Alkalize, Oxygenate, De-Stress & Detoxify!

As I sit down to write the next installment of my blog – I suddenly recall the title of a book, "Alkalize or Die". I don't remember the author, I never read the book, but the concept clearly left an impression.

And with that said, let’s turn to the course of events after I had my tumor removed.

After my surgery, I stayed in the hospital for five days. Before I checked out on the Saturday morning, John, my mom and I met again with the oncologist.

We discussed possible treatment options and he recommended future screening.
The doctor was brilliant, and had a kind and gentle demeanor. He delivered complex information in a way that was easy to understand. Which was, in essence:

~ This is the kind of chemo that you should have.
~ Radiation isn't appropriate for this type of cancer.
~ There really aren’t any statistics on someone so young (36) with no tangible history of colon cancer in the family.
~ In the case of someone with your stage II B colon cancer, with no indication of metastasis, there is a 98% chance that the chemo will not do anything but make you really, really ill
~ There is a 2% chance that the chemo will kill off some rogue microscopic cancer cells that might potentially proliferate and cause another tumor (some schools of thought say we all have microscopic cancer cells in our body, it is just the ones who get the message to grow and spread that cause us harm)
~ If you are amongst that 2%, you will still get really sick from the chemo, but we recommend that you have it anyway. Just to be sure...

There was no talk of the devastating effect that chemo has on the immune system. Seriously, chemotherapy has a time and a place, and it should NOT be recommended lightly. The fact that it was advised despite the fact it was going to make me really sick, reminds me of the over-prescription of antibiotics! It’s like a rote-response.

There was no talk of diet.

No talk of proactive ways of preventing another tumor. I never heard the words: antioxidants, scavenging free radicals (the militia of cancer), and certainly no talk of creating an inhospitable environment for cancer (alkalinity).

Sooo, I immediately turned to the tool that, funny enough, doctors advise against.
The internet is rife with information regarding alternative treatments to chemo/radiation.

Let me say, for the record, there is a lot of information out there that is extremely controversial. Since I was so intent on continuing to breastfeed Hunter, I ruled out most of the various radical alternative treatments (graviola, for example) and focused my studies on nutritional facts regarding the body's reaction to food, chemicals, water, air, and anything we come into contact with in our daily lives. If it had to do with what goes in or on my body, I wanted to know about it.

[Note: I don't know if I would have embarked upon this study with such zeal if I did not have a baby to think of. Hunter's presence changed everything for me. Everything.]

If someone were to ask me, in a few words, what can you do to prevent cancer?
This is what i would say...

Alkalize, Oxygenize, De-Stress and Detoxify.

Why? Here are the scientific facts:

~ Cancer cannot live in an alkaline environment.
~ Cancer cannot thrive in a highly oxygenated environment.
~ Cancer thrives in an acid environment.
~ Stress hormones make us acidic. Literally.
~ The chemicals that bombard our bodies daily, have the power to mutate cells.

And so it’s quite simple really.

In my next post, I will enumerate the various changes I made in my life that I believe gave my body the "green light" to conceive Logan Anelyse Hiemstra (totally by surprise, mind you!) a mere six months post surgery.

RELAX, BREATHE AND FEEL JOY