Marketing magic

TD is a dedicated Harry Potter fan.  She has been "sorted" into the correct house for her personality, (Hufflepuff), and knows her Patronus (animal-spirit) thanks to the online quizzes available to help with these things.  Obviously, she has read all the books, seen the movies and follows the actors' careers.  Emma Watson holds a special place in her heart for her views on feminism.

So it goes without saying that when we were in the UK,  TD was keen to immerse herself in Potterish paraphernalia and places. One can book a tour designed to delight fans by taking them to the set, the Great Hall, Dumbledore's office, Diagon Alley and much much more.  Knowing the market well, the organisers of these tours charge an arm and a leg per person and effectively magic away many pounds from your wallet.  So we decided to do it the DIY way.

Platform 9 and three quarters is a piece of wall cordoned off at Kings Cross Railway station.  There was a long queue of young wizards and muggles waiting to have their photos taken at this particular piece of wall.  We offered to wait for TD if she wanted to join the queue, but she was happy to have her photo taken on the outer side of the cordon and use her time more wisely in the Harry Potter shop situated next door.  We wandered around, examined the expensive merchandise and marvelled at the power of marketing.

On another day we made the pilgrimage to the Oxford Street Primark.  There was a treasure trove of affordable  goodies, and TD splashed out with her carefully hoarded savings.

While I was in Cape Town, the travellers did a road trip to Scotland and stopped at the Harry Potter Bridge.  (Well, in real life it is the Glenfinnan Viaduct near Fort William.)  Andrew, weaving magic of the real kind, had looked up the train timetable, and timed their visit so that they could see the train crossing over the viaduct.  TD was most chuffed.

 I rejoined my family in Cambridge, and that for me  was like entering a magic world.  We were lucky enough to be allowed into Trinity (our son's college) and the magnificent dining hall outranks any film set Hogwarts hall.  Academics, with their gowns flowing behind them, briskly walking on cobbled streets, magically sends one's imagination into another world.  And yet, it is real.  This is how the students at Cambridge live - in a town with ancient, magnificent buildings, narrow cobbled streets, magical book shops and plenty of muggles taking photographs.

Marketing magic is a profitable business.  Every now and then an email pops in my inbox offering a cure for diabetes T1.  These range from ActoBio's cheese producing bacteria to extreme diets to social activities to acupuncture, and they all need elements of magic to work.  Mostly people look at ways of managing the sugar/insulin see saw, and the diet option, acupuncture, social activities are very important for keeping numbers level, but a cure?  Big pharmaceuticals are pouring money in to research.  The same companies that make millions from selling life sustaining insulin are hoping to offer a medicinal cure. There is obviously a mind boggling amount of profit to be made.  So while we wait for science to find a way to kick-start a pancreas into making insulin, I will save my magic for the worlds of Harry Potter and Cambridge, whilst still keeping an open mind about a cure for diabetes.
  

Harry Potter's author, JK Rowling, says it most eloquently: " We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

Acutonics and herbal tonics

About six months after TD's diagnosis, my husband and I made an appointment with a doc who had first trained in Western medicine, studied further in Chinese medicine, and now chooses to practice the latter.  We wanted to find support for TD, and I, in particular, wanted to explore any helpful avenues.  He spoke to us for over an hour, explaining the Eastern model of health to us; how the body reacts to its environment, how we can influence which parts of genes we can activate, the role of both conscious and unconscious stress on the adrenal and hormonal systems.

He doesn't use the word "disease" for diabetes - rather he sees it as an imbalance.  He taught us about the Autonomic Nervous System that controls the flight/fight responses, and how relaxation is needed for even every day functions such as digestion, and the Peripheral Nervous System which deals with such things as heartbeat, pancreas functioning, learnt behaviours...

(I really hope I got this right.  PLEASE please comment, suggest or correct me if I have misremembered or misunderstood.)

TD has - unfortunately for a diabetic - a strong dislike of needles. So, although Dr P thought acupuncture would be a supportive form of treatment for her, he suggested acutonics.

Acutonics uses tuning forks with different frequencies to create harmony (or disharmony.) These forks are banged on a piece of metal and then placed on the acupuncture points on the body.  Dr P also put TD on some herbal supplements, as Chinese medicine believes that taste addresses different needs in the body (think of wanting curries and soup in winter, salads in summer etc...)

We told TD's endocrinologist all about this.  She is the person we trust with TD's diabetes management.  She is supportive of complementary medicine as long as it does not interfere with treatment of diabetes.  Both doctors agreed that it could do no harm.

So we made frequent, then less frequent trips to town.TD would chat to Dr P for a while, and then go into the cool, quiet, tranquil treatment room for acutonics.  The combination of the soothing environment, Dr P's gentle manner and listening ear, made the whole process one of deep relaxation and a feeling of wholesomeness.

We tried this, and the herbs, for a few months.  As TD got more used to the treatment, its calming effects seemed to lessen.  Dr P wanted to move on to needles and full acupuncture, and tried a few.  But TD was having none of that, so we stopped going.

This was a costly business, but I do not regret it at all.  At the time, we needed to be able to relax a bit, and this was part of the journey.  Finding a relaxing space to chill out for an hour twice a week, weekly or fortnightly, was good for TD at that time.

Have you tried anything similar?  Please comment if you would like to - I would love to hear a ping from the universe!