9 more!!!

9 more radiation sessions!!! YAY

I am thinking about changing the name of my blog from "Caitlin wears Pink" to "Mindful Ambition." I want to steer the focus away from me having Cancer to me being Mindful about taking care of myself and being Ambitious about putting the word out there about healthy living to others.

In other news, my oncologist and I decided to add Zometa infusions every 6months to my "toolbox". I will start the first after radiation. Zometa is a drug they use to treat osteoporosis. New studies are showing that Zometa might help prevent bone metastasis in ER+ cancers, which is the highest risk of where ER+ cancer can return.  Zometa has minimal side-effects and will take 15 minutes every 6months. I will do this for the next 5 years. Once, I complete my first Zometa treatment this month, I will definitely say I will be done with active treatment. :-)

More Naturopath News

I saw my Naturopath yesterday & went over the bloodwork. Turns out on top of having cancer I am anemic (i.e. iron deficient), which apparently is not due to the chemo or radiation, and I am gluten-allergic, which means I can't eat any oats, grains, breads, cereals or pastas with gluten. I get to go for more bloodwork on Monday to also rule-out food sensitivities, which could be triggering my allergies & hives. I am just a hot mess.

Treating anemia is easy...take a good Iron with B-12 supplement. Also, I need to reintroduce more egg yolks, beans, and red meat into my life. I haven't eaten much of those foods, minus beans, in the last 10yrs...That could explain why my iron counts were 6 when they should be over 30.

Gluten-Allergic, which is not celiac disease, means my body does not digest gluten like normal people. I retain water, I get hives, I gain 10lbs of water weight, I get gas (ew), and my stomach bloats. I have had these problems for years. Now, I have an answer. Eliminating gluten from my diet is a process. I just bought my FIRST gluten free bread, pasta, and oats today....o yea and Beer. If I like these brands, I am gonna start buying it in bulk online, because its EXPENSIVE. I just have to look at it this way. Before I had cancer, I had stomach aches all the time and saw doctors, who did nothing and just told me to use Colace or Pepcid. I just ended up flushing wasted money down the toilet and no issue was solved.

Anyways, just adding more crap to the top of my list, but I am going to feel more energetic because of all of these changes. :-)

Growth

Just thought I would share this... I am 10 weeks out from chemo & I have a cute little pixie cut.

Hair!!

9 radiation sessions in, 19 to go.

I have hair! I just got my eyebrows waxed for the first time since November. Having eyebrows does look strange. I got so used to the Voldemort look, that I was sporting the Grouch-O-Max look for a few weeks. The waxing lady even asked me if I ever waxed before. I guess I held onto every last growing hair.

In other news, I also have a head of hair, give me two weeks and I will post my cute do.

Things are looking up & treatment is almost done. Thank God.

Naturopathic Medicine

I meant to have an update about 10 days ago, but life has been pretty busy. One of my best friends got married last weekend and I returned to full-time work this past week. I also returned to the gym after a 4 month hiatus. I was utterly exhausted everyday, but it feels nice to be back to some sense of normalcy. I missed the "accomplished" feeling that came from working 8-5. I also missed the soreness that came from exercising HARD, but I surely feel that soreness today.

In other news, I saw a naturopathic doctor about 1.5 weeks ago to address my breast cancer from a holistic angle. I truly believe that most cancer, although some is "genetic," is "turned on" by some environmental factors. I saw a holistic doctor, just to get my supplementation and nutrition under wraps. I appreciated her feedback as she educated me a lot on certain subjects.

1. For instance, taking all the allergy and asthma medicines I was taking could suppress my immune system, which could affect my ability to fight off future cancers. She is helping me wean off the medicines for exercise-induced asthma and I am taking some herbal supplements to build up my lung strength. I am also getting re-tested for food & environmental allergies to see if I even need the antihistamine anymore. She suspects that my histamine response, could also have been an early symptom of my cancer. (Hmmm interesting) I go for the blood-work test July 9 - so I am interested to find out & am excited to maybe take one less medicine.

2. She is testing my Vitamin D, Iodine and Folate levels - as low levels of all three can set you up for cancer.

3. Diet recommendations-

• No SUGAR or artificial sweeteners. This is a hard one. I am a recovering diet soda addict. I have tried on many occasions to stop. I relapsed on Wednesday on one diet sprite. I am back on the wagon and hope you all will support me in my journey to no diet soda. She did okay anything sweetened with Cane Sugar, Stevia, and Agave Syrup. I use Stevia and Agave Syrup in Oatmeal sometimes, so this is not much of a change. It opened me up to be able to drink Jones Soda (cane sugar) and Vitamin Water 0 (Stevia) as a substitute. I also started making Iced Tea at home and tried out a new recipe, thanks to an HS friend. 
• No hydrogenated fats/oils. This shit is in everything. I have been avoiding it since 2003 and have been trying my best to avoid it even more. It's so gross how they make this stuff, it's chemically altered healthy fats (made with a double carbon bond). I swear they made this stuff to get us addicted to junk food. Things that say NO-Trans fats, sometimes have it in there. It's usually in fast foods, cookies, crackers, breads, desserts...ew.
• Eat more Veggies! (well that's not hard for me) Tell me to eat more veggies and you find me hunting down some broccoli eating a whole broccoli patch. 
• Eat organic dairy, eggs, chicken and beef - Already on that path. I will only not eat cage-free chicken if they do not have that option out at a restaurant - I will lean towards fish if I go out to eat these days anyway. 
• Avoid Caffeine - FAIL, Okay let me have one vice people. I am down to two cups of coffee a day. I consider that a success. I was up to two cups before work, + 2 diet pepsis, and + 24 oz of wawa coffee not too long ago. I cleaned up that act about a year ago. 
• Avoid excessive Alcohol use - Already barely drink. This should be pretty easy. 
• High Fiber Foods (already on that) & not processed Fiber One crap

4. Supplement Recommendations 

• 1 tsp of Cod Liver Oil daily with Food - Has Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin D3. All good to fight off cancer. It actually doesn't taste bad...has a lemon flavor and is better than the pill forms. 
• Multivitamin - I take Rainbow Light - its vegetarian and has no soy byproducts
• Vitamin D3 - Will be based off of my blood-work
• Iodine Foods - Will be based off my blood-work
• Allergy Supplement - I take this 2x daily
• CERV-HP 7 for gynecological health
• Essiac Tea and Green Tea up to 4x daily

All in all, I think I can slowly make changes to follow this. I started the supplementation routine and stopped sugar about 1.5 weeks ago & I already feel cleansed and less groggy. 

I start Radiation on Tuesday, July 5! Yay last step.