Since I have not gotten things together yet for my and our final entries, I still have some thoughts to share with you.  I was out for a really cold walk yesterday morning, even my eyebrows froze!  Walking always gets me thinking.  Some things happened this week, like the stars aligning or whatever. 

First I finally got around to listening to a December recording of “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross. She was interviewing Dr. Marisa Weiss, a breast oncologist who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2010. I was, at the time, most interested in what she was saying about nutrition.

Then I was sent a link to CaringBridge.com to visit a website for a colleague of mine who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. He spoke about immediate changes he was making to his diet in his first entry.

THEN on Saturday I was working in the commissary at the ski lodge and I saw someone who I have not seen since last year.  She said “Have you always had curly hair??” and I let her know it was post chemo hair.  She was shocked. I have not verbalized that in a while.

All this got me thinking about how I’ve sort of gotten back into my old saddle almost like the past 18 months never happened. What a crazy feeling that was. I dug out my copy of ANTI CANCER a new way of life and began to re read it.  Back when I was first diagnosed, my chiropractor recommended that I speak to an elder in the field who had his own experience with cancer.  He recommended this book and said if I could not come to see him, this would be the next best thing.   I looked through it, read some and put it away. That happened with a lot of the literature I was given at that time. No energy or concentration to absorb it all I guess.

I decided to run another detox week and spoke with B about my desire to learn more. I indicated that being on a separate eating plan from the rest of my family was not appealing to me and you know what he said? He told me that it wouldn’t hurt any of us to change the way we eat for the health of it. Just what I needed to hear.

The author of the Anti Cancer book is an MD PhD who was doing brain research.  He and his colleagues did scans on their own brains for research purposes. They found a tumor on his brain basically by accident. The book was published in 2008 and he was reporting 14 years cancer free at that time. He did extensive research on the subject and has a list of recommended foods for those who had specific cancers. His premise is basically to strengthen the immune system with the right nutrients to fight off specific types of cancer.  

SO, I’m 2 days into my detox, which is a good way for me to essentially reset my food intake. We have a relatively new market near by which features locally grown and organic produce. I’m going to scoot in there this week to take note of what they have to offer. I usually purchase organic when I can, but I’m feeling like I need to get more consistent, especially with whatever source of protein I choose. This will be somewhat of a financial challenge, but we’ll just have to deal with it.

I wanted to put my thoughts on the subject down.  It’s so easy for me to not look back or remind myself that I had cancer.  While I move on, I want to remain mindful. I don’t want my body to be a good host to cancer cells.  That’s for sure.