Today I want to speak from my heart. This year has been one of the hardest I have ever had to go through yet. If you read my previous post than you know that I recently lost my beloved cat to a fast growing, incurable cancer. I found out his diagnosis in late February and on March 12 my mother informed me she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I just lost my mother on June 16 from stage 4 invasive triple negative inflammatory breast cancer. This particular form of breast cancer, like my cat's oral cancer, is aggressive, somewhat rare, hard to treat and has a poor prognosis. Not only that, but it can be harder to detect and doctors are still trying to learn about this fast growing difficult to treat breast cancer.
We just laid my mother to rest on Monday, June 23. She died at a hospice facility just after 3:30 am June 16. I know my mother went home to be with our Lord and Savoir and some day I will see her again. My mom was 63. After my mothers death we have discovered she knew about, or suspected she'd had cancer for quite some time but she didn't seek a diagnosis until March of this year. My mom was very secretive and wouldn't share any details with us on diagnosis or treatment or prognosis. There are a lot of questions. I wish I could ask her why she waited so long to be checked...why she waited so long to begin treatment..why she wasn't honest with us. I know in part she was trying to protect us, but in turn made it more difficult for us all.
I received a Facebook message about a game to raise awareness for breast cancer. I have never participated in such games and now that my mother just suffered with and died of breast cancer, even more will I not participate. Maybe you wonder why? Because breast cancer is not a game. Cancer, is not a game. I don't need a game to be aware. I have lost other loved ones to cancer. Cancer seems as common as catching the flu these days. These so called awareness games, or fundraisers, or slogans...they leave out important details. Wearing pink, catchy phrases, etc, do not raise awareness or prevent breast cancer. If you are a woman than I KNOW you are aware of breast cancer and just having breasts puts us at risk. What these campaigns leave out is that you can do things to lower your risk. Mammograms do not lower your risk. Mammograms are not prevention. My mothers was not even caught on a mammogram. When a mammogram is positive, you already have cancer and prevention can no longer be done and you need to start treatment strategies.
Its my wish that some day the conventional medical industry will start talking about prevention and not detection. There is never going to be a guarantee that you won't get cancer...but there are things you can do to lower your risk. I am not going to talk about them all here, but there is COUNTLESS information in books and on the web and research to back it up. What you eat is important. Processed foods, sugary foods, fried fatty foods, can increase your risk. Stay away from GMO and hormone injected foods. Your activity level is important. Exercise, some say, can lower your cancer risk by half; moderate exercise 3-5 days a week..any amount can help. Supplements...there are so many that can help lower your risk. A good way to start is with a high potency multi-vitamin and mineral supplement, every day. Flaxseeds they say can lower your breast cancer risk..eat them and take a flaxseed oil supplement for the Omega 3 fatty acids; or fish or krill oil. Tumeric is a spice said to possibly prevent or help kill cancer cells. Do your own research. Try your best to eat well by consuming many vegetables and less red meat.
Cancer doesn't discriminate. ANYONE can get cancer, but you do have control over your health to do all you can to try to prevent the cancer cells from taking over. Get your immune system in the best shape you can. EVERYBODY has cancer cells in their bodies, but not everyone 'gets cancer'. You need more good cells than bad cells and have your body be the strongest it can be inside to stop those bad cells from settling somewhere and clumping together and growing; that's when a tumor forms. Sometimes no matter what you do, you still develop cancer. Having a healthy immune system and good eating habts will still benefit you in your treatment.
I will never understand why my mother waited. I can tell you that she did not practice healthy eating habits. She did not have a strong immune system. My mother had chronic health issues and had been on many prescriptions, long term. I will never understand why God chooses some to suffer with such disease and take them home so early. I will always be aware of my risk of developing breast cancer and I will always be concerned about it. I didn't need my mother to die of breast cancer to be aware of my body and understand the importance of healthy eating habits and immune system strength. What my mother dying of breast cancer taught me is that I need to even more do what I can as my risk just went up and I want to be here for my children for as long as God allows me to be. If I do develop cancer, I want my body as strong as it can be to give me the best chance to kill the cancer cells.
I know prevention might mean different things to different people, and I will do what I feel is safe and whats best for me. That doesn't mean I won't get cancer in the future, I can't control that. If God decides its something I need to go through, than I will need to live with that. My mother is no longer suffering. Her pain is over. I will miss her every day, my children will miss their Grammy, but we all know someday will be together again. I don't k now God's plan, but I hope that day is far from today, unless Jesus comes back to take us all home.
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation
Cancer Recovery Foundation -- information on integrated strategies, research and donations.
Dr Mercola; Alternative doctor
Eat to Beat Cancer
SunRidge Medical - Cancer Treatment
MD Anderson Cancer Center
No comments:
Post a Comment