It has been estimated that more than 1 in 3 of us will develop cancer at some point in our lifetime, and most of know someone who has been affected. Please meet our new columnist, Linda Kenneally, who is sharing her own journey after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer in October 2014…
Can I imagine my life without my new pet kitten in it…NO!
Can I imagine my life once I beat Breast Cancer this year….YES !
My diagnosis of Breast Cancer came in October 2014. To say it was a bolt out of the blue was an understatement. I’m in my mid forties, healthy and had just started on a new journey in my life going back to college and taking on a 3 year Naturopathic Nutrition course.
Being relatively strong and self reliant as a person, I dealt with the news pragmatically right from the beginning… the tears came later and reality for me is still kicking in each day.
No decision based on a health issue is an easy one to make, and for me the journey right from the start has been a difficult one. My life can never be simple!
Once I had all of the relevant tests and scan results in and the bigger picture became clearer, my decision making kicked into place a little too prematurely and what I thought would be a straight forward route was not to be.
The type of breast cancer I have is a more aggressive, hard to treat and especially fast growing one – triple negative. The plus side, according to various scans, the cancer is confined to the breast and thankfully had not metastasised to any other organs or my lymph nodes – positive news that it has been caught early enough!
I had a fair amount of awareness on surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (otherwise known as cut, poison and burn!) and whilst I understand that the cancer would have to come out, for me having to deal with the chemotherapy side of the decision process has been the hardest to date.
In my simple mind, it was a case of cut out the cancer and let me continue on my complimentary and nutritional lifestyle and all will be fine and dandy, it would all be gone and won’t return and that will be that… NO to chemotherapy and NO to radiotherapy – I will take more responsibility for my health and lifestyle!
In my case surgery first was not an option. Decision one taken away from me (not good when you generally are in control of what happens in your life).
My belief system has been tested from the start. My body can cure this without all the chemicals surely?
Eventually after lots of research and various discussions with the medical professionals, the decision was taken – compromise. Utilise and maximize both the medical and the complimentary to beat this. Accept that my body will have to have the chemotherapy, but do everything I can to help the process.
I had my first chemotherapy on Monday, 8th December and as confidently as I could… kept telling myself that whilst the drugs were going in, it was all positive and that it was doing wonders for my body and helping it to defeat the cancer. It didn’t get off to a great start and within 5 days I was admitted to hospital. All I will say is that I don’t want to experience the pain that I went through again and will do everything possible to avoid it for the future! I was discharged 4 days later and then came the biggest shock to the system – HAIR LOSS.
My little mind had been built up that the majority of hair loss would come from the second chemotherapy – therefore, hooray – I would at least get Christmas with my hair. Not the case, and probably the start of the real tears of emotion for me. If I had a penny for everyone that said “it’s just hair it will grow back”. Everyone is individual, but as a woman it is heartbreaking believe me. One thing I know for sure… I look like an alien without any hair!
I am however thankful that I haven’t inherited my father’s ears which both my brother and sister have! The good thing with me is that I would say I am relatively stylish and so I was already increasing my scarf and hat draw collections! Thank the Lord for the Christmas sales! And thankfully I had already been organized enough to purchase a couple of lovely long wigs. As upsetting as it was when I lost my long hair, my concern now is hanging onto my eyelashes and eyebrows.
The hairs that are falling out naturally are not growing back but I still have them currently and with my research I have been using castor oil each day to try and hang on to them. Castor oil is high in ricinoleic acid. This acid is a very effective natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent. It can help keep any fungus or bacteria from inhibiting hair growth. Since the oil is also very thick, it may help to prevent hair loss simply by helping to coat the hair and protect it from falling out. Castor oil is also high in omega 9 fatty acids, which are nourishing to the hair and the follicle, as well as the surrounding skin. This will be used once I finish all my chemotherapy treatment to help my hair grow back!
There are many possible side effects with chemotherapy and these vary dependent on the type of drug given. The 2 definites that I was told about would be hair loss and fatigue, of which I am experiencing both.
I have never had to take steroids before, but having to take them for a short period during chemotherapy I am wide awake all night and buzzing – my house is sparkling, my washing and ironing are done, I have gone through my wardrobes and had a declutter also, and have been to the recycling centre a couple of times!
After my first treatment I also experienced loss of taste, nothing I ate or drank made a difference – I was adding garlic and chilli to a lot of meals! I also had a couple of mouth ulcers. Tea tree oil has been utilized for it’s antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. I came down with a bad sore throat, cold and cough before Xmas, had an allergy to some of the antibiotics and had severe bone pain from the injections that I was having to take. That combined with the sickness and my hospital stay was not a good start! Thankfully after my second treatment at the beginning of January, I haven’t suffered as much. I have a red itchy rash on my torso – probably a reaction to the overload of chemicals and my body trying to get rid of it through my skin. Again I am using some natural and homeopathic remedies to help combat it. I am starting to experience some pain in my fingertips and toes, which is related to the nerves and am currently looking at what I can do to alleviate this. Aside from feeling a little whoozy on a daily basis, I am a lot more positive so far and generally am feeling ok and just taking each day as it comes. My next treatment is at
the end of January all being well with my blood test results.
My approach to this will be three fold – through dietary recommendations and adaptations, through lifestyle changes and through supplementation of therapeutic good quality nutritional and homeopathic supplementation.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates.
