My Mother May Have Cancer

Morning Folks,

This is when the rubber meets the road.

I'm at my moms for the past two nights. Yesterday, after waiting for test results for nearly 4 weeks, she was told her thyroid, which had been found to have growths on it, MAY be cancerous in 3 nodes.

The doctors suggested Thyroidectomy.

My mother also has spots on her lungs, which have been there for years, but now with the possible thyroid cancer, these spots are being checked again.

She also has always had severe digestive issues, chronic constipation, fissures and hemmorhoids. But, the latest news with her digestive/eliminative system is that she has a polyp, and scar tissue from a previous surgery blocking her bowel. The way the doctor explained it is 'let's say there is a 5 lane highway with cars going down. the cars are like the food and the highway is your bowel. You, Ruth, have 3 of the lanes blocked off.' Food comes up on her, she has pain under her breastbone. The doctor suggested having major surgery to 'reshape' her bowel, and also remove the polyp.

As you can imagine, being someone in the raw food world, i am not for surgery, but want my mother to try a natural approach to cure her overall body breakdown. Over the last weeks, she has recognized a direct correlation between what she eats and how she feels. She has almost completely eliminated meat from her diet and has been subsisting on more digestible toast and crackers and icecream. Not ideal by any means, but her pain has been reduced.

As you can also imagine, my parents are scared to death. They believe what the doctors tell them. They were raised in a generation where the doctor, the policeman, the teacher...were all gods.

Last night, i called my dear friend, Susan Aman. She is a Registered Nurse, living foodist, a living foods educator and healer (and also my catering partner). Susan has an amazing story herself. She has overcome with a living foods diet: a ring of scar tissue on her ankle, a tumor on her back, debilitating back pains, fibromyalsia, migraines, allergies, depression. And, in her time working as a raw food healer, she has MANY stories of healing that she has supervised. One example is of her sister, whose colon was 'dead,' the doctors said. Her bowel would have to be removed and there was 'nothing that could be done.' By juice fasting her sister and putting her on green smoothies, the bowel is now as good as new.

So, last night, I put the phone on speaker phone, and Mom, Dad, Cliff, my brother, Ricky and me sat around the phone listening to Susan's suggestions and allowing her to teach us. (Me included, because she ended up really ministering to me on a personal level as well).

Of course, Susan suggested my mother (and father, who has a mild case of Leukemia, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and is obese) embark on a living foods diet, specifically, a green smoothie based diet. It is her belief that the scar tissue in my mothers bowel will dissolve on it's own, the thyroid issue will clear up on it's own, the overall digestive issues, hemmorhoids and fissures will dissappear (overall inflammation will dissappear), and the lungs will clear.

My parents listened intently to the what Susan was saying. A profound calm came over them as she talked. Her teaching was so powerful. Every analogy made sense. "If you put coca cola in your car engine, would you expect your car to have problems?" EVERYthing she said made sense. My father was profoundly influenced and uplifted by the conversation in particular.

As luck would have it, well, probably more like, as GOD would have it, i brought along a giant box of organic spinach, bananas and dates to my overnight stay at "Chez Schulman" for myself. But, mommy & daddy have agreed to start the smoothies today. So, it was really divine providence that i had these items here.

People, please pray for them, pray for us.

For people not accustomed to taking responsibility for their own health, and for people who are going to be facing detox, they are going to need a lot of strength, alot of faith. Hey, myself included.

It's really my belief we should all go away somewhere, Optimum Health Institute (O.H.I.), perhaps, to get indoctrinated. No one can follow through on something unless they really believe in it. We ALL need to be brainwashed all of the time. I feel brainwashed just from Susan's teaching last night. Suddenly, eating for comfort doesn't sound all that spectacular.

One day at a time, though, for mom and dad, and for me.

I'll be informing you of the status of things.

For today, i will show my mom how to make green smoothie. She's watched me and tasted them, but now it's serious time. I haven't had one in days, so i'll be re-embarking on a new journey, shall we say. My eyes have been opened.

Monday, my parents have an appointment with the surgeon and I will accompany them. My mother has been in distress with the bowel issue for 4 months. If we can get my parents to delay surgery of the bowel, this green smoothie program will have a chance to take effect and the surgery will never be needed. The possible thyroid cancer needs to be confirmed, and it is my understanding at this appointment on Monday, we will have a clearer picture of what kind of possible cancer and how serious it is.

Nevertheless, I am 100% opposed to more surgery for Mom. In her case, the last surgery she had, she almost died. She had a cantaloupe sized tumor taken out of her stomach. I honestly don't think she's strong enough to overcome another surgery...with anesthesia and a long recovery. As Susan said, "Why put your body through that? It's only more for it to have to overcome."

Susan's healing vision of green smoothies really impacted me. When my father asked, "Well, what else can Ruthie eat?" Susan answered his question with a question, "Well, how fast does she want to heal?"

Indeed, with raw food, we DO have the power to control the rate of healing.

Just quickly to relate how this impacts me as a person suffering from obesity, reflux laryngitis, and a binge eating disorder, I've been, as you know, trying to figure out the best way for me to eat. Lately, i've been attempting to eat when i'm hungry, re-committing to a raw food diet, and just plain eating what i want. It's been 6 or 7 days raw, i lost count, and I think, in terms of the eating disorder, i am making great strides with this approach.

In terms of weight loss and my reflux, however, fattier foods don't seem to really WORK that well for me. My reflux is not good, even though i take the Betaine HcL. I am hoarse lately. I feel much clearer in the throat on a very low or no fat diet. Plain and simple, my body is my body, and not Dustin's or Tim's. Fat tastes the best to me, but my body doesn't love it.

And i decided to weigh myself this morning, 282. I was 249 this summer eating barely any fat on 80-10-10. My body does love low fat eating. It's my tounge that needs to be ripped out of me.

Okay, so, to come full circle with this, what Susan asked, "How fast do you want to heal?" really struck home with me. I have this vision of a bulls-eye. In the middle of the bulls-eye are green smoothies and fruits and greens and juices and raw veggies, cucumbers, etc.... Like how i ate at the retreat. Around the center of the bulls-eye are fattier raw foods, plain raw almonds and a small peice of avo. In the outer circle of the bulls-eye are the super gourmet raw foods, pies and heavy pate's and raw breads.

For maximum healing, one should stick to the center of the bulls-eye. Like for mom. Who may have cancer.

Well, for maximum weight loss, it occurs to me that sticking to the center and the middle targets would probably work best for me as well.

Has not my entire blog been about HOW to best eat for me? No one can just stick to the target all of the time, as i have demonstrated with my radical approaches. People eat for pleasure, too. Some more than others.

So, I think having this bulls-eye approach seems like a great way to THINK about raw food and a sensible way to live. Try to stick to the bulls-eye, the lower fat foods MOST of the time (as they agree with my reflux and assist MY BODY to release weight easier). But when one is desiring comfort food or to eat heavier, dip in the middle circle first, and when necessary, dip in the outer circle.

This actually was the exact approach i used to lose 140 lbs at O.H.I. I didn't eat olive oil on my salad at the retreat. Only when i went out. I lived within the bulls-eye most of the time. Some of the time i had fattier foods at the retreat like pumpkin seed crackers and sunflower seed pate, but those foods were strictly LIMITED. UNLIMITED was tomatoes and cukes and celery. We could have those all we wanted. And then i went out - to eat gourmet raw meals.

I'm always reminded of Tim's voice in my head, "Exercise, exercise." I exercised at the retreat DAILY for at least 2 hours most days. Exercise is crucial for me. I've let myself get a little lackadaisical the last few Carlene-free days. Exercise helps the reflux, too. But there is no denying that my body does better on low fat.

[Dustin doesn't exercise regularly so he says, but i'd be curious to hear more about his statement, "I enjoy riding my bicycle." Maybe he is getting more exercise than he thinks he is. Or doing his amazing artwork and tattooing burns calories.]

Nevertheless, I've come to a different place in my thinking today, thanks to Susan. She's helped me to see the healing side of raw foods again. For an opera singer, having a hoarse throat is NOT ideal, even if cashew pate makes me "feel" good and "feel" not deprived. I think, intellectually, it's best to tend towards the lower fat foods for me and my body.

NOW. As for my mommy, she will be up soon and we will make her first green smoothie. My dad even said, "Hey, maybe i can do this diet and lose weight and get rid of my leukemia and high blood pressure and diabetes!" Amen, Daddy.

Same for me. Maybe I can do this green smoothie diet and lose more weight and look as good as i did in the summer. But learn how to go to the outer circle of the bulls-eye like i used to, moderately.

Susan suggested for my mother's case: 3 8-oz green smoothies a day as the base of her diet. The rest of the time, raw fruit, raw veggies, raw salads. Low fat. We spoke about what 'doesn't come up on her,' and fruit has been digestible for her. It is high fiber and can pass through the reduced channels of the bowel. On the other hand, something like meat, made my mother violently ill with her bowel issue.

This whole bowel issue is really a blessing in disguise.

I'm supposed to work today, but maybe Arnold will let me stay with my parents under the circumstances instead. He is so good like that. There has never BEEN or never WILL be a better boss. Parents take precidence over work in his mind and healing is always number one with Arnold.

Pray for us.

It takes a village.

And i don't want my mommy, or daddy, to die. Just look at them up there in that picture, full of life and love. My mom won for best costume at the party. Love you, mommy.

xoxo michelle joy