My Return to Work

I returned to work on Thursday, August 1.  Dr. Cervantes wasn't too excited about me returning so soon or at all for that matter, but he understood that it needed to be for my family.  He agreed that I could try it out, but only for 4 hours at a time.

Work itself isn't the hard part.  The hard part is making sure I get my 13 juices and 5 coffee breaks in during the day.  Not only that, I am still doing the castor oil twice a week.  I figured the best way to make it work is to wake up an hour earlier.  If you do that, I will do a 5am coffee break, an 8:30am coffee break, and an 11:45am coffee break before I have to make it to work at 1pm.

I also had to figure out my green drinks.  I have no problems with the carrot drink because they keep for about 4 hours and keep their nutritional value. The green drink only keeps for about 15 minutes, so there's no way I'm taking those to work.  So, I decided that I could start my meals and breakfast an hour earlier too.  Breakfast at 7am with my orange juice and then an 8am green.  This is quickly followed by my 8:30am carrot/apple juice and the 9am carrot apple juice.  I will then have a 10am carrot juice and an 11am green juice.

At this point I'm getting ready for work, so I have to prepare all my juices for work and still get my last green juice and lunch in.  I work it out so that I eat lunch between 11am and 11:30am.   I quickly get my last coffee break in, and then I make two carrot juices and two carrot/apple juices to take to work.  Lastly I will make another green juice and drink that down really quick.  It keeps me busy and on my toes, but it can be done especially if you prep all the veggies, etc. the night before.

Honestly work seems like a piece of cake after I run the marathon I do at home just to get ready for work. It is strange to be at work though.  Right before my surgery, I took a new job at an out patient imaging center. It is a godsend now.  I don't know if I could keep up at the hospital now.  The only drawback with the new job is I left about one week into it.  I was gone for about 3 months.  Combine that with learning new computers and machines and adding x-ray and DEXA into the mix, and I was a bit overwhelmed for sure. Thankfully x-ray is coming back pretty quickly, and DEXA is coming along.  My co-workers have been pretty patient with me, so that's a big bonus.

When 5pm comes around and it's quitting time, I hit the door running.  I know that when I get home, I have to hurry with my next coffee break, get dinner going, and make the rest of my juices.  Oh, and there is fitting in some family time before the boys head to bed.  It is doable.  Thank goodness for a wonderful husband. Without him, I'm pretty sure this whole thing would not work.

It really isn't too horrible.  I usually have dinner ready for myself the night before, and Nick is okay getting himself and the little ones fed.  It has happened a couple of time where I will have something in the slow cooker, but let's be realistic.  This doesn't happen much.  When I finish my coffee break, I hurry and make my 6pm apple/carrot juice.  Then I scarf my potato, yogurt, and soup.  Rather than wait for 7pm to come around for the last drink of the day, I just hurry and make my green juice as soon as dinner is finished.  This way I can hurry and clean up and spend the rest of the night with the kiddos before bed.

The boys go to bed anywhere between 7pm and 8pm depending on how they are acting.  Usually, it is closer to 8pm.  I am usually suckered into "sleeping" with the oldest to get him to go to bed (at least 3 times a week).  I don't mind this, but then there is usually less time for me to make my Hippocrates soup and prep the veggies for the next day.  By 9pm it is time for my last coffee break, and then I get to go to bed.

To me now it seems overwhelming at times, but I do know it is doable.  It just takes some getting used to and lots of practice, and then I'm set.  Looking forward to that day...

My July Labs and Phone Consult

7/30/13

It is time to update my new blood results.  Every month I have a CBC with auto differential, a comprehensive metabolic, a TSH, a T4 Free, and and a urinalysis done.  I found a prescription pad from good Dr. Cervantes a few days before the blood draw, and I found that he also wanted a full lipid panel and vitamin D tested as well, so that's what we did.  

On my CBC, everything was within normal limits.  Dr. Cervantes had nothing to worry about from this simple test.  

On the auto differential, he specifically pointed out the neutrophils and the lymphocytes and said they were great and indicated that I was having a great immune system response.  This month also my eosinophils were at a much better limit hopefully meaning that my allergies from meds or even seasonal allergies weren't bothering my system at all.  Yay!

My metabolic panel was showing great liver and kidney function.  My potassium was a touch high he said, but within normal limits, so he recommend that I decrease my potassium compound.  My sugars or glucose were also good.  My calcium and protein showed that they were also within normal limits.  This can sometimes be a worry for a person that has so many food restrictions, but this is something I don't have to worry about.

My lipids or blood cholesterol looked very good.  My HDL (my good cholesterol) was a bit low, but considering that my cholesterol in general was quite low (I'm eating no animal fat and just a bit of flax seed oil every day), I think I will overlook this one.

My TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) came back in the normal range this time around.  It rose from less than 0.02 to 2.27 this time.  Exactly right.  I was taken off of the thyroid grain last tie due to this, and luckily my metabolism is still doing well.  

Once again my T4 Free is within normal range.

My vitamin D test shows that I'm running a bit low here.  Not surprising seeing that I have been told to stay out of the sun, and if I go into the sun, I'm to wear long sleeves and a hat at all times.  To counter my slightly low vitamin D, Dr. Cervantes has recommended I take 5000 IU (international units) of vitamin D3 a day.  Easy fix!

Lastly we have my urinalysis here.  I forgot to have it ordered, so I did a quick one at my doctors office, but can be confusing if you don't know how to read it, so I will translate.

Leukocytes: negative, Nitrites: negative, Urobilinogen: 0.2, Protein: negative, pH: 7.5, Occult blood: positive, Specific Gravity: 1.005, Ketones: negative, Bilirubin: negative, Glucose: negative, Color: yellow, Clarity: Clear.  

All within normal limits except the blood part, but that can be accounted for since I was on my period at the time of the test.  

So, here's my new hourly schedule.  Not much different than the last one.  

Just to give a quick run down of the differences, I made a very short list.

1. Lower Potassium compound from 3 tsp./ drink to 1 tsp./drink.
2. Supplement with 5000 IU of vitamin D3 per day
3. Change enema formula to 8 oz. coffee in 24 oz. of distilled water 

Pretty much everything looks and sounds good in my book.  Looking forward to another good month in August!

More Than the Physical

It is my personal opinion that my diagnosis of breast cancer was not just a sign of my physical health in distress but also my mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well.  I have seen it in my line of work many times where stress or a traumatic event has caused a patient to manifest physical illness.  For me it was a wake up call to find me. It was time to take care of issues I had set aside or forgotten.

I did some research on this, and I found some credible sources that agree with me on the subject.  I will include some of them here in case you are of a curious mind as I sometimes can be...

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2008/July/Anxiety_and_physical_illness

http://faculty.weber.edu/molpin/healthclasses/1110/bookchapters/stresseffectschapter.htm

http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/illness.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/039576_christiane_northrup_hidden_emotions_mental_health.html

I'm not saying that I have had a terrible life or that I am crazy, but I am saying that in the rush of growing up and wanting to be an adult, I forgot to really live my life.  I became a drone.  I had to go to school.  I had to find a job.  I needed to get married.  I needed to have kids.  Somewhere in there I lost myself.  Don't get me wrong.  I love being a wife and a mother more than anything, but I did forget to take care of myself.  I think we often do.

So once I got this wake up call, I decided to take care of myself in many different ways.  The first thing I did was take care of myself physically with the surgery and lifestyle change of the Gerson Therapy.  After that, it was time to take care of myself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  So far I have done a few different things.

First, I started Rapid Eye Technology or RET.  Now you want to know what RET is, huh?  To describe this, I will quote directly from the official RET website.

"RET is a natural, safe way to release stress and trauma. RET simulates REM sleep, your body’s own natural release system. This powerful quick release happens without reliving the trauma. Accessing the whole mind/body system while in an awake state allows you to be in control of your own journey. RET empowers individuals to live a happy, productive life by releasing negative belief systems, negative thought forms, and emotions—all of which contribute to emotional stress."

This information and more can be found at their website http://rapideyetechnology.com.

So far I have had just a few sessions, but I feel good afterwards.  There are many scripts as they put it that deal with different issues, so I feel as though I may as well go through all of the scripts to take care of as much as possible.  All I know is it can't hurt me in any way.

After my diagnosis, I wanted to explore meditation.  I saw a local family practice doctor and Osteopathic physician, and expressed to her my wish.  She is very in tune with this side of medicine and just recently she started a class for the public including many of her patients.  I just attended the first class, and already I feel a connection with everyone there.

We spent our time there discussing the topic and creating a community of openness.  We explored stillness and different breathing techniques.  Everyone brought their own experiences and expertise to the group, and that was good to explore different ways of doing things.  I'm pretty excited to learn more with the group.

Another thing I have done is course recommended to me by my mother.  It is called Alchemists Authentic Leadership Course.  It was amazing on so many levels.  It was a class with many different people from many different walks of life.  I not only was able to learn about myself, but I was able to learn through the other's experiences as well.  Here are their guiding values.

Used with permission from the Heartway Foundation

One of the things that I loved so much about the class was that we did body learning.  In my own words body learning was learning mentally, emotionally, and spiritually while using your body to teach you.  It was amazing to me how much my body knew about me already but that I just wasn't getting on all levels.  If you're interested in learning more about this just Google body learning, and you will get a million results.

We also did fun stuff like art therapy, etc.  An example of this is when the instructors told us to draw a tree.  From that drawing, they were able to tell us stuff about ourselves just by looking at the drawing.  It was so fun.

A couple of other drawings I did while in the class...

A drawing of my grandparents' cabin with all the cousins and even a baby and the boat in the corner.

I think I drew a picture of myself as a child because I'm ready to learn and I want to listen to my inner child more often and have fun.  

Music also played a big part in this class.  It is amazing the power that music can have on a person.  It can express so much in in such an emotional way.  We all chose a dance song for an exercise, and it was a big help to bring us closer.  Now every time I hear those songs, I will think of my friends.  

I have to say I learned so much from this class.  The instructors and the rest of the group were amazing.  It is crazy how close you can get to a couple of people that you don't know in just a couple of days if you let it all happen.  I guess with everything we did together it would be hard not to feel close to them.  

Some things that I will take away from this class are that I have so many talents and a lot of life experiences that I can use to help others.  I am more powerful than I ever would have imagined, and I have influenced people for the positive by sharing myself.  In the past I have been hesitant to open to others in fear of being hurt.  I'm working on this.  

I also learned (or more appropriately re-learned) that you can't judge a person by what you see on the outside.  Of course I got the part that we should treat everyone as human and a special child of God, but I never would have guessed that I shared certain life experiences with so many of my classmates until they shared them.  It touched my heart in so many ways.  It made me feel like I was not so alone as I thought many times in my life.  It was even very surprising how much I didn't know about people I had know for years and just didn't see.  I was so blind in so many ways.  It is amazing how we are all connected. 

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this class and what I learned personally.  I will never forget this class.  I will never forget the people, and I know that I have made some life long friends. 

So far, this is what I have done for myself on more than the physical level.  I will do more.  I have found that this will be a lifelong work to better myself and continually learn and grow and heal and help others.

My June Labs and Phone Consultation

6/28/13

Every month I have monthly labs  done for my Gerson doctor, I send them his way, and then we have a monthly phone consultation to review the results.  My first one was last Friday, and I was quite pleased with them.  

The labs I get done are a CBC with differential, a complete metabolic panel with lipid profile, a TSH, a T4, and a urinalysis.  

So, once I send the labs his way, they will e-mail me back with a day and time to call the clinic.  I say yes or no, and then we go from there.  The time I was given was June 28th at 2 pm PST (3 pm my time). 

Besides the fact that my baby was home sick with me, everything went very well.  I called.  The doctor was with a patient.  I called back a few minutes later, and the fast talking began.  The good doctor is very kind and inquired after my family and health.  He asked if I had any healing reactions at all (I hadn't), and he asked if my incisions were healing well which they actually were.  In the last week they had gone from a puckered, raised appearance to more of a flat appearance.  I was also slowly getting feeling back on the left side.  

Next, he quickly went over the labs with me one by one.  First was the CBC.  Everything looked great to him him with no problems at all.  

He then broke it down with the differential.  Here too things were looking good especially the eosinophils that had been elevated just after surgery.  I had had an allergic reaction to the pain meds, so it is common to have these elevated with an allergy. 

The urinalysis was very good.  It showed that my pH had become more alkaline.  At the clinic the doctor had said he wants my pH to stay in the 6.5-8 range, and it was!  This is great for me because studies show that cancer thrives in an acidic environment, and it cannot survive in one that is alkaline. 

  My comprehensive metabolic panel was also doing very well.  My kidneys and liver were doing great and functioning well.  I was getting plenty of protein despite living on a vegan diet for the last 6 weeks or so.  My glucose was also good with the low sugar and gluten diet I was on.  There were no problems mentioned. 

Next we went over my TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone test.  This test does what it sounds like.  Measures the TSH in my blood.  TSH is made by the pituitary gland and its job is to tell the thyroid gland to release other hormones (like the T4 in the next test).  My TSH was very low at this time, but that is because I was taking thyroid grain to boost my metabolism. The boost in metabolism makes it possible for my body to process and get rid of all of the cancer cells at an increased rate.  

The T4 free test is the last test, and even though my TSH is abnormal, my T4 is within normal range.  Yay!

Now, there were a few changes made to my schedule because of my lab results.  

A summary of changes are as follows:

1. Take only 1/2 tablespoon of flax seed oil at lunch and dinner
2. Decrease potassium from 4 teaspoons to 3 teaspoons
3. Decrease Lugol solution to 1 drop twice daily (beacause of TSH)
4. No more thyroid grain (again due to TSH results)
5. Castor oil only twice a week now (Yay me!)
6. Yogurt (organic plain non-fat NOT Greek) at breakfast and dinner

I'm happy with this.  The best part is castor oil only two days a week now!  Whoo Hoo!  I love his message at the bottom of the schedule. "*Keep up the good work Gerson person*"

And of course at the end of the phone call he told me to tell my mom hello.  I think he must remember us.  ;)

Follow-Up With the Oncologist

6/25/13

 

Well, this wasn't a very interesting appointment.  I showed up with my mom on time for my 3:30 pm appointment, and they told me my appointment was actually missed earlier that day at 11:30 am.  I wasn't really bummed or put out at all since this was just to follow up with the surgery and pathology report.  They did ask me to wait to see if the doctor was able to squeeze me in.  It turns out they were able to see me and quite quickly at that.

The assistant took me to the room, got my vital, allergies, and weight.  I then waited a few minutes for the doctor to come in.  It only took a few minutes for the wait thankfully.

My oncologist got to the point immediately.  She was curious to know if my surgeon had gone over my pathology report from the surgery.  I assured her that he had gone over it thoroughly including the conventional treatment that they would like to do on me.

She asked me if I understood the decisions I was making about my treatment then.  I told her I did. I told her I understood what the surgeon had said about the chemo.  He had warned me that the longer I did this  nutritional treatment the less likely the conventional treatment would work at all because I was just giving the cancer more time to spread and metastasize.  I told him I understood what he was saying at that time, and I told the oncologist the same at this visit.

She felt this was the perfect opening to go over some conventional treatment options.  Because of her conventional training, she felt like it was a responsibility to go over this information.  I had no objections.  I was curious after all to learn.

She did mention that I could take Herceptin if I wanted to without the chemotherapy that was so toxic.  This is not what I had understood from her at the last meeting we had together.  I had asked specifically about Herceptin because it wasn't as toxic.  No matter.  I didn't really want to take it at all.  She also casually mentioned a couple other drugs that were related to Herceptin and used for my type of treatment.  I listened  and accepted some information on them.  It never hurts to have information.  The other drugs mentioned were Kadcyla or TDMI and Tykerb. 

I then informed her that I would like to keep an eye on the cancer.  I wanted to know that the cancer was gone.  I also mentioned that the surgeon recommended a CT scan every 4 months to do just that.  I was hoping I could get away with an MRI so there would not be any extra exposure to radiation with a CT or PET scan, but the oncologist did not recommend this.  She said it was better to get a CT scan, and I could have an MRI of the head if I showed signs of metastasis to the brain.

She then went on to ask what I would do if I had the scan and it showed that the cancer had grown instead of disappearing.  I told her that I believed with all my heart that the cancer was already gone.  I don't plan on that being an option at all.  She then said she wanted to play the devil's advocate.  What would I do hypothetically?  I told her I would probably rethink things, but I'm pretty sure I would just stick to what I was doing.  The proof is out there that this works if you are open enough to find it and accept it.  This works!  So, I would have to figure out what I'm doing wrong with this treatment, and fix it.

She accepted this and was agreeable to the CT scan at the end of August.  She said to just call her if I wanted to have it scheduled.  She did mention that after this scan if there was no sign of the cancer that we should only continue the CT scans if I am having issues or other signs of the cancer returning.  Insurance wouldn't cover "just to see".  This made me feel better anyhow.  I prefer to limit my exposure, and I'm confident that things have resolved.

I thanked her for her time, and we left after that.  That was pretty much it.  Quick and easy and to the point.

My Daily Schedule

So, what do I do all day now that I'm at home?  That is a loaded question.  It all depends on the day and the time.  Remember my daily schedule?  Well, if not, here it is again...

I am supposed to start at 6 am, but I don't set an alarm.  My kids usually wake me up.  It is pretty rare that I wake up later than 6 am or 6:30 am.  I figure if I sleep longer than that, I can just adjust the schedule a touch.  As you can see there on the bottom of my schedule, "Rest is very, very important."  

Once I do get up, I try to remember to eat something, and then I do my first coffee enema of the day.  (From here on out, coffee enemas will now be known as my coffee breaks.  It just sounds better.)  

Why do I do the enemas you may ask? That is a good question.  I do them because the juices that I drink every day are so pure and healthy that they cause my organs and especially my liver to detox and release toxins into the body.  If these toxins are not eliminated quickly, too much stress is put on the body.  The caffeine in the coffee will trigger the liver to release serum toxins, and the coffee can also aid in flushing the toxins out at a quicker rate without disrupting the beneficial digestive flora in the intestines.  

For more information on coffee enemas see the following:   

http://gerson.org/gerpress/faqs-detox/http://www.naturalnews.com/038429_health_benefits_coffee_enema_detox.html

After my coffee break, I rush to get breakfast ready.  For breakfast I have oatmeal and fruit.  I start the oatmeal right away.  After this I sort my meds for the day (I try to do it at night before bed, but the habit has not fully formed yet) , and I will start to wash and prepare my produce for the rest of the day.  While I wash and prep, I try to remember to take my pre-breakfast meds at the right time.  I usually don't have issues with this, but there are some days when I space it.  

Then I have my breakfast.  8 am is the normal time, but some days I run a little late.  I usually will eat my oatmeal with a banana just for it's sweetness.  I have to be careful with the bananas due to their high content of sugars.  Only one a day for me.  Some days I will put a touch of organic 100% pure maple syrup in my oatmeal, but only a touch.  Also, I must remember to take some meds mid-way through the meal.  If not, not a huge deal, but it works better if so.  

After breakfast, it's time to hurry.  I have a green drink I need to have at 9 am, a carrot/apple drink at 9:30 am, and another carrot/apple drink at 10 am.  Prepare the drink, wash the equipment, drink the juice, and then prepare the next drink. This can be very time demanding.  

Some people ask why I can't just prepare all of my drink all at once?  Well, the green drink is only good for about 10-15 minutes after being made.  The reason is because if you let it sit around it begins to breakdown and oxidize.  The enzymes that do so much to help you are no longer any good.  The carrot juice and the carrot/apple juice on the other hand is good for about 3-4 hours, but it is still recommended to make them fresh at every juicing because you do get more of the beneficial enzymes and nutrients your body so badly needs.  (Sometimes at this juicing I will juice for the 9:30am and 10am juicing at the same time since it is just 30 minutes apart, and they are the same juice after all...  Shh.  Don't tell anyone.)  

Now, I make fresh Hippocrates's soup every other day.  It's nice when I don't have to worry about the soup.  It isn't hard to make the soup.  It's just one more thing.  You basically just chop veggies, cover with water, and cook for two hours.  For the recipe, go here: http://www.treating-cancer-alternatively.com/Hippocrates-Soup.html.

After the soup, I may have time to sit for a few minutes, or it may be time to have my next coffee break.  It sounds funny, but I kinda of like my coffee breaks a lot now.  It is at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted rest in a sense.  You basically just lay there and do nothing, or in my case catch up on my Netflix or social networking, etc.  Also, don't forget to clean everything thoroughly.  By this I mean the supplies that I use for my coffee break.  (I forgot once in my tiredness, and I regretted it the next morning...)

Next, it is time for my 11 am carrot juice and meds.  Don't forget to wash and clean the juicer, and then, you can start to get lunch ready (baked potatoes, other veggies, etc.), and you may even have a couple of minutes to sit around and do nothing.  The nothing doesn't last for long because you may need to return phone calls, emails, or other important correspondence, and this is very important to keep up with real life stuff.  

Pretty soon you're ready for your noon green drink.  Get that ready, now wash the juicer, and it is almost time to get ready for your before lunch meds and lunch prep.  In between the meds and lunch prep, you can make a few more phone calls, schedule another appointment, and make another move on Words with Friends.

I usually eat lunch around 1 pm.  I have for sure a baked potato and some Hippocrates's soup.  If I feel up to it, I make a salad, fruit, or other veggie to go with it.  I like to have a variety of veggies, but sometimes you just go for the easy stuff to make it quick and easy.  Don't forget to take your meds both during and after your meal.

At 2 pm you have your next coffee break and next green drink.  I usually have the green drink first, and then the coffee break.  Once again wash everything up, and then get ready for your 3 pm carrot juice.

At this point, sometimes I cheat.  Since the 3 pm juice and the 4 pm juice are both carrot juice, I will juice just the once at 3 pm so I can have a little bit of a break.  This is usually the time that I can get the most done uninterrupted like my blogging, appointments, and house work, etc.  It doesn't hardly every happen, but if I were to get a nap in, this would be the time.

I have my next coffee break and juice scheduled for 5 pm.  Again i will sometimes cheat here since the 5 pm and the 6 pm juices are both carrot/apple juice.  If I'm good, I have juicing and coffee breaks all done before the boys get home, but this doesn't always happen.  This is a busy time with the boys getting home around 5:30 and getting dinner on the table.  Sometimes my coffee break doesn't happen until after 6 pm.  It all depends on the day.

Dinner for me is supposed to be around 6 pm, and I try to scarf it down as fast as possible so that I can spend the rest of the evening relaxing with the boys.  I have the last juice of the day (green of course) at 7 pm.  Bed time for the little guy is usually around 7:30 if he can hold out, and big brother goes to bed anytime between 7:30-8 pm.

Big brother is very persuasive in getting me to lay down with him at this time (maybe 50% of the time).  If this happens, he spends a good 15 minutes talking my ear off and playing in bed, but then we usually both fall to sleep pretty quickly after that.  I try not to really fall asleep so that I make sure I have some time to spend with the hubby.  After all he is just as important as the little guys.

My last coffee break of the day is scheduled for 9 pm, but it can sometimes not be until 9:30 or later depending on if I make it out of big brother's room on time.  My hubby is often with me for the last one, and we will usually watch a comedy together.  I like to laugh if possible during my coffee breaks.  It makes them seem like nothing when you laugh through them.

Last thing of the day is to get ready and go to bed!

Follow-Up With the Surgeon

On June 6, 2013 I had a post-surgical appointment with my surgeon.  Before I had left for the clinic in Mexico, he had asked me to consider seeing an oncologist while I was in San Diego.  He had actually asked me to do this a couple of times, but I just didn't know if I would have the time.  I also was pretty sure no matter what oncologist I saw anywhere they would all say the same thing.  "Lets do radiation and chemo."  This is their job to say these things because this is what their training is comprised of, so I don't get upset when I hear it.  I just don't want to spend more time and money on something that won't change.

He also asked for me to have the Gerson Clinic send him a copy of any records so he could learn more about this therapy.  I was happy that he seemed interested and wanted to learn about it at all.  I told him I would bring something back for him.

The appointment starts the way most appointments start.  I check in, wait for a few minutes (sometimes a lot of minutes), and then go back to the room with the nurse.  She is very friendly and asks me about my time at the clinic.  I answer with something like, "Very enlightening.  I learned a lot."  Next it's time for a set of vitals.  No worries until I see my blood pressure as 140/80!  What?!  I must be nervous or something because my blood pressure had been running around 90/60 in the last few weeks.  Weird.

She then goes through my medical history.  Are my allergies the same?  Am I taking any new prescriptions?  This is a loaded question for sure.  I hand her my hourly schedule with the list of meds on it and what time I take them.  I know this will take forever for her to enter them in because they really only have prescription medications on their list and not supplements.

While she is trying to get all the meds taken care of we are making some small talk.  She asks about my diet, and I mention that I have an all vegetarian diet low in sodium with lots of juice, etc.  She asks if I eat any legumes or beans, and I state no as they are known to cause inflammation.  She mentions that she has Rheumatoid Arthritis, and that she follows the Paleo (Paleolithic/Caveman) diet to combat this.  She stated how interesting it was that many diets now are avoiding beans and legumes to fight inflammation.  It was interesting that she took this to heart.  Most people would just ask for a pill to cure their ill, but she was actually quite diligent in watching what she ate and she noticed when she strayed from her diet that her symptoms would worsen.  Hmm...Maybe it's starting to sink in that diet and lifestyle play such a huge role in your health.

Mom also made a comment about how her auto-immune disorder can really be affected by GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) foods.  She kind of had a blank look on her face at this point.  Not many people understand this, so my mom mentioned that she watch a movie called Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of Our Lives (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrjlB5Lze98).  This documentary shows how food is changed and how it hurts and damages anything that eats it.  Mom stated that since our foods have been genetically modified, that the increase in all illnesses especially auto-immune diseases and cancer have risen.  She thanked us kindly for the information, and then she left.

Before long, the surgeon came in.  He was kind and said his normal professional, "Hello Ms. Darrough.", and shook my hand.  Right off the bat he asked if I had seen an oncologist.  I told him no.  There was not any time for that (which there wasn't).  He didn't seem very happy about that at all.

He then asked me what they did for me there at the clinic.  Did they do any imaging or other testing on me.  I tried to explain, but he seemed a little impatient. I told him I had weekly blood tests done, and based on those and my medical history, they made up a schedule.  He had a copy of my schedule/treatment plan and my labs, and he looked at it with what seemed to me to be skepticism.

He nodded and changed the subject.  He wanted to check my incisions and make sure I was healing alright. He was quite happy to see that everything looked good. He also thoroughly checked me for any swollen or hard lymph nodes.  I was happy to hear there were none that he could feel.  He on the other hand seemed a bit surprised.

After the exam, my surgeon sat down and looked at me with a very serious face.  He then asked, "How do you want to follow-up with me from now on?"  I wasn't quite sure what he was asking, and to save me from having to ask him, he then asked, "Do you want to do any imaging to track and follow the cancer process?"  Oh!  That's what he wanted to know.

I explained to him of course I wanted to follow up with imaging.  How else was I going to see and know I was getting better?  He took that as how will I know if it's getting worse or not?  He then kindly explained to me that if I was going to do any chemo it should be done immediately.  Once the cancer is large enough to see on any type of imaging, it was really too late.  I nodded that I understood that loud and clear.

He then tried to convince me that if I wasn't going to do conventional chemo, I should at least do the Herceptin because I was HER2/neu+.  This just means that I have a certain type of receptor on the cancer cells in my body that are over-expressed and can cause cancer cells to reproduce at a quicker rate.  The Herceptin drug would then act as an antibody and interfere with the HER2/neu receptor and slow the process down.

I explained to him that I had expressed my interest in this when first speaking with the oncologist, and she had told me that I wasn't a candidate if I didn't also do conventional chemo.  Now I wasn't interested in it at all.  He asked me to reconsider due to the fact that some studies have shown that it can be used on its own now. I told him I would think about it.

He suggested then at this time we should be getting some type of imaging  (CT scans) done about every 4 months or so, but to be sure, he thought it best I ask the oncologist at my next appointment.  Otherwise, he would see me in three months and go over any results that I may have.

I got the general feeling from him on this visit that he was quite disappointed that I had not taken advantage of being in San Diego and the access to other oncologists there.  I suppose for a doctor that has been trained in the manner that he has it would be upsetting to see a patient do the complete opposite of suggested and conventional treatment.

Now this makes me quite excited to have imaging done here in the next few months and prove to him (and the world) that this works.  That by feeding your body with whole raw foods, you can provide your body with the nutrients to heal itself.  Can you tell I'm excited about this?