The Healthy Girl’S Guide to Breast Cancer

The Healthy Girl’s

GUIDE TO BREAST

CANCER

Christine Egan

Copyright © 2013 Christine Egan.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-7459-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-7461-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-7460-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908924

Balboa Press rev. date: 06/12/13

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1       My Journey from Grilled Cheese to Grilled Veggies

Chapter 2       How Did the Healthiest Girl in the Room Get Cancer?

Chapter 3       Okay, I Have Breast Cancer: Now What?

Chapter 4       My Version of Cut, Poison, and Burn

Part 1: Cut—Surgery

Part 2: Poison—Insulin Potentiation Therapy

Part 3: Burn—Radiation

Chapter 5       Sex, Drugs, and Fear

Chapter 6       Things You Have to Deal With When You Have Cancer, a.k.a. the Crappy Parts of Cancer

Chapter 7       My Simple and Doable Stay-Healthy Guide

Part 1: Lifestyle

Part 2: Diet

Recipes

Bonus Guide

About the Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my family: My husband Frank, my son Frank, my daughter Emily and my son Jack. Thank you for helping me realize the importance of the simple things in life.

Plain and simple…I love you.

Just because cancer has become ingrained in the public consciousness as a growing behemoth out of our control does not make it so. Shift the conversation, inspire change, and demand a life for yourself that is not driven by a fear of cancer or ruled by disease. There will always be others who want you to believe that such a thing is inevitable and that prevention is impossible, but those are the same people that feed on the hysteria and neglect the facts. We have the potential to quell cancer’s onslaught by committing ourselves to a better understanding of what lifestyle behaviors are at the root of it, not just what options we are given on the operating table.

-Richard Linchitz, M.D. a 14-year cancer survivor and

director of Linchitz Medical Wellness

I’ll start off thanking the obvious people who helped me get this book into print. I thank my husband, Frank for not only being by my side during that time in our lives, but for encouraging me to start and finish this book project. My three kids: Frank, Emily and Jack for being such great sounding boards for ideas big and small. A huge debt of gratitude goes to my editor Suzanne Boothby; without your assistance this book would not have happened. You were constantly helping put my thoughts into words and reminding me that people want to hear what I have to say.

There were other people involved with the production of this book. My daughter, Emily I love the photo you took of me at the beach for the book cover. Kristine Scaglione, I thank you for taking my family photo and my author biography picture; I still don’t know how you got all of us including the dog to look at the camera. A big thank you goes to my sister-in-law Janet Egan for getting the photos production ready.

Now I would like to thank everyone else that helped me along this cancer journey. A big fat hug goes to my tennis partner and friend Mary Lane. You gave me the needed strength during my early doctor appointments. To my friends who cared for me post-surgery: Tina Annibell for making my special detox tea. Margaret James for not only making me laugh during difficult times but for your bedside manner. And for the countless friends who stopped by with food for me and my family. For all the great staff at the various cancer treatment offices; I thank you for your compassion.

Two of my closest friends were touched by cancer. I thank Linda and Peggy for both helping me stay strong and for helping me figure out what other people need to hear when cancer touches their life.

Whether you cheered me on with Facebook posts or in person, I thank you for helping me get the word out about the importance of empowering yourself during a difficult and dark time.

Lastly, I thank my friends at my local Starbucks for letting me sit there for hours while I wrote this book! The Sayville morning crew is a bundle of positive energy.

You become what you believe, not what you wish.

—Oprah Winfrey

Introduction

I have to start by letting you know this book isn’t about cancer; it’s about wellness. Tony Robbins asks, What story are you telling yourself in your head? The story I told myself was that I wasn’t sick; I was healthy. That’s right. I was a healthy person who just happened to have to deal with cancer. Cancer would not be my identity, and I would not be a walking billboard for it. I did want to be a billboard for health.

I always loved the idea of having a theme song. During my adventure with cancer, I had three songs that played non-stop in my head.

The first one I found while I was sitting in the chemotherapy treatment room. I was reclined in a dark brown leather chair surrounded by three young female nurses in hospital scrubs. My body was in a strangely semi-relaxed state, and I had a clear tube, twenty-four inches long, coming out of the upper right side of my chest. I could hear people talking to me, but it sounded more like mumbled background noise. The only words I could hear were the ones playing in my head. The sounds were from the eighties band the Talking Heads. I imagined hearing the following words repeated with a funky beat:

"You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

You may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong?

You may say to yourself, my God, what have I done?"

I felt like I had written those words myself. They sum up my cancer experience in three little lines.

I didn’t remember the name of that song until I started to write this book. I think the title is very appropriate for me: Once In a Lifetime. I still cling to the thought that this cancer adventure happened once in my lifetime.

You’ll hear more about the other songs as we go. Stay tuned.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

The idea of writing a book started out as a joke. Whenever I met new doctors or their staff, I would tell them to be nice to me because I was writing a book and wouldn’t want them portrayed poorly. It was a fun way to break the ice with doctors’ offices, and it helped the staff remember me. The other silly line I used often was Whoever sees my naked breast has to get in a picture with me. If there was a doctor or staff member who was lucky enough to see my breast, they were lucky enough to get in a picture with me. It was fun when I walked into an office and people said, with a smile on their face, Oh yeah, we heard about you.

The book began as a way to help me heal. I didn’t want years to go by and let regret creep in. I wanted a place to capture my feelings about my time with cancer. My goal was to get my story down on paper while the thoughts were still fresh in my head.

As I wrote, the universe kept encouraging me to move forward with my book. I would write in the morning, and then I would run into someone later that day who reinforced something I had just been writing about. I would hear stories about friends struggling to find their way in the health care system. People who didn’t know I had cancer would comment on how great my skin and hair looked. Friends would ask me details about radiation. Someone actually asked me if my breast was black and charred from it. Right then, I heard the universe confirming that it was important for me to write a book. I could tell people about my experience and give them details about my treatment. I wanted to demystify breast cancer. With information comes power, and I want others to be powerful if this should happen to them, their family member, or their friend.

I also wanted to write this book because I felt like a mountain climber who had reached my summit. I now have this incredible view that I want to share. There are still many climbers down below, and not every climber takes the same way up.

Let’s get clear about a few things. I am not a doctor or a nurse, nor have I studied cancer for years. Thank goodness! I am new to cancer. As I write this, it has been in my life for only a little more than a year. Before my diagnosis, I knew people who had cancer, but it did not affect my life as profoundly until I got my own news. I quickly took it upon myself to become chief medical researcher (of cancer material), a great interviewer (of doctors), and a healthy chef (for myself and my family). I took responsibility for my body and my treatment. I never left any decision to be made solely by a medical practitioner. I did research, asked questions, said no, said yes, and when I needed to, kept my head down to get through what was needed to get well.

My intention is simple: I want to retell my story and shed some light on how I handled a difficult situation with a healthy twist. I want to let you know how I stayed positive, strong, and somewhat sane during the cancer circus. During my one-year unthinkable journey of cancer, I have navigated the health care system, made life-changing decisions, and all the while maintained a positive outlook on life. Some things helped me along the way, and I decided they were too important not to share with you.

So how did a healthy, unsuspecting mother and wife get breast cancer at forty-two?

Sometimes I catch myself looking at visibly unhealthy people and think, I’m the one with cancer? How is that possible?! I’m the person who eats healthier than most, exercises, avoids prescription drugs, and meditates. Yet I’m the one with cancer.

I try not to dwell on the how or why, because the truth is I will never know why I got it and the woman next to me didn’t. The question interests me, though, because if I could figure out what I did, then it seems like I could figure out what to do so it never returns. Was it the water? The food? The stress? The thyroid troubles? The environment? The genes? The list goes on and on. But I will never know the exact cause. All I know is that I thought I was doing everything right.

So this book isn’t about the why or the how of cancer, but about my journey as a healthy person navigating the health care system, staying positive, and remaining healthy throughout.

This book will inform you about some alternative cancer treatments that I researched and participated in. I’m not out to persuade you that one treatment is better than another, but I will tell you what worked for me. I want you to feel empowered to choose what is right for you. I want you to own your body and take charge of it, because only you can take charge of your health. As you read, you will see that I did not follow conventional treatments. I armed myself with knowledge and power. And you can do that too!

Unfortunately, everyone these days has a connection to cancer. Every nineteen seconds someone in the world gets a breast cancer diagnosis, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington. These days you would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t been through it themselves or doesn’t know someone—a family member or friend—who has. My hope is that with more awareness we can all improve our well-being. I hope my story can serve as a guide to others who are struggling with their own news.

Before cancer my life was moving along quite merrily. I lived in an upscale neighborhood, just steps from the Great South Bay on Long Island. I lived in a beautiful three-story house, surrounded by a garden with an in-ground pool and a hot tub. My days consisted of running kids to dance, karate, and sailing—all while putting good, healthy meals together. I truly appreciated my life. My husband, Frank, and I taught Pre-Cana (marriage preparation class for the Catholic Church) yearly, which we did selfishly because it made us fall in love all over again.

I worked part time in Frank’s orthodontic office doing the behind-the-scenes work, including marketing and special projects. I really enjoyed my time at the office, because I knew that it made Frank’s life a little easier. The office was doing really well and ran mostly on autopilot at this point.

The homeschooling of our three kids was getting much easier. The days of angst about whether or not we