or absent. My increased capacity to walk at a rapid pace up hills during my midday strolls is noteworthy.

Besides those benefits, which I can credit in part to long-term use of the Juvent, there are the improvements which I have seen in patients who have purchased and use the device. The spouse of one patient who was previously diagnosed with osteopenia used it only intermittently for two months and when she had her annual bone scan was told that at the age of 70, she now has bones comparable to those of a 40 year old woman. Another patient who has suffered from low red blood cell, platelets and white blood cell count for decades, has levels which normalized for the first time in 20 years. This makes a lot of sense to me given that the kinetic energy of the Juvent is stimulating the bone marrow of our long bones, tibia, fibula and femur.

The reason that the Juvent makes a daily commute with me to the office is that my colleague and his wife use it. She has MS and has found that with relatively brief, that is, 5 to 6 minute intervals of use, she has had improvement in balance.  He is a martial artist who has chronic knee pain from years of matches, and has found that by using the device with his knees slightly bent (similar to the stance taught in Tai Chi), he has seen an improvement in his knee pain from a 6 out of 10 to a 3-4 out of 10 over a period of about two months. 

On most Saturday mornings, I spend up to one hour in our Sauna Space NIR sauna.  In the winter time Malcolm, our big older black cat will stick with me the entire hour. During the summer, he is in and out, pacing himself. My goal with this routine is to reach an internal temperature of 100°F, or as close as I can get in one hour’s time. I’m trying to stimulate heat shock proteins in order to more efficiently break down toxins, deformed proteins, pathogens and spike in my body. If I can get to 100F sooner than one hour, I stop. I use an oral digital thermometer to measure my progress. The shortest time it has ever taken me is 25 minutes. I have both Dr. Mercola and Dr. Been to thank for inspiring this practice. 

My understanding is that there are three types of autophagy. Micro autophagy is happening all the time because, for example, our body is making and breaking down red blood cells to the tune of five million a second. Macro autophagy is what occurs when we get to the 14th to 16th hour of intermittent fasting. Chaperone-guided autophagy with heat shock proteins is what we can stimulate when we get our internal temperature up to 100° F.

In terms of cellular repair and cleanup, I think of these three pathways as a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and a backhoe. Heat shock proteins are the backhoe. My understanding is that Dr. Mercola tries to accomplish this on a daily basis and because of how he has conditioned his body, he is able to get his temperature up within 10 minutes. I would caution readers who try this to limit their initial efforts because it takes time for our bodies to get acclimated to such an exercise and I would never go beyond an hour.

There are a few tricks which I have learned help get me to 100° F faster. The first is to make sure that when I get out of bed, I am dressed for the ambient temperature and not developing a chill. In the winter time this means making sure that I put on pajamas and socks, and wear slippers and a bathrobe.  I have also learned that drinking cool or cold water inhibits my efforts and so try to add hot water from the teapot to make my morning water, warm – or hot, but drinkable. The sauna came with a bristle brush, and I use it to dry brush from my neck to my toes before I get into the sauna. I think that Japanese readers who are fastidious about their skin care and use soaking baths will note this as a familiar pre-bath ritual.  It helps clear older skin cells and free pores to release perspiration more easily.

A common question is whether one can use a Finnish sauna to promote heat-shock proteins. The short answer is yes, but a NIR sauna facilitates reaching a higher internal temperature sooner with a lower ambient temperature, and less stress on the body. I’ve always enjoyed saunas, but never spent more than fifteen minutes in one before I need to exit for a dip in some cold water.

Immediately after a long sauna, and occasionally also before, I will drink 16oz of water with a sachet of an electrolyte replacement. The product I prefer is Quintessential 3.3 by Quicksilver Scientific, developed by the French military as an oral plasma replacement during campaigns in the desert environment of colonies such as Algeria. It doesn’t have sugar or flavorings, and it produced from micro-filtered seawater obtained from ocean depths.

Finally, I head to the shower where I perform a second wet brushing of my skin from neck to toes. My understanding is that this helps clear off toxins and pathogens which were transported out of my body via perspiration, but which may still linger on my skin’s surface. And so I am ready for my day, theoretically with less spike – and definitely with more hope.

P.S. I have no financial interest in the products which I write about in my Substack.

For nearly six months, Pierre and I have been seeing patients for adjunctive cancer care. In one week, as of 8/12/24, our adjunctive cancer care will be augmented Dr Sid Lawler, an internist with more than twenty years of clinical practice. The Leading Edge Clinic is one of five practices nationally participating in a five-year observational study sponsored by the FLCCC Alliance, evaluating the clinical benefit of a ketogenic (keto) diet, repurposed supplements and prescription medications in treating cancer. This intervention, an integration of a keto diet with layered therapy, is based upon the groundbreaking research of Dr Paul Marik and his protocol . Pierre is putting the finishing touches on a detailed four-part Substack series on this topic. In the meantime, I’m going to supply a focused update on what I’ve learned so far from our current patients.

DIET AND GLUCOSE MONITORING CHALLENGES

About fifty percent of my patients have had some kind of difficulty with the keto diet. For starters, we are using the Libre3 continuous glucometer sensor, which costs $80 and, unless a person is diabetic, insurance won’t cover it. The value of the monitor, especially in the first weeks and months of treatment is invaluable, because it gives patients real-time feedback about the glucose spikes which result from different dietary choices. Some patients can’t get over the fact that the sensor uses a small needle, and remains in place for two weeks. If they get really sweaty in the hot weather, it may not stay attached. Some older patients are technically challenged and not up to downloading the app to a phone which provides continuous reporting on their current glucose levels.

Our target goal is a glucose of 50-80 ng/dL, and that alone scares some patients and their family members. They have long been told that if their glucose gets below 70 ng/dL they should drink some juice or eat something, because a lower blood sugar is considered life-threatening. The truth is that as we move away from simple carbohydrates (carbs) and our bodies learn to happily use ketones for fuel, we can think and feel just fine with a glucose of 50 ng/dL.

There are the patients who are underweight when we have our first visit, because they have already started chemotherapy, radiation, and/or immunotherapy and are dealing with decreased appetite and nausea. Limiting them to keto options doesn’t necessarily make sense, so we are instead guiding them in harm reduction: e.g. avoiding processed foods, sugary beverages, and simple carbs. Simple changes such as the order of eating can help tremendously: i.e. eating leafy greens first, then proteins/fats, then starches, and then fruit.

There have also been family members who are on speed dial and ever-ready to take the patient out for White Castle or McDonalds, because “you deserve it.” In part, this reflects that the patient has come to us because of a different family member who is diligently researching and aches to save their loved one’s life, but if the patient her/himself isn’t as committed, there is only so much we can do.

VITAMIN K2

Dr Marik’s protocol advises the use of a Vitamin D3 / K2 combination when high-dose Vitamin D3 is being used. I have previously written about my clinical observations re: compounding factors which promote and perpetuate microclotting in our post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC) and COVD vaccine-injured patients. Vitamin K2 is one of those factors. In one of my first followup visits with a patient who is a retired nurse, I didn’t get my first sentence out before she said “I’m not taking any more of that Vitamin K2 you ordered. My infusaport has been working fine for a year, and as soon as I started taking the Vitamin K2, it clogged up from clotting. No more!” I didn’t object, and we discussed the other factors to consider when taking high-dose Vitamin D3 which help manage calcium levels: 30 minutes of weight-bearing exercise (e.g. walking) daily, 250-500mg of Magnesium daily, and limiting, or stopping, the intake of dairy products due to their contribution of excessive free Calcium.

One challenge here is that some patients are too weak or fatigued to walk thirty minutes a day. If someone has $6,000 to purchase a Juvent, I think that 20 minutes a day on the Juvent is a fair approximation, but this is beyond the budget for most. When D3 and K2 are in the same supplement, one can quickly arrive at a daily intake of more than 1000mcg of K2, and these are levels at which I have observed PASC and vaccine-injured patients get stuck with stage/grade 4 of 4 microclotting. I’ve communicated my concerns to Dr Marik, and there is some agreement that separating Vitamin K2 from Vitamin D3 intake is reasonable. In this way, a patient can plan for 100mcg of K2 daily, or 800mcg weekly.

RESEARCHING FAMILY MEMBERS

Pierre and I both have encountered many patients and family members who are diligently researching cancer treatments, and bombarding us with messages that reference articles and studies which promise good clinical results from any number of supplements and prescription therapies. There are 256 repurposed drugs and over 2000 nutraceuticals that reportedly have anti-cancer mechanisms.  One cannot treat a disease using over 2000 medicines. Very few of the long list has reliable, or extensive, clinical or in vitro evidence. (In vitro is Latin for “in glass.” It describes medical procedures, tests, and experiments that researchers perform outside of a living organism. An in vitro study occurs in a controlled environment, such as a test tube or petri dish.) Our approach follows Dr. Marik’s protocol, which relies on those therapies which have the widest and deepest evidence base in both efficacy and known safety.  

While we try to be clear with patients and their family members about what we do and don’t provide in our adjunctive care, we still encounter a lot of pushback. E.g. patients encounter the X posts of physicians like Dr William Makis who make claims re: his ability to treat cancer with repurposed supplements and prescription medications. He states “We have proposed a ‘first in the world’ protocol!” It would seem he hasn’t heard of the FLCCC Alliance, or Dr Marik’s protocol which was published in…August of 2023. Dr Makis isn’t doing the right thing. The best example I can give you is that he promotes the use of Laetrile (Amygdalin), derived from the seeds of Apricots. On X he posted “Bioactive compounds are a crucial part of any “Alternative Cancer Treatment” strategy and Apricot fruit and seeds are a reasonable addition (nothing even remotely controversial about it).” https://x.com/MakisMD/status/1784557179975942564 He makes quick work of dismissing concerns that Laetrile is a cyanogenic glycoside—as in, it contains cyanide. If you read Dr Marik’s protocol, you’ll find Laetrile listed at position #45 under Recommended Against. In 2015, a Cochrane systematic review failed to identify any studies of Laetrile which met their inclusion criteria.

DISMISSIVE ONCOLOGISTS, OBEDIENT AND FEARFUL PATIENTS

Thanks to Dr Marik and forward thinkers/researchers/writers such as Thomas Seyfried, Otto Warburg, Jane McLelland, Travis Christofferson, Jeffry Dach, Nasha Winter and Jess Higgins, we now understand that a combination of keto diet and repurposed drugs can target cancer stem cells and increase both the safety the effectiveness of modern Oncology’s primary tools: chemo, radiation, surgery and immunotherapy. For patients who are working with an Oncologist who doesn’t dismiss adjunctive care, the length and number of treatments can be decreased, with fewer adverse effects. My experience so far is that at best, Oncologists tolerate patients’ used of repurposed therapies up until “the real treatment begins”, and then direct them to cease all adjunctive therapies. In his Forward to Dr Marik’s protocol, Dr Justus Hope writes that proactively adding repurposed drugs as early as possible can help prevent cancer stem cells from regrowing the tumor into a more resistant and sometimes indestructible form. Chemotherapy and radiation target about 10% of active cancer cells, but miss the other 90%, and do not address the stem cells which give rise to more cancer. It’s comparable to the way mowing the lawn actually makes the grass grow more. Most of the repurposed drugs which we are using in our adjunctive therapy target the cancer stem cells.

CROSSOVER OF CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

We’ve treated more than 6,000 patients for acute COVID, PASC, and COVID vaccine-injury since we opened our practice in February 2022. It turns out that the expertise we have developed during this time is invaluable to our delivery of adjunctive cancer care. The spike protein of COVID illness and vaccines has profoundly altered the inner universe of our bodies. We have good reason to believe that the spike protein is often at work behind the turbo cancers which are emerging. Understanding how to diagnose and treat the sequelae of spikopathy, including mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), microclotting, dysbiosis, neuropathic, cardiovascular and pulmonary pathologies, makes us more effective at treating cancer in the current contaminated environment, where spikopathy and its impact on the human body is rampant.

As we learned to use layered therapies to treat COVID, PASC and vaccine injury, we are also learning to use layered therapy as adjunctive therapy for cancer. Importantly, the clinical options are safe, gentle, often economical, and can be used together with current conventional approaches. In both cases, it has been necessary to challenge the pre-existing and economically supported assumptions, choosing instead to follow the revelations of existing, if rarely cited, science. We have a lot of work to do, and a long way to go, but I feel confident in the integrity of the practice we have built, and in the pathway that Dr Marik’s protocol has provided.

PAST

In the Fall of 1992, I was twenty-two years old, had just left my service with the Brethren Volunteer Service, and was living in a boarding house. I was still trying to pursue my dream of becoming a farmer, attempting to get a visa to live and work in France. Working as a cook at an Italian place, I made very little money, and got around Philadelphia either by foot or by bike. I was the third owner of my bike at the time, which was a small-framed Lotus twelve-speed. The Lotus had been a high-end Japanese bike in its day, and is still in my possession. One day, the chain and gears were gummed up with grease and grime, so I brought home (a single walkup bedroom with a hot plate and shared bathroom) some ALL NATURAL cleaner. It was called CitraSolv, concentrated cleaner and degreaser. It had a pleasant citrus smell. I mixed some with water in a quart plastic yogurt cup and proceeded to dip an old toothbrush in the solution and brush grease off the gears. The first thing I noticed was that I starting to get a headache. About ten minutes in, I went to make another dip in the cup with my brush, and noted that there was liquid around the cup, and that the cup was now half its size. What? The Citrasolv had melted the plastic in a neat line around the top of the solution.

It was an early lesson in the fact that all-natural is not the same as gentle, or non-toxic, or safe. We still keep a bottle of the stuff around the house for odd tasks, although I’d say it has been a very long time since I’ve used it. But I treat it with tremendous respect , work with it outside, and am careful to avoid sparks or open flames.

PRESENT

I count nearly a dozen Naturopathic Doctors (ND) among my patients and trusted colleagues. In email exchanges facilitated by Dr JP Saleeby, as well as in person at the February 2024 FLCCC Conference, I’ve had the pleasure of interactions with the ND, Dr Kristina Garman. Visits with NDs who are my patients are among the most stimulating and challenging, because they are generally very smart, very experienced, and philosophically opposed to most, if not all, pharmaceutical interventions which I would propose. They want to treat themselves and their own patients “naturally.” It is only after these approaches have failed to yield satisfactory results that they come to us. I lead with these statements, because I want to be clear that I respect, appreciate, and value their intelligence and clinical expertise.

The Leading Edge Clinic operates under the legal framework of the First Nation Medical Board (FNMB), and a foundational principle of the FNMB is that indigenous or native medicine is plant-based medicine. In a sense, it is “old-fashioned” medicine. The longer our practice is open, and the more we learn, the more often we are using plant-based medicines, and the larger the percentage of what we do resembles indigenous medicine. E.g. Bacopa, which is an Ayurvedic medicine, has played an important role in rebalancing neurotransmitters, supporting thyroid function, knocking spike off nicotinic receptors, and improving both musculoskeletal and neurologic function because of increased acetylcholine production. I like to tell patients that Ayurvedic medicine is a pleasure to use, because it has been field-tested for three thousand years, and is often adaptogenic, meaning it brings the body towards homeostasis, whether certain parameters are low or high.

Nevertheless, none of us was taught in medical school or practice how to treat the pathology resulting from a bioweapon made in a lab, and with the COVID virus and COVID shots, that is what we are dealing with. Most of the patients who find their way to the Leading Edge Clinic (LEC) have already tried many conventional – and natural – approaches. If I had a nickel for every patient whose functional medicine doctor, ND, chiropractor, or acupuncturist tested them and asserted that they have mold and heavy metal toxicity, well, I could buy a vintage Volvo C30 with less mileage and fewer dents than the one I drive. It may be that they have mold and heavy metal toxicity, but the treatments they have received didn’t resolve their symptoms, and so, after months or years of treatment, we might safely assume that there may be something else at play. Given worldwide environmental contamination with the spike protein and its innumerable resulting pathologies, the chances are pretty good that treating spikopathy will help the patient get better.

Two labs which we rely upon consistently in our practice at the Leading Edge Clinic test levels of spike antibody and microclotting. I have written several times about different variables which I think promote and perpetuate microclotting. However, a new variable has appeared on my radar: Zeolite.

There have been two distinct clinical groups which introduced me to Zeolite. The first was a group of pharmacology researchers in Puerto Rico who were proposing “natural” approaches to treating post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC) and injury from the COVID shots. Under the category of chelation, they listed Alpha Lipoic Acid, Chlorella, and Zeolite.

The second clinical group is an online discussion group sponsored by ZeroSpike, the small non-profit startup which developed and manufactures NAC Augmentata. Clinicians in this clinical group practice in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and the United States. One particularly knowledgeable Naturopathic Doctor is a regular and lengthy contributor, and on several occasions has shared his recommended brands of Zeolite and how he uses them to treat PASC, vaccine injury and other illnesses.

As a Family Nurse Practitioner who was educated in mainstream universities, and worked in hospitals for most of my career, the things which I know about nutrition, homeopathy, supplements, counseling, microcurrent therapy, etc. were often encountered along the way in life, but not in the classroom. My Grandpop used to called it the school of hard knocks. For this reason, I value the lively discussion about holistic or alternative approaches to healing, but I continue to interrogate those approaches from the perspective of my Western medical training.

Zeolite nearly got past my defenses. I had actually recommended it to a patient, because he was reading about chelation and was eager to try something to facilitate it. I shared the three suggested brands from the ND in the ZeroSpike group. Later that same day, I had finished with my charts and was digging a little on the internet when I came across a nugget of information. Zeolite had been used in military field dressings for a while, but was then discontinued. Hmmm. I thought that was interesting – and curious. I dug a little deeper. It turns out that the military used dressings with Zeolite, because the dressings rapidly promoted coagulation and staunched bleeding from wounds. They discontinued use of the Zeolite-infused dressings because of thermal injuries and promotion of micro emboli. Full stop! Before I left the office that night I messaged the patient and asked him to disregard my recommendation of Zeolite, saying that we would find something else to use.

That week I messaged the ND on the ZeroSpike chat, mentioning what I had learned about the military’s use of Zeolite dressings. I asked if he ever checked microclotting in his patients and, if he did, were there any concerns about Zeolite promoting clotting. Crickets. That wasn’t a good sign.

A month or two has since passed, and when patients invariably bring up the issues of mold and heavy metal toxicity, and their online reading about chelation, I suggest that they try a topical product called EZDtox, which is readily available online, not too expensive, and well tolerated. EDTA has been FDA approved for chelation of lead and other heavy metals for decades. I defer discussion of mold and focus on managing their mast cells. I steer them clear of Zeolite.

Not too long ago I had a visit with a patient whose microclotting had just been rechecked, and despite six months of Rx and enzymatic anticoagulation therapy, it remained a 4 out of 4. Something was amiss. We went through her medication list, and then her supplement list, coming up empty-handed. I said “You know, there is usually a reason for persistent microclotting, and the list is short: Vitamin K2, collagen, green protein powders with a lot of Vitamin K1 and K2, aluminum containing antacids – and something new to me – Zeolite.” A lightbulb seemed to go off and she said, “I use TRS Zeolite Spray.” (This is one of the three which my ND colleague had recommened in our online discussion). I said, “Ohhhh?” It turns out that she had been using TRS Zeolite spray for nearly two-and-a-half years. Her ND had tested her and advised that she was laden with mold and heavy metals, including arsenic and mercury, so that she needed to chelate them with Zeolite. It never made it onto her supplement list. “Why not?” I asked. “Oh, I’ve been taking that forever and didn’t think it counted.” She also wondered out loud if that might not be harming her kids, as she has been giving to them for some time also. “You know, I had stopped giving it to my daughter, but restarted it recently and now she is having balance issues.” I asked her to stop the TRS Zeolite spray, and also suggested that also she not give it to her children. We made a plan to recheck her microclotting in another month or two.

That afternoon I was catching up with my office mate Dr Fazio, telling him about my Zeolite story among others, and he asks: “What’s in the stuff? Like, what is is chemical composition.” I said, “Well, Zeolite. I’m actually not sure. Let’s look it up.”

From Wikipedia:

Zeolite is a family of several microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula Mn+1/n(AlO2)−(SiO2)x･yH2O where Mn+1/n is either a metal ion or H+. These positive ions can be exchanged for others in a contacting electrolyte solution. H+ exchanged zeolites are particularly useful as solid acid catalysts.

Dear Lord! Aluminosilicates!! They contain aluminum!!! If you have been following this Substack, you might know by now that aluminum in our bloodstream is catastrophic, as it promotes flocculation, the sludging of red blood cells, platelets and proteins. It’s the same process, using aluminum, which is used to induce solid waste to settle out of liquid sewage. Ooof, this was ugly.

Now it made sense that the wound packs which the military was using would promote micro emboli.

And it also made sense that my patient with the 4 of 4 microclotting was doing so poorly. She was literally poisoning herself on a daily basis with the “natural” chelator. Geesh!

Another week went by and I had a visit with a different patient who has made some progress, but not what I would expect for all the therapies that we have utilized. I took a scan through her med and supplement list before we started and what did I see? Zeolite. During the visit I asked her how long she had been on it? One year. What was the reason? Mold toxicity and heavy metals. And who recommended it? An ND. Sigh. Another nickel.

At the end of the day, “natural” therapies understandably hold more appeal than pharmaceutical ones, as I have said above. Over time, in the LEC, we are using more and more plant-based medicines in our practice. But, and it’s a big BUT, “natural” doesn’t always equal safe, and an ND doesn’t necessarily understand what effect spikopathy has on the body, or that it could be amplifying what symptoms they are seeing. As we continue to learn about how to effectively heal from PASC and the COVID shots, we need to use many different tools, some of which are pharmaceuticals. At baseline, we endeavor to do no harm, and when our clinical experience and lab testing show us that a therapeutic is hurting patients, we should take it out of our toolbox. I would assert that, in a post-COVIDian era, Zeolite should be crossed off the list.

Love and Marriage

Three things have me thinking about love and marriage this week: a few tough conversations with my wife Kerrie, the recent second marriage of a close colleague, and the death of a patient’s husband.

Kerrie and I have been together since the Fall of 1992. We took our relationship for a test drive, so-to-speak, when we moved in together in August 1994. We didn’t get married until May 1997, the same year that both my sister and brother-in-law got married.

Our approach was simple and frugal. We bought her lavender rose bouquet on our walk to City Hall in Center City Philadelphia. Judge Rayford Means conducted a civil ceremony in his office on his lunch break. We had been in the court room and watched him sentence someone to a lengthy sentence in prison just moments before. The layers of meaning were not lost on us, and just in case they were, when we left the Justice Center, the police guarding the entrance were laughing ruefully and said almost in unison “Another life sentence handed out!” My close friend Paul, with whom I had weathered three years of nursing school, was my best man. Two of Kerrie’s art school classmates and former apartment-mates Anne and Linda were her maids of honor. Afterwards we enjoyed a feast at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Lee How Fuk. I know that my dad and Kerrie’s dad were both relieved when they heard of our wedding, because their bank accounts had just taken a huge hit. My sister and Kerrie’s brother both had lavish weddings with rehearsal dinners, more than a hundred people in attendance, and a big celebration afterwards. Sadly, they were then both divorced after about one year of marriage.  Here we are twenty seven years later, and still growing together. 

It would be too easy for me to say that the reason we are still married is because we are more mature or more committed than others, although we do each have some of those qualities.  I certainly don’t feel superior to other people who have gone through the crucible of divorce. A saving grace of our relationship has been the tool of Reevaluation Counseling, or RC, and the ability to listen to each other which that has cultivated in us.  But if I am being brutally honest, I would say that staying married for this long owes a lot to luck, fate, and codependence as much as anything else.

Yesterday I told my wife that we are both wounded birds trying to live in community with each other. I’ve never understood or been sympathetic, let alone admiring, when a couple celebrating their 50th year anniversary quips that they never had an argument. The idea is unfathomable to me. If you are two distinct individuals, who are growing over time through the different stages of life and human development, I simply don’t think it is possible to not ever argue. 

My wife has often described me as a strong cup of tea.  Other people who have had childhoods and physical ailments similar to mine have easily fallen into addiction and self-destruction. I know this because over the last forty years I have counseled with some of them, and more than a couple are dead.  Living in Philadelphia for a decade made this harder in some ways, because of experiencing armed robberies, muggings, interrupting a rape and generally feeling unsafe in an unrelenting atmosphere of racial tension and urban violence… it doesn’t tend to reassure someone about the benign reality and safety of the world.  I would say that one of my personal stages of development has been to tame my inner fire and rough edges so that I respond more calmly and thoughtfully in situations which I historically felt as provocative.  

At the risk of being cliché, what comes to mind is a song which Garth Brooks wrote and performed back in the early 90s. (I note that at least one person on You Tube included this song as one of the most annoying songs ever! LOL!!)

Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks

We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk it the tables being turned

We call them fools
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always come with getting burned

But you got to be tough when consumed by desire
‘Cause it’s not enough just to stand outside the fire
We call them strong
Those who can face this world alone
Who seem to get by on their own
Those who will never take the fall

We call them weak
Who are unable to resist
The slightest chance love might exist
And for that forsake it all

They’re so hell bent on giving, walking a wire
Convinced it’s not living if you stand outside the fire

Standing outside the fire
Standing outside the fire
Life is not tried it is merely survived
If you’re standing outside the fire

One dynamic of our marriage, which some couples may recognize, is that when one’s partner in life vibrates at a low or very high pitch, we respond inversely. I’m used to this in marriage, and it is helpful that both my wife and I recognize it and acknowledge it with the intention to recalibrate ourselves when it happens.  When at least one partner is doing this consciously it can help de-escalate a tense situation. We say “As long as you zig when I zag, we’re good.” Allow me to explain this with reference to an old friend.

David Kraskow is an old friend and another nurse who I first met at our local regional medical center in 2000.  He is ten years my senior and has had his experiences of human development, meditation, spiritual practice, and intentional growth courses. He is self-described as pollyanna, without any negative connotation. For a period of years, we commuted together to work as we both were on the night shift and my house was along the way.

David encouraged my vinophilic interests, inviting me to weekly wine tastings at a local establishment, as well as monthly wine tastings with a vinophile society.  For a stretch of at least three years, we developed a ritual of returning to his home at the end of a night shift and sharing a glass of the most recent vin du jour.  I know that drinking alcohol at 7:30 in the morning would be cause for many to suspect alcoholism, but I will assert that having worked the night shift, it was our equivalent of stopping by the bar on the way home, and we imbibed in moderation.

The wine we were drinking was always a topic of discussion, but nothing was off-limits.  Being a strong cup of tea, a person of convictions and strong opinions, there would invariably be moments in the conversation were I would assert a rhetorical or empirical question, and David’s reply would send me over the edge. With equanimity he would say, “Yes, that is a question.” Aaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!  In the seesaw of our relationship, it would feel like we were on the playground and he was a playmate who had height and weight on me and he had just propped me up in the air. All I could do was flail and scream to “Let me down!”  

I’ve come to notice a similar dynamic between myself and my practice partner, Pierre. He is an interesting combination of steely character, intelligence and curiosity, with an easygoing, carefree and generous approach to life. “Wow” is his most frequently used reply to any message via text. If he wasn’t a guy, I would say he is the most Valley Girl guy I have ever met.  All that is missing in his messages is “like”, as in “Like wow!” Small insight: he attended medical school in the Caribbean, where he would wind surf during the day and study at night. That is to say, he is not your typical doctor. 

So, my challenge to be more steady and less reactive in response to my partner has been accepted. I recognize an opportunity to grow when it presents itself. One other thing I have learned over many years of marriage is that if we are growing, we do not seek out people who are mirror images of ourselves, but instead seek relationships which include people who come from different backgrounds, have different world views, and have different manners of reacting and interacting with the world.  It would be too easy to slide into a pitch for diversity and inclusiveness, but I am talking about what we seek out for ourselves rather than what would be imposed upon us. Having worked in large urban hospitals, I have experienced the joy and sorrow of interacting with so many different kinds of people.

Pierre is exceedingly generous and forgiving in his treatment of healthcare professionals who remain embedded in the system which has implemented the plandemic. He would be the first to say that if the stars hadn’t aligned in a certain manner, he would still be plugging away in the system, worshipping the medical journals and buying the narrative. As a person who is vaccine-injured, or at least that is the excuse I give, I feel what Joni Mitchell would call a ‘thunderhead of judgement’ for those who continue to endorse the COVID shots as safe and effective, and thus continue to maim and kill innocent people. It feels hard to forgive and empathize with those nurses and doctors, when every day I have to overcome the physical, mental and emotional limitations imposed by the spike protein on my existence – and try to help heal others who are more severely injured and disabled. In upcoming Substacks, I plan to write about moral choices in history and the present, without resorting to a black and white/good guys vs bad guys approach, while seeking to understand how and why people make the decisions they do.

Today, as I write, a patient of mine is holding a funeral service for her husband of twenty eight years. What makes this especially poignant is that less than two weeks ago, they were both here in Ithaca so that I could treat her with stem cells and exosomes. We have delivered this therapy to patients in a protocol which follows the phase two clinical trials of Vitti Labs https://www.vittilabs.com/research-development/#research, in which they do infusions on day one, three and five. We also deliver exosomes nasally and via nebulization. There was ample time to spend one-on-one with the patient and her husband over the course of five days, and the love between them was palpable. Her husband was tender and sweet, of good cheer and very thoughtful in his words and actions. I enjoy hearing the story of how a couple met, and their story is unusual, in that they became friends in grade school, boyfriend and girlfriend in middle school, and then married twenty eight years ago. They have children and twenty grandchildren. Less than a week after they returned home, her husband was killed in a car crash.

Woking in the Emergency Department (ED) for fourteen years, and trauma at the end of my ED career, I have had a lot of contact with people who suffered serious injuries, some of whom died, following a motor vehicle crash. It is still stunning to interact with someone who is so full of life, and in what feels like mere moments later, is dead. We are holding this patient, her husband and their family in our prayers, and on this day especially, pray that God will ease their pain, and join them in celebration of the joyful kindness which their husband/father/grandfather radiated during his life.

For my colleague and friend who recently remarried, my modest and brief advice is to nurture your capacity to listen to each other, often and well. Try not to blame each other, and be quick to sincerely apologize for your missteps and thoughtless moments. Try to notice, and acknowledge (out loud guys), what you appreciate about them, and what they do. Plan to grow, and change, together, in the time with which you are blessed.

L’chaim! Mazel tov!

P.S. Short comments with words of wisdom from living in relationship are welcome.

P.S.S. My partner in practice at the Leading Edge Clinic, Dr Pierre Kory, just published the first of four installments on Adjunctive Cancer Care. Pleaes Subscribe to his Substack to read these, at https://substack.com/home/post/p-145035952?source=queue