Battling Breast Cancer – From Fear to Courage: Changing the Diet

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A plan empowers. Mine was to immediately change my diet by cutting out sugar. Cancer cells feed on it. I had gained weight over a 10 year period, and found myself trying to lose first, 15 pounds…then 20 pounds…then 30 pounds. By cutting sugar, I actually lost seven pounds in two weeks. Weight loss was an unexpected bonus.

I had the lumpectomy in March, and a “re-do” surgery a month later so the surgeon could improve the margin between clean and cancerous tissue. I made a 100% shift to the blood type diet after the first surgery and lost another 18 pounds in nine weeks. My plan was to fortify my body for chemo.

The pounds continued to melt away at the healthy rate of two pounds per week. My facial bone structure was defined again for the first time in years.  I no longer saw rolling haunches reflected in windows I walked past. My energy and attitude were great.

Quitting wheat was probably key to the second wave of weight loss. According to Eat Right 4 Your Type, wheat inhibits the metabolism.  My weight loss skidded to a stop right at my pre-gain weight of 135. Quitting wheat was like pushing a metabolism re-set button.

Aside from pounds lost, this is what else I noticed: My stomach didn’t cramp after eating. I didn’t burp, fart, or bloat, which had been fairly chronic before the diet. I didn’t have dandruff or an itchy scalp, or achy finger joints and knees. I was also less moody. I’ll  be candid…yeast infections were also now in the past. The best part, though, was my improved mental clarity.

While my doctors worked their plan to get rid of the disease, I worked my plan to get healthier.  All my life, I had compulsively eaten sweets and baked goods until I either felt sick or crashed. Usually, a bag of cookies never made it into the house. By the time I got home from the store, I was putting an empty bag in the trash. And let’s not even talk about Girl Scout cookies, especially Thin Mints. I could kill a box in 10 minutes; then, I would feel ill. Giving up the sweets and pastries was critical…so I just did it.

I’ve been a big eater and a foodie for years. But, I began to eat differently — even eating foods I had refused to eat before, like beets and almonds. I’ll even eat  walnuts, as long as they are absolutely pulverized.  (I don’t like how they look or smell.)  My weight has been easy to maintain. Believe me, I can clean a plate! I care about what goes into my body, and I don’t count calories.

I became a mindful eater.

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Battling Breast Cancer – From Fear to Courage: The Surgery

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I’m a tennis player. I love the sport and play in USTA tennis leagues. I couldn’t believe it when my surgeon described to me another surgical procedure that would threaten my ability to play tennis with my dominant arm.

Prior to and during the lumpectomy, there were a lot of “ifs.”  The one that concerned me most was if cancer cells had entered the sentinel node, my surgeon would do an axillary lymph node dissection.  The dissection involves scooping out lymph nodes under the armpit and testing them for cancer.  The procedure would leave my arm forever at risk of lymphedema.  My surgeon would find out what she needed to know through surgery pathology reports.

The Nightmare Scenario:  pumping fluid daily from a perpetually swollen arm, having limited arm mobility, and wearing a compression sleeve and glove 24/7.

My health care provider’s literature explained that lymphedema may not affect everyone or be immediately present. Lymphedema could be triggered by trauma to the arm, like bug and animal bites, bone breaks, surgery, needles, and using a blood pressure cuff. The literature also said playing tennis is not recommended because of the arm’s repetitive motions. And neither is weight-bearing exercise, like yoga or pushups. I thought, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding!  Those are the things I do!’

So, I zeroed in on what I really cared about. Let’s see:  the tumor was in my right breast, I am a right-handed tennis player, and I might have to quit my sport?  My common sense overrode the health care provider’s recommendation about tennis being a risk. I was not a novice tennis player. Muscle memory is real and I’d been playing tennis for years. In fact, I played up until the night before the surgery.

I prayed I wouldn’t have to have the lymph node procedure. I stayed positive.

Before leaving for the hospital, my boyfriend and I danced in the kitchen to my new anthems, “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige and “I Am Not My Hair” by India Arie. My priest met my family and me at the hospital and prayed with us. It was a long day of surgical prep, the longest and most painful mammogram ever, pathology tests, and waiting.

I remember waving to my peeps as I was rolled into surgery, but nothing else before going under anesthesia. When I came out of it, my surgeon was talking to me. It was like an out of body experience. She said cancer cells were detected in the sentinel node, so she did a lymph node procedure.

Oh, crap.

I never could bring myself to look at the surgery incisions or where the drainage tube came out the side of my body. But I woke up many times every night over the next few weeks  to see if my arm had blown up and to check it for any changes. All I could think was whether I’d be able to play tennis again. Tennis was my motivation for getting healthy.

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