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.

Radiation

I finalized what I will be doing for my radiation plan. I will be having 28 sessions. During each session they will radiate my clavicle and chest wall. This will be done M-F for about 5 minutes a day. One of the girls from the YSC boards came up with an excellent skin care routine for radiation. I plan on following that because radiation can cause skin damage and burning. She recommended the following plan:

RADIATION SKIN CARE

1.  Aloe + Aloe Lotion - AM/After shower
2.  Vitamin E lotion (2x daily)
3. Calendula Lotion -  right after radiation. 
4. Aquaphor or prescription lotion - After home from radiation
5. Aloe + Aloe Lotion - bedtime

That will be the "end" of active treatment for me. I started Tamoxifen about two weeks ago. I have been getting hot flashes as warned by my doctor as a side-effect from taking the new medicine. Other than that, no other noticeable side-effects. I am a little moody at times, but I really think that is due to having to go through this whole crappy experience. Otherwise I am pretty even keeled and optimistic about things.  

I plan on calling my doctor and asking him about Zometa. A few of the girls on the boards are taking this as a preventive measure for bone metastasis, which I never want to even be a possibility, and osteopenenia, which could be a side-effect from chemo. I also want to get a bone density scan, my mom has osteoporosis and I just want to make sure that chemo has not taken a toll on my bones. 

I think that is all for breast cancer news. Things are going good, my reconstruction is settling into place. I will most likely have another surgery to "revise" the reconstruction around December/January of this coming year. My surgeon says its a simple outpatient procedure & I won't need much time off of work. That is good news. I am glad I am getting to the end of this nightmare of a year. 

Mullet

I think my hair grew more in the back overnight again. I have a fluffier mullet. My hair isn't growing back dark brown, its kinda lighter. Then again, I have been dying my hair off and on since I was 15, so who knows what lurked underneath. On the bright side, the top is really starting to grow in. I think I will have enough hair in four more weeks to go without the wig. Thank god. I mean there was a time back in March where I looked a lot like this (just a little happier LOL) :

I woke up today and saw some sprouts up top. I was getting a little scared that I'd look like this in a few weeks.

I could post pics of my beautiful head, but I think Britney's will do the trick. I really do not want bald pictures of me circulating the internet. Sorry lurkers, its just not going to happen. If you are really that desperate to take a peek at my personal freak show, I walk around bald in my house. It has been way too hot to wear the wig and a scarf indoors.

I have been wearing scarves out most days. I can't bear the heat in addition to my 11a, 4p, 7p, and 10p hot flashes (thanks chemo & tamoxifen). Here I come bouncing along, scarf in tow, mullet peaking from underneath, and beads of sweat pooling on my forehead in air conditioned stores. Boy, does that turn a lot of heads. The only people who don't stare at me are the elderly, they actually come up and talk to me. Middle aged women turn their heads and look scared --- yep creeper this could happen to you too, but stop staring before your eyes burn out of the sockets. I swear its like they think I am a walking sign of death to some people, please get a life and get EDUCATED about what cancer really is before you stare at me. I wish I had enough balls to poke them in the foreheads with my fingers - "Cancer is contagious so stop staring."

I found some cute scarfs at Kohls. I think I might buy them online & wear them to work come June 27. I think the wig might have to go into retirement if we are going to have 90 degree + temperatures out here.