Hello wonderful people! Welcome back to my blog. I had written this piece in the summer but totally forgot to upload. Better late than never! The weather outside is frightful but just imagine it is summer 🙂

Summer is finally upon us in Massachusetts. Yaiy!! I look forward to going to the beach with my hat and jar loads of  sunscreen. I am not allowed to go swimming yet because I just did another procedure; the final reconstruction. I am going to have to be patient, a virtue I still struggle with 🙁 . I am healing well and I continue to trust God for total overall healing and restoration.

That being said, I would like to talk about a topic within cancer care that has brought many experts in the medical and alternative health fields butting heads. I remember when I got my diagnoses and three people I love so much gave me very  spirited and passionate advice on how to go about my treatment. One advised me against what she called “Chinese hocus pocus” and check in with an oncologist. Another told me to listen to a cancer warrior who went the natural route and used nutrition and other alternatives to be cured and stay cancer free. The third person gave me books about people who cured breast cancer naturally.

Not long after, I met a lovely lady whose mom lost her battle to breast cancer. She had decided to go the holistic approach.  Unfortunately the holistic approach did not work and by the time she tried the medical route, it was too late. I also know of people who did not make it although they tried western medicine. For some, the detection was late, for others they were rare cancer forms with low survival rates.  

The debate on cancer treatment has gotten more and more passionate over the years with both sides of the treatment isle, castigating the other. The holistic blame pharmaceutical companies and hospitals for focusing too much on profit at the expense of patient lives. The medics blame alternative practitioners for not backing their claims and treatments with evidence based research. Patients like myself are left in the middle wondering what to do. 

As many of you might be aware, I followed the standard of care in oncology: chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and targeted therapy. I am also currently on endocrine suppression with tamoxifen. They all come with their side effects but I am learning to manage them accordingly so my quality of life is not diminished. Why did I go this route? I had no personal encounter of anyone who went the holistic route in my sphere of influence. I was not going to rely on self appointed experts who might want to paint a rosy picture of what is not to sell products. When you feel like you are racing against life, you want to make the right decision, do your research and decide what is best for you. You have to be your own advocate.

I leave you with a link to NPR on the conservation about science and the various misinformation we receive from media everyday.  

xoxo

OEMA