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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Day 11, December 31, 2010 New Years Eve - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Only 34 minutes left of 2011!

WBC went up to 2.2 today! Adrian's throat is sore but not as bad. Eating still hurts and I keep bringing him soup in the evening when we visit. 

Almost all his eyebrows and eye lashes are gone. But they will grow back in no time as soon as he starts recovering. He has phenomenal hair growth and when he finished the CHOP, he had a full head of hair really quick. 
Adrian said he thinks the ANC is up where it needs to be or will be by tomorrow, which means he could be released as early as Sunday. But there won't be anyone on his floor to sign release papers on Sunday, so probably Monday.  But nothing is for sure, so one day at the time. 

Dealing with cancer and its treatment is like a rough roller coaster ride. It yanks you left, right and center at the blink of an eye. Every kink of the course, you don't really know what to expect. One day it is really good, next day rock bottom, then when you think it can't get worse - it does. Couple of days later it is all good again. There is only one word for it, WEIRD. 

What we will focus (health wise) on when Adrian gets home is building cardio strength and diet. Not diet as of needing to loose weight. Diet to clean all the drugs out of his system and cleanse his body. The worry from all the chemo drugs is, of course, secondary cancer. On almost all of the papers they give him before administering the drugs, it says that one of the side effect is secondary cancer. That cancer can come in another part of the body or blood. This can happen in a few years or 20 years down the line, or not at all. There is no telling, nobody knows.

Adrian has met quite a few people during this hospital stay, who have had cancer, gone into remission and anything from 2 weeks to 12 years, relapsed with another kind of cancer. Some of them have relapsed with their initial cancer too, of course.

We were talking tonight and Adrian was saying, the doctors here do their job - treat cancer with chemo/poison or maybe a transplant. Afterwards they pat you on the back to say well done and send you home with a good luck.
There is no such thing as post treatment education class. Meaning, what you can do to lower the risk of cancer coming back and look after yourself. They don't say, stop eating processed food and take vitamins - it might help. They don't say anything at all. It is not like it would harm to you take to those measurements after gone through cancer and chemo treatment.
You can't really fight the point of organic food. The only thing I would say, YES - it is more expensive and that is a shame because everybody can't afford to buy all organic. 

The only thing we can do is to do our best to protect and nurture our bodies with as clean food as possible and teach the kids healthy eating. We have the incredible Vitamix blender and will add on a juicer as well to make veggie juices several times a day.
Again, we are so lucky to have Whole Foods Flagship Store in Austin where organic and locally grown products are available 7 days a week. Plus there are at least 4 farmers' markets every Saturday.

I have found two places to get grass fed beef, one is bison actually, which is very tasty and lean. Here is some interesting info about bison:



The Omega Connection

Grass-fed and finished bison has a healthy Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acid ratio of 4:1 or less. For grain-fed bison that ratio can climb to a very unhealthy 20:1, or sometimes even higher. High Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratios have been linked to heart disease, inflammatory diseases, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and behavioral disorders.

In hunter-gatherer times, more than 10,000 years ago, grain consumption was perhaps incidental at best. The Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio in those times was closer to 2:1 or 1:1. Our bodies haven't changed all that much in the last 10,000 years. But unfortunately our eating habits as a society, especially in the last 40 years or so, have changed dramatically, and for the worse. High Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratios can be directly linked to excessive consumption of grains and an ever expanding range of derivative products.

When compared to grain-fed bison, grass-fed bison is:

  • lower in total fat, especially saturated fat

  • lower in cholesterol and calories

  • considerably higher in beta-carotene and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), both being practically non-existent in grain fed animals.

    Beta-carotene is used in the body to make Vitamin A, a powerful anti-oxidant linked to preventing cancer and cardio-vascular disease. It can also give grass-fed bison fat a slightly yellow color; something that the grain-driven part of the bison industry will sometimes erroneously play up as a negative factor. Grain-fed bison has white fat, much like you see in most, if not all, supermarket beef; a fat whose health benefits are compromised by high Omega 6 content.

    In preliminary studies CLA, a fatty acid, has been linked to reducing the risk of cancer, diabetes and obesity.

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Look perfect timing!! It is midnight!! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!

LET US HAVE A GREAT 2011!!!!!

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