Have Green, Watch Me Go!

Well, here I am catching up again from another long ago post! I think I'll stop apologizing and just ask you to understand that I'll post when I can; how's that for now?

The newest developments since last post:

1) My miracle "drug" Chlorophyll!!! First, let me tell everyone on cancer treatment that you MUST ask your doctor before taking this to see if it will interfere with your treatment. Many "good things" that help the body can also help the cancer too. If it strengthens your regular cells, it can also strengthen the cancer cells just as much.

So, I have a friend named Phillip who has used Chlorophyll since he had to go through treatment for HEP C/Interferon treatment. He told me how much it helped him, and when I expressed interest, he went down to the health food store and bought me my first bottle of the green juice. (it stains really bad, so be sure to pour over your sink!)

However, I did some research online and here's what I found out: it primarily helps red blood cell production/support in carrying oxygen to the body better, (great for Anemics!! which I am presently), it is a "natural" internal body deodorizer (meaning less smelly underarms and poo), it naturally increases energy levels without a "caffeine" feel (no shaking, tremors, etc. and no crash either), etc.

Chlorophyll is basically the blood of green plants. It is primarily taken from alfalfa (at least that is the kind I have been using and read about). It is also found in spinach, broccoli and kale, among other plants.

For me, having been on chemotherapy now since June 29, 2009, this is what it has done for me: eliminated 90% of my bowel/constipation/gas/pain on going problems, reduced by 98% my feeling of faintness and light-headedness (rarely experience this anymore), reduced my fatigue by 80% or so, improved my GERD so that I feel like I have no stomach problems anymore (other than I still take my GERD medicine as prescribed), has improved my metabolism (I've lost an additional 8 pounds in the last month and trust me, I could still stand to lose another 30lbs.) and my general sense of well-being and happiness as improved. I feel calmer and more centered. Last and certainly not least, my hair is growing back and my eyelashes have returned and are growing rapidly!!!

I originally began taking this on March 31, 2009. Because I felt immediate results, I went from the minimum dose of 1-2 tablespoons daily to the maximum recommended dose of 3 tablespoons. This started on a Wednesday and on Friday I thought I better call my doctor and tell him about this - get permission. I knew it wasn't on the list of things for sure not to take, like green tea, ginko biloba, high doses of A, E, and C, etc. I spoke to the Office Manager and told her and she said, "Hmmm, I dont know about that, never heard of it before. I'll check with the doctor and let you know if its not okay."

So I waited and continued taking it at the 3 tblsp dose. I traveled with my kids by plane from where I live on the central coast of California to Port Angeles, Washington and stayed for a week. I still rested quite a bit and had to take naps, but my digestive system and bowel problems were greatly reduced already at that point. When I was up and about, I felt more like my old self, less heart-pounding, easier breathing, less light-headedness. I ate a lot better. Not to mention that I was getting an extra week off from chemo due to the trip - I have to include that to be fair and accurate.

Anyway, we got home and I kept taking the Chlorophyll, and at the end of the week (which was April 16, I went in for my next dose of chemo.

I was so excited to tell the chemo nurses about this wonderous stuff I was taking and lo and behold, the nurse I told (Diane), majorly popped my happy bubble! She stopped in her tracks when I started effusively gushing about all the improvements I was getting from taking this stuff and she said "What is it called again?", so of course I told her. She said she didn't think I should be taking that and would check with the doctor. I explained my prior conversation and how I hadn't gotten any warning back, being hopeful that would explain things. However, being a good nurse she checked with the doctor anyway.

Here is what Dr. P said: I absolutely cannot take it the day before, the day of, and the day after chemo!! (to which I said, uh oh, I already took it yesterday and today (day of chemo), and the other recommendation for the rest of the time is "he recommends against it, but its up to you."

So, I quit taking it from April 17, until April 22. At that point I was feeling so rotten again, every problem I have mentioned came back in full by then. I thought to myself this "justification" to return to using Chlorophyll; I have been on chemo almost a full year and its been a hard year. Its very hard to be a normally energetic person and be reduced to a bed/couch potato when that goes against what your heart and head want to do. It is very painful and limiting to have severe ongoing bowel infections, pain when you try to go #2, embarrassing levels of gas, horrible constipation that seems to be unresponsive to any amount of stool softeners and magnesium and laxatives, etc. Both my kids were so happy to "see the real me" again that they both said to me on their own "Gosh, Mom! I missed you!" - only to have to watch me return to the invalid during that week off of the Chlorophyll. My kids are 10 (almost 11) and 16 years of age. I am a single mom and although I get support from friends and family, I am still the primary parent that they rely on. Additionally I thought this - while I am great at eating salads, cooked veggies from time to time (like 2 x week), I should be eating things like broccoli, asparagus, spinach etc. every day and I don't. If I took a cup of spinach or broccoli and ground it into juice, I believe I would get more than a tablespoon of juice. Therefore, I feel that if I stick to the minimum basic level of 1 tablespoon a day (in the morning), and stay off of the Chlorophyll the day before, the day of, and the day after chemo as Dr. P requested, then that is my new plan.

I resumed Chlorophyll on April 23rd and immediately again felt all the benefits. However, i still have some gas and gurgling in my bowels, but its manageable at least, on this reduced dose. I feel a little more fatigue than before but I can get through the day and have started to walk for exercise again about 15 min. every other day. I also have yet to inform my doctor of this as I don't meet with him until tomorrow (I also had a PET scan yesterday and I didn't take the Chlorophyll until after the test was over so I wouldn't screw up the test as I didn't know if the Chlorophyll would affect it or not). So, depending on my scan results and my discussion with my Dr. tomorrow, I may have to change my new dosing pattern again but I am loathe to give it up altogether! I feel too good with it!

If my scan doesn't say good things, I will have to re-think this Chlorophyll plan again. But the scan is supposed to be confirming that my liver has indeed returned to normal (ie no lesions anymore) as the last MRI scan showed in February and again check the status of my bones, which are already supposedly "healed" of cancer since last December --- so other than my CA-15-3 blood test still sitting at 54-55 for the last 2 months, I am hoping this scan will show dramatic improvement, maybe even that I have entered remission? Who knows? I am prepared to hear the opposite since I have so many times. But this is where I am at. And all the things I've read about Chlorophyll is that it is more a "detoxifier" than an antioxident, but it is likely both.

So tomorrow is the real truth-teller. What the scan will tell, what the doctor will say and what I will ultimately have to decide from that. But I tell ya what! If you can take Chlorophyll, DO it!! You will be amazed. I have 5 friends who have started taking it who are not in treatment and they have experienced their own energy boosts, and benefits, so the stuff does work and if you need help with fatigue and digestive and anemic help, ask your doctor and give it a try. It only costs about $10 a bottle and a bottle lasts for about a month.

Good luck and let me know what happens when you take it, okay? I'm interested!

I'm Still Alive and Kickin'!

Well, it's 2010 and it is the 10th of February...and it's been over 3 months since I last posted on my blog. Naughty, naughty me! However, I've had some challenges with THE cancer (one of my New Year's Resolutions is to stop calling it "MY" cancer, because I don't want to own it, or let it belong to me anymore!), that it is in my body and being killed off by the chemotherapy that I am on. I used to be on Taxol but while I was on that treatment, after the cancer appeared to initially go down -- about October (treatment began in June 09), THE cancer began to grow again. So, in December of '09, I was switched to Adriamycin and Cyclosposphamide (spelling?).

I also had a radiation treatment on my left leg in the first weeks of December that resulted in an unexpected response whereby the pain that they were radiating me to reduce, actually went sky high instead! Boy, was that a surprise and a painful one! My radiologist immediately stopped the original 2 week radiation schedule and said, "Your body is telling us that right now, radiation is NOT your friend". I was put on steroids and Fentanyl patches to reduce the pain feeling and result in my bones. After Christmas, I was able to stop using ALL pain medicines (by then I had already had one dose of Adriamycin +)!

At the time of the first dose, my CA-15-3 test had risen from a low of 40 to over 100. That was not good to say the least! It peaked at 133 after 2 doses and now, after 3 doses, it is down to 71 (the goal level is 0-31). I've also had an MRI w/ and w/o contrast that shows nothing has increased or decreased at this point. I may not have gone down on my 3 little lesions in my liver, and one on my sternum, but hey!, they didn't grow either. So, I'm happy!

Now that the update has been provided on what I was "busy" with when I was not posting, at this time I think I can say I'll be better able to keep up with my posts for the forseeable future.

Thanks for your patience with me!

With Gratitude For All!

Elizabeth Gregory

Three Years

I write with gratitude, for at this moment I am celebrating the first one hour and twenty-four minutes of my sobriety "birthday" - I have just reached my 3rd year anniversary as of midnight, July 10, 2009. What a long road I have traveled, and just in the last three years! The years before seem like a separate lifetime ago, with so many peaks and valleys and "lost episodes." My life today is so very different and so very good.

I can say that sincerely and mean it, even while I am walking through my second round of treatments for breast cancer. I was originally diagnosed in 2003 and underwent a lumpectomy, a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. That was six years ago and up until the last few months, all was "quiet" on the home front of my body. Now? As of right now, I am into my third chemotherapy treatment as this annoying disease has reared it's ugly head again by showing that it had been hiding out in my bones all this time. Anyway, my ovaries came back to life after my five year hormonal treatment ended (last May "08) to which the response was to promptly pull them out of my body. This was done to prevent the estrogren that turned back on like a loose faucet, from igniting any remaining cancer cells in my body. Oh well! So, the estrogen appears to have done it's damage while it had that flash in the pan chance, and so my body is lit up like a christmas tree under a PET scan, the cancer is in so many bones. Stage Four diagnosis now (sounds like a curtain call..."stage left!" ha ha).

However, as I would like to take this moment to point out, I am quite certain that this is a temporary problem and that the chemotherapy treatments will simply toss the water on the cancer "fire" again and put the cancer cells out of business once again. I say this will all sincerity and true faith, because I have a God who has walked with me through homelessness, through alcoholism and addiction, through rape and abuse, and I have faith, strong faith, that my dear God will walk with me through this too. I believe this is simply another opportunity for me to "grow", not "go."

Of course, this doesn't mean that I don't have moments of fear...I am human like everyone else, so of course I find myself in these moments. What I also have is faith, and faith overcomes my fear. I was blessed with this faith through other trials I've endured, such as reaching for and attaining sobriety these last three years...something I have been struggling to accomplish and keep one day at a time for the majority of my life. I am so grateful that I have gotten this far because the gift of faith is precious to me.

There is a lot I have to share and I want to reach out and do this in the hope that I might help someone else to gain strength - that I can offer through my words the same encouragement, belief, trust, acceptance, hope and faith that was offered to me. That my story may benefit someone else - that my testimony, my victories over my difficulties can inspire others to not give up, never give up and keep trying. As they say in my favorite spiritual program, don't give up five minutes before the miracle happens.

Yes, you can be that miracle! You just have to believe it can be true, reach for it, rely on your spiritual guide, whether that be God and Jesus, or Buddha, or a spirit of the Universe, and put your faith into action.

My Prayer for Today:
I am grateful I am sober today. Thank you God for my 3 year anniversary. Help me walk with strength and grace while my cancer is attacked and killed, keeping my healthy body protected during this time. I believe this is an opportunity to learn and grow, that I might offer hope to others. Thank you God because you love me and carry me and I will survive and emerge stronger and healthier at the end of this treatment. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

I believe. Do you?