Monday, April 22, 2013

Getting Better Every Day


“There is a price for going with the flow and that price is the pain of giving up your dreams and taking the fall that those who fail to think for themselves must inevitably experience.  Ultimately, how we evaluate what things mean and what we must do determines who we become and what we create and what we experience.” 

           -          Tony Robbins, Lessons in Mastery

 

Dear Reader,  

Thanks for checking in.  I understand that, typically, when a cancer patient doesn’t update her blog, there is a legitimate reason to be concerned….

Fear not, my friend!  There is nothing typical about my experience.  The last few months have brought plenty of ups and downs but this is to be expected.  Dr. Gonzalez told me to “hang in there”, so, I rode the waves and I am doing great. 

This winter, I experienced a couple months of cancer growth.   Not surprisingly, these were also months of intense personal stress.  I’ve learned that I tend to underestimate my stress and its’ impact.  One of the (many) things I’m loving about my therapy is the regular hair sample analyses.  On a monthly basis, Dr. Gonzalez tests to see exactly how much cancer I have and how I’m handling my stress.  When my stress increases, the hair sample shows it.  This whole process is helping me to tune into my emotions and my body.  I know that if I walk around stewing about some personal drama, my cancer is going to grow.  

The last couple of months, things have calmed down.  I’ve spent more time outside, gone for walks, and my personal drama has subsided.  Lo and behold, my cancer is dying off again. 

I’ve done my best to face my challenges head on and to learn from them.  While I’ve continued to do the work to rebuild and detoxify my physical body, I’ve engaged in a variety of exercises to stay positive and rid my mind of mental and emotional blockages such as buried fears and resentments.  In addition, I spend lots of quiet time alone, relying on God and my intuition for guidance.  By the time I am fully healed, I am going to be so mentally, emotionally and physically strong that I think I’m going to *sparkle* when I walk down the street.  Quite frankly, after all I’ve been through, I’m not willing to settle for anything less! 

I’m on a mission to stay happy and fulfilled.  That means that I’m not only cautious about what I consume physically (ie. my diet) but also about what I consume mentally.  I’m careful about who I allow into my life, my conversations, my space.  If there is a personality in my life that doesn’t serve me, then I minimize or limit my time with that person.  It actually makes things quite simple.  Before I agree to spend time with someone or to participate in an activity, I think about whether that situation will tire me or inspire me before I proceed.  Anything that is draining in any way is not an option.

I had my six month check-up with Dr. Gonzalez last Monday and learned that my cancer rate and my total body function (a measurement of how my body is functioning overall) have improved the last couple of months and are now exactly the same as they were last fall at my last visit.  Although improvements would have been ideal, I am extremely grateful that I am not any worse. 

During this appointment, I also learned that I had several improvements in other organs and areas of health.  In addition, it feels great to be another six months further into the therapy.  As you may know, our bodies are composed of billions and trillions of cells.  Each of these cells is constantly birthing new cells and we are all continually rebuilding our organs, glands and systems.  That’s one of the reasons it’s so important for me to follow an optimal diet – my body is literally being built on the food/fuel that I consume (this is true for all of us-think about that the next time you dine).  Dr. Kelley (the inventor of my therapy) said that in a year, 40% of the body is rebuilt and that in two years, 80% is rebuilt.  It takes another five years to rebuild everything 100%.  So, after eighteen months on the therapy, I’m about 60% re-built using the best raw materials.  I love that I know exactly what I need to eat to ensure that my body is re-built optimally.  I’m not aware of any other practitioner who can tell me, with such precision, what I need to consume for optimal health and this is one of the many things that sets The Gonzalez Therapy apart.

Dr. Gonzalez advised me not to worry about the lack of improvements in a couple areas over the last six months.  Healing is always a jagged trajectory.  I’m trending in the right direction and that’s what matters.

So, while my results were bouncing around, we had a great winter.  Our family attended my sister’s wedding (my little tomboy daughter wore a tux  and my girly-girl wore a beautiful princess gown J ), we went skiing in Vermont over February school break and generally enjoyed the winter season having lots of family fun and time with friends. 

I was faced with a small personal dilemma when my daughter came home with a form for selling Girl Scout cookies.  Even before Madelyn joined her brownie troop, I had an issue with these  things.  Not only do they contain white flour, white sugar, hydrogenated oils and corn syrup but they are also laden with GMOs (genetically modified foods that have been proven to cause tumors in lab rats).   I would say that calling these things “food” is a real stretch and my personal opinion is that there should be a skull and crossbones on the boxes.  I have a real ethical issue participating in the sale of these cookies, especially to my family and neighbors. 

On the other hand, my daughter was all lit up about selling them.  She doesn’t really get too excited about much so when I see the opportunity to provide her with a new experience that feeds her soul, I jump on it.  She has a very ambitious, hard working side to her and she could not wait to go door-to-door to sell these things.  She picked out the bag she would win if she sold 120 boxes and then set out on her mission.  I realized I could just say no but that most people are going to continue eating GMOs anyway and didn’t want to deprive my daughter of this experience.

So, I explained to her why our family won’t purchase any and why I won’t let her eat them – not even one.  When a potential patron told us that she wasn’t interested in buying any because she has diabetes, I said “Good for you!  We want you to be healthy.”  At the same time, I praised my daughter for having the confidence to knock on random doors, ask for the sale and close the business.  She’s a somewhat eccentric child and I can envision her being a wonderful entrepreneur some day.  What can I say?  The situation was a little messy but I handled it the best I could. 

Here’s the silver lining.  I’m not the only one who has issues selling this pseudo-food.   A young girl from CA has created a petition to eliminate GMOs from the “cookies”.  Here’s where you can learn more:


On another note, if you’ve read my entire blog then you know about my frustration with the mainstream media and their consistent attempts to communicate that the cure for cancer is around the corner.  In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, I thought I’d share the cover title of the April 1, 2013 edition of TIME magazine.  It reads “HOW TO CURE CANCER” and at the bottom it states “Yes, it’s now possible – thanks to new cancer dream teams that are delivering better results faster”.

Um….really?  Who is this dream team and what are they curing?  If it’s now possible to cure cancer then my conventional oncologist missed that memo because no one is being cured of myeloma in the allopathic world.  Nor, to my knowledge, is anyone being cured of any other advanced cancer.  I’ve made lots of cancer friends over the last few years and, sadly, I lose someone every few months.  The conventional docs have no cure for cancer and I think it’s sick that TIME will print a title page like this just to sell more magazines and promote a lie.  They’ll do whatever it takes to make their sponsors happy.  I couldn’t help but notice the full page ad that MD Anderson Cancer Center placed in this edition of TIME and they certainly wouldn’t want us to know that they’ve hardly made any progress in treating cancer in the last several decades.   

Oh well, I’d hate to end this post on such a dismal note.  The Great, Wonderful, Fantastic news is that I and the other Gonzalez patients that I know are all healing.  It takes patience, persistence and determination but we are all getting better, one day at a time. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a beautiful day.