Doctor Visits

At times I spend the day thoroughly amused by my experience in the medical culture. 

For example, I met with a surgeon (per my oncologist's request) and the conversation went something like this:

Doc: We don't have a lot of studies that provide evidence that surgery would improve survival. In fact, none of them do for fourth stage.

Me: I don't want surgery.

Doc: Good, because I would not recommend it for you.

Later meeting with the radiation doctor:

Doc: There are not studies that support doing radiation in your situation. There is a general trend to spot radiate, but no data driven studies to support it.

Me: I don't want radiation.

Doc: Well, that sways it. There is not a compelling reason to go after it in this way anyway.

Ultrasound with imaging doctor:

Doc: There is a bump here, it looks like a ball of fat.

Me: Cool.

So I continue as I am. Chuckling at the amount of time spent waiting in exam rooms, waiting rooms and in driving. 

And through it all each doctor is very surprised and even amazed that the cancer is all gone. 

Good times.

Flax Seed

I have been learning about flax seed lately. One thing I learned is that recent research shows that flax is really great at keeping cancer away. In fact, some studies out of France indicate that taking a tablespoon of flax a day could be used as a new treatment. So I put at least a tablespoon of flax seed in my smoothie every morning. I also like to put flax seed oil on my salads - just don't heat it.

I figure it's a cheep, healthy way to keep cancer away.

Detoxifying

One of the fun, new things I get to experience through this journey is leg pain. I also got to experience it when I was pregnant, but this pain is in my bones. That is a new adventure for me. Despite my doctor's assurances that the pain would decrease then go away, the pain was getting worse, not better.

I finally paid a visit to my friend Margareta, who has an iconic foot detoxifying bath. After 30 minutes and sediment in the water, my legs felt sore. But it was a different sore than I'd experienced before. Two days later I could stand longer than I had been able to for weeks. In the past I had to choose one thing to do a day - shopping or cooking or cleaning - then I had to sit or lay down. Saturday I went shopping, early in the morning, then made two meals and did dishes. That was huge for me!

It seems that this foot bath helped pull toxins out of my body left there by chemotherapy. 

I also noticed that I don't need to sleep as much, and I wake up much more alert. I am not saying this is to answer to all of the world's ills, but after two visits my legs are feeling a lot better. Hurray!

You can learn more about iconic foot baths here: 

http://www.pacificcollege.edu/acupuncture-massage-news/articles/1304-the-ionic-foot-detox-fact-or-myth.html

Side Effects

Side effects have their pros and cons.

The first “side effect” I experienced was before I ever began Chemotherapy. I was staying at my sister’s house, and she introduced me to alkalized water. Having cancer, at that time, you can imagine my system was pretty acidic and unbalanced. I watched a Louise Hay video and drank alkalized water. Then some more. I started getting a headache, so thinking water would help it go away, I sipped some more. Two hours later my system had had enough and I made a visit to the bathroom to get rid of dinner.

I learned that when one is really sick, unbalanced, acidic, whatever, that first steps are the hardest. The most extreme “side effects” came from my own unbalanced body as I tried to take steps in the right direction to get well.  Detoxifying can be painful, and needs to be done slowly to limit extreme reactions. I never went back to an acidic diet, so I can say that was the last vomit experience I had through this process.

Diarrhea is another fun “side effect” of detoxifying. It’s a great way to get toxins and gunk out of our bodies. We just don’t want to lose too much too quickly. I was actually excited when I had diarrhea after a chemo treatment, because that told me that my body was working hard to rid itself of poisons. I worked hard to keep hydrated. 

Another side effect worthy of note is feelings of restlessness. After a chemo treatment I felt like going for a walk or a jog just to get the stuff out of my system. I would drink at least a gallon of water on the day I had treatment to help my body purge the toxins out. 

My favorite side effect? Confusion about what to eat. I don’t know if that is really a side effect from anything other than my choices in diet change. When one cuts out all of the things I have, the options left need help to be diverse. I’ve had to educate myself a lot on how to prepare meals that my children will eat and that meet my self-imposed diet restrictions. It is so worth it though. My daughters now ask for snacks of carrots and cucumbers, apples are a treat, and salmon is praised as sooooo good. They even know how they prefer their Brussels sprouts prepared.

So I guess that’s my most favorite side effect. Daughters who eat healthy food, choose healthy food, and can save their candy from school to eat a little at a time.

Yep, side effects have pros and cons. I prefer to see them all as pros. After all, it is these side effects that let us see the fruits of our medications and our choices.

Happy effects today!!