My First Article

I'm back home after a week on the island (Friday Harbor). I'm sorry for not contacting people. Sometimes I become overwhelmed by going home. There are so many people that I would love to visit, and since I can't contact everyone, I often end up hiding out. Of course, I can't drive anyway, so that makes it easy to hide.

It's nice to be back. I just did my 40 minute workout - 30 minutes of running with 5 minute warm up and 5 cool down. I didn't feel like working out, but I told myself, now that I have a treadmill in my living room, I need to take advantage of the opportunity.

While I ran, listening to my MP3 player and watching the Jets come back against the Texans, I thought to myself, "I don't live to run. I run to live." What a crazy concept. I'm literally running to defeat the grim reaper. Of course, most people work out to be healthy and live long lives, but I truly feel a responsibility to exercise. While I was on the island I went for a few walks but I didn't run. I was scared to run on the road and go too far from the house. I was worried about having a seizure and not having someone help me. It's these little fears that make me frustrated. The seizures are real, in fact just as I was running on my treadmill a few minutes ago, I had to stop and get water because my right arm started slightly tingling. After I had some cold water it was better. I only had five minutes left of running so I just dialed down the speed. I thought it was important to finish my goal, to set a precedent. It's hard to know when to push and when to back off. I don't want to be a woman living in fear. I want to conquer mountains, not lay on the couch. At the same time, out of respect for everyone who loves me, I have to sleep a lot, and take it easy. Stress and sleep are the #1 killer and #1 healer for brain tumor function, respectively.

My life has changed so much, each decision, every activity. I have to weigh each choice so much, then re-evaluate. I can't just open the door and take off for a jog. Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining. I know it's not the end of the world, I'm just trying to navigate the new rules of my life. 

Earlier today, as I was watching the national news, a girl was talking about her addiction to sun tanning. She has skin cancer, and yet still tans. She was giggling, and shrugging her shoulders as if to say, "Yep, I'm crazy, but hey, I'm hot." I was shocked, and it really got me thinking. What are people really willing to do when they get diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses? Shoot. I'm afraid to color my hair because of the dye, and here's this crazy girl tanning with cancer. I wonder if beauty can be an addiction? That reminds me, I need a hair cut. I've only had two hair cuts since the brain surgeries. I'm nervous to have someone deal with the scar. It's such a private, graphic, intimate look into my life. It's hard to be that vulnerable sometimes.

On a side note, I my first article was published. If you're interested, you can click on the following link:

Island Guardian
http://www.islandguardian.com/archives/00004017.html

Evolution Of My Brain Tumor Diet

Jessica C, my tumor fighting friend, shared information about an amazing scientist and doctor. It gives me hope and a better direction. This whole tumor fight is a constant evolution and I'm grateful for people like Dr Servan-Schreiber. I wish I could hug him for everything he has done for people like me - unfortunately, he passed away just last month.

The Story of Dr. David Servan-Schreiber:

At age 31, Dr. Servan-Schreiber was an ambitious physician and neuroscience researcher who reveled in discovery and glittering science projects. He was a founding member of the U.S. branch of Doctors Without Borders and a rising star in neuropsychiatry. When a volunteer for a brain scan experiment failed to show up, he slid into the scanner himself and discovered a tumor in his brain. Further tests revealed that he had brain cancer.

After conventional treatment, he asked his oncologist what he should change so that the cancer would not come back. His answer was perfectly stereotypical: "Go back to your usual way of life. It won't make much difference." So he continued living his life as he had before, eating a diet high in sugar and red meat, exercising little, and abandoning an earlier interest in meditation.

The cancer returned a few years later and he endured a second surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Dr. Servan-Schreiber then decided to use his medical and scientific training to explore and investigate how he could help his body to better prevent cancer. His discoveries led to the best selling book: Anticancer - A New Way of Life.

"Being a physician and scientist is no protection from getting cancer. But it allowed me to dig deeply into the medical and scientific literature in search of ways to live longer than the few years I was expected to survive."

"I spent months researching the healing powers of food before I fully grasped my own natural cancer-fighting potential. I met with a variety of researchers, scoured medical databases, and combed scientific publications. I traveled all over the world and consulted experts from nearly every continent."

"The first thing I learned is that we all carry cancer cells in us, even if only a few. But we also have natural defenses that usually prevent these cells from becoming an aggressive disease. These defenses include our immune system; the bodily functions that control inflammation; and foods that reduce the growth of blood vessels needed by tumors." 

"In my quest, I discovered that the list of anticancer foods is actually quite long. Some foods block natural bodily processes such as inflammation that fuels cancer growth. Others force cancer cells to die through a process that specialists call apoptosis. Still other foods assist the body in detoxifying cancer-causing toxins or protecting against free radicals. But most of them attack the disease on a variety of fronts. And they do it every day, three times a day, without provoking any side effects. To avoid the disease, it's essential to take advantage of this natural protection, and nurture it."


-Anticancer: A New Way Of Life
www.anticancerbook.com

If you click the above link it takes you to the website for the book. The diet and information is facinating and gives me so much hope! It's one thing to have hope just because you don't want to give up. That type of hope, I feel, is short lived and empty. I need hope through positive proven actions. By doing everything I can to eat a healthy well balanced diet full of foods from the allium and brassica families, I am increasing my body's ability to fight cancer. The book points out all kinds of cancer fighting foods that specifically help with brain tumors. I love this guy for what he has given me!!

Interestingly, according to the author from above, in petri dishes, garlic is shown to kill brain cancer cells. In order to activate the enzyme (allinase) that fights the cancer, you peel, then chop the garlic and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then you can either add it to both raw or cooked dishes. Who knows if the enzyme is going to cross my blood brain barrier to fight the brain tumor, but what the heck, it's worth a shot!

My new thing, after having read the articles, is garlic toast for breakfast. I take one slice of Dave's Killer Good Seed bread and toast it. I drizzle some olive, or flax oil, pile two large fresh chopped cloves of garlic across the top and spread bunches of broccoli sprouts onto the slice. Yum!! I stink for a few hours (although no one around me will admit it), but I feel powerful against the tumor by eating garlic. I literally visualize the tumor shrieking like the evil little yellow troublemakers on Despicable Me (the yellow guys would be the tumor cells).

I don't want to be all preachy about food, I'm just excited. You don't have to overdose on the garlic like yours truly. In fact, you don't have to do anything that I choose to do. That's the fun thing about personal choice.

Other than the garlic finding, I'm also excited to adjust my diet to include whole grains which should help keep my glucose levels stable and give my stomach more glue to keep my body fueled. My diet is ever evolving. I'm avoiding coffee these days, which is fine. I just want to avoid seizures at all cost. I had been doing a version of the Paleolithic diet (yep, Marlis you are totally right - and thank you for all the kind things you said. I have so much love for you and your family. I remember hearing about when you were going through your crazy medical ordeal, it was so scary and I didn't even know all of the ins and outs. I'm so glad to hear that you're doing better, but I imagine you're still not completely healed. Please hug your husband, I distinctly remember riding the bus with him, and an occasion when he dared Kaal to eat cat food, and someone bit a slug. Aaaah, childhood memories!), but I just don't think I can sustain the diet long term. I need to include whole grains. The low energy was tough, and that's why I hit the coffee too hard and the coffee bit back with seizures. Now, I just have some green tea and drink a bunch of ice water. I find it helps me with the low energy. That and getting enough exercise, like a walk each day. I'm trying to get a good walk or exercise in, it's not always easy, and sometimes I don't feel like it, but I always feel better after it's done. 

The evolution of the brain tumor diet. Always changing. The more I learn the more I include. Maybe I'll be able to avoid radiation by enhancing my immune system. That would be amazing! I reeeeaaaaalllllyyyy do not want to do radiation, but heck, no need to borrow trouble! :) As soon as the fear crosses my mind, it's already fleeting. Too beautiful of a day to think about such serious things! PS Thank you for the fresh garlic Larry - it is DELICIOUS!!

Larry said (hopefully he doesn't mind me sharing this), "If your tumor could be cured by love, it would already be gone." The interesting thing, though, is that Larry shared fresh garlic from his garden that I've been eating on my toast. So his love, could literally be curing me. How cool is that. Between the garlic from Larry and the broccoli sprouts from Susea, I have the ultimate breakfast tumor fighting team. Thank you guys!!