To start off, I’d like to take you up on those offers to help me out in some way. If you have any great recipes that involve chicken and some kind of sauce that are also not too high in calories AKA healthy, I would love to have you send them my way to: amy@utahsmatchmaker.com – Chemo makes it really hard to stay fit but I am not giving up on that goal. Your help with new meals that taste good would be greatly appreciated!
It has been a challenging week so far but a good afternoon/evening. Today I went to see Dr. Clements for acupuncture and it was very helpful in releasing some of the stress that has been bottled up. I have felt stress plenty of times in my life, but what I feel now is more physical than just emotional warfare. My body is reacting to both the Chemo treatments as well as the withdrawal from some supplements that I was advised by my Nutritionist to stop taking.
It may sound like an oxymoron with the cancer involved, but I have always been quite healthy and taken pretty good care of myself with nutrition as well as avoiding unnecessary medications by using supplements when possible. Many of them have worked much better for me than medication for things like digestion, low blood sugar, anxiety, etc. But I learned from the Nutritionist that you can actually “over” supplement your body and some of them can even feed tumors. . .
. . . so I have been learning about how to approach this new dilemma and working with my Dr. and other health care professionals to figure out what I need to do in order to avoid complicating my health situation. Monday and Tuesday were both pretty challenging days as a result. I was able to work and see friends both days but by Tuesday night I had hit an all-time high on the anxiety scale.
Driving home last night I felt like I was on another planet and almost called someone to come and help me get home. Somehow I managed to make it and I was thankful when I drifted off to sleep and then awoke to a new day with a fresh perspective. After my acupuncture appointment I made it to work and thanks to some generous accommodations by my employer and co-workers, I had a really great afternoon and felt more like myself again. I had a nice dinner and am now sitting with my cute 87 year old grandma in my backyard, listening to the waterfall and looking at the amazing view of the mountains. I just read an incredible parable that reminded me how much the challenges I have faced have come to mold my character and generate strength that I didn’t know I had. I’d like to share that with you in closing:
"Siddhartha Guatama was a historical religious figure believed to have been born around 563 BC. He was a sage who became Buddha. One of his stories tells of a journey he had hiking with a monk in the bitter cold of the Himalayas."
"On their way up the mountain, Siddhartha and his companion find a man who is seriously injured and cannot walk. Siddhartha tells the monk they must help the man, but the monk tells Siddhartha that because of the cold and their lack of supplies they will die if they try to carry the man. They must first save themselves. Unconvinced, Siddhartha stops to help the man while the monk goes on ahead. Siddhartha continues on his journey, physically exhausted from the chore of carrying the injured man on his back, but continues out of sheer will power. As Siddhartha approaches camp, he finds the monk frozen to death in the snow. Siddhartha and the man he saved, however, both make it to camp alive. A universal truth overwhelms him when he realized his life was only spared because of the extra energy exerted while carrying the man on his back. If he had not had the extra weight, Siddhartha would have perished along with the monk. He concludes that blessed are those persons with challenges, for it is only by working through those challenges that they will arrive at their ultimate desired destination." - Be Still by Victoria Anderson, PHD & Lois D. Brown, MA
"On their way up the mountain, Siddhartha and his companion find a man who is seriously injured and cannot walk. Siddhartha tells the monk they must help the man, but the monk tells Siddhartha that because of the cold and their lack of supplies they will die if they try to carry the man. They must first save themselves. Unconvinced, Siddhartha stops to help the man while the monk goes on ahead. Siddhartha continues on his journey, physically exhausted from the chore of carrying the injured man on his back, but continues out of sheer will power. As Siddhartha approaches camp, he finds the monk frozen to death in the snow. Siddhartha and the man he saved, however, both make it to camp alive. A universal truth overwhelms him when he realized his life was only spared because of the extra energy exerted while carrying the man on his back. If he had not had the extra weight, Siddhartha would have perished along with the monk. He concludes that blessed are those persons with challenges, for it is only by working through those challenges that they will arrive at their ultimate desired destination." - Be Still by Victoria Anderson, PHD & Lois D. Brown, MA
Well spoken! Your nutritionist is WISE, it is possible to actually feed the cancer, especially if it's "ER (Estrogen Receptor) positive. Avoid hormone fed animal meats, eggs, etc. Avoid also soy beans. I found that hearty soups, low in salt, such as minestrone, etc, that are heated to over 165 first, are wonderful and help manage weight, while being nutritious. I watched cooking shows, and became addicted to them, while in chemo, even though I couldn't eat much....strangest thing.... I also found a great protien drink, that was soy free that was full of nutrition that the chemo nurse suggested. You may want to ask them. It was a great nutritional filler. Amy, you ROCK. This too shall pass. I promise. Oh life is going to be so good for you, better than you ever imagined it could be. I double promise-promise. :)
ReplyDelete