Nature's Little Gifts
These tiny little bottles have been a gift to my family. They are literally like nature squeezed into a little bottle. They hold a special place in my heart (which is the reason WHY I am so incredibly passionate about them). First, something you should know about me — I like simple things. I mean, I really and truly like simplicity. It’s something I long for. (If you’ve ever been into my home – don’t judge me. I have 4 kids and as a result – simplicity doesn’t come easy.) So when essential oils came into my home – they were so simple, so pure, so natural, so easy to use, so effective…I instantly fell in LOVE.
Well, let’s back up a little to HOW we got started using essential oils. My husband was that kid that had asthma early in life, as a result every single cold turned into a huge respiratory event. He’s been on inhalers since he can remember, has had numerous bouts with pneumonia and always has struggled to breathe. (That didn’t stop him though, he grew up at the beach where he literally surfed just about every single day of his life). When I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my 2nd baby – we got a message on our voicemail from the doctor that said something to the tune of “Adam, I need you to call us right away. We found something on your x-ray.” I felt a bit faint for those first few moments when I heard those words, it took everything in me to walk downstairs and tell him he needed to call.
After CAT scans, tests and a whole host of other pricks and samples — we found out he had lung disease. (Wait, what? What do you mean? He’s never smoked a day in his life. Lung disease?) But then they showed us the pictures – his right lobe was black. It was dead. It was pooling infection which was why he was always sick. They wanted it out. They wanted it out before the baby came. (Another “Wait, what?” moment in my life). I don’t remember clearly the weeks between when they diagnosed him and when they wheeled him in for surgery. I remember that life came to a screeching halt. What is normally such a sweet time prepping for a new baby, now changed to gearing up for surgery (oh, and taking care of our 19 month old).
They wheeled him back. (I remember trying to stay strong during this time and I kept reassuring him everything would be okay, but the ONLY thing going through my mind was – “Please don’t die. Please don’t die. I can’t live without you. Please don’t die.”) What seemed like eternity passed (they lost him once on the operating table), the surgeon FINALLY emerged and said he was okay and in recovery. Whew! I thought we were in the clear, but what I didn’t know was that some of his darkest days were just about to happen.
He stayed in the CVICU for quite some time. They lost him twice in there — once I was standing right by him and he was literally gasping for air. Not the “oh, it’s hard to breathe,” but the kind where the look in his eyes was like he was drowning and I was losing him. After a few days he stabilized and they moved him onto another floor, but it was here where he feels like his real battle started. The nurse didn’t read his chart and put him on a swallow painkiller, but his charts said that he was to be on an IV drip of pain medicine because a surgery of that magnitude (they had to cut through his back through all the muscle) is excruciating. It took about a day and a half and my husband lost the will to live. He was in so much pain, pneumonia had set into his good lung — I didn’t even recognize him (for those that know my husband — he is the MOST steady, easy going, happy guy in.the.whole.world. To see him in this state was heart-breaking.) He made me put a sign on the door adamantly telling everyone to “go away.” He didn’t want to see anyone. He was done. He was like this for days. (Again, if you know my husband — he LOVES people all.the.time. If he had it his way, we’d have people over for dinner and hanging out every.single.day. *Poor guy, he married me and I’m SO not that way.)
Thankfully a very special friend just so happened to be in the waiting room praying for him. She saw the sign on the door, but proceeded to tap ever so lightly. At that moment, everything turned around. That simple prayer brought life back into him. He started to fight off the pneumonia and get better. His pain was under control and eventually they released him to come home. (*Long story short – it was a LONG recovery, but there was a sweet little baby born during that time — and eventually everything returned back to normal.)
Are you still with me? I know it’s long — this is the first time I’ve ever put this part of our lives into words. Sorry. Boring, huh? Okay, okay — I’ll get on with it. Now fast forward with me to our new life in Bend, Oregon (and the heavens opened up, the angels sang and we fell.in.LOVE with this little small town. For those who have never been here — Bend is like God’s little gift of perfect, amazing, captivating and simple all rolled into a sweet little town in Central Oregon.) So we moved here in 2006 and shortly after, my husband received the devastating news that he now had liver disease. (I couldn’t believe it. Lung disease and my husband has NEVER smoked. Now liver disease and he has NEVER drank.) What they concluded is that all those years of being on inhalers and steroids — did damage to his liver since the body can’t break them down. They stored there in his liver. There was a lot of uncertainty and going back and forth between specialists — if he stopped doing his inhalers, he couldn’t breathe. If he kept doing the inhalers, he’d continue to destroy his liver. Either way – lung transplant or liver transplant. Time was ticking. Life expectancy came into question. If I’m honest, losing him was always in the back of my head. My heart ached. I was an anxious mess.
After an appointment with his primary doctor — it was suggested that we look into essential oils and see if we might be able to “buy some time” and “peel back on his medications.” (Enter in a gift from God – a girl that has become one of my best friends. I am so incredibly thankful she walked into our lives.) I went to a class on essential oils the very same week my husband’s doctor suggested we look into them. I listened, I learned and then I thought “What the heck? Let’s see if they work.” (I must admit, I was totally skeptical – but I was so hopeful as I felt like it was the only shot we had left.) So after I ordered my first set of Essential Oils — I texted the girl that taught the class 1200 times the.very.first.month. I had SO many questions and “what ifs.” She had no choice but to become friends with me. Poor girl, she probably was thinking “Oh.my.gosh! What did I get myself into?” Her story and her knowledge about essential oils radically changed our lives.
It took all of 3 days (did you hear me? 3 days) for my husband to say “Call me crazy, but you know when I use the Respiratory Blend – it actually opens up my airways more than any inhaler I’ve EVER used.” He kept saying “it’s probably a coincidence.” But after the 25th time, he started to come around. In addition, he also used an oil to cleanse his liver – and he drinks lemon water all day. He had a dull ache for a few days, but guess what? His liver is starting to regenerate. So after only 2 weeks on essential oils — my husband was off the regimen he had been on his whole life. That’s HUGE for us. And get this, he didn’t get sick the entire year. We are talking about a guy who was on AT LEAST 3 rounds of antibiotics every cold season, not to mention the fact that he’d normally “fight” a sickness for 4-6 weeks. Now if he catches something, it "might" last 2 days and his body kicks it. Do you have any idea how much money we’ve saved? A LOT! Not to mention he feels better, he looks better — oh, get this….for the first time EVER – his breathing/lung capacity test came back and it INCREASED 8%. That has NEVER happened. EVER. Every time before that he’s gone in, it had always decreased.
So that my friends, is why I shout from the mountaintops about “Nature’s Little Gifts” of Essential Oils. And this journey has allowed me to get to know people whose lives are equally transformed and changed by using these simple, pure, natural gifts. I dare you to try them. Give them a chance. It’s WAY safer for you, there’s no side effects, you can’t overdose — I tell people all the time, you can’t do them wrong (well, as long as you don’t put them in your eye!)
I’ll let you go now – until next time…..
Essential oils. Natural health. Live simply.