People often ask us how our days are shaped and scheduled. Gerson requires intense discipline, but this is easy when it comes to the health and well being of a loved one (and Sy is pretty easy to love, ya know?) With that said, it’s not like we don’t have bad days or ones that keep us up until the wee hours of the morning (usually includes choice words). I would like to point out that Heather is the one who carries the bigger burden and deserves the credit–especially when I’m away from home on 24-hour shifts or working my part-time jobs. Below is a copy of Heather’s daily schedule (I stole it)…I have taken the liberty to add some notes (with asterisks) of my own in there…
Unless you are a Gerson caretaker yourself, it’s really hard to truly understand what these folks go through. One thing that Gerson points out is that the full therapy requires hired help of about 8 hours a day (and that is for most people who are retired and without kids at home). We do the best that we can with no hired help right now and sometimes it gets pretty dicey.
As we always say, we want to be an encouragement to anyone out there either considering the therapy or in the middle of it. If this crazy family can pull this off, then anyone can!
Morning
6:15 Get up to prepare/prep coffee break–“Coffee breaks” are a Gerson thing…
6:30 Morning Routine/Coffee Break
*This morning routine is Heather’s personal “gathering herself for the day time.” After over a year of running herself into the ground, a doctor said that she was on her way to physically crashing hard unless she found some way to have some quiet time to herself. This is sacred time and allows her to care for herself so she can care for others.
7:45 Start Sy’s oatmeal and coffee concentrate, sort medications/supplements for the day
*We have experienced a little relief here as Sy has been trained to make his breakfast on his own. He can be a big help in his own therapy.
8:00 Kids get up and get ready
Start a load of wash
8:15 Eat breakfast (Sy takes supplements/meds)
Make orange juice *only on M,W,F
8:30 Clean up breakfast
Wash the vegetables & fruits that we'll use for the day
Strain coffee
Start the Hippocrates soup
Make green juice
Rinse juicer
9:00 Bible time with kids
Sy drinks green juice
Switch over laundry
*Keep in mind here that our 3 year old, Phoebe is more than awake and ready to cause any distraction that she can. As she is getting older, the distractions are harder to quiet. When I’m home, I can often take the two little ones out while I take pictures for one of my jobs. I really have no idea how she manages when I’m not here. It’s maddening…
9:15 Get school rolling…
10:00 Prepare/drink carrot-apple juice (with Lugol's)
Check laundry
*Our 1 year old, Asher is usually awake by this time now, too. Dear Jesus, please help her.
School instruction
11:00 Prepare/drink carrot juice
Prepare potatoes (if needed)
Prepare quinoa (if needed)
Check laundry
Get kids working independently on schoolwork
11:45 Mill soup
Prepare green juice & rinse juicer
Afternoon/Evening
12:00 Prepare lunch–soup & potatoes, drink green juice
Finish up washing/drying laundry for the day
*Keep in mind that not only does it take food prep for Sy, but two other girls (one who decided to go vegetarian), and a baby. We have a salad box that H often uses to just throw something together at this point.
12:30 Eat lunch & clean up
1:00 Prepare carrot-apple juice
Start back with school instruction
1:45 Prepare green juice & rinse juicer
2:00 Put babies down for naps
*This is easier written than done.
Green juice
Sit outside for 15 min (vitamin D)
3:00 Coffee break
*Takes a real mom to do this one. Plus the cleanup.
This is also the time of the day I allocate to do things like shopping lists, menus for the week, vacuuming and washing the floors, cleaning the bathroom, folding laundry, or working on the blog.
5:00 Prepare carrot/apple juice
Prepare dinner–quinoa & soup
*By this time in the day, the last thing you want to do is spend more time in the kitchen preparing any kind of dinner, even if I’m home and can help. If we could afford it, we would probably all just eat Gerson style and be done with it. That’s a hard sell on all these kiddies.
6:00 Eat dinner, drink distilled water, & clean up
7:00 Prepare carrot juice
Go for a family walk
*Can often only be done when I’m home. This is one way to break the cabin fever (or maybe more like the kitchen fever).
8:30 Cup of peppermint tea
*Most people would exchange this for a stiff drink and a Valium at this point.
9:30 Go to bed
*I laughed out loud when I read this last one. I’m not sure we’ve ever made it to bed before 11:00 because we are often behind and kept up prepping for the next day. It’s a nice thought, though.
Now that you’ve seen H’s schedule, I would encourage you to read this. She’s got it covered hands down.
There is no question in my mind that Heather is the best qualified woman in the world to be my wife and the mother of our kids (especially ones with special needs).
No Muck Motto:
I will invest my time in things that really matter.
