How did I come up with the title? I am currently in stage IV Breast Cancer treatment, thus the Pink Ribbons. I have also been diagnosed with Epilepsy, thus the Purple and Lace just seemed to go with Ribbons.
I was going to give all the gory details, but decided on a shortened version instead. I was diagnosed with high stage Breast Cancer December 13, 2004. I had surgery January 11, 2005 and six weeks later started Chemotherapy. After 8 treatments of dose dense chemo (every 2 weeks, so 16 weeks) I had 35 radiation treatments. Sometime during the radiation treatments, towards the beginning, I also started Herceptin. I think they had said my 5 year survival rate was something like 24% without, and double that with. I took it. I had been on the Hallelujah Acres diet before being diagnosed. That's Vegan with 70-80% raw and only eating cooked potatoes or noodles at dinner and lots of juiced carrots. The church started giving us food on my treatment day and the following 2 days, so we fell away from the diet. Right after my radiation treatments were over, we moved from Illinois to Texas.
We bought a house with my in-laws. Never do that. The stress caused seizures. Not going into more detail than that. My neurologist wanted me off the second floor and onto carpet. Not gonna happen where we were, and MIL wouldn't sell. We forced her hand by just moving out and buying another house. We were now paying 2 mortgages. This was the beginning of 2009, right as the housing market was crashing. Our other house wouldn't sell until this year. That's over 3 years of 2 mortgages.
In June of 2010 I started having a dry cough. I'm allergic to Texas in the summer, so I passed it off as allergies. It didn't go away. In January, 2011 I was diagnosed with Stage IV Breast cancer in my left lung and on my spine (T5). I started chemo again, along side Herceptin (hormone blocker) and a calcium blocker. In about July I was told I was in remission. But, chemo had knocked me on my butt. I still felt weak and decimated. My husband was doing everything for me, as well as my children (then 11 and 20). My youngest is extremely ADHD and my oldest is Down Syndrome and autistic. Not a lot of help. I had just cooked 5 meals in a row in the beginning of September, 2011 when my husband had a really bad scooter accident. He had to have 2 surgeries close together, and is still (in July, 2012) not allowed weight bearing. Like I said, a really bad break. In January, 2012, they told me it was back. They determined not to do chemo again, but they did do radiation on my spine. The first time around I received 35 treatments, which is the lifetime max for the breast area. This time I got 10 treatments, which was the lifetime max for my spine. I was told that since chemo didn't work, they wouldn't do that again. They added another hormone blocker in the form of a shot.
I have decided to turn to alternative therapies. Since the other house has sold now, I'm going to increase our intake of vegetables and fruits (natural, not canned). I've also been reading about B17.
Where will this blog go? I can tell you right now that it will have political elements to it. My husband has been a right winger since I met him, very into talk radio. I was never really political, rolling my eyes when he went on his rants. I was raised Democrat, and at the time, I figured there wasn't that much difference between Democrat and Republican except the Democrats wanted slightly more government spending and were pro-abortion. I became a Republican during my military service (1984-88). I became politically active in 2009 when the health care bill was being debated. I had joined a Facebook gaming site and they encouraged you to participate in discussions. My husband suggested a current events/hot topics forum. They were debating the health care bill, and being very analytical, I wanted to read it before I started making comments. It scared me into politics. So, part of this blog will be about the effects of Obamacare on my treatments. I've already lost doctors and had medication problems. But that's for later.
Another aspect will be big Pharma/big medicine. I've had my eyes opened to so many issues through research and they will never be able to be closed again. Sometimes I miss the ignorance, it truly is bliss. I am firmly convinced that there will NEVER be a cure for cancer. It's too much of a money maker for big Pharma. Do you know how much they charge for chemo drugs? Do you know how much doctors charge for all the tests? If they cure you, all that income goes away. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my Oncologist, but he's been brainwashed from medical school that chemo is the only way. I'll be doing research on different therapies and journaling my experience with them. I'll also be updating on my status and wondering if my therapies are working or modern medicine.
I'll also be keeping this blog up to date on my diet interventions or anything else I try. There may be days I don't feel like sitting at the computer and typing, so there may be long gaps between posts.
That's my initial blog, with the history and focus of this blog. Comments are welcome, but keep it civil. Just remember, I'll have my fire proof panties on, so your flames won't bother me. I accept fights with facts, but not name-calling or emotions. No chear leading our current POTUS just for the fact that he holds that office. Remember, November isn't that far away.
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