Your body your mind

There is this saying “your body listens to your mind careful what you say”. The issue is when you had an illness like cancer your body says a lot. What should you listen to and what should you ignore? Who do we call and will they listen? These are real questions and concerns we have. I have found myself not telling what is going on because I do not want to seem like a hypochondriac, plus that look. You know the “omg is she for real?” look. I have for the past 3 years try to deal with a lot of my health issues on my own, mostly because I do not want to seem like I am crying wolf. The truth is I am in pain, constant pain. When I write it all out I think “what the hell is wrong with this person?”. I have told my neuro some, a little to my gastro, some to my oncologist, a little to my breast care doc and a lot to my GP but I held most in. Plus you see where I am coming from-which doctor and how much? Not to mention no one had an answer.

Recently I could not take any more “false positive” results, what does that even mean? The “there is something there, we just do not know what” comments were too much. I was sick of the pain with no explanation. So I sought out a new doctor that looked at everything. Heidi Puc is an integrated doctor. Now chill let’s look at the word integrated, it means combining allopathic and complementary therapies. I needed a change and she was it. I sat with her for 2 hours and she combed my case and listened to me. I mean listened to every ache, pain, twitch and tingle. I am curious why more doctors do not do that. She even had about 50 symptoms to ask me about. I feel like I am getting the answers.

Fear-that is a huge issue. We are so scared to get an answer or a DX we do not go. The anxiety and stress of knowing all too well how an illness can change you is mounding. The truth is the unknown is just as scary if not worse. It is time to take that fear and say  “bite me”. We can run from fear or run through it. While I am not a runner I am sick of letting fear consume me.

I am being tested and scanned like a mission in the task force. I am slowly getting answers. What is my point here’? Stop being worried about what the doctor may think or how you may look. Talk to your physician, if you can not fire them and get another. The aftermath of cancer or any illness of that severity is extreme we need to be our own advocate. Now I am not telling you to go to the doctor for every sniffle or hangnail. However issues that are persistent or nagging need attention, go I urge you go.

So while my doctors all listen to me and try to find the source of my pain I will try different meds to help. I will get blood draws and scans. But I will not be quiet any more. This is my body and I am tired of living in fear of it. Someone grab my tiara, I ready to face it head one!

HealthEVoices 2016

I am a voice. Wait when did that happen? It still boggles my mind that people read this blog let alone share it wanting sit and chat about it. CRAZY! But this weekend I will travel to Chicago for the HealthEVoices conference and I am pumped up. The first and foremost reasons are these two- Claudia from   My Left Breast and Jen for Booby and the Beast . I have been following both and "talking" basically since my dx so to be able to hug them is epic. No really, the breast cancer community is tight and these woman are like family to me so this is such an opportunity. To learn from them is going to be amazaballs (how does a blogger who talks like this possibly gets into this conference?).

I do ask myself that, why me? I am not only thrilled to be with Jen and Claudia but I am going to listen to  Trevis Gleason  talk. He is an MS advocate, chef and blogger badass. Plus having MS so I am going to no doubt have an incredible connection to him. I can not wait to hear about what he has to offer. The conference has lined up  Tim Cigelske a social media guru what he will offer me for my blog, Wisdo and Lyfebulb I am jumping out of my seat!

Add a little Yoga, keynote speakers and we have a bang out weekend! Janssen is who we are thanking for sending us on this weekend like no other. Putting us all together, with all different illness is pure brilliance. Think about what can be accomplished medically when those with different health issues get together and discuss what is working and not. In addition to working and brainstorming how to build blogs that will not only reach our communities but reach the masses. WOW! WOW! Yes I use caps and exclamation points, it is how I roll.  

So my bag is packed, my ticket is on my phone, agenda is planned, tiara shined and I am ready to meet, shmooze and make friends with this amazing cast of blogger. #Healthevoices2016 here we come!

Cancer and Nutrition a Lyfebulb Social Event

When I was diagnosed with cancer it was doctor appointments out my ears. The oncologist, the breast care and the plastic surgeon. No one ever mentioned my lifestyle and how I ate or exercised. Maybe my fabulous before cancer body told them I knew this already. BLAHAHAAH we know that is not true. Cancer brings stress and if you deny this then maybe you are a robot. Some people when they are stressed over eat some under eat either way it is not healthy. Some can work out to relieve the tension some can not even get out of bed. Clearly we need some help here. Yes my cancer center has a nutritionist but no one made that appointment for me, seems to me it should just happen with any serious or chronic illness right? I have always believed that food fuels us from both the health aspect and the emotional. This is the time we need both. 

 LyfeBulb hosted a Social Event to bring cancer and nutrition together, yes you read that right. Now let me first say that I in no way shape or form do I  think eating healthy and exercising will cure shit. BUT it will help your body with the fuel it needs to get through treatment, surgery, stress and all the scans.Exercise in any form is good for your mind as well as your fabulous body. I will also say that eating a bag of skittles is bad for you but can be done every now and then if you are eating right, right? The event was at Le Colonial where the food was delicious and healthy and cocktails were yum! They event started with Susan from Savor Health so let's being there.

The idea behind Savor is that while you are undergoing treatment you can use food to nourish your body and mind. There was no talk about curing cancer but using your body with food to help how you feel during this time.  What a great concept?! It matches your cancer with what your body needs and creates meal plans. Again great but here is my but. Why isn't every center using this? I feel like all the hospitals should be offering us this and our insurance should cover the cost. If we feel better from eating healthy our recovery and healing will be greater. This should be offered at all centers and pushed on every patient. Those with metastatic disease can get through chemo better because their body is prepared. Seems like a no brainer to me. Just my 2 cents here.

Next came Professor Robert Thomas who is an oncologist believing in health integrated with chemo. YUP I said that right. He was not telling us that eating broccoli soup was better than chemo he was saying that with chemo and eating what works against your cancer can shrink tumors. Maybe it was bullshit but when he showed the scans it was real. Ok so may the chemo is what did it BUT I think that because your body was feeling good than you were able to take chemo better. Cancernet uk gives you the info you need to see for yourself. When the Professor first got up I was thinking he was going to be stiff and just spew facts and data, it was the opposite. Relaxed, witty and just easy to understand. He did not throw medical terms that we did not understand but things we did and how it helps us. The other thing that the professor was saying is that it is ok to eat that NYC hot dog when you are eating healthy because it will balance it off. Do you see the benefits from listening to him? My posse kept him, his friend Andy and another friend Stefano from Helsinn at the restaurant until they basically threw us out. The professor really listened to our concerns and our life and wanted to us to see how his research is making a difference. We were sold-we also choked him with his tie (I think there maybe pictures). 

Helsinn pharmaceuticals scary right cause it is big pharma and we all know there are blogs on this. You are 100% wrong!!! Helsinn is listening to the research that Dr. Robert Thomas is doing and making products to enhance our health. They are an integrated  company that is using both alternative health with their medications. I have always believed this is how we are going to health faster and make ourselves more comfortable.

You all know I do not sugar coat shit I am not Willy Wonka. This was such an invigorating event seeing not only where health care can go, but from passionate doctors and companies that are trying to make this happen. What if you go to chemo and they do blood work and see what you what are lacking in vitamins and minerals then they give you a meal plan based on your bodies needs. What if then you eat that food and balance yourself? What will the outcome be? I  just want all the best for us, for us to have everything we need to get through this the best we can. I urge you to check into this cause hey you never know and what could it hurt?