Even though I'm not going to hospital as much I've been keeping quite busy with acpuncture, group therapy, massage, physio (I just started that because of scar tissue), check ups and general maintenance stuff - like a visit to the family doctor, eye doctor and a follow up with my neurosurgeon too. Turns out radiation can affect the blood vessels in your eyeballs - I didn't know this until I went in for a check up but don't worry, my eyeballs are fine - and so is every other part of my body that I've had checked out. Its weird - they don't do much follow up at the cancer centre after treatment - not even a simple blood test to make sure your body has bounced back after all of your treatments. Lucky for me, I've got a good family doctor and Dr. Craig also asked for a few blood tests (through my family doctor) to make sure all is well.
I had another follow up appointment with Dr. Craig who told me that I have to increase my carb intake a bit since I'm going to gym so much and I've also got to work on cardio in addition to the weight training. FYI - cardio is the best at preventing chronic disease and strength training is the best at anti-aging. We talked a lot about nutrition and turns out Brazil's food guide is the best one in the world so if you want some light reading then check out this article on the food guide http://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8076961/brazil-food-guide Its an interesting read and if you want a longer read, check out the actual food guide - Brazil Food Guide
I've also managed to keep busy by doing fun things like going to the cottage, visiting family including Nanny Knight (who at the age of 95, just had a cornea transplant), hanging out with Preety and other cancer friends as well as regular friends too! Oh and I had my first haircut! My hair got a lot darker after my haircut since the ends are lighter than the roots. Apparently chemo can not only give you curls but also can fade out your hair colour so I'm hoping it will continue to get darker. It grows like crazy too - its only been about a month since my haircut and its already quite a bit longer. I've decided I'm not going to get it cut again for the rest of the summer because I want my hair to be longer (not sure how long yet but longer than 2 inches) and I need to get past the awkward stage so hopefully I can do this before summer is up.
Group therapy is over - its hard to believe six weeks is up just like that - I found it helpful, sort of, but perhaps not as helpful as I hoped as I was put in the psychotherapy group which is basically group chatting about a specific topic (somewhat steered by the therapists). I've decided that the success of this technique relies a lot on who is in the group - not that the others in the group weren't nice people - they were great - but some of them were a bit too old for me to relate to them and everyone was at various stages - with me only a few months after treatment to another member who has had five years past since treatment.
Anyways, it was still a worthwhile venture.
We're off to the cottage for the last week of July and first week of August and I'm really looking forward to it. Laurel and Brian are coming up as well as Leanna and Trevor and their girls so its going to be fun. Last year I had cancer when we were on holidays but I didn't know it - so this year will be sort of a celebration. Its hard to think that its been a year already - a lot has happened in one short year.
So let's get back to the Eight Principles from that book Radical Remission that I have been explaining in my last few posts - remember these principles are what people did to get to remission - with or without conventional treatment:
Releasing Suppressed Emotions
So this is pretty straightforward - except sometimes its tough to figure out what your suppressed emotions are because, well, they are suppressed. But I think I figured it out by basically letting go of any bad thoughts/feelings about people - mainly from my past. I won't get into this too much since I didn't actively do this and of course don't want to throw some people under the bus - haha!
Increasing Positive Emotions
This might seem easy but when you've got cancer, trust me, it can be tough. But its all about keeping tabs on the negative thoughts and staying on top of things. All in all though I found this pretty easy but I think it has to do with my general state of mind (which is good) and the fact that I have such fanstastic families and friends that really support me and also make me laugh.
Deepening Your Spiritual Connection
This also might seem easy for you religious folk reading this but for people who aren't terribly religious, like myself, its sometimes difficult to get a handle on what this means or how to go about it. What it does mean, is that you do a great deal of thinking about what life means and how you are going to go about the rest of your life. Little annoying things don't matter as much to me - actually not at all - and good things are that much better.
Cancer changes your perspective on things and makes you stop. Try this for a minute - just stop and think about things - your kids, partner, parents, friends and family - seriously take a few minutes and think about them. Now think about what you do every day and what you spend time on. Is it spending time with the people that are important to you? Doing the things that you love to do? Or is it time working, being stressed out about little things? Seriously just take that minute to stop and think. And this is a great segway to the next principle...
Having Strong Reasons for Living
This may seem obvious but I honestly think this is entirely reliant on how generally happy you are with life and how well you cope with a cancer diagnosis. Some people freak out and immediately think that they are going to die - I know this is true because people in my group therapy said so. I haven't had that feeling ever. That's right, not even once. Not that I'm not afraid of getting cancer again - I am. I know I am when I'm at the eye doctor and relieved to hear that I don't have a tumour in the back of my eye - or at the neurosurgeon for the results of my MRI and everything in my spine is fine - yep, even asked him if there was any sign of cancer. So I've never thought that this was going to kill me but I am afraid of it coming back. I don't think you cannot be afraid of this once you have it.
And guess what the unofficial ninth principle is from Radical Remission?
Exercise
That's right - exercise. I don't think I need to repeat what I've already said about strength training and cardio but that's right exercise is extremely important - if you don't do much or any at all, start. If you do it regularly, then keep it up. Remember what I said about stopping and thinking about what was important to you? Well here comes the lecture - start exercising - even if its walking around a few blocks or taking a few moments to get up from your desk and stretch. Start. Pre-cancer, I was active but I wasn't actively exercising and now I can't imagine my life without it especially since exercise and what you put in your mouth are the two things that you can control and will make the biggest difference in your life when it comes to growing old - both for your mind and body.
Lecture over. Now get out behind that computer and take a walk, we all spend way too much time on our asses.
(This isn't me, but I couldn't think of a better picture)
