Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. Mom and Leonard came to stay with us. It was Atti's third birthday and Chase and Miquel were having Cougan blessed. After the fun little party for Atti we went to Win On's for dinner. Leonard has been meat free for about 4 months and I am trying really hard not to eat meat so Win On's Mongolian BBQ was perfect for us. Plus they have a really nice meat free veggie dish, veggie lo mien and veggie egg rolls. We were happy as clams.

Then we had an enjoyable evening of eating popcorn and watching "The Secret." A documentary on the Law of Attraction. I love this movie, it helps me to be positive and proactive in my life. We get what we think about, so I want to think good things.

Sacrament meeting in Lapoint was very nice. Cougan was blessed to me named Ceagan, but I guess because the paper work was correct it will go on the record as Cougan. It was a nice blessing even with the name mix up. After the blessing we again went to Win On's and then went to the mountain.

We went up Taylor Mt. to Oaks Park. I think that is the most beautiful mountain we have in our area and there are very few people up there. In a few weeks that will be a different story with all the deer hunters but for now it was rather deserted. It poured down rain on us up there so we weren't able to get out and walk around but I love just being up there. We talked of having a family camp out up there next summer, so start preparing for it everybody.

Walking

My dear friend Kathy has been walking with me and Geoy every morning. We don't walk very fast. We keep it at a moderate pace and visit. I am not sure what is more beneficial, the walking or the visiting. I love Kathy, she is so patient with Geoy and the little things that come up when taking a child walking, like him wanting to push the stroller instead of riding. He has a hard time keeping it going where he wants and refuses any help. We have been run over a few times. We also have to go to the playground after we walk. Kathy just goes along and we keep visiting while we play, slide and swing.

I had gone off of the smoothies for a few days when we came home. After being at mom's where Leonard has a Blendtec, my smoothies made with my Bosch blender was less than satisfying. In fact it was down right awful. I was still trying to eat a good diet. Lots of fruit, whole wheat bread made by my visiting teacher, and some veggies. But I realized that I was having less and less energy, so I am back on the smoothies.

I tried to get Geoy to drink a smoothie this morning. It was very simple with almond milk and a banana with a little cocoa added as incentive. When I gave it to him and he tasted it he said "it dewissius" but then he didn't drink it so maybe not so much. I will keep trying. Maybe I will find a combination that he will drink.

Haven't felt like eating

The last few days everything has tasted like bitter metal. So getting anything down has been a chore. Mom made a rice pudding last night. I had a little bit of it. There are eggs in it. My arm pit filled back up with fluid. I just can't handle any animal protein.

Today I will start my three day detox with green smoothies, that is if I can get a smoothie down. The last few days they have tasted incredibly awefull.

Good news though, I haven't had any pills other than the blood thinner. No pain killers or anti-nausia. yea. I have been taking L-Lysine for my mouth. I don't feel any sores but when I brush, my gums are bleeding so I don't want to end up with an issue. I have also taken cascara sagrada. I want to keep my bowels open.

I feel much better today and so excited to see Geo. He will be here today to get us and then we will probably go home tomorrow. I want to get some peaches on the way home and get them in the freezer.

Had my second treatment on August 16, 2010. It was easier to get the needle into the port this time. I wasn't still tender from having surgery, like I was last time.

Right after we got there I checked my phone and there was a message from mom that she had lost Georgie. I sent Geo home to check on the situation. The message was from about two hours before when we had gone to the store and taken Georgie with us. But it freaked me out for a second.

As promised here is a picture of me with no hair. I am still not comfortable showing my altogether to the world. Maybe when all the hair is gone, but right now it is just scary.

I feel pretty good today. I have been up doing laundry and dishes. Not tired enough to sleep but not energetic enough to go to the splash park with mom, Georgie, Naomi and her kids.

Nutrition

Since this adventure began I have been trying to figure out a better way to eat and feed my family. The first book I got on nutrition for cancer was from my oncologist. I have never seen so much drivel. I wouldn't feed the stuff they suggested to my cats, and I really don't like cats.

When I mentioned this to my doctor she was amazed that I would think such a thing. I asked for a nutritionist, she didn't know of any. So I went to the internet, there are two nutritionist in Utah that deal with cancer. One is in Odgen and the other is in Cedar City. I had a heck of a time tracking down a phone number for them. Their websites had bogus numbers. I still have not been able to get in to see the one in Odgen and I haven't tried to go to Cedar City. That is too far. So because once again I have been disappointed by the medical field, I started searching for the answers for myself.

Remember that old saying that when the student is ready the teacher will appear, it appears that I was ready. First my Relief Society President brought me a book from another sister in our ward. It was on nutrition for cancer. I loved it so I bought one. "Healthy eating of life to prevent and treat cancer" this is where I got the info before I even went into surgery that it would be better to avoid animal protien. I felt so much better. Then after surgery we went out for chinese. I didn't think it would hurt me to have a little chicken in my chow mein. Boy was I wrong. Total pain all night long in my surgery sites. But what do doctors tell us after surgery? Get more protein you will heal faster and what do we think of when they say protein? for me I think ribeye steak.

Then next a gal in a group I belong to called healthybabybirthing posted a website to gree smoothiegirl.com. Amazing, if you get a chance to see one of her workshops it would be well worth your time. I drug Leonard to on in Orem on August 5, 2010. I bought her book as well, "The Green Smoothis Diet" by Robyn Openshaw. I have not felt better than when I am drinking a green smoothie. They taste amazing and you get between 12-15 servings of fruit and greens in on quart of smoothie. Amazing things happen while drinking them as well. I have had a large collection of fluid in my armpit where the doc removed my sentinel nodes. Before we left for Oregon the Dr removed 100 ml of fluid from it. That is a lot, like 1/2 a cup. I couldn't put my arm down. When I got home from Oregon it was backup to the same size. I started drink green smoothies 3 qt a day, the fluid is nearly gone.

Then Leonard bought the book "The China Study" by T. Colin Campell, Phd and Thomas M. Campbell II. The green smoothie girl talked about this study in her workshop and in her book. The author goes in to great detail about the studies he had conducted of the relationship with animal protien and cancer. He was a cattle rancher and started out to prove that meat was the super food that the goverment wants us to believe it is. He could not prove it.

He started out with 20 rats. He gave all of them aflataxin, a fungus found on peanuts and corn. It is a magor cancer causing agent. Then they fed half the mice a diet of 20% animal protien and the other half 5%. The group with 20% grew tumors, got fat, listless and died. The group with 5% did not grow tumors even though they had been given a cancer causing agent. A rats lifespan in around two years the group with 5% where healthy, happy and had shine full coats when they reached their two year mark.

Further tests proved that animal protien in excess of 10% will make cancer grow, at least in critters. These tests make it plausible that it would be true for human as well. The typical american is getting between 20-30% of their total consumption.

If you want to be more healthy and less likely to get cancer cut your animal protein in half. Keep in mind that butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheese, milk, yogurt etc. are all animal proteins.

Check out the books if you are interested or give me a call. I am more than happy to talk about it. I am kind of a zealot when I get on a tanget, and I am clearly on a tanget about nutrition. My life depends on it.

Trip to Oregon

Mom called the day after I was feeling better and asked if I wanted to go to Oregon to see my Auntie Sandy and her son Davy, his wife Robin and their children. Since I was feeling better and had nothing at all to do I accepted the offer.

We had a great time. We took my sons Zach and Georgie and my niece Breck. We took two days to get up there. We stayed in Ontario OR on the way up. It rained soooo hard that we couldn't even drive and trying to get to the restraunt next door to the hotel completely drenched us. The parking lot had so much water that the cars had water up to their floor boards. We took off our shoes to walk to the door. Well they did, I didn't want to take the chance that I would step on something and get an infection.

Dave took us boating. The kids got to wake board and knee board. We went to the ocean and spent the day and then we took the kids to the water park. Geoy is crazy. He will just jump in where ever he is 2 ft or 12 ft he doesn't care. He kicks and moves all over the pool. We had a life jacket on him. But at the hotel we didn't have one and he was the same way.

My hair started to fall out while we were there. It was coming out in big hand fulls so one morning I shaved it off. I was making such a mess, hair falling out every where I went. Once I got it shaved I realized that I still had alot of hair left. But oh well. It will be gone with this next treatment.

I will load a few more pictures when I get back out to mom today. We even have a few with my bald head. That will be a treat for everyone to see. Don't laugh too hard.