Bitter melon is one of my favourites. But you need to prepare it properly. Kevin’s mom when she found out I love bitter melon invited me home and made this for me… THANK YOU!
Preparing Bitter Melon (Karela)
Cut in half and remove white inner
Slice in half moons place in water and squeeze slices and strain
Place in water with salt and pressure cook for 4 whistles
Strain and save the water to drink later this is good if you have diabetes* side note from mom 🙂
Making the Curry Base
Add oil and mustard seed until seeds pop
Add in onions, curry leaves, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, coriander, chilli powder and cinnamon
Lastly add tomato, tamarind water and small/medium size of jaggery.
Bring to a boil.
Once curry sauce is ready add karela, mix and serve with coconut rice.
Use this list to guide you with search the Internet on medical conditions.
Choosing the search words that will help you find what you are looking for. This is never an easy task. First, what is the primary subject you want to know about and be specific, example: Lobular Breast Cancer. Second, what is the secondary subject you want to know about? Example: Phytoestrogens. You want your search engine to combine these subjects to give you the closest results. Best to keep your search to two key subjects to avoid confusing results.
Search: lobular breast cancer AND phytoestrogens
Determining which results to read. You can choose from personal blogs, scientific articles from peer reviewed journals, institutional information, news articles, self proclaimed experts, non-governmental organizations, governmental websites and many more. What should you prioritize to read and what will you be able to understand? You want the information to be unbiased, this means it should not be funded or related to the sale of any product. Here is a list of reputable sources that will provide you with unbiased results:
PubMed. When searching for articles on PubMed look at 3 key aspects: – The authors – are these authors leading doctors or scientists in this particular field of study? Do a quick search to see how many articles the first or last author have published on this topic; – The Impact Factor, each journal has one, a good Impact Factor is over 3; and – If you do decided to devote time to reading the article does the information add up and make sense?
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/junk-dna-may-help-yeast-survive-stress image by Steve Gschmeissner
If it wasn’t enough to endure yet another surgery, a month of antibiotics left my already radiated body with yet more yeast.
The good is I made several discoveries.
One, you ever hear of post nasal drip? Well I had this on and off for many years. It came back again during radiation. Little did I know, radiation wipes out your gut flora. Even if you only have radiation to one part of your body.
Killing yeast in your body is no easy task.
My yeast had gotten to the point where I was having night sweats and fevers. As soon as I started Candicin by Genestra my night sweats went away and fever never came back.
Unfortunately, this alone wasn’t strong enough. I then went on to try caprylic acid, MCT, olive leaf, Candibactin by Metagenics at night. After 3 months I had improved a lot but still it kept coming back.
Diet is also another important aspect but not entirely.
After 2 years of trying everything I could find, I received advice from a health food store, they recommended ParaGone instead of focusing on Candida related products, especially after having this issue for so long.
Guess what?! It worked.
For 6 weeks I didn’t change my diet drastically just maintained no gluten, no white processed foods (white rice), and no dairy. I still had honey and some other sweets in small amounts. I took a 2 week course of ParaGone and took a 5 day break before starting another 2 week course. I use garlic supplements and probiotics to maintain the balance now and feeling better than I have in 2 years.
It’s now been a couple of weeks since Canada closed it’s borders and we have gone on lockdown. We see a wide range of opinions from “professionals” as to what we should or should not be doing.
I decided to write this post to clarify some aspects that seem to be driving people into thinking we should not be doing “social distancing.”
Firstly: Social distancing = Vaccine
Social distancing is acting as a vaccine in absence of one. You can see from the well illustrated infographic below that social distancing in and of itself is almost as effective as having a vaccine.
By Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, Professor at Yale University School of Medicine
Second: Herd immunity in this case is not ethical.
As an epidemiologist and public health specialist a common practice for NON-FATAL disease is building herd immunity. The idea of building herd immunity by not exercising “social distancing” in this instance would be similar to ethnic cleansing.
Let me explain.
Without social distancing and or immunization we will have a very grim end result. Not to mention, place a huge strain on our medical system and economic system.
Dr. Iwasaki displays the potential loss of life by practicing ‘herd immunity.’
For non-life threatening diseases, as mumps, herd immunity could be seen as ‘safe practice’ as death was extremely rare. Measles however leads to higher infant mortality therefore ‘herd immunity’ is not considered a safe practice.
COVID-19 is fatal. It can be increasingly fatal for those who have increased exposure to it, as our health care workers. This is called increased ‘viral load.’ It is used to explain why some young and healthy people die from the disease.
Please understand what these terms actually mean before using them. We are all at risk.
Thirdly: All current data is biased.
Unless we had decided from the very beginning to make one country an example, including keeping the country away from media so behaviours are not altered, ALL of the current global data shows the effects of social distancing.
Lack of testing and only testing at a health care facility means there is a huge selection bias and this cannot be accurately extrapolated to the community at large. In addition, considering we have already intervened through media, social distancing, self-isolation, etc. we are only proving with our data what social distancing is doing for us: saving lives!
Fourth: Behaviours have changed.
People keep brining up Sweden. They use the example that Sweden has carried on as though nothing has happened. Unless Sweden does not have a clue of what is happening to the world around them: trust me, they have changed.
Their universities are closed. People are aware of COVID-19. They are not acting the same as always. There cases are also higher than surrounding counties by not enforcing more strict adherence.
Breaking the lockdown cycle: Hygiene is our personal weapon.
The best thing we have done is work as a collective to save our global population.
Let’s not be afraid to interact with people, but know you have the power to continue practicing good hygiene. Cover your mouth, wash your hands with soap and water regularly, never touch your face and respect others personal space.
Maintain your overall health.
Another aspect is maintaining your overall health. This means mental and physical wellbeing. If you are consumed with the news, this definitely will not boost your mental health. Keep active, at home or outside. Eat and choose healthy foods.
I see a lot of comments on people eating unhealthy during this time. This is probably the worst thing you can do. There is a virus out there that does not have a cure! This is the time to make sure your immune system is at the top of it’s game. Fruits and vegetables are our greatest gifts.
Social distancing DOES NOT = Lockdown.
Governments respond to crisis by underestimating a societies and individuals capacity to handle themselves for the greater good.
We should take ownership and responsibility. Our actions will need to embrace our changing climate. We will ultimately decide our fate and economy through our own personal practices.
Breast reconstruction is just the beginning. Once your breast cancer treatment is over, and most of the anxiety that goes with it. You then face new challenges!
Just over a week ago, I burned my reconstructed breast. Four months after immediate reconstructed and 7 weeks after finishing radiation.
The only thing I will emphasize, is do not have any heat around your breast at all!
This means, hair dryers, lamps, heating pads, hot water bottles, boiling water, cooking items… I hope you get the point!
I am not the first to do this but I hope I am the last.
When you loose all sensation after breast reconstruction you must be aware at all times of what is near you! Heat, knives, sharp objects, or ice all of these and more can completely destroy the tissue over your implant.
I am writing this post from the hospital bed I was admitted to several days ago. I burned my reconstructed breast using a heat lamp. Before you ask why? I was getting ready to start rehabilitation for my arm post-mastectomy.
This is also not the most ideal time to be in hospital. The world is currently on lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic!
I had to have a nasal swab before I could be admitted for surgery to ensure I didn’t have COVID-19. This means being in the isolation ward for about 24 hours, with other people like you and also suspected COVID-cases! Once cleared your moved to the ward with many other people who all past the test. All private rooms are saved for COVID-19 patients!
After just finishing Cancer treatments this is the last place you would want to be.
The good:
I don’t feel a thing.
The bad:
I am “on the board” waiting for a surgery slot. I am not sure what will happen but my surgeon hopes to save as much as he can. After having a nipple-sparing mastectomy I may loose my nipple areola complex along with skin.
One week post-operative:
Luckily, the surgeon was able to save my nipple with most of the skin. My breast is now much smaller and looks very badly scarred. I am just praying something can be done to fix it later or it heals miraculously.
This experience has made me wonder why they don’t warn women about this!
Another aspect that I wasn’t prepared for, was nerve pain after removal of the tissue expander. It feels as though the entire breast area is on fire.
Homeopathy is amazing, for general pain arnica and nerve pain hypericum perforatum.
It’s bitter sweet when what you have known for the last 2 years comes to an end. Your whole mind is involved and focused around being sick. Your daily life revolves around the next medical appointment.
Nothing in my mind existed outside of here and now. No future plans, travel, work/career, goals … nothing… just a focus to get better.
In this new chapter there will still be appointments, but the stress leading up to surgery, while praying for clear pathology, is over.
In the back of mind, there is the fear of going through this again. However, I am not the same person and I have learned a great deal. I know what I would and wouldn’t do if this were to happen again.
My number ONE challenge in this journey was: Wanting to be well informed!
I realized after my first surgery, that my medical team and I were driving blind together. No amount of imaging or prep work could compensate for clear hard facts: A Pathology Report.
Realizing the importance of facts while embracing the emotional challenges of facing cancer is a fine balance. Your primary medical team deals in facts, while you need to creatively tune into the right steps for you. This may be through faith, data, learning from others, tuning into your body, therapy or solely trusting in your health care providers.
I started this post the day after my last radiation treatment Feb. 15, 2020. Now over one year later I can say that getting through cancer treatments was easier than what comes next. Caring for your new body and keeping yourself a priority as life demands creep back in.
I wanted radiation. Even after my mastectomy, I wanted it.
After 2 weeks, I said to my radiation oncologist, can we cut down the number of days? She agreed and cut it down by 2 days.
It’s a strange thing radiation. You don’t really notice it at first.
Side effects
Then come the headaches, nausea, full body sweats, anxiety, thrush, and if you over do it, you are bed bound for at least a day after that.
A look inside, the radiation plates aligned to my left chest area
After 4 weeks of radiation 5 days a week, your skin becomes very itchy and starts to split. The 2 most sensitive spots are the inframammary fold and your under arm.
Mine split under my arm. To soothe and heal the area you need to start saline soaks. Soaked gauze in saline compresses on the area for about 30 mins, twice daily. After which you place a barrier cream.
Procedure
Prior to starting radiation therapy, they marked my skin with 4 tiny dot tattoos so they could line me up with the machine each session. Yes these tattoos are permanent. They started each session with a CT or X-Ray scan to insure the correct positioning.
In addition, for left sided breast cancer we do something called the breath hold. You have a snorkel placed in your mouth and nose plugged. You breath in and hold your breath for the duration of each burn so your lungs push the chest away from the heart to reduce the amount of exposure to the heart.
A boost is performed at the end of the full treatment. I reached day 24 today and it was the first day of my boost. With the boost, I didn’t need to continue with the breath hold. Only my left arm remained extended above my head. A very difficult thing to do after having gone through a mastectomy.
Emotions
They introduced music during my boost but somehow the music made the treatment all that more real.
I would say no matter how simple a procedure is, when you have cancer, your are always on high alert. As “Hello” performed by Adele played in the room while the machine rotated around me, the tears streaming from my eyes.
You never know how it feels to be in someone’s shoes until you are in them yourself. I never imaged I would be laying under a machine powerful enough to destroy to eliminate what was taking over my body.
Post Radiation
You have no idea the impact of radiation until after it’s complete. The appointments are quick and seamless, like going in for an X-Ray.
However, still after 6 months post radiation, my blood counts were very low. I started radiation with 1.8 lymphocytes and at 6 months post radiation they were at 0.6. Something that I had not been aware would happen.
It took me a year of supplementation to bring my lymphocytes to 1. Most notable IP6 helped improve my lymphocytes. With the drop in my immunity, I have struggle to control my gut flora, with constant bloating, fatigue, fevers and thrush.
I know I wanted radiation. I had never thought once that it would impact my body so greatly. Knowing what I know now, I am not sure I would accept it so eagerly. Although it was a key part of my treatment from the type and stage of my cancer if I could avoid it I would.
It’s shocking to be diagnosed with breast cancer, but it’s even more shocking to learn about the details of breast cancer.
When I first heard about my diagnosis I thought ok no problem I can deal with this.
Then I learn’t about how complex breast cancer is!
I will break it down as simple as possible.
A women with breast cancer could have any of the following 4 main types:
Ductual
Lobular
Combination of lobular and ductual
Inflammatory.
These basically are referring to which part of the anatomy of the breast the cancer has developed. Each type has a completely different DNA composition. The most common being ductual affecting 90% of women.
Some women may also have DCIS or LCIS and this is noted as breast cancer in its infancy:”in situ”.
On top of that there are 8 different possible combinations for each type of breast cancer.
This translates into 32 different breast cancers essentially, as all are not treated the same.
For example, someone with ductual cancer could have these 8 possible combinations:
Triple positive (ER+, PR+, HER+)
Triple negative (ER-, PR-, HER-)
Estrogen positive (ER+) only
Progesterone positive (PR+) only
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) only
Both ER+ and PR+
PR+ and HER2+
ER+ and HER2+
This is just a heads up! Next I will cover what each one means and how treatment differs.
Being diagnosed with a serious illness kind of pulls you into a new world. One that usually is solely focused around your health and wellbeing. Definitely will not complain about that.
But on occasion you get a glimpse into who you used to be.
Today, I had a flash back to the old me me driving in a snow storm. Only 2 years ago on my way from meeting my potential PhD supervisor. The meeting went longer than anticipated and I ended up in a snow storm on the highway home.
I could see now how hard I was pushing myself!
Just barely recovered from typhoid fever and I remember not feeling well. I was completely out of sorts. I was on edge most of the time, mostly because I really wasn’t feeling well but all doctors said I was fine.
It was definitely a mental struggle to be told your fine and everything inside of you was screaming otherwise. I had to tell myself I was fine and push even harder, thinking it must be in my head.
We really know so much more than anyone at any moment gives us credit for. We need to learn to listen and believe in ourselves enough to have others take us seriously. Even when we have no reason or cause but know that something is off.
I would never go back to who I used to be, if anything this diagnosis has helped me clarify many things in my life and also made others take me more seriously.
When you search for information you definitely find it, whether you like it or not.
This journey has definitely been enlightening and a never ending abyss of information. The latest is from Dr. Neil McKinney, a naturopathic oncologist in Victoria, British Columbia.
My main concern, as a breast cancer patient, is how can I monitor my progression?
Currently, there are no blood tests that measure your circulating tumour cell for breast cancer. The only way to know if you have a recurrence or a metastasis is through imaging.
And in my opinion, that is too late.
There are however expensive tests that can help, but they range from almost $2000 to well over $3000 upto $4500 CAD per test. And they typically recommendation to be tested every 3 months. I think the math says it all.
Dr. McKinney did have a solution!
He typically follows values from a regular blood test – complete blood count (CBC).
He looks at the ratios of neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and platelets. Just brilliant!
The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) should ideally be under 1.88: the lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) should be ideally over 6, but any trend downward for NLR and upwards for LMR is a positive sign.
Studies look at pre-surgical values as a prognostic tool for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) using a cut off value of 3.0 and 2.5 for NLR.
Calculation your ratios is easy. Create an excel spreadsheet and enter each value as they appear in your CBC.
Divide neutrophils by lymphocytes to obtain your ratio. For example:
If your neutrophil is 3 ÷ it by your lymphocyte 1.6 = you get a ratio of 1.88
Click here to download an MSExcel worksheet for your ratios. They will calculate for your here.
