Labor Day Run: One Season Ending, One Beginning

One Season Ending, One Beginning

In February I said I'm looking at my cancer as a season -- lasting from Valentines Day to Labor Day. Here I am on Labor Day. I'm so relieved to be here. I'm grateful beyond words.

Where am I now in terms of the 'treatments for breast cancer?' Mastectomy, Chemo and Recovery ended-- now 10 weeks post experience on this particular day which also coincides with my first weekend of Tamoxifen. I still have one more surgery left which I'm saving up for (I currently have the spacer in place behind my pectoralis which was done at the mastectomy. At this surgery, two doctors worked in tandem -- while one removed, one cut behind the pectoralis to insert these balloon-like structures that were later gradually filled with saline solution with needle injections on ten day increments to stretch the muscle so that I could eventually have a place to later insert a breast implant. You continue this process of injections until you're the size you want. I've been done with the size part for a while. Not comfortable but could be worse. Looking forward to the replacement). 

I was told that this next stage of cancer treatment -- Tamoxifen -- has possible side effects. I decided that a nice balance of rest and "endorphin flood" via running and racing will help me fight off side-effects of Tamoxifen. In fact, I'm even taking it a step further by deciding to run cross country this year for the extra 'high' I get from racing to counter any 'low' from medication.

Here are some examples of how running or exercise that produces endorphins can help:

1. Estrogen likes fat cells; estrogen hungry tumors thrive on fat cells. Running helps keep one lean and therefore fewer fat cells that tumors would thrive on.

2. Estrogen supression causes one to have the blues or be moody; running produces endorphins which counteract the low estrogen.

3. Estrogen supression causes increased cravings for things like salt, sugar, refined items; running curbs the appetite and makes me make better choices.

4. Chemotherapy produces bone loss; impact sports like running help produce more red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in the bone marrow.

I'm banking on running. It's my labor of love -- such a perfect pair for me on this Labor Day. So far, I'm off to a good start!

Craving cookies?

I find that I crave sweets when I juice less; juicing vegetables -- at least 40-60 ounces daily alongside healthy good foods like those followed by paleo folks help me curb the cravings.

But, when I do crave sweets, what do I do? I reach out to foods that trick my brain. Foods my brain think are cookies and pancakes. With this post I've decided to share some of my favorite recipes to trick the brain. I've tested these on friends and strangers and they got the yummy votes of approval.

Here is my favorite cookie recipe:

ingredients:
2 cups of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of any nut butter (Brazilian is my favorite; next are cashew butter and almond butter)
4 tablespoons of raw honey
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
pinch of salt

Place all items in a food processor -- let it do the work for you. If your coconut is not finely shredded, then shred that first and add all other items after. Place in bowl and roll into ball by mashing it against the side of the bowl. Roll ball unto wax paper. Flatten so it looks like a large flat square or rectangle. Cover with another piece of wax paper. Chill in fridge for one hour. Cut into small inch size bites. Store in glass container in fridge. Munch when hungry. Enjoy!

Superfood variation:
add 2 tablespoons of Lucuma which is rich in niacin and iron. Also add 1 tablespoon of Maca which is awesome for hormone balance.

Faux chocolate variation:
Throw in carob chips or Enjoy Life chocolate chips (here's their link). Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Peanut Free, Tree Nut Free, Egg Free, Soy Free, Fish Free, Shellfish Free. Also Non-GMO Verified, made with no artificial anything, Vegan and Kosher! Ingredients = Evaporated Cane Juice, Chocolate Liquor, Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter

Next Stage of Cancer Battle: Hormone Treatment

Date of entry 8/8/13

I'm currently 6-7 weeks post chemotherapy which was the second stage of the battle against breast cancer; the first stage was a double mastectomy.

I'm now approaching the third stage of cancer battle which is tamoxifen --an estrogen blocker since my cancer tumors were estrogen hungry; it's a hormone treatment that suppresses estrogen production in breasts. 

I have to admit, I'm the least excited about this stage initially. First, I don't have breasts.  The drug is supposed to help women not develop breast cancer. Hmm. My layperson thinking is that I would need breasts -- and I don't know if the women in the studies had at least one breast or partial breast. This I'll be researching....

Also, in terms of treatment, I think it was easier to swallow both mastectomy and chemo because there was an active, known, ugly 9/9 grade cancer in my system -- so all I could focus on was 'get it out!' It was, in the thought process of it, easier to do from this standpoint because it was tangible. The mastectomy gets out was is visible; the chemotherapy gets out what might still be deemed dangerously fast growing and invasive (like mine -- mine got the worst possible score of both fast growing and invasive; chemo works only on fast growing and fast invading cells. It doesn't work on what is slowly growing or dividing). I just wanted my two tumors (one 2.5 cm the other 5 cm, Invasive ductal carcinoma with lymph node involvement) out as soon as possible. And, I had a game plan to also fight the side effects of these decisions. Psychologically this helped a great deal.  This third stage of treatment, the Tamoxifen, in order to fight off cancer is tricky in the brain department, at least for me, because I'm fighting off an invisible invader or an invader that is potentially there in the future. It's harder to fight something that is not quite there, yet.

I've researched journal articles, asked researcher and medical friends for advice, read breast cancer survivor chat rooms/message sites. I needed to do this, talk to other survivors, and talk to two of my doctors, about this next decision since I was still on the fence. Honestly, the side effects do scare me (uterine cancer, liver damage, eye damage) but doctors say these are rare. Depression, weight gain, hot flashes are more common side effects... but there are natural solutions that I'm looking at through foods, exercise, supplements.

I guess I can think of this stage of cancer treatment like I'm still at war but my enemies are both lingering and hiding? Well, this would do nothing for the sleep department. Not an option in my head -- and if it does sneak in there, then I'm choosing to focus on that I won this war; I want to enjoy it and not waste time worrying. But, I am keeping it real in that at least at this particular point in time of my treatment, on this particular day, I am fighting the worries and bombarding these thoughts with positive experiences and thoughts. I try to replace with things I enjoy to do --- like play with my son, hang out with my husband, run, read, swim, nap.

Deciding to take Tamoxifen has now become the next stage -- third stage -- which I'll be on for the next 5 years minimum. The newest research recommends 10 years; my doctor said take 2 years at a time.

Aside from weighing risks and benefits, the following breast cancer survivor post helped -- in it you can get a picture of some of the worries we face -- and thought processes to help not hyper focus on it as well:

"

Re: Re: More confused after second opinion - Saturday, October 02, 2004 12:14 PM Ginger... I'm with Barb. I had 4 tumors with largest 1.7 CM on left - 2 on 1-3 scale of aggressiveness, DCIS on right, no node involvement. I did bilaterals with implants and did 4 rounds of a/c chemo and do plan to go on tamox. The reason being life. I'm 40 and have two kids, 13 and 4, and I wanted to do everything possible to prevent recurrence. I met with 3 different oncologists who all said the same thing. In fact, one younger mail doctor, whose wife was my age, said that he wouldn't be able to sleep nights unless he knew I was taking the most aggressive route possible. I did research and after so many opinions, my recurrence rate drops from something like 20% with just the surgery, 7% with the chemo and 2% with tamox...not sure of exact numbers, but it was that dramatic. When I was up in the air about chemo, I read an article in the Boston Globe about a 42 year old mom preparing to die. She had cancer at 36 and thought she was being so aggressive with bilaterals instead of just a lumpectomy and opted for no chemo. She now had it everywhere and was making videotapes for future reference for her children to help them cope with issues when growing up without her. I read that article and saw her and her two children's photos and said "bring on the chemo." Re tamox...not totally thrilled with what it may cause. I'm starting it in another few weeks after my body has settled a bit from chemo and hopefully I won't be an emotional mess on it. My onco said mostly I'll have to worry about hot flashes, and possible menopause, but whatever. I'll have to go thru that at some point. If that's the worst of it, I'll take it for the added life insurance. Good luck...that's just my two cents. Pat