Tag Archives: cancer

The Unexpected

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HI!

It’s me!
How have you been??!
I’ve been thinking about you so much – about revitalizing this blog.
In fact I just had a whole post written out in my head while I was crocheting.
Then I figured since my mind really wasn’t on what I was doing,
why not just write the blog?

So…where to begin?
Lots has happened in the last two years.
I could write about completing my yoga therapist training (yay!),
or moving to Colorado (yay!),
or my latest good eats,
or the weather.

But there’s an 8,000,000 pound hot pink elephant in the cyberspace that I can’t ignore.

My Story

In March of this year I was getting a check up and pointed out to my doctor that there was a little bump under my chin that wouldn’t go away.
She thought it wasn’t anything but just in case I should see an Ear Nose Throat doctor.

A month or two later I finally got around to doing that.
The ENT thought I might have a thyroglossal cyst and ordered an ultrasound so we could see the exact location of my thyroid and how that might be related to the cyst.

It turned out the “cyst” was actually a “reactive lymph node” – a lymph node that was reacting to something – an infection of some sort.  Not something to worry about.
What was worrisome to the doctor was the 0.8 cm nodule on my thyroid.
He ordered a biopsy, and the results of that indicated that I had papillary thyroid cancer.
And three days later we moved to Colorado!

Isn’t there some quote about making plans and God laughing at them?

In late June I had a total thyroidectomy (“TT” in the thyroid cancer world) and a left neck dissection (“ND”).
They biopsied 31 lymph nodes that they removed from my neck and all were clean.
(did you know you have at least that many lymph nodes in your neck?!)
The margins were good on the thyroid – they think they got it all.

I’m now recovering from the surgery and getting used to life without a thyroid.
I have a huge scar across my neck and my voice is weak and a little squeaky.
I’m seeing improvements, which is very encouraging.

I’ll write more about this later.
I’ve learned a lot the last few months and I’m looking forward to sharing with you.
Oh – and I’ll write about other stuff too.
There IS still more to life than thyroid cancer  :)

All is Good,

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The China Study

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veganmofoHappy October!

Happy VeganMoFo III!!

VeganMoFo is celebration of all things vegan and I’m excited to be a participant this year! I thought I’d kick of VeganMoFo with a quick report of a book I’m reading:  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II.

The China Study is the most china studycomprehensive study of the relationship between animal protein and diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disease. It was published in 2005 and I’d been hearing all about it, but I had always been hestitant to read The China Study because I thought it would be technical and dry.

Not so!

The China Study is simply blowing me away. And I’m only on page 70!

Here’s what’ I’ve learned so far.

  • There are three stages of cancer, which the author compares to planting a lawn. The Initiation Stage is like putting seeds into the soil. The Promotion Stage is when the grass begins to grow, and the Progression Stage is when the grass gets out of control and grows places you don’t want it to grow.
  • The chemicals that “plant the seeds” of cancer are called carcinogens and they originate primarily from industry byproduct but can also be found in nature.
  • Professor Campbell (author of The China Study) found that decreasing dietary protein decreases the chance that carcinogens will evolve into tumors into the Initiation Stage.
  • He also discovered that when protein needs are exceeded, disease onset begins (the Promotion Stage).

  • Finally – here’s the doozy – plant protein does not promote cancer growth, even when consumed at higher levels. Only animal protein promotes cancer growth.

  • In fact, plant protein actually DECREASES tumor development.

Interesting, huh?

Now I haven’t read past page 70, and I’m sure there are LOTS of critics of this book. AND he did a lot of animal testing, which I didn’t know about before I bought the book and that breaks my heart. But I thought what I’ve read so far was worth sharing. It seems that eating vegan, plant-based foods may decrease the onset of many of the diseases that plague the US. How cool is THAT, VeganMoFo?

If you’ve read The China Study or have any opinions of it, please share!

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