Sound of Silence

Dr. Marjan Askari

Description

What does one do when faced with any kind of challenge in life? And what if the challenges keep coming until it becomes a matter of life and death? Everyone is unique in their approach, and so is Marjan, an Iranian girl who immigrated to the US after getting married. All the childhood traumas and difficulties she faced even after coming to the US were brought front and center when she embarked on a journey of a lifetime when she got diagnosed with breast cancer. A Series of serendipitous events made her choose a path that she never thought she would and went against all she had learned her whole life in her upbringing and education. She had always followed her heart, but this time it was no easy task. On this journey, she finally learned to heal old wounds and transform beyond who she ever thought she was.

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Self-help

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 26 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781669849988
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

SOUND OF SILENCE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Marjan Askari
 
Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Marjan Askari.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022918243
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-5000-7

Softcover
978-1-6698-4999-5

eBook
978-1-6698-4998-8
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 09/30/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
844211
CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgment
Prologue
 
Chapter 1       Who Am I?
Chapter 2       How It All Began
Chapter 3       Life after Nine: The Coming of Age
Chapter 4       The Face of Death
Chapter 5       High School: The End of My Age of Innocence
Chapter 6       Enough Is Enough
Chapter 7       Let There Be Light
Chapter 8       Marriage
Chapter 9       Coming to the States: Home Away from Home
Chapter 10     Life, Loss, and Love
Chapter 11     Return of the Shadows
Chapter 12     Mehrzad’s Story
Chapter 13     A New Kind of Trouble
Chapter 14     Love and Release
Chapter 15     My Mom’s Cancer Story
Chapter 16     My Siblings
Chapter 17     What’s Next?
Chapter 18     Reckoning and the Shattered Self
Chapter 19     Divorce: The Only Way Out Is In
Chapter 20     Stepping into a New Me: Change Your Perception, Change Your Life
Chapter 21     Signs Speak
Chapter 22     An Angel Was Sent
Chapter 23     The Story of Farid’s Wife
Chapter 24     The Universe Is Speaking, Are You Listening?
Chapter 25     Guiding Light
Chapter 26     The Journey of a Lifetime
Chapter 27     Change Your Perception, Change Your Life: The 3:6:9 Cleanse
Chapter 28     Beyond Beliefs: The Pendulum
Chapter 29     How I Met Angie and Candida
Chapter 30     Candida’s Story
Chapter 31     The Power of Choosing: Another Doctor’s Appointment
Chapter 32     Infrared Sauna
Chapter 33     The Art of Release: Tapping
Chapter 34     Maha’s Story
Chapter 35     One More Imaging
Chapter 36     To Forgive or to Forget
Chapter 37     The Art of Loving Oneself
Chapter 38     Beyond All Limits
Chapter 39     Untether to Heal
Chapter 40     Afterthought
 
Epilogue
 
To my mother—the woman who not only gave birth to me but gave me so much more. I now can appreciate all the trials and tribulations we have gone through and that, in her own way, she wanted the best for me. I love you, Mom.
FOREWORD
It has been nearly sixty years since the lyrics of “The Sound of Silence” was first performed by Simon and Garfunkel. Appropriately, as the lyrics state, Marjan addresses the current dilemma that faces herself and people who seek personalized and self-healing in the wake of a life-threatening disease in order to avoid the surgical, radiological, and chemotherapeutic approaches of modern medicine. Her story begins in childhood, where many of the insults our bodies are exposed to have their origins.
Biologists understand that an organism’s ability to change and adapt allows it to exist, and if unable, extinction becomes inevitable. The same holds true for the human condition. Change is difficult and leads us to an unfamiliar path because of a natural resistance to do so as a result of habit, fear, or our perceived inability to adjust to a novel condition; but in the end, change can be beneficial when it is applied to the task.
I have known Dr. Askari for fifteen years—first as a student, then as a colleague in the dental specialty of orthodontics. As a student, she deeply immersed herself in her studies and excelled in the basic and clinical sciences, graduating first in her class and embodying the characteristics of a true student of science. In her senior year at dental school, much to her credit and belief in the basic sciences, she helped teach the course in physiology to first-year dental students. She was usually the first student to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at the end of the day in an attempt to absorb as much scientific information as she could. What events in her life would be responsible for influencing a change in this pattern of thinking?
As you read this book, you begin to see the sparks and crises in her early life that would eventually cause her to question accepted principles and traditions of current science and that of a conservative society that she was exposed and to finally look within for answers to questions that she has contemplated. This natural curiosity was not received warmly by her family, and her young life was far from joyful at times as a result. She experienced the loss of a beloved uncle whose cancer treatment failed with conventional therapy. As a result of the Iran-Iraqi War and adding to personal injury, she had to help bury and mourn a young cousin to whom she was to marry. As the years progressed, she eventually married and immigrated to the United States, but tragically lost a child in the second trimester of pregnancy while under contemporary OB-GYN care during a strenuous trip to Baltimore over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Although initially unknowing of her mother’s diagnosed breast cancer, she eventually became aware of her treatment that included surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy with all the side effects associated with it.
All the while, I have observed the changes in Marjan, whose questions to generally accepted answers have accumulated for decades and became the impetus for a new resolution. These include diet, meditation, exercise, and positivity, among others, which have amended and augmented her lifestyle and have dramatically affected and improved the lives of others and, as a result, have changed those lives close to her. During her transition, she had to overcome much of the saturation of clinical concepts infused into her. Visually, you could see the transformation in her face as she was torn from basic science to a holistic approach to treating contemporary medical problems. Her inner voice directed her along this path that became a fascinating journey throughout the book.
It is customary for life-altering accounts to be written and disseminated to the public. It is not unusual for students of science, as this author is, to write of these accounts. However, it is all too rare for a clinician and scientist to question the application of the basic concepts of therapy so instilled throughout many years of instruction, to currently enter and follow a path so foreign to those earlier beliefs. This is the person who has queries regarding the treatment and healing modalities of modern medicine, who endures a plethora of unknown results along with pain and the constant criticism from those around her who press for an established mode of surgical care.
Marjan is such an individual. In this book, we see how the author evolves from childhood, with an inquisitive personality that often troubled her contemporaries and parents, to an adult practitioner, who now questions current medical treatment and directs her energies to the concept of self-healing that lies within each person. This path is often difficult and alien at first, much like anything new; but with time, it can be achieved. She demonstrates this reality through her highly personal journey. In the end, she hears her body speak, but also listens to its whispered message and gleans from it to finally tune into this sound of silence.
Stanley A. Alexander, DMD
Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
Stony Brook University
2022
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I want to thank all who have been, in some way, part of this journey—from my soul sister, Madina, who was the embodiment of love and compassion; to my doctor, who thought I needed a psychiatrist. I am grateful to Adel for her unwavering trust in my ability to heal; to Mehrzad for all the love and support in the past twenty-eight years; to Alex (Dr. Stanley Alexander) for being my friend and mentor and one who learned to cook vegan and gluten-free to facilitate my journey; to my godfather, Dr. Paul Leavis, for being a true godsent angel in my life and for reading and helping me with my manuscript; to my beautiful son, Arian, who has been one of my grandest teachers; to my team at work, especially Ramaal and Marie, who have been my family and friends in the past seven years, supporting and loving me and making sure everything at work went smoothly; and of course, to my sister and my parents for their unconditional love and support and for lifting me up during the cancer journey, especially when I felt like giving up.
This beautiful game of life gives you all, and you get to choose what you use as motivation, inspiration, or deterrent. You know how far you have come when you know what obstacles you have overcome. I appreciate those that called me crazy just as much, if not more, than those who have applauded my bravery.
PROLOGUE
Don’t go with the flow, be the flow.
— Rumi
Have you ever noticed the times when you hear things, and you find yourself agreeing wit