Just Doin' His Job

I'm on day two of sprout growing. I drained the seeds and tomorrow, I expect to see just a few sprout faces poking out.

I can't believe I only have three weeks before the MRI. This is such a huge time that happens just four times a year. I've been much more lax on the diet, soon we'll find out if my wayward ways have fed little Hermie. I keep reminding myself, each time I get tense, that it has been important for me to be able to have pizza, ice cream, red wine, sourdough bread, and other fun treats in order to test the limits. I need to see whether it's important to be perfect with my diet, or if just maybe, it's okay to eat some fun non-nutritious foods. It's scary, of course, but man has it been fun :) and delicious.

Tonight is supposed to be my final high dose artemisinin night until after the MRI, but I've decided to extend one more day and up the dosage to counteract the decrease of absorption that goes with the high doses. I'm doing a final kick in the pants to poor little Hermie. He's just been dancing around in there, gobbling up whatever I've been giving him, and I don't think he's going to see it coming. Poor guy...I almost feel bad for him. He's just trying to survive in a tumor eating human world. Just doing his job in life, which of course, is death. Can't really blame him for trying. Adios little Hermie! I wish I could say that it isn't personal, but I'd by lying.

Stank Milk

This morning, about an hour after eating my high dose pills, undergoing serious stomach discomfort, I started contemplating the odd texture of the milk I used to wash it all down. A flash hit my brain and I realized that I pulled from the old milk carton, not the brand new one that we just bought.....oh God, seriously, yes, those were weird chunks and swirls of texture that should not have been in there. The smell wasn't very bad, but I've been so disgusted by milk in general that I just thought it was my natural distaste after having to drink whole milk every morning and evening three days a week. Yes. This. Girl. Drank. Stank. Milk. Wait for it....twice. I did it last night and didn't understand why I felt so sick while I was trying to fall asleep, then again today. I was so cranky that I didn't even want to go to the retirement home. I got over it though, and while I walked to volunteer, the fresh air helped. I am such a goober. Who drinks stank milk? This girl. I'm so out if it. I guess I'm just used to drinking disgusting things, and I go with it because usually it's a rank drink that's good for me. Boy did I blow it. I seriously get shivers just thinking about it. When I relayed the story to Dan this evening, while we drove to the gym, he literally had to ask me to stop because he was going to lose it. Rotten, stank, swirling with chunks milk is a universally disgusting thought. Ugh. Yuck. Whole milk is thick, but not THAT thick. I should have known it was wrong. Gross. 

Today I started a new batch of broccoli sprouts. They're very hard to find at stores because of the whole salmonella poisoning issue. Anyway, I haven't been able to grow healthy sprouts in my new home because they seem to get moldy even when I rinse them twice a day. I'm hoping that rinsing them three times a day will keep them growing healthily. The overnight growth may be a problem, but it's worth a shot to see what happens. 

 

1 Tablespoon of Seeds

Day 3: Broccoli Sprouts

Things are not looking very good on the sprout front. I'm actually afraid to take a photo to share...I'm going to suck it up though, and go take one. Cringe. Ugh. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. My mom said this was going to be, and I quote, "Sooo (very exaggerated) easy."

I'm so disappointed with my sprouts. Good grief. I'm capable of growing things outside! I swear! Here's some proof. It's not quite the garden from last year, but there's still a bunch of delicious and beautiful things in there.

Apparently, my wild bunny has hankering for the spicy stuff!

Last night, Danny and I were sitting on our patio when we heard a hummingbird swing through. Dan grabbed the camera, and took the follow photos. As you can see, the little guy wasn't exactly the hummingbird we were expecting...

Click To See A Larger Photo

See what you think. I'm on Team Moth. He's pretty when he's looking away, but jeez, that mug is a face only a mother could love.

This is what I do to distract myself from the unknown. I'm scared about the seizures. The other night I woke up at 3:30am and I had a sort of panic attack, or crazy headache, I'm not sure exactly what it was. I don't know how to explain it. Anyway, my mind was going a million miles per hour with thoughts, then everything went blank. I felt like I was about to have a seizure. It was very scary. I ran to take my pre-seizure pill and then laid on my back in bed, trying to practice my meditation breathing technique.

I don't know what else to do. I take my seizure medicine and I sleep as much as I can. I exercise regularly, I'm only running 10-11 minute miles for 30-40 minutes every other day, but I'm working toward going faster again. The only other key, that I can think of, is a healthy diet. I'm not sure what else I can do. I'm reading a book about meditation and trying to practice stress management. I honestly am at a loss. I think I seem completely normal to people, but I sleep so much, and I'm exhausted constantly. I try to put on a happy face, and usually that's a true feeling not a facade, because I don't want to focus on the scary stuff, but jeez. I feel like I'm continuing to deteriorate. Specifically since the seizures.

Thankfully, my parents noticed my difficulties and talked to Danny. We had all been feeling like we were sitting, waiting, for doctors to radiate my brain. They aren't proactive, their specialty is radiation. Anyway, now we're trying to take another avenue. My parents contacted John Hopkins University for an appointment. We're hoping that they'll review my medical records and they can help us figure out another step in my care. We want to do more preventative stuff. I don't want to waste a moment. It's better to stop the growth than to try and resect again, or radiate.

I know it's pointless to stress about my health, in fact it's detrimental, but those who are around me all the time (my mom, dad and Danny) can see changes in my capabilities. That scares me. And, it scares me that it scares them. I wish this whole tumor debacle would just evaporate, just *POOF* be gone. My parents should be hosting BBQs with friends, laughing and living their lives. Danny should be dreaming about having a life with babies, the family he has always wanted. Kaal shouldn't be worried about his little sister. The rest of my wonderful family, Danny's amazing family, my beautiful friends, everyone - people shouldn't have to worry about this stupid tumor. I don't want to cause stress, but I can see it in people's eyes, and I can see it in their tears. Sometimes the tears are happy ones, other times they come from heartbreak. I'm sorry that this tumor is growing. I honestly thought I would be an exception. As Susea likes to say, "Shoot. Some lucky dog has to win." It's tough to be in that 1%. There's a lot of competition.

Day 2: Broccoli Sprouts

I just rinsed the seeds, so some of them are floating, but they'll eventually fall down to the bottom. If you look closely, you can see some of the seeds starting to sprout. Yay! My mom says it's fail-proof, but I've been known to kill house plants, even cactus, so I'm still waiting to see if this whole experiment works.

Here's a link to the item that I'm using to grow my sprouts. My starter kit was a gift, so I'm not sure where it was purchased, but the brand is Sprout-Ease Econo-Sprouter. It has instructions included. In fact, it has more than instructions, it has a pamphlet tucked inside the package. Talk about making it easy. I will have zero excuses if my baby broccoli sprouts bite it. Anyway, the flier thing has information for all types of seeds, measurements, growth times, etc. All you need is a mason jar.

*Click on the link above for Sprout-Ease or you can click HERE

Broccoli Sprouts

I am officially growing my own organic broccoli sprouts. How fun is this!?! Allegedly, the process is very easy and we should have edible sprouts in 3-5 days. Year-round sprouts. This is fantastic!

I'm grateful to have Danny home. It's true what they say, with the right mate people DO live longer. We're eating ridiculous amounts of garlic, onions, and broccoli. We are two stinky partners in crime.

Here is a link to an article about sulforaphane explaining how it causes apoptosis (programmed cell death) in glioblastoma tumors (the most malignant and prevalent brain tumor around). I don't know the exact amount that naturalists use in treatment, or in experimentation for that matter, but I figure the more sulforaphane I can include in my diet, the less radiation or further treatment I'll need later.

If you're interested, you can google sulforaphane, and read how it kills lots of different cancer cells, not just brain tumor cells - it's very effective at fighting breast cancer cells too! Eat your broccoli. Seriously. Or, if you can't stomach enough broccoli, grow some sprouts like me! They're delicious on everything, salads, sandwiches, wraps, even pizza. According to Danny you can put sprouts on anything that takes toppings, "bagels, tuna....everything, pretty much."

I just remembered an article from months past that I posted, and I'm going to do so again, below. It's the specific information from John Hopkins scientists stating, "broccoli sprouts consistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads." You can read the article here on my blog, or click the title for the actual website.

Cancer Protection Compound Abundant in Broccoli Sprouts 

September 15, 1997
Media Contact: Marc Kusinitz
Phone: (410) 955-8665
E-mail: mkusinit@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
 

Photo: Keith Weller Dr. Paul Talalay displays broccoli sprouts. 2100x1585, 300dpi TIFF JPEG, (2.7 MB) "The young sprouts that we have found . . ."

JOHNS HOPKINS SCIENTISTS have found a new and highly concentrated source of sulforaphane, a compound they identified in 1992 that helps mobilize the body's natural cancer-fighting resources and reduces risk of developing cancer.

"Three-day-old broccoli sprouts consistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads, and may offer a simple, dietary means of chemically reducing cancer risk," says Paul Talalay, M.D., J.J. Abel Distinguished Service Professor of Pharmacology. 

Talalay's research team fed extracts of the sprouts to groups of 20 female rats for five days, and exposed them and a control group that had not received the extracts to a carcinogen, dimethylbenzanthracene. The rats that received the extracts developed fewer tumors, and those that did get tumors had smaller growths that took longer to develop.

In a paper published in tomorrow's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Talalay and his coworkers describe their successful efforts to build on their 1992 discovery of sulforaphane's chemoprotective properties. Work described in the study is the subject of issued and pending patents.

A systematic search for dietary sources of compounds that increase resistance to cancer-causing agents led the Hopkins group to focus on naturally occurring compounds in edible plants that mobilize Phase 2 detoxification enzymes. These enzymes neutralize highly reactive, dangerous forms of cancer-causing chemicals before they can damage DNA and promote cancer.

"A comparable amount of chemoprotective activity . . ." Photo: Keith Weller Dr. Jed Fahey examines young sprouts. 1500x2100, 300dpi TIFF JPEG (2.3 MB)

Sulforaphane "is a very potent promoter of Phase 2 enzymes," says Jed Fahey, plant physiologist and manager of the Brassica Chemoprotection Laboratory at Hopkins, and broccoli contains unusually high levels of glucoraphanin, the naturally-occurring precursor of sulforaphane.

However, tests reported in the new study showed that glucoraphanin levels were highly variable in broccoli samples, and there was no way to tell which broccoli plants had the most without sophisticated chemical analysis.

"Even if that were possible, people would still have to eat unreasonably large quantities of broccoli to get any significant promotion of Phase 2 enzymes," Talalay says.

Clinical studies are currently under way to see if eating a few tablespoons of the sprouts daily can supply the same degree of chemoprotection as one to two pounds of broccoli eaten weekly. The sprouts look and taste something like alfalfa sprouts, according to Talalay.
Talalay founded the Brassica Chemoprotection Laboratory, a Hopkins center that focuses on identifying chemoprotective nutrients and finding ways to maximize their effects. Brassica is a plant genus more commonly known as the mustard family, and includes in addition to broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and turnips.

"Man-made compounds that increase the resistance of cells and tissues to carcinogens are currently under development, but will require years of clinical trials to determine safety and efficacy," Talalay notes. "For now, we may get faster and better impact by looking at dietary means of supplying that protection. Eating more fruits and vegetables has long been associated with reduced cancer risk, so it made sense for us to look at vegetables.

"Scientists currently need to continue to develop new ways of detecting and treating cancer once it is established, but it also makes sense to focus more attention on efforts to prevent cancer from arising," he adds.

Fahey and Yuesheng Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow, are also authors on the PNAS paper.

Work in Talalay's laboratory is supported by the National Cancer Institute, philanthropic contributions to Brassica Chemoprotection Laboratory, and grants from the Cancer Research Foundation of America and the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Talalay is establishing the Brassica Foundation, a foundation that will test and certify chemoprotective vegetables such as sprouts to raise funds for chemoprotection research.