Daily to-do

I have been getting up around 7 or 8 am. This allows the time for me to go for a walk. I usually walk 20 minutes. It allows my mind to awake to the early morning songs of birds, and I connect with the earth. I have been told that from now on I will take my cell phone along. In case I should fall, or if I need a ride after the fact I walked too far. I tend to do that because I am too stubborn for my own good. A trait I received from my mother. Ma told me that yes I am an adult, that she is not " mothering" me, but she tells me I need my cell phone for safety precautions. I tend to trip and fall a lot, especially when I get tired, so it stands to reason I could potentially injure my self. It was just last week I did fall, I didn't need any help then. But one day I may need to, and I will be glad to have my phone along.

If I don't walk, because of weather, I do yoga. My favorite forms are hip openers and the cobra pose. Sometimes I combine meditation, only if I feel really focused. But there are times I feel off balance because I left leg is being difficult that day, so I concentrate more on my form.

Then after that, I choose a meditation card to focus on that day. It allows my to concentrate on that so my thoughts are no longer going a stray.

Then around 9 am I take a daily shower, it is healing so I can drain away negativity. I feel refreshed to the day.

I meet with a friend for coffee, which I enjoy, and for most of the day my day is filled with friend things. If I have time before the meeting, or after, I try and dance to keep my energy going and for the exercise I crave.

In the evening when I return home, I drink a evening cup of tea. Read some, then go to bed. I do my energy healing work, and the steps to a blissful rest and nights sleep. To dream of things and to contemplate my meditation card and how it related to that day.

First Scan Results are In

Tuesday when we went in for chemo, we got our first scan results in, pretty much what we expected just by the feel of my own physical body and how I am feeling more like myself in general without any pain.  A few in my lung and lymph's have disappeared altogether while the rest are just continuing to shrink down nicely. The best news was that now you can actually see parts of my liver where in the beginning you couldn't, it was all tumors! Fan bloody tastic!

We talked with my doctor about being treated for the rest of my life, which her reply was "Yes you are certainly looking at some form of treatment or another for the rest of your life, which we hope is a long one!"

We also talked about my trying to mow the yard the day before and just not quite up to physical health just yet for such a feat, although I planned this activity for the purpose of gaining strength and endurance again! One thing I did forget though, was my doctor discussed people on chemo can be real sensitive to the sun, so I really need to watch how much I am out in the Sun. Raspberries, I LOVE being outdoors in the summer!


As of now she did suggest that perhaps a Vitamin D supplement would be beneficial to me as we simply do not get enough from the sun.  Also that we will be trying to get chemo for a 2 weeks in a row, one week off plan.........which will be the first time my body can handle a treatment 2 weeks in a row if my lab results come back okay this Sunday.  So far it has been every other week, but things have been looking just peachy, no side effects, no crashes, blood work fine everything! I am so very blessed to have everything going so smoothly.

Other than that, we are looking at about 2 more months of chemo where we will scan again, review and hopefully then go to hormonal therapy! WOOT!

So yeah, things are rolling right along and I am feeling better as each day passes, and each day is just bloody AMAZING!
 

Food Purchases

The one junk snack I allowed myself was a box of ice cream sandwiches! LOL



blueberry pomegranit tea
white tea mango peach

large tub of plain greek yogurt
cottage cheese
block of cheddar cheese
frozen blackberries
2 cans frozen OJ

large bag raisin bran cereal
organic romaine salad mix
white button mushrooms
green onions
bananas
Fresh Pineapple
2 bags fresh Carrots

chopped walnuts
4 cans black beans
1can chunky soup: grilled chicken and sausage gumbo

whole wheat triple berry fig newtons

papaya leaf extract

all natural whole grain bread

Wild Foraging : Wild Asparagus!




Papaya leaf extract has a ton of beneficial and cancer fighting properties where I started today taking 1/2 teaspoon a day mixed into a small glass of water. It helps bowel movements, breaks down proteins, boosts immune system, binds and removes toxic cancer causing cells, shrinks tumors, helps with free radicals and so so so much more! Google it!

Sample of what I am eating:

Yesterday:  Raisin bran with banana

Lunch:  cottage cheese, fig newtons, grilled asparagus prunes  ( had prunes in house)

Dinner: Salad with sliced mushrooms,green onions and half can black beans with salad dressing served with 2 glasses of blueberry pomegranit tea.

snack: Fig newtons and ice cream sandwich


Today:  Breakfast-  blackberry Walnut smoothie with 2 slices whole grain toast  followed by glass of water with papaya leaf extract

Lunch:  2 slices of whole grain toast cottage cheese and orange ( hubby traded orange for ice cream sandwich LOL)

dinner- Salad with sliced mushrooms, green onion, boiled eggs (our own chickens) and a little cubed cheese and other half can of black beans

Still obviously needs work but I had a budget of $50 for 2 weeks for myself and this is what I could get so it is a start and certainly one in the right direction!


 

A weekend to remember

This past weekend I went on a camping retreat to get involved with nature and myself. The weekend was one I won't soon forget. I felt recharged with energy and so alive in the moment! I went for a soul purpose and received some profound insights.

 There was drumming music that I got really into. I played the drums and danced to my own song. It is times like these that the air stirs with wonderment and the vibrations of drum beats become living entities.

Nearing the end of the retreat, I bought a necklace. Upon meditating on the necklace, I got a name: kriya. I googled it today. It is a term in kundalini yoga meaning action of the soul. The name is pronounced Kree yah. It is a name I feel that I am about, in the way I am living my life. I feel blessed in this loving message from the source. It is a weekend to remember. This will be my spiritual name now.

Making May's Breast Fighting Meal Plan

http://www.ivillage.com/breast-cancer-fighting-diet/4-a-142414?p=2   This link has a good foundation for creating a healthy diet packed with all sorts of breast cancer fighting or prevention abilities. For me it is a solid foundation on which to build upon and add to, but not to use as the only diet plan.

There are many foods out there such as Sour Sop fruit that can help in the fight against cancer that are not included in this diet, which is why I see it as a foundation diet in which to build upon to enhance it even further.

This base/foundation diet recommends daily:

3 - 6 servings of whole grains a day

1 to 2 servings of beans

9+ servings of fruits and veggies a day

1 or 2 servings of low fat dairy

1 or 2 servings of soy products

fatty fish 2x a week

garlic, herbs and spices used liberally

2 T flax seed daily

4 to 6 cups green tea ( cold or hot)

virgin olive oil




And this would make up the base, that I will add to or take away from, and create a page here soon with my diet and what all I eat!

Have a fantastic Weekend Everyone!






 

Kava stress relieve tea: yoga tea

I bought some tea recently. I have heard that the kava kava root is used to help with stress. I tend to stress at some times, so I thought I would give it a try. Yummy! The aroma was soothing, though if you are not a fan of cardamom, you might not care for it.

I liked it however. I am not sure it I knew the tea was stress relief, like a subconscious thought, but I felt calmed just by drinking it. The tea recommends that one should not drink it if you have liver problems.

All and all I enjoy drinking this tea at the end of the day.

Inspirational Guest Post

This very powerful, touching, inspirational guest post is from Cameron Von St. James, thankyou for sharing such a beautiful story! May your wife continue in good health and your family have a long loving lasting time together!

Providing Care During Cancer Recovery

My wife Heather was diagnosed with cancer in November of 2005. Every day since then, I have learned things about myself that I never thought were possible. I've watched her grow as a person, grown as a person myself, and learned so many valuable lessons that I couldn't possibly write them all here. I continue to learn each day and grow. It didn't start out that way, though. It started out in November of 2005 in a doctor's office with my wife and I scared senseless about the diagnosis we had just heard: malignant pleural mesothelioma. We'd just had our first child three months earlier, a beautiful baby girl we named Lily. How could this happen to us at what should have been the most joyous time of our lives?

We didn't have the answer, and over the following months, chaos set in. Heather quit her job to work full-time battling cancer. I worked as much as I could and served as caretaker of both my wife and my newborn daughter. I checked the mail and saw our growing medical bills and felt a huge weight amassing on my shoulders. Terror set in. How would we pay all these bills? How could we afford another trip to Boston, where Heather's treatment would take place? This was perhaps the hardest lesson I had to learn through this process:  that there is no room for pride or stubbornness in a battle with cancer. I had never before accepted financial help from family and friends but in this case I had to. My wife's life was on the line and I would do anything to keep her with me.

She needed me to give her love, and I gave her that, an unwavering support that on the outside seemed strong when she couldn't be. She won't ever know the number of nights I stayed awake crying, not knowing how we were going to make it, fearful of what would happen if she left Lily and I alone so early in life. Thankfully, that didn't happen though. Heather underwent months and months of grueling treatment for mesothelioma, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments in the attempt to rid her body of this cancer.  Today, over seven years since her diagnosis, Heather is cancer free, Lily has a beautiful mother, and I have a beautiful wife that has taught me so much about strength and bravery, and the power of hope and optimism.

Two years into her treatment, I went back to school full-time to study Information Technology and pursue my dream of earning a college degree.  The lessons I learned throughout my wife’s battle with cancer gave me the strength and determination I needed to achieve this goal.  I graduated with high honors, and was given the great honor of giving the commencement speech at my graduation ceremony. I told my fellow graduates that just a few years earlier, being told that my wife could die and leave me a widowed single father, I never imagined that I would be up on that stage giving that speech.  I told them that within each of us is the strength to accomplish incredible, even impossible things, if we only just believe in ourselves.   Lily and her mother were in the audience to cheer me on, and that was the greatest reward of all.