Chapter 11, Questions for L.
December 12, 2008
Dear L,
It’s been quite a while since I last wrote–over a month! I hope you haven’t worried about me, but I suppose you must have figured no news is good news, right? It’s true in my case–I’ve been fine, plenty of energy, strong, no health issues (not noticeable, anyway!) for which I’m very thankful. How are you all doing?
Since I’ve been going back to the herbal doctor and drinking my tea faithfully, I’ve slept so much better than I can even remember. That is such a blessing! He says my blood is cool now and that’s why. He “forbade” me from eating too-sweet fruit, like watermelon, which I was having quite often and raisins and other tropical fruit that are considered “hot” and not really good to eat too much of. So I obey that, along with cutting out anything else sweet (sugar’s been out for months and now honey, too!) and that, together with his herbal concoction (and prayer!) has done the trick.
As I write, I’m drinking my carrot/beet/cabbage juice. (Every other day we alternate between cabbage and cucumbers.) Carrot and beet alone was just too sweet. We haven’t tried kale yet. I count this (once a day) veggy juice as part of my attempt to hit the 50-50 or even 70-30% range of fresh to cooked vegetables in my diet. I don’t mind eating the salads everyday, but it takes time (I’m a slow eater) and puts pressure on our cook to prepare it just before I need to eat. Cooking soups or otherwise preparing hot meals gives her a little more flexibility.
We have found avocados here, but they’re not the greatest. They’re local, small with big seeds and little “pulp” and have more fibers. They aren’t as tasty either, but we’re having them, from time to time. I suspect the quality will improve in the future. Now we get excellent apples grown locally. They’re small, cheap and delicious.
About losing weight, that was never a problem before, but I see now I have to be rather “aggressive” to not lose too much! I’m down at least 5-7 lbs from my lowest pre-“cancer” weight, so I’m around 117. I feel great–nice and light!–but for 5’7″, that’s maybe a bit low??? I guess it’s ok if I feel good. I don’t get tired when I exercise, but I look skinny and my clothes kind of hang on me, so I’m trying to put on a bit, so there are reserves if I need them. Ha!
I think my digestion is fine. I’ve been eating only fruit in the mornings and have very frequent bowel movements all during the “official” elimination period (mornings) as well as other times during the day. I hope that’s not too often! I supplement my vegetarian diet with as much good stuff as I can get ahold of, including the acidophilus capsules. I can’t take flax oil as I can only get flax seeds here, so I grind them and add them to my meal once a day. If I have any sign of illness or cancer coming back, I think I’ll do the coffee enemas, but for now, I’m letting my herbal doctor take care of
the digestive system. He says my stomach is still “hot”, so I’ll stay with his program as long as we’re getting good results and I feel so good. The only thing that seems not right is my having a lot of gas. That could be from the beans,(we haven’t found lentils, yet) the Vit. C, the herbal tea, the fruit or something else. I’ll ask the doctor about it next time I go. Did D. do the allergy test mentioned in the book? I’d like to do that but how do you put the food to your stomach? Directly on your skin or in a bag or how?
One difference between D. and I is that I haven’t been sick or had any symptoms at all. I haven’t had any chemo or radiation treatment to wear down my body and specifically my immune system, so I have little to compare with. My “before” was just the tumor’s presence–no pain or other symptoms, except I noticed I definitely sweat more under my right arm (the tumor was on the right side) than my left, and it was more smelly. My “after” is the absence of the tumor (and the breast) as well as the lymph nodes and nerves. I’ve recovered from the surgery and now I don’t sweat at all under that arm! (Do you think they removed sweat glands as well???) So, I’m “normal” again, except for being a bit underweight. I have nothing to tell me how I’m doing in fighting the cancer. Everything just seems healthy. Once D. was feeling good again (I suppose it took some time, since the medical staff “sent him home to die”, and he must have been weak and had symptoms of disease) how long was it before he felt healthy again? Did his cancer metastasize? I’m sure having had part of a lung removed would have a big impact on one’s health, but what other health issues did he have after being sent home? Did he catch colds or have other problems that gradually went away? I haven’t even had a cold or a sore throat for over a year and a half.
Since it’s been such a short time since I was diagnosed, I can’t start celebrating that I’ve been delivered from cancer (except “by faith” which I do!) until I’ve passed the 5 year mark, I hear. So how does one monitor their “progress” until then? Earlier you mentioned that D. did CT scans every year and now has chest x-rays every 4 years. I guess, for me, it’s just a “wait and see” situation. If I take proper care of my body and don’t put stuff in it and on it that are known carcinogens or otherwise toxins, my body should be able to deal with whatever I can’t control. That’s my conclusion. On Tuesday, it seems, I’ll finally hear back from my doctor, the surgeon, regarding the type of cancer. There was a mix-up and the testing wasn’t done earlier. That information will help me know about soy products, so I look forward to knowing whether I can add miso, etc. to my austere diet.
Did you ever get around to reading the book by David Servan-Schreiber? I recently read excerpts from Andreas Moritz’s book, Cancer is not a Disease – It’s a Survival Mechanism. It explains the root causes of cancer and how to eliminate them for good, he says. Very interesting.
OK–I’ve rambled on enough. It’s taken me several days to write all this. I hope it’s coherent! Soon I’ll get to putting together our Christmas newsletter. That’ll be a lot more upbeat and positive than my tedious and wordy epistle!
I always look forward to hearing from you. Sorry for the long gap this time!
Have a great Christmas Season!
Lots of love,
Me
My Gift of Cancer 
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