Gut Health and why it's so important!

I learned about gut health around 4 years ago. My natural doctor and Dr. Wahl's talk about a leaky gut and gut health a lot. I was rather confused what in the world a leaky gut was until it was explained to me. What is a leaky gut? Leaky gut, also known as increased intestinal permeability, is a digestive condition in which bacteria and toxins are able to "leak" through the intestinal wall. The sad thing is mainstream medical doctors do not recognize leaky gut as a real condition. 

Symptoms of a leaky gut are:

• chronic diarrhea, constipation or bloating
• nutritional deficiencies
• fatigue
• headaches
• confusion
• difficulty concentrating
• skin problems, such as acne, rashes, or eczema
• joint pain
• widespread inflammation

I wrote a blog post on sugar HERE a couple weeks ago. Sugar is one way to cause a leaky gut and destroy good gut health. Avoid eating refined sugars, processed foods, refined oils and minimize your alcohol intake to help your gut health. 

Breakfast I try to have a smoothie with spinach, berries, coconut or almond milk, collagen peptides and chia seeds. We do eat a lot of eggs. I will either fry an egg in coconut oil until they are crispy which is my favorite way to eat them or I like to scramble them with some onions, jalapenos, and spinach. My boys love to eat scrambled eggs with salt. They need salt on their eggs or they won't eat them. I use pink Himalayan salt. 

Lunch I make a large salad. I use all different kinds of lettuce - romaine, arugula, spring mix. Whatever type of lettuce I feel like that week. I try to mix it up, so I don't get sick of the same thing. Then I add in the toppings - shredded carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, grilled chicken, sauerkraut, some nuts if I have them, and Whole 30 ranch. I think it was the Doctors on tv who were talking about how a really good salad has to be mixed really well. It's so true! Once you get everything into your salad it needs to be mixed well! It just makes the salad that much better! 

I started added sauerkraut or kimchi to my salads in the past year. Fermented foods are really great for gut health. Please read the ingredients on the fermented foods you are eating. Make sure there aren't colors, sugars etc added to it. If you are eating fermented foods with additives it pretty much defeats the whole purpose of adding them to your diet. 

A typical lunch for me. 

By having a smoothie and eating a large salad for lunch this pretty much will get 6-9 cups of veggies into my diet for the day. At dinner I might have some paleo tortillas for tacos, baked potato, paleo chicken pot pie or some other type of paleo starch to my dinner. 

Bone broth, sauerkraut, kombucha, are my go to items for helping my gut health besides eating a paleo diet and lots of veggies! I can't say enough of how great bone broth is for you! Not just for your gut health, but also your joints. Getting the collagen for your joints is so important! If you struggle with an autoimmune disease or inflammation add some bone broth into your diet. If you are buying bone broth please pay attention to the ingredients. 

Chris Freytag one of my favorite trainers always says fruit will not make you fat. This is such a good reminder for me. There are times when I want something sweet. Grabbing watermelon, berries, a banana with almond butter is so much better for you than grabbing a Reese's peanut butter cup. Here is what is in a Reese's peanut butter cup - milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, nonfat milk, milk fat, lactose, soy lecithin, pgpr, emulsifier), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, salt, tbhq (preservative), citric acid (to maintain freshness). 

When you are grabbing a banana with simple almond butter you are eating 2 natural items. You are not worrying about dextrose, citric acid and who knows what else being added to it. I feel fruit has been given a bad rap over the years. It has too much sugar, too many carbs, it's not good to eat it all the time - all lies! It's a natural thing that your body can easily process! If you have a leaky gut you may need to consider limiting the amount of fruit you eat until you get your gut health in a good place. 

Have you ever heard of gut health or a leaky gut? What are things you do to keep a healthy gut?

Refined sugars and your body!

When I started my weight loss journey almost 10 years ago sugar was one thing that really was eye opening. When I was doing the HCG diet I really had to pay attention to ingredients in things. Then when I started eating paleo again back to the sugar watching. 

Have you ever looked at the grams of sugar in that Starbucks drink? What about in the ketchup, crackers, lunch meat, or the processed foods you are eating? Start looking at ingredients on the things you are eating and see how many of them have sugar added to them. 

Here is a list of refined sugar. 

• white flour.
• evaporated cane juice.
• instant starches.
• corn syrup.
• high fructose corn syrup.
• brown sugar (made by adding molasses back into refined white sugar)
• fructose.
• processed artificial sweeteners

Here is what the Cancer Center had to stay in 2016:

"The body breaks down refined sugar rapidly, causing insulin and blood sugar levels to skyrocket. Because refined sugar is digested quickly, you don't feel full after you're done eating, no matter how many calories you consumed. The fiber in fruit slows down metabolism, as fruit in the gut expands to make you feel full".

Refined sugars may increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. They're also linked to a higher likelihood of depression, dementia, liver disease, and certain types of cancer.

In the brain, excess sugar impairs both our cognitive skills and our self-control. For many people, having a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Sugar has drug-like effects in the reward center of the brain. Scientists have proposed that sweet foods—along with salty and fatty foods—can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain, driving the loss of self-control, overeating, and subsequent weight gain.

The NIH did a study in mice modeling autoimmune issues gave them sugary water and saw the diseases worsen by activating inflammatory immune cells. The findings suggest that a low-sugar diet may help prevent or treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Sugar stimulates the production of free fatty acids in the liver. When the body digests these free fatty acids, the resulting compounds can trigger inflammatory processes. Different kinds of sugar may contribute more or less to inflammation.

If you have any type of autoimmune diseases sugar is not your friend whatsoever! I can really tell a difference when I eliminate sugar from my diet. My inflammation really seems to decrease and my I don't crave sugar either. When I am eating sugar on a daily basis my craving for sugar is insane! I also feel my entire body become inflamed in a short amount of time. 

It blows my mind how people do not pay attention to the amount of sugar they are putting in their bodies every single day. I keep seeing all these people making coffees on social media adding tablespoons upon tablespoons of sugar to their coffee. People do you know what this is doing to your body? You are poisoning your body on a daily basis adding all that sugar. 

If I am going to use sugar or give my kids sugar I like to use maple syrup or honey. They are a natural sugar that your body can process. I would like to challenge you to pay attention to the amount of refined sugars you are consuming on a daily basis. Try cutting them out and see how you feel. Also think about what your kids are eating and how much refined sugars they are eating. Mamas we need to consider what our kids tiny bodies are consuming and setting them up for a healthy adults. Our world is consumed with autoimmune diseases, cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol and so much more. Refined sugars are related to so many of these diseases!

I really feel I need to share more about living healthy, multiple sclerosis and easy ways to help people live a healthier lifestyle. I feel this is part of my calling as a person and mother. I can only control what my children eat, but I can help other mothers make better choices for their kids if they want the help. 

My tip to adding Liver to your Diet!

I started adding organ meat to our diet about 4 years ago. Growing up my mom use to make liver and onions. I loved it as a kid with some ketchup.

Liver is high in vitamin A, folic acid, iron and zinc. Liver is one of the most nutrient dense organ meat with a powerful source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is extremely beneficial for reducing diseases that cause inflammation like multiple sclerosis, arthritis and Alzheimer's along with great benefits for eye health. I am always looking for ways to reduce inflammation, since I struggle with it so bad from my multiple sclerosis. 

I have fried it with bacon grease and onions, but I struggle with the texture of it. I got an idea one day to buy some liver from a local organic natural market Victoria's Natural Market in Tomball, TX. I love going to Victoria's to get my chicken bones to make bone broth, liver, local honey and various other organic local items. 

I bought some liver and took it home to grind it up. I decided to add it to meatballs the first time. No one even knew it was in there and you couldn't taste it at all! I took the remaining ground up liver and put it in little baggies to freeze. When I make anything with ground meat I will add beef or chicken liver to it. I have found beef liver really gives ground turkey a lot of flavor! 

Ground up liver in my freezer

My family has no clue they are eating liver, but they are getting all the amazing benefits from the liver! I most likely wouldn't sit down to eat a plate of fried liver these days, so I can't expect my kids to eat it. I normally do not hide foods to get my family to eat them. I serve them the item and they decide if they want to eat it or not. To me adding the liver to ground meat is like adding in some extra vitamins. We all need to take vitamins, so let's add a little to what we are going to be eating.
Do you like liver? Have you ever ground it up to eat it? 

Medullary Thyroid Cancer & MD Anderson!!!

Last week I wrote a blog post about being back HERE. I talked a little about our move and why we moved. We didn't move because we wanted too. We moved because of my health. When I found out in January 2013 I had Medullary Thyroid Cancer I was with Kaiser an HMO insurance. I am going to say right now Kaiser is a great place for people who are healthy, who do not have weird illnesses. If you have something rare you need to leave Kaiser. I was told this MANY MANY MANY times by people who had Medullary Thyroid Cancer. I didn't get it until I left them. 

My experience with Kaiser was rough! I am not going to name Kaiser doctors in this post. These doctors could be amazing with other things and I don't feel it's fair to blast them. I went to 3 doctors for 4 years that I was either their first patient or they had seen a couple others with MTC. My surgeon and endocrinologist I was their only patient. My oncologist saw less than 5 people. The last year I was with Kaiser I finally stopped seeing my oncologist and only saw my surgeon. My surgeon was AMAZING!!!! If I asked her for a second opinion, consult with MD Anderson and to look into things for me she always did. She seriously was and is the most amazing person to me. I will probably always have a very special place in my heart for her because I feel she saved my life. She found the cancer, removed it and just gave me exceptional care! 

The Kaiser oncologist was great the first year or so I saw him. Then I don't know what happened to him but he became an ass. I watched the show the Resident and after seeing that show I think for him I didn't bring any money, so why keep me around. I also think it bothered him that I knew more about Medullary Thyroid Cancer than he did. I had to learn everything possible because I needed to make sure I was getting the best care. I would ask him questions and he would talk to me like I was stupid. I asked him if certain tests had been run on my tumors. He turned it around treating me like I had no idea what I was talking about, that the blood tests had been run etc. I remember getting very blunt with him. I said NO I asked did you run these tests on my TUMORS not my genetic testing. There is a difference here. This was in November 2016 or so when all this went down. At this point I was starting to realize I needed to leave Kaiser and head to MD Anderson. I also stopped seeing my oncologist and just went to see my surgeon for check ups right around this time. 

In September 2018 I went in for my routine CT Scan. My surgeon had requested the scan along with instructions to use contrast. When I arrived for my scan they weren't prepping me for an IV. I asked are you going to put an IV in for the contrast? The nurse said you don't need that for this test. I said someone needs to look in my file because you always need contrast. Did anyone look at my doctors notes? HELLOOOOO I am no nurse or doctor, but I knew more about MTC than I think anyone at Kaiser. I was sooooo frustrated. 

When my results came back from the Sept 2018 scan it showed my liver legions had grown. Kaiser wanted me to meet with a surgeon to have the spots removed. I told Art I am not going to let Kaiser do anything else when it comes to MTC because they can't even get the contrast right for the scan. I said what if they do surgery and completely mess things up. I only have 1 liver and I can't keep taking these changes. This is when we decided it was time to move. 

I have gone into the detail above because I want people to understand the lack of care I received by not going to a center of excellence for Medullary Thyroid Cancer. Doctors who are not at a center for excellence will tell you oh there aren't doctors that see this rare cancer very often. That is a lie! My doctor at MD Anderson sees over 200 patience with MTC. Currently she is treating 200 patients. She has seen way more than 200 patients over the years. 

I called MD Anderson prior to moving to set up an appointment. My mom had scheduled a trip down to help with the boys. When they booked my appointment it was 2 full days of tests plus I met with my doctor, her staff and a consultation with a surgeon. I had MRI, CT Scans, ultrasounds, and blood work. I would leave the hospital each day and I felt completely exhausted. Between the contrast making me sick and all the testing it was rough. 

It was sooooo nice to meet with people who understood MTC. I would describe my symptoms and they wouldn't blow me off. They would have me go into more detail or let me know that is very common for MTC. With Kaiser doctors would get this deer in the headlights look when I was start in about symptoms or problems I was having. I had more care in 2.5 days at MDA than I had in 6 years with Kaiser. I didn't have to ask about contrast, how they would be running the lab work, if the labs would be changing. Some of the imaging staff was familiar with MTC even! 

I received phone calls from my doctors team explaining the tests, the next steps, checking up on me to see how I was feeling. They don't see a lot of patients that are in their 30's with kids let alone a nursing mother. The nurse practitioner called me numerous times to check on me. Ask how long I pumped and dumped. She said she was taking notes for future patients in my situation, so she could help them based on my experience. It was amazing! They also requested an additional Dotatate scan. It is a newer scan that MDA makes the contrast right at their facilities. It's similar to a PET scan that actually works for MTC patients. PET scans do not work for MTC. 

While I didn't receive the news I wanted that I don't have cancer or things aren't growing....a part of me had hoped we made a mistake by moving because I didn't really have cancer. I had 6 years of blood work showing I did, but still I kind of wanted a miracle. Anyhow they found even more cancer than Kaiser had found. My doctor at MDA says the stuff Kaiser was blowing off is MTC. She said this is very common to see it spreading. At this point they are just going to watch it for 6 months. I will go back for more testing. If things grow we will need to discuss additional steps - biopsies, chemo, surgeries etc. 

In the past 6 years things have changes for the better with MTC.  There is additional genetic testing they do now. Kaiser had no knowledge of this. Thankfully everything came back as sporadic, so it is not genetic. If it was genetic my kids would have to be tested and whatever side of the family it was on would also need to be tested. There would be talk about removing thyroids of the family members that had any signs of a raised calcitonin or CEA. Thankfully this isn't an issue! I was hesitant to have kids if it had been genetic when we found out I had cancer. I just didn't want to spread it to them. I may have taken the chance, but it was something that weighed heavily on my mind while I waited a month for those results to come back. 

I can't recommend MD Anderson enough!!!  Is it expensive to go there? Sure it is! I met my deductible and yearly out of pocket within 1 day of testing. I will budget for this in the coming years. I will know I need to set up the max amount of flex spending money available plus some additional money to help cover my medical costs. We pay a TON of money for insurance each year plus co-pays, deductibles and out of pocket. 

So many people complain about Obama care. There have been some great things with Obama care. The lifetime maximums went away and pre-existing conditions. I would possibly be without insurance at this point in my life because of my pre-existing conditions and I would have for sure met the one million dollar lifetime max. I don't agree with everything they have done with it, but these 2 things alone have been great for people who have major medical issues. 

MD Anderson is an amazing place! If you have cancer my suggestion would be to go to MD Anderson. They know their stuff! I am sure there are other places that might know stuff too, but when it comes to your life go to the best! 

What actually is Grace?

I feel this year I have been learning the actual meaning of grace in my life and what the Bible actually teaches. I feel mans teaching has been so wrong over the years. I went to see Jen Hatmaker in February. She talked about the Good Samaritan helping the certain man in Luke 10. One thing that really got to me was how the Bible talked about this certain man. In the Bible it doesn't talk at ALL about what this man had done. It doesn't mention if he was homeless, drug addict, a great man, provoked the thieves etc. It just talks about the people who didn't help him and the one man who did. WOW! To me that was so powerful. There are so many times we don't help people because we don't think they deserve to be helped. I don't think that is what God wants from us. To make a judgment or determination who needs to be helped. Well I helped them one time, they screwed up and they don't deserve to be helped again. Think if God treated us that way? 

God is gracious and loves to give us good gifts. We do not have to strive in life for anything. We do not have to be good enough or do the right thing in order for God to give us grace, the desires of our heart or to be there for us. His grace is undeserving, unwarranted and something we can't earn. His grace is freely given to us. So often I was taught the reasons I went through trials were because I did something to deserve these trials. That I won't see God's grace through trials because I haven't earned his grace. Yikes! This is a horrible teaching and it isn't what the Bible teaches at all. You get to the point you don't want to even try anymore because what's the point. 

Over the years I have been through a lot in my life. I have always seen God take care of me. I have been through a lot of crap in life. There is so much of my life that I have not shared on my blog. I have shared some of the crappy parts here. Growing up my parents didn't shelter us from the trials of life. Instead we all prayed about them as a family and tried to trust God. People can say well children shouldn't experience that stress. I can see that point. I have to say that experiencing the trials life threw at us as a family from a young age has helped me deal with trials as an adult. Some times trials happen because of bad decisions or because there aren't boundaries in place, but that does not mean God's grace isn't there for us!!!!!! Those are lessons you have to learn in life. 

I love the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury. It really has spoke to me while we have been going through some rough times in life. Sometimes we need to just stop and let God love us. Let Him show us his grace! 

Reckless Love Lyrics

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

Songwriters: Caleb Culver / Cory Asbury / Ran Jackson

5 Years!!!!

It is really hard to believe that it has been 5 years since surgery and this whole cancer thing started! I feel so good about hitting the 5 year mark! No, I am not in remission. No, I am not cancer free. My cancer numbers are higher than they were after surgery. My tumors legions haven't really grown much in 5 years. They are still there! They haven't gone away. 

I have tried I feel almost everything I can to make those legions go away, but nothing seems to make them want to leave. However! I am thankful they have stayed stable! When you have cancer stable is always a refreshing thing to hear. I am very faithful about getting my blood work done every 3 months. I have done this for 5 years now. It's just part of my new normal. One of my doctors suggested we could move to getting blood work every 6 months. Nope! I like to see the trends. It might not mean much now, but down the road this information could be very helpful. She is a fabulous doctor and listens to me. 

In 5 years I have learned so much! I have learned so much about thyroid cancers and thyroid issues. Recently my mom had to go to the doctors about thyroid issues. I was able to go in there understand what the doctors were talking about and ask a lot of questions for all of us to understand exactly what was going on. Five years ago all of that would have gone over my head. 

I have always felt that my cancer diagnosis helped bring me G. We struggled for so long to have a baby. It was about a year after surgery that I was able to get pregnant with him. It also wasn't at my healthiest time either. I took the chance of getting pregnant with him. Some of my doctors at the time didn't agree with it. I am thankful I didn't listen to them. If I had I might not have him. It seems that MTC affects women and infertility really bad. My numbers were very low a year after surgery. I am thankful I took that chance and that I get to celebrate with him every year. We will eat paleo cookies today in honor of 5 years of life after cancer. 

I take G to the majority of my doctor appointments. At times I wonder if this is good or not. I want him to realize this is normal for our family. One day he will hear that one of his friends parents has cancer and he might think well doesn't everyone have a parent with cancer? He also isn't afraid of going to the doctor. He is brave when he has to get blood drawn. He comes with me most of the time to get mine done every 3 months. He isn't a fan of shots! He doesn't see me get shots lol.  He sees me get ultrasounds, checked by the doctors, trying to be as healthy as I possibly can be and this is his normal. G had to get an ultrasound of his heart recently. He has born with 2 super small holes in his heart. Something that the doctors or us haven't been concerned about, but it's monitored every 3-5 years. He didn't flinch when he had to get checked or the ultrasound. I told the doctor he sees me go through a lot, so he thinks this is normal. 

You may not agree with how I parent my child when it comes to cancer. For us this works. For me it's important he is comfortable with all this. I don't want him to worry about things that none of us have control over. 

In 5 years I have seen some friends with MTC go quickly. It's always heartbreaking when you lose someone. There is something that hits you in your core. Then you have to remind yourself your MTC journey is different than theirs. MTC affects every single person differently. 

Five years out I am probably at my healthiest I have been in my adult life even with 2 major illnesses. I work really hard to eat healthy and do the best self care I possibly can do! My pray since G was born is that God would give me 30 years with him. I will happily take way more than 30 years. 

Today we celebrate life! 

It's Cake Day!

It is hard to believe today is 4 years since my surgery! Two days I relive each year. The day I went in for surgery and the 3 days it took to birth a baby. lol Surgery day is a shorter day for me to relive because 11 hours of it I was asleep. My life changed that day. I say a lot for the better, but reality is it changed for the worse too. A new things happened for me that I didn't experience in the past - anxiety. The unknown with having a cancer. 

Each year I celebrate January 18 with cake. Last year I struggled with the day. I didn't really even acknowledge the day. Last year was really hard dealing with it all. This year I went out to Whole Foods to find a gluten free cake. I took G with me which was probably not a good idea. He was pointing and yelling about all the cakes he wanted me to buy. I finally found him a box of crackers, so I could pick out something. I found some chocolate cake bites. 

Now listen I didn't even eat cake or ice cream on my birthday last year. Unheard of! Well I am not going to let another year go by where I don't celebrate another year of my life WITH cake! lol

I decided 2017 was going to be a year where we don't live waiting for a health crisis. I am not going to a million doctor appointments. I am not going to stress about test results every few months. I am just going to let cancer become a blip on my radar a couple times a year. 

I am thankful I don't have to wake up at 4:30am tomorrow to head to the hospital. I am thankful I won't wake up at 9:30pm tomorrow in the worst pain of my life. Childbirth didn't even compare to that pain. Maybe because I knew with childbirth I could get drugs that would numb it all AND I would have a sweet baby in the end. I am thankful for right now my cancer is stable. I am thankful my little miracle boy came after all this cancer ruckus! 

This year I am going to eat all the cake bites I bought with my little George, laugh and soak in the minutes of another amazing year with cancer! 

Put your Health 1st in 2017!

My life was changed in May 2016 when I was encouraged to start eating Paleo by my doctor. I was having so many health issues. I honestly thought within a couple years I would need a cane or wheel chair. I felt horrible! I could barely go for a walk without needing to rest for a couple days. I was barely able to get the normal daily tasks done. Chasing a toddler was extremely exhausting. 

The thought of never eating bread or dairy again was very overwhelming. I am German and Italian....seriously no pasta or bread? Do you know how I was raised? I was raised on flour based foods. Then I remembered when I did the HCG diet. I lost 80 pounds not eating foods with flour. I felt really great when I was doing certain stages of that diet which didn't have gluten or dairy. If I was able to do it before, so I could do it again. 

I had my entire grocery list made out on a Thursday when I was encouraged to change my diet. I told my doctor ok well I guess I will go home and make a whole new grocery list. And I did! I totally changed what I fed myself and my family. I am not going to make different meals for George or Art. If it wasn't healthy for me to be eating all these things then my toddler maybe shouldn't be eating those things either. 

During this time I came across Dr. Wahls. Another life changing event. I started following the Wahls Protocol. As I would read her book I just couldn't imagine how my body would even start to heal with just foods. I was willing to take the chance. If it worked for her then it might help me. She was a lot worse off then I was, but I felt my health was headed to a bad place like Dr. Wahls experienced. 

Fast forward to the present. Eating the Paleo diet has not changed my cancer at all. I have actually had additional growth on some of the cancer spots. My MS has changed drastically. If you have read previous posts and new posts that will be coming out you will see my fitness level has greatly improved. Right now I can see my life not needing a cane or wheel chair. 

Over Christmas I ate some non-Paleo food items. Oh boy! Usually I am SUPER careful about what I eat. I decided to allow myself to eat somethings I liked in the past. Lesson learned it isn't worth it. My body was achy, stomach hurt, bloating, and just feeling like garbage. I can't do dairy period! 

If you have any health issues I HIGHLY recommend you try eating the Paleo diet! It really has been life changing for me. I will say the first 4-6 weeks were super hard. It got boring trying to figure out what I could eat and getting sick of the same things. I felt I wouldn't be able to ever eat out at a restaurant. Over the past few months I have been able to change recipes to make them Paleo friendly. When a recipe calls for milk I use coconut milk. When it calls for butter I use ghee. Flour - I use tapioca starch or almond flour. You slowly start to learn what substitutes for things. You also learn to look ahead at menus and pick items you can eat when you eat out. You can ask them to hold certain ingredients and let them know your food allergies. 

Some people are able to add cheese and rice back into their diets without experiencing any problems. I think it all depends on your health and body. I can't add those things back in. I tried and it didn't work for me. I don't think you can expect to see a huge difference in how you feel within a couple days. When I look back to how I felt in April of 2016 to how I feel in December 2016 it is night and day. 

Getting to a healthy place isn't a sprint. You have to take it like a marathon. Slow and steady. 

1. Start to get some sleep! Your body needs sleep badly! So many people don't sleep properly. You need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. If you aren't able to sleep at night try to get a little nap. A 20 minute nap for me really helped heal my body. I use to nap 4-6 days a week for about 20-30 minutes. Now I rarely nap. I still love my Sunday afternoon nap while listening to a football game. Something so calming about those naps. 

2. Change the foods you eat! If you are eating processed food and feel terrible...shocker it's probably because it is processed. How can you expect your body to process these foods? If it has a package of dry ingredients did that come from a field? That is going to sit in your body for who knows how long trying to figure out how to process it. I could go on and on about this. 

3. Exercise! Even if it's for 20 minutes a few times a week. Find something you like. Take your kids for a walk to feed the ducks that crappy bread you shouldn't be eating. lol YouTube has a lot of free workouts. I love Chris Freytag workouts. You can find a lot of them on YouTube. 

4. Start reading the labels of the products you use. Look up ingredients on products to figure out exactly what is in the product. If your lotion has some strange things listed on it google those words. You will probably find out you are putting harmful chemicals on your body. 

You can't jump into this all head first. I did things slowly. I did the food, sleep, exercise and then products. I still struggle with sleep. It is midnight and here I am writing a blog post. Tomorrow I will probably need a nap. MS is a killer for messing with your sleep. Sometimes sleep aids work and something they don't. 

I Continue to Fight Strong!

Recently I wrote a blog post called I Fight Strong! Since I wrote that blog post I have had to start a fight again. This time with an insurance company. I have spent a lot of time this year fighting doctors and insurance. I got to the point I was seriously exhausted and beat down from fighting. I just wasn't sure if I had the fight left in me. I told Art I was at the point I wanted to just give up fighting everyone, but I couldn't. I couldn't give up because there is a little boy who needs his mom. If she doesn't fight for her health no one else can or will. 

I dug down deep to have the strength to fight another fight. It was a long week of gathering information, preparing documents and sent it off hoping for a good outcome. I spent a week praying asking God to help me through yet another fight. On the day I was supposed to hear what the insurance company would decide I read this:

I was able to stop my worrying for just a couple hours. Later that day I got a phone call that things had been approved. I hung up the phone and cried. Then I reminded myself just how strong I am. How I fight strong because cancer, doctors, MS or insurance companies aren't going to bring me down!

Little Moments

As I sat at the hospital waiting on another scan to check my cancer I sat there soaking up the earlier moments of the day. Earlier in the day G and I read books, played with his car ramp Art just built him then we hit a balloon around the room. I thought back over the past 8 years. The struggles we went through to bring this little boy into the world. So many miscarriages, cancer, and then MS. We went through so much heartache.  I know we both wondered why are we going through so much. What have we done to deserve this?  

There are times now I look back and have these moments maybe this is why we went through so much. It changed how I mother. It changed how I look at things. All of those things have changed me for the better. I'm able to take a deep breath in the midst of chaos and get through it.

A couple weeks ago I was that mother carrying their screaming toddler out of Costco in a superman pose as he flailed around because I wouldn't let him have his way. I started to get frustrated. Then I thought back to what I had been doing 2 years before. Taking phone calls from retirees yelling because their pension check was 1 day late. They refuse to get their check direct deposited. Instead of always having their money in their account on the 1st they wait around for a paper check. Kind of similar to a toddler who wants ice cream instead of a sandwich at lunch time. I took a deep breath, laughed and unloaded my stuff into the car. I would rather deal with my screaming toddler any day! As hard as I fought to bring this amazing kid into the world I have to fight to make sure he grows up to be a kind man. 

4 Different Types of Thyroid Cancer

Did you know there are 4 types of thyroid cancers? There isn't just one type that is easily cured with surgery or radioactive iodine. 

The 4 types are:

Papillary
Follicular 
Medullary
Anaplastic

Thyca.org is a great website! If you are interested in finding out more information on the different types go HERE. It has so much information for people with different type of thyroid cancer. This website has helped me find a great support group of people who have the same type of cancer I do. I am so grateful I was able to find these people. They understand what you are going through. Sometimes family or friends just don't understand. There are times it is hard for me to understand what in the world is going on. When I go to them it is reassuring to know I am not alone. 

I Fight Strong!

I fight every day to stay ahead of this cancer! It is something I have to stay on top and fight every single day of my life. There are very few days where I don't think of it. There are times when I don't think I would fight so hard if it wasn't for G. He has given me a whole new fight. I just want to see him grow up, graduate high school, go to college and hopefully get married one day. 

There are times I get irritated because there is sooooo much breast cancer awareness stuff out there. The other day I thought wait why am I getting upset over that. People have got to be made aware of the different types of thyroid cancers.  It just takes a few people to raise awareness for different type of things in this world. 

Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month!

September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. Statistic - about 40% of people will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. 1% of those people will have thyroid cancer. 1% of people with a thyroid cancer diagnosis will have Medullary Thyroid Cancer.

Right now there is no cure. Chemo and radiation don't cure us. We don't ever go into remission. MTC is a battle that is fought every day. Thyroid cancer is not the good cancer people get. There is no good cancer ever!

Three Years!

I read a post this morning I put on FB 3 years ago.

"I'm off to start the next chapter of my life...cancer FREE!!!!

I'm looking forward to the BIGGEST class of ice cold water after recovery. This no water thing is for the birds!!!!

My Grandma Fischer would be proud. Woke up, did my hair and make up. Even when she went to work in the field on the farm she looked presentable because you never know who could stop by. lol

Happy Friday!!!!"

This started off my day feeling weird. It's been 3 years since I went in for surgery to get rid of cancer. Only to find out 2 weeks later I won't ever get rid of this cancer. I normally celebrate today. I couldn't really celebrate today.  I think it has been a weird feeling because my numbers aren't as low as I would like them to be. It has been a roller coaster year with ups and downs when it comes to my cancer numbers. Right now they are holding stead. I would rather have them holding steady then climbing. Still it's scary at times.

Three years ago I was sitting in a hospital bed thinking I wouldn't ever be able to move my shoulders again. The pain was horrific. Somehow I forgot the pain of child birth. I can't forget the pain after my cancer surgery.

As I sat on the couch tonight I looked at my house covered in toys. George was dragging his tent around the house as toys were being scattered.  Right now life is good. I was able to spend it with the important people in my life. I didn't celebrate my cancerversy, but I did soak in the sweet moments of just an ordinary life.

It's HERE!!!

The book was delivered today!!! EEEKKKKK!!!

I have been reading different stories from the book today. I read mine first. I've read it many times but it was crazy to me to see my words in a book. I wonder if my own words would have been in a book without cancer?  

Then I read my friend Bill's story. We lost Bill about a month ago. I still miss him every day. I miss seeing his midnight snack of grilled cheese. Or reading his encouraging words. He always knew what to say to people. Had great stories to share. 

Then I went to story 1. Perfect story to start the book. The first story sums up a day with MTC. 

The book is overwhelming. No way I could sit down and read this whole thing. Maybe because I know most of these people. Maybe because this is my reality. I understand what these people are going through each day. 

Survivor!

One year ago I became part of a group I never imagine I would ever join - cancer survivor. I've thought a lot about the one year mark. I've been anxious to get to this point. I've struggled with what to write because I'm not sure I can put into words just how much the past year has changed me.

I went into surgery thinking it would be an easy fix, but walked away with a life long journey. Physically & emotionally it was a rough year. I wouldn't change one thing about the past year. I've said it before but going through everything God became so real. 

I struggled with how to celebrate year one. I don't feel I can say 1 year cancer free because my body won't ever be rid of cancer. I decided I will celebrate the years as a survivor. We will celebrate with cake & candles to represent each year. 

I recently had my one year check up with my surgeon. I asked her if she could believe it's been a year. I remember my first visit with her. I left crying because I would have a scar. Then that scar became nothing when lymphoma was mentioned - chemo would make my hair fall out. Now I don't even notice the scar. My left side of my neck is still numb and the scar is still pretty red on my right side. They have talked about different treatments for the scar. I'm not sure I will do anything because one day I will have another surgery. I will let them fix it then. 

Today I celebrate one year as a survivor of Medullary Thyroid Cancer. It is a journey that will follow me for the next 56 years (I have plans to be here until at least 89 years old). I look forward to watching medicine find a cure and giving all the MTC people hope for a full life! 

Not Going Down Without A Fight!

Recently I had an issue at work where someone got their panties in a bunch and decided I was going to be punished. They made up their own rules as to how things worked in the company and thought they could get away with it. I decided I would handle it with the proper chain of command. I went to my boss and then to HR. It was all handled within moments in my favor.

The person who had their panties in a bunch didn’t realize I was going out to lunch with the CEO of the company the same day they were causing a ruckus. The panty buncher was a nervous wreck when they found out I was out to lunch with the CEO. The CEO never heard one word about the issue from me. Instead we talked baseball, grandchild, housing and various other topics unrelated to my work issue.

I came from a home where my parents fought the state on education and won. My mom fought good and hard to get a home school bill passed in North Dakota. She would get right in people faces at the capital talking about why she felt home schooling was right. She didn’t care if those people didn’t like her or her opinion.

It could have been much simpler for my parents to put their children on a school bus instead of fighting the state. They were told their children would be taken away, they couldn’t adopt, and they might serve jail time. Instead I watched my parents fight the battle of their life for their family. I remember that time very clearly as a 7 or 8 year old. I didn’t understand why they were so stressed out because I knew they would win. I watched my parents fight for what they felt was right their entire life.

What people don’t realize when they mess with me is I have been through a lot more than your average 32 year old. I am currently in the fight of my life fighting for my health. Every day I fight to find the best care, find a way to feel like myself again and beat cancer. I came from a home where you fight for what is right no matter what! I am married to a man who has fought for our freedom. I am not going down without a fight!

8 Months

Top left: 2 days after surgery

Top right: 1 week after surgery

Middle left: around Easter

Bottom left: July

Bottom right: last weekend

 

Yesterday was 8 months since surgery. Looking back at pictures it is amazing to see how much has changed. In July the surgeon was not happy at all with how my scar was healing. She decided to put a steroid shot along the incision to get rid of the raised scar. I still am debating if this was a good decision or not. One of the side effects could be varicose veins, but normally it happens after 2 or 3 steroid shots. Well I don't follow any rules. I got varicose veins after one stinkin shot. The raised area is almost completely gone. The color is slowly fading back into my normal skin color.  I think the surgeon will be very happy with the results since July.

Patience, waiting, limbo land, self-control, endurance, temperance, forbearance, longaniminty - just a few words that describe my journey with cancer. Two of my favorite words are longaniminity and temperance. Longaniminity means patience enduring of hardship, injuries, or offense. Temperance means moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, self control.

Right now we are not sure what is going to happen. In October I will have another CT scan to see what is going on with the numerous spots on my lungs, liver and my enlarge thymus tissue. My blood work has decided it would be fun to do the wave like it is attending a baseball game. It goes up, it goes down then it goes up, but nothing to be overly concerned with at this time. I am considered stable. There are so many factors that can affect the rise and fall of the specific blood tests I have done. I try to get my blood work done around the same time every quarter, eat the same foods, avoid spicy food, and go to the same lab. Changing one of those things can cause the number to increase or decrease.

I have blood work run on a quarterly basis. The week I have to wait for blood work are 5-7 of the longest days of my entire life. I have learned I will not get blood work run right before a holiday because it delays it an additional 2-3 days. This last time I had to wait 10 days. My body goes through so much stress just waiting for the results. I try not to stress over it, but that is MUCH easier said than done.  I need to work on my longaniminity majorly!
 I had hoped all my blood work would go back to normal at this point, so I could have a few decades of not worrying about cancer. Evidentially God still thinks I need to learn some more longaniminity.

 

6 months ago

Six months ago today Art and I woke up before the chickens to head to the hospital. I was more nervous for Art and my family then for me. I knew I would be fine but the next 10 hours would drag on for my family. 

Here I am at 4am getting ready to leave for the hospital. 

I didn't realize how much my life was about to change. Things I had never had to think about would now become a burden. I remember walking into the hospital almost care free. I thought once recovery was over and after the radio active iodine I wouldn't have anymore cancer thoughts. 

 Updating my journal

The past 6 months I've learned more about Medullary Thyroid Cancer, ct scans, blood levels, spots on my insides and other various cancer terms than I thought I would ever have to know. I also have learned how I need to handle getting rough news. It's ok to cry, scream and get angry, BUT those things need to get out and then move on. I have to take everything in before I can share it with my family. Once I absorb it all then I can remind everyone of positive parts. 

There are lots of people who live years with Medullary Thyroid Cancer. The majority of the doctors will tell you something else will kill you before MTC. It's rare that MTC will be the thing to take you down as long as you are monitoring your health. This is why I need to understand MTC the best I can because I'm my best advocate. 

I walked into the hospital on January 18 a cancer patient and out a survivor! The 6 month mark is very sweet!!!