Time Waits for No One - Breast Cancer

Another lost to Breast Cancer… 

An update to this post from earlier... today, 10/16/12 my little dog lost her fight with breast cancer.

There are some things we get to choose in life and so many others that we don’t.  It is our responsibility to ourselves, our spirit and our development to make wise decisions with every second.  Time is not to be wasted.  Breast Cancer took another beautiful light from our world yesterday.  She was a Mom and a friend.  Seconds count.  Those seconds lead to minutes, to hours, to days, to months and yes to years.  Live your life with authenticity and be true to yourself, your values and what is right every second of every day. 

·         Who are you?  Who do you want to be? 

·         Where are you in life?  Where do you want to be?

I say to you again... if the answers to those two lines of questions do not sync, then begin today to change that. 

It has been said so many times but bears repeating, “tomorrow is not promised, so live today to the fullest”.

Windy City Diva

Biofeedback – A New Experience

I attended a BioFeedback session today.  When I shared a brief version of the result to a great friend who is knowledgeable in physiology she responded as if was a "good" thing that I was in parasympathetic mode. That was not the way it was described to me by the doctor who had performed the BioFeedback analysis.  While I was already planning to research it, this confused me.

This started because last year I experienced an infection of some sort in my colon/stomach area.  It remains undiagnosed beyond a belief that I picked up a parasite during my time in Mexico and it resides in my ileo-cecal valve.  I call it my stomach critter.  I have been managing it with natural supplements.  I thought I was better so I laid off the supplements.  It seemed to be alright for weeks, but it is currently irritated again.  I decided to try this biofeedback analysis since I saw a location where the analysis was free.

It was an interesting experience.  She put a band on my head to measure brain waves and a fiber optic electrode which I was to hold in my thumb & forefinger tips. The point was to measure blood flow starting at the base of the brain moving through the various sections of the brain. Next would be organs.

* My blood flow was so low throughout my brain that it did not measure, or meet the threshold. She could see it, but it was not strong enough to ring the bell, shall we say. (Needless to say, it is good she was not measuring my blood pressure because it must have skyrocketed.) The doctor said this indicated to her that my body was in repair mode as if I were sleeping, or parasympathetic mode.

* The same was the case when it measured blood flow near my major organs. She could see the blood flow but it did not reach the threshold. She said it was suppressed by inflammation that was creating friction which will not allow blood to flow normally.  This lowers oxygen to the body,

* We covered my lack of sleeping recently, waking still feeling tired, low energy, more than 10 pound weight loss since July 26th or so and the various pains that pop up out of nowhere.

* With that in mind, she believes the ileo-cecal valve in my colon has a fungus rather than a parasite, virus or bacteria. She believes when I stop with the supplements which keep a flora balance in my colon and keeps down inflammation naturally, that the fungus grows and creates the inflammation.

* This led her to ask about acidic levels and cancer in my family, which I have quite a bit of.

For now, she gave me some acid strip tests to see what the levels are, suggested getting some Kosher baking soda to try to calm the acid in my gut (which I do not feel), and said my supplements seem to assist me, but the goal is to find the fungus and kill it.

The parasympathetic nervous system seems to be the healing one, rather than flight or fight (sympathetic), so I am not finding the correlation to what she described in my research. It makes sense in theory, but I am still looking for the scientific links, which I may have just come across, but I need to qualify it. This parasympathetic part of the nervous system and biofeedback seem to be psychological in nature that manifests physically but I could not manifest fungus in my gut from my brain. 

Still looking...
WCD

Allergies in Children - From a Parent

I want to share with my readers an experience about allergies in children and maybe it not only applies to your children, but maybe to you.  My son has a history of spring allergies since he was 2 or so and Zyrtec-D was used to manage them for 5 or so years and then they seemed to just go away.  Well, they are back but they are no longer spring allergies.  Saturday he was suddenly sniffly and whiny as only a teenage boy accustomed to feeling healthy can.  I gave him an Allegra which has been our daytime "allergy cure all" as needed.  He complained bitterly hours later that nothing worked and was sneezing out a fur ball again.  The Allegra is a 12 hour dose so I made him wait the appropriate time and promptly forgot. 

A side note about the offending allergen.  He had spent the night at a friend's house who has a cat, so I suspected his mild allergy had been violently shoved into a true allergy.  But that being the allergen could mean the reaction would subside now that he was away from the cat, ergo the forgetting. 

Sunday morning was harsh.  He hadn't slept and was CRANKY.  I gave him liquid Benadryl thinking this would allow him to clear up and function.  The liquid one is supposed to be the non-drowsy formula.  Note: IT'S NOT!  He did not wake up until almost 2:30 in the afternoon.  I administered another Allegra thinking this could easily be just left over from the interaction with the cat.  Monday, I treated it with Allegra as needed.  Then today, Tuesday he was a gut-wrenching, fur ball hacking, stopped up, runny nose, sneezy mess.  In passing, my cousin told me it's ragweed season and it is high right now.  I spoke with my mother within five minutes of that conversation and she is or was also allergic to ragweed.  Fortunately, my younger cousin is also allergic to many things and takes Zyrtec.  That reminded me that my son took Zyrtec when he was little and it worked wonderfully.  I practically ran to Walgreens for Zyrtec-D.

I am delighted to report that within an hour of him taking the one 12 hour tablet (with Gatorade, yogurt and chicken broth/noodle soup - homemade, no preservatives), he was wandering the halls again! 

My message... know what's in your family, know what works for your kids and be prepared for "childhood" illnesses to rear their ugly heads at random, unspecified times.

~ Windy City Diva

Carb-Free Eating...

Hello Readers!

I was recently told to have a no carb diet for at least 30 days to clear my system and then slowly add it back.  Now in case that just sounds like "modern health mumbo-jumbo" it is what I thought as well, but it is worth giving it a shot to not land back in l'hotel hospitale for another week. 

The big issue with this new plan is, I live on pasta!  Live on it from lunch to dinner, and I am sure some of you know that all of the good breakfast foods have carbs.  I was told I could keep my oatmeal for breakfast since it is a whole grain, but the rest...waffles, pancakes, french toast, scones, even some yogurt, all of it, gone.  I know it is only for 30 days, but it is a challenge.  I am quickly empathizing with people who diet regularly and do not succeed for one reason or another.  I could always appreciate that it was difficult, but this feels like modern torture.  I end up with something in my hand, mouth watering ready to eat it, and then I remember, "does it have carbs"; or my son will say, "Mom, you can't have that.".  Sakes alive my entire kitchen has to be replaced.

This is going to take some work, some help and a whole lot of focus.  I am accustomed to eating anything I want, when I want and as often as I want.  I just found chicken pot pies on sale!  They are not good for you, but they aren't that bad either.  I will miss them.

There is one other component to this diet that may take even more thought, like not drinking water with food and waiting 2 hours after you eat to drink it.  Okay, so when I am well and back out eating and drinking, what does one do to cut the alcohol intake and stave off a hangover, even a mild one?  Hmm???  Cosmopolitan PLUS Dinner (that does not include Pasta) PLUS Water PLUS Cosmopolitan MINUS Water EQUALS mild Hangover.  I will have to figure this out...  any methods known that work??

If you have any great no carb, no seafood or pork recipes, send them my way please.  I have very few foods that I just don't or won't eat but those are the three big categories.  Encouraging words are always welcomed!  I will try to blog my progress and digression with it.  As I learn more about my health challenge, I will share on the chance that it may help someone else with a health issue.

Thanks,

Windy City Diva

Patient Advocacy

Health is not something we should ever take for granted. I have seen very ill people in my family and in my general surroundings. One thing I truly value is my health, although sometimes it seems very fragile. One lesson I have learned through all of my experiences with health and hospitals is, understand your diagnosis. Understand, not know what the doctor said, but actually understand it. Ask questions until you do, no matter how long it takes, or how many different ways you have to ask the question.

From many medical, social studies it is determined that certain age groups, races and genders are the ones least likely to not only seek health care, but to ask questions and even to seek out a second opinion. Older generations tend to see physicians they have a standing relationship with as the one and only answer. This can be a death sentence.  Additionally, women tend to be more likely to take care of their families rather than themselves.  And finally, minorities are the highest group that will postpone seeing a doctor. By postponing a visit when they initially feel something is not right, they miss receiving a potentially life-saving early diagnosis.  There are of course cultural dynamics that I am not bringing up here just yet because this is more or less a summary of my years of not only personal experience while working at a hospital with patients, but research related to my hobby, patient advocacy.

I implore you as you read this… take your own symptoms seriously and encourage your family members to do the same. Once you get yourself to go to the doctor, ask questions until you understand. If you think you may not be following, ask to reschedule a consultation and take someone with you. I attend my mother’s appointments periodically just to make sure there is a “second ear” in the room. It is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength.  Your physician should NOT mind.  I will recommend this (with a heavy breath), please be sensitive to your appointment time, and if you have many questions that are not immediate to your care, it might be better to schedule a consultation time.  That is not to say walk out of the office not knowing how to take a prescription later that night or what follow-up tests to schedule.  But, if there are dietary changes, or habits then it is probably best to schedule another appointment.

Happy health to all.

Windy City Diva