Chronic Illness Put me "Away" for a Time

by Dr. Margaret Aranda

I hadn't realized that it's been two years since I posted a blog here. But don't take that as laxity, disinterest, or laziness. For those of you who know me, I know that you know better than that. 

Since we have so many new viewers, Friends, Followers, and people in our Circles, let's do something different. Instead of telling you my story, my Personal Testimony of what landed me here on this page in the first place, let us have someone else tell the story for us: 

Video 1. Dr David Cannom and Dr Margaret Aranda.

Interviewed by Denise Dador of Channel 7 KABC News                 in Los Angeles, California, here is a testimony of "what                 happened." 

Really surprisingly to me, it is too hard for me to even watch this clip, even now, 7 years later. But it was just the beginning, just a blink of an eye, and POOF! I didn't even know it, but life as it had been was now to be forever changed. I would never be the same. 

I ended up being a rather highly intelligent MD, a USC medical student graduate, and a graduate of two medical programs at Stanford, both anesthesiology and critical care. My highest position was that of Interim Chief of Anesthesiology at the Philadelphia Veterans Hospital in Pennsylvania. It was a 'hard town,' and to me it was a City of "Unbrotherly" Love. Harsh and unforgiving, it actually prepared me for the 'rest' of my life. 

I'll open up a little more later on, but for now it is important to know that above all else, I always had a connection, a spiritual connection, with Jesus. Even in second grade, I accepted his death on the cross for my sins, and comprehended what he did in laying down his life. And I loved him for it. I just loved him so much. 

That love stayed with me all my life, even to this day. It gave me faith and perseverance, guidance and a Plan. It led me through dark days and nights, for over three years, of having my own iv going in through a PICC line that kept me alive by giving me maintenance fluid. And the ludicrous part was that it was my profession to watch those tear-shaped drops fall, one-by-one, into my patients, not me. 

So I sit here now, arriving at a place and a time when I am ready to share my journey through my own health. I was in the only medical school that had a mandatory Nutrition class in the country, Oral Roberts' University School of Medicine, before transferring out to USC. And I was always athletic, being on Swim Team since 5th grade, running cross-country, playing racquetball with men only (since my Dad taught me how to play, and playing with other girls was just not a competition), and learning how to throw a football with my Dad. He was my hero, indeed. I didn't realize how much of a hero he was to me, not until well after his death. Ah, but that story is also for another day, another time. Not now. 

I started cooking when I was 13 years of age, and made good food and extravagant desserts all my life, up until the car accident rendered me unable to walk or talk. Then my brain injury left me with no 'hunger' sensation, and I had to be reminded to eat. When I was finally well enough to be certified in Age Management Medicine, I changed everything. I became the book, that unwritten book, that I preached. And I've been on a diet of Immunonutrition ever since then, perhaps 3 years now. 

Do I think it has helped me? Well, I used to be hospitalized 1-2 times per month. Now, I haven't had a hospitalization in ?2 years. And I could go on, but I'm tired. I just want to introduce this concept to you: 

"Every bite of food that you eat either kills you or it makes you live longer."   ~  Margaret Aranda, MD, Ph.D. 

Stay tuned for more. And I did write an entire Chapter on Immunonutrition in my book on Women's Health, Archives of the Vagina: A Journey through Time. It's been out there for a year. You can find it here: 

www.drmargaretaranda.tateauthor.com/other-works 

Thank you. See you next time. I'm welcoming myself back, since there doesn't seem to be anyone to do so with or for me at the moment. I smile, because I'm tough. No worries.