mybreastmessenger

It’s a Saturday night and I’m waiting for my son to arrive from his trip to his father’s hometown.  Their flight was cancelled due to aircraft repairs.  His aunt opted for a landtrip which would be another six to seven hours.  That means my son would be arriving at around 3 in the morning.

Because I was looking forward to his homecoming, I prepared a pork curry dish, his favorite.  I was so happy to be cooking in our newly constructed kitchen.  After almost three months of buying food outside, I am now able to cook again :).

In fact, before I started cooking the curry dish this afternoon, I asked my brother who, in a few weeks, will be graduating from Culinary Arts to teach me how to cook whole wheat pasta from scratch.  Yes, this is how passionate I am about living!  I will have to pass up eating the pork curry with milk, but I will learn new very healthy dishes for my new diet (I hope my son catches on the high fiber low fat selection). The gift of the diagnosis is that I am now able to get past my lethargy towards life and jump  into actually doing things with zest.  So there I was, rolling pin in hand, observing my brother demonstrate how to cook healthy pasta from scratch.

I am now on my third take on Dr. Bob Arnot’s book, Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, reading carefully all I need to know about reducing my risk of recurrence.  

Because I have been following his advice on a high-fiber, low-fat diet without pacing myself, I am currently experiencing incessant tummy rumblings due to gas (which Dr. Arnot assures will normalize even on the same healthy diet after two weeks) and bowel movements to the tune of “I Feel the Earth Move (Under my Feet)”.  But I don’t care! As long as the bad estrogens ride on the fiber that get flushed out of my system and reduce my risk of recurrence – go ahead and pass gas and flush it out, baby! 

initial shopping for a high fiber low fat diet

Also, I’ve been reading about the use of hair dyes for cancer survivors who await chemotherapy.  I’m 35 years old and grey hairs are threatening at the line that parts my hair.  Now, waiting for my first cycle of chemotherapy, the doctor has suggested that I have my hair cut so that losing hair won’t come as much a big shock to people who know me as it would be if I kept my hair long.  I have chosen to have my hair cropped ala Emma Watson – such a drastic change!  But I’ll have to get used to this… Eventually, I’ll practice wearing my hat/bonnet/beanie/fedora/hat too.  Wondering if I should get a wig?  But back to the hair dye.

Searching about the hair dye and its advisability during chemotherapy led to a cascade of information on the harmful ingredients in commonly used toiletries and cosmetics.  We’ve heard this at one point or another:  PARABENS, which are preservatives which give the commercial products a longer shelf life.  I was so sad to see that my favorite Marks & Spencer hand creams had parabens in them, so with what I thought was the trusty Oil of Olay, and even the innocent looking Johnson’s Baby Lotion contained this harmful chemical that could trigger if not boost the proliferation of cancer cells.  Aside from the word or affix -paraben, watch out for the word butane or the like.  A wise rule of thumb, the harder it is to read the ingredients of a cosmetic, the more the likely it is to be harmful.

I gave away a number of my lotions and even sunblock (which is another of the many culprits that trigger growth of cancer cells).  

Although I wish this were a paid advertisement, it is still noteworthy that I found alternatives to the treasures I let go.  I am happy that the Philippines has its own high quality 100% (some are 90%) natural, organic beauty products.  After disposing of my old (but DEFINITELY NOT EXPIRED!) toiletries, I went shopping at Human Nature where I bought bottles of shampoo, facial wash, body lotion, foundation and blush on.  

I would’ve gone the “I’ll just consume these products before I switch” route  if not for the hard lesson I learned about doing the right things too late.  My doctor had said I should have gone for check up long before.  Thank God my 4 cm mass had zero nodes and there was no metastasis.  Because I cannot express enough how much I intend to get well, I didn’t wait till the last drop of cosmetics to move them out of the house.  

This experience is a total purifying episode in my life:  

Not only are my intestines cleaned, thanks to the fiber (wheat germ, whole wheat, fruits, vegetables, guyabano tea and olive oil)  my body is smartly evicting cancer for good  as well.  

My vanity cabinet has been purged of the best loved brands and beauty products to give way to all-natural cosmetics and toiletries so that I will have an even greater chance to be beautiful until old age.

And like I’d said in my previous posts, most importantly, my soul is being purified day and night while I research more stories on surviving breast cancer with flying colors.

I have to hit the sack now before I miss the 3 o’clock arrival of my son.  Good night and keep well!!! What’s your body telling you today?