Breast-cancer
Showing posts with label Breast-cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breast-cancer. Show all posts

Going Organic on a Budget



In 2011, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Negative Breast Cancer. After bilateral mastectomy and chemotherapy, I started my journey as a woman who is surviving. I am proud I am almost four-years- in-remission. In 2017, I can declare myself as an official breast cancer survivor.

This month, I learned that one of my supporters is now undergoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer. At least four years ahead of me, and who had only stage 0 to begin with, we are all surprised she jumped from 0, to on remission, to being survivor, to stage 4. I feel crushed and I worry about myself now as well. What if my cancer comes back?

Perhaps it is time to switch to an organic diet. But can I afford it?

This month, I am lucky enough to have some money set aside to experiment. I will try to invest on my health with organic food. Maybe this organic food diet will save me money later by not paying for medical bills and co-pays instead.

At the end of the month, I will have a hint if I can afford to stay on this diet. I will post how much I have spent. 

Wish me luck. Better yet, would you join me in this experiment?
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Valentine's Day Morning

This treat awaits for me on my oncology follow up appointment.

Valentine's Day Morn


She forced herself to leave her warm bed
Her body was heavy, the sleepy head
It is Valentine's Day, the day of red
It is also Sunday, to church she headed

She went alone, to the church nearby
Seating on the back and watching the crowd
Most people wore black, some gray, some not
But what she noticed was the color of love

Red tops, red skirts, red pants, and red shirts
Red shoes for little ones, red sweater for the old ones
They made her smile, the scene with the moms
Their daughters, their spouses, and their little sons

It is Valentine's Day
The day of love
The priest ended with the message
Love the God above

It is yet, another hard week. I had to force myself to go to church, let alone to write on my blog. My brain said, I need to do this. So here, I am, and here is my Gratitude List

1. My daughter is getting the treatment that she needs: not from the legal system but from her treatment team of professionals who also works with me to help me help her. One medicine she started on is exactly the same as mine. I just love medicine when it works. She feels herself again and refrained from crying.
2. Velvet and Snowball who keep me company while my teens are away.
3. My son for his hugs when I visited him.
4. The friendly staff at Children's Hospital. Even the guard who stamps my parking permit is very accommodating.
5. My journal that I write on daily. It never complains and it is always there to take whatever I pour from my mind.
6. My primary care doctor for pushing me to exercise. Thirty minutes to one hour of jogging and walking still give me this euphoria despite the other things  going on in my life.
7. Sunday mass that gives me hope. And then, Jehovah's Witness came knocking on my door handing me reading materials to read. They will come back some other time, they said. Hmm. I felt too good to turn them away so I just said, okay.
8. Macadamia chocolates from Paul. There must be a hidden ingredient that makes me want to eat more than one piece, or two, or three . . . 
9. Days off so I can take care or my daughter's situation.
10. Another clean bill of health from my oncology doctor. No trace of cancer!

Ttot, gratitude post
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Think Pink, It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month

O
ctober is the Breast Cancer Awareness month. I put significance to this because, I, as a woman on remission, three and a half years to be exact, benefited on being made aware of this disfiguring and life-threatening cancer. I had my first mammogram at the age of forty. At 40, the images showed a 0.6 cm lesion I did not know about. It was cancerous.


Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirts
Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirts 

I should be jumping up and down, but I am not. The scars on my chest from breast removal and the hip to hip scar line where muscle and subcutaneous tissue were removed for my chest flaps, will forever remain. My fears that my cancer will come back continue to linger. I should be grateful I am in remission. It is a blessing. I should feel relieved.

Remission in cancer means the disease has been reduced significantly or completely eliminated. Having been on remission, my fear should go down to the possibility of this deteriorating disease relapsing. I got my health physical health back; I am no longer fatigued post-chemotherapy. I still have follow up and blood tests after my chemo as I want to stay compliant with recommended health maintenance. Do I sound like a car? Even so, all this can be tiring and stressful. I did not like blood draws before, and I grew to hate it so much after I was diagnosed with cancer. If you see me before my blood is drawn, you would be surprised to learn that I am a nurse by profession, and I do poke patients' arms for a living. Well, that is not all I do but . . .

Here's a bit about breast cancer. 


As known already, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among females accounting for about 18.2% of all cancer deaths worldwide. It can be invasive and non-invasive. The invasive breast cancer easily spreads to other parts of the body such as liver and lungs, while the non-invasive is usually localized to the place of origin. Guess what? I had the invasive kind. However, it was caught early, in Stage 1.

And another thing, I had the tripe negative kind. What is that? When doctors are diagnosing breast cancer, they look for three receptors, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. The presence of these receptors is what causes most cancers to grow. However, my rare condition where all of these receptors are not found, is referred to as triple negative breast cancer. Triple negative breast cancer is usually more challenging and difficult to treat as it cannot be treated with common oral drugs like Tamoxifen. Nevertheless, triple breast cancer can still be treated using chemotherapy. I did that, plus elective bilateral mastectomy.

So, to the women out there, think of taking care of yourself. Think Breast Cancer Awareness month. Purchase products that will support breast cancer research. There are a lot more to be learned.



Think pink ribbon.




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Simply Amazing Things to be Thankful For

Our world amazes me! I look around me and I see flowers, people, animals, buildings. . .  even food and drinks.
I take in the sights, yes, even the snow.  I watch inspiring videos, listen to meditations . . .

I work hard to pay attention to these things because if I concentrate on my teens still on a run, I will go insane.  And then I have a new bump on my chest my doctor took biopsy of last Thursday.  Is my cancer back? Am I off remission?

My Plan
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Reasons to be Thankful in Hard Situations 2

L
ast week I joined this grateful group with Ten Things Thankful . I wrote about reasons to be thankful in hard situations.  How do we get to be thankful when things are tough?  I said, take pictures around you.  Pictures (of something small or grand) will remind us of the good things surrounding us.
This week I continue to write on reasons to be thankful celebrating what we have and do not have.


Be thankful for something you have.

I am thankful for something I have.  This is easy, and I have ten of them to list here.
Okay, I admit, I stole this picture (not the sock).  See, we were having a "Crazy socks" competition last night at a wine party and I lost to this toe-sock-penguin lady.  However defeated, I feel thankful for the picture--a reminder of the fun-time last night.
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Enough Already, Another Breast Cancer Campaign

O
ctober is Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA) month. I have been touched, personally, with the disease, and several of my family members, so I choose to join the month thinking pink.

Support Breast Cancer research
I just bought stuff I need-- resusable bag
from Dollar Tree and a Swiffer mop from
Walmart today in  support to Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Awareness products you can wear or use
Three years ago, I had my very first mammogram (October 2011). I heard over the phone from my doctor’s office that my mammogram and biopsy both show positive for breast cancer. Several chemotherapy treatments and doctor’s appointments after that, I write here today, about the Breast Cancer Awareness Month while on remission.
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