Hey gal,

Looks like someone is no longer on my "Missing" list. Love it now you are back.

Allow me to share something about my experience fasting. I did small fasts before I started this blog, that is during the course of 2006. Together with the small fasts were cleansing aids (Ultimate Cleanse, Senokot a laxative, Fibre O which containsPsyhllium)and boosting aids (Multivitamins and Probiotics). The former helped to clean my blood, detoxify and repair my organs and intensively remove dirt and mend my bowel; the latter helped to promote cellular growth and division and recreate a healthy colon environment. This significantly fixed my leaky gut problem and I believe my bowel is healed. This eliminated my constipation and allowed a cleaner blood which reduced hyper-immune activity, which greatly explains why my eczema is no longer severe, cracking, bleeding or oozing. Right now, I am proud to say it is mainly mildly dry with diffuse mild inflammation at the limb joints and knuckles of my right hand.

In my earlier fasts I experienced stronger fasting effects especially dizziness and aches but with improvement in my health over the course of the year and the beginning of 2007, the effects seem to be lesser and lesser in intensivity. I am prepared to deal with more difficult effects during this prolonged 35 day water fast but at the same time, my body has already tide through a hard long time and hopefully, I would not have to deal with anything to difficult.

My current main problems are dry dull skin, diffuse mild inlfammation at the limb joints, poor sense of smell and taste. What I monitor are these factors, bowel movement and amount of sleep. I try to do regular light to moderate exercise in order to detoxify my body and give a burst of endorphins to my body. I used to be a runner and there is something very sensational when you get into the "zone"--it feels like flying and it feels awesome.

Recovery is not easy. SO SO SO NOT EASY. Because having such a visible problem can be a blow to my self-esteem but I have learnt to accept that I am in a transition and like everything in life, everything is a process. Let the process run its course and one will see the result.

Clinics are good. I believe by the end of my may fast, I will be able to write a simple description and conclusion in my blog and hopefully benefit all who is following my blog. This one is focusing on how probiotics and antibiotics effect bowel disturbances ie diarrhea and constipation. I am planning to take up another research project on liver disease later in May. Keep myself engaged in medical work in early summer and reward myself with a summer holiday in Turkey towards the end of summer. Hey, a medical student has a life too!

My boyfriend is a darling. yES, His first language is Turkish and second is Turkish. He works as a guide dealing with history and hence meets people from all over the world. Before I holidayed in Turkey, I had the misconception like everyone else that Turkey was a non-English speaking and Islamic country. To my surprise, Turkey is a secular country--but with over 90% Muslims--and many Turks in the workforce came from English/French/German schools.Still, a good percetage of the population, especially the lower class and surburban folks, only speak Turkish. In a humorous incident, I recall I was lost while strolling by myself in Istanbul(definitely not advisable to tourists haha). I went into an automobile shop and asked a son-father pair for help. The modest little shop was in the less-developed district of Istanbul and I should have reckoned that the pair were not familiar with English. In the end, we were comically monkeying each other with hand signs. We gave up and burst into laughter. I left, giggling and still LOST but my oft-reliable intuition led me back to my hotel. What an adventure. I actually am smiling writing this.

I am glad that I remain so passionate about life and the opportunities God has given me. I see potential in all things. So there is no need to feel sorry about my family situation, it is just unfortunate that my parents belong to the class of people who are not able to transcend their own follies and prejudices. During my fast, I contemplated what the best move for me is and I have come to the decision of moving out and being on my own from next month. My doctor and friends emphatically told me that in order for me to function well in and out of school from now onwards, they wanted me to keep my life uncomplicated. My doctor in particular made a comment that hit home hardest. " You are extremely intelligent and like all the doctors, I did not think you had a mental problem when we first saw you [in the hospital]. But whether it is from your family [which I have not taken up responsibility to counsel], I want to make sure that you are able to go through the next 4 years of medical school successfully and smoothly. High intelligence coupled with an unstable personality is not favourable in such a stressful career. I urge you to keep your life uncomplicated."

So Vanda, life begins right now. I am building my life from zero again, confidently and consistently--starting from the vision of great health. I hope you do the same to not learn to be happy and alive.

Please do keep me updated about how you are doing. As my boyfriend often tells me, success be with you, my friend.

*Hugs*