Hello Elaine.
I see from your last reply you are probably not reading anymore. However, just in case you are, i just wanted to put my perspective on things.
In a former life I was a theatre nurse. I changed my career as I have a severely disabled son so was a stay at home mum for 17 years and now work in a primary school to fit in with his college/ appointments etc.
The 2 previous operations you have had do have very painful recoveries. This is partly due to the type of surgery and partly to the position in your body of the problem. However surgery for your tumour is extremely unlikely to cause pain after the first day. Even then it is likely to be soreness you experience rather than pain.
I absolutely echo what others have said. If your body, with the help of hormonal treatment, could cure your cancer then all of us hormone receptive ladies would be offered that choice. Treatment for cancer is mind blowingly expensive so would not be offered if there were alternatives. The first thing most if us are told us do not Google. The more extensively you do the more you will find that isn’t credible.
If you wish to see papers written on your choices your oncologist will have access to properly controlled trials and results, if there are any.
We are all terrified at the start of this journey. Please, please listen to your medical team and ask for more appointments if necessary to make sure you are fully armed.
Good luck in whatever you choose. Xx
Ladies,
Thank you all for your concern and comments… I have not made my decision without a lot of consideration and research and as previously stated should things not work out as I am hoping then I will reconsider surgery as an option but right now I am using my intuition and don’t want surgery at this stage, not just from fear of the surgery or recovery but because I don’t believe it is necessary right now…
If I had not found the lump in the first place nor acted by reporting my concerns over it, I would still be totally blissfully ignorant and we would not be having this discussion…
Please be aware I totally respect all of you for choosing the treatment you have each undertaken and I also really appreciate hearing about your experiences…
However at this point I am still convinced that nutrition is the way forward and tomorrow when I have a bit more time I will add some links to scientific research confirming my convictions…
Just because it is something the majority do and find it to work for them does not always mean the majority are right…
This is about personal choice about what I feel is best for me as a person not just flesh and bones…
Miracles abound through history of people succeeding in healing themselves from various diseases after Drs have sent them home to die… I appreciate that is not the case with me, but am at this point in time not having surgery… That could change in 6 months depending on my scan at that time…
We are each unique individuals with unique perspectives and understanding of how we as human beings can heal in miraculous ways if we put our minds to it…
My head is no longer all over the place, I am clear thinking so don’t need any more well meaning, lovely, caring ladies trying to pursuade me to have surgery etc when I don’t believe it is necessary…
The experts can be wrong sometimes, as I know from personal experience…
I put my post on here fully expecting that most people would not understand my reasoning but that possibly there might be one or 2 people who might have already tried this route…
Wishing you all the very best of health in your futures…
Time will tell…
Elaine Xx
This briefly has lots of examples all checkable relating to dirt being able to reverse cancer…
forksoverknives.com/science-says-about-diet-and-cancer/#gs.DvlRik8
Tired now, should read diet!! ? not dirt…
There is evidence re diet ,supplements and lifestyle in terms of re-occurrence and also in prevention .Canceractive is quite a good website to look at in terms of weighing up the pros and cons of various approaches .Good luck Elaine -let us know how you get on and maybe some ladies will feedback if they have taken a similar route .Hope you don’t feel " ganged up on" in any way but as you can see your views have caused a lot of interest and people just want the best for you .It is a very personal choice how you approach dealing with a cancer diagnosis .Jill.
Oh dear ? I’m sorry but your link has no scientific evidence at all that diet can cure BC. Dr Mcdougall has made his money from veganism and claims that his way can cure all kinds of illnesses. Utter rubbish. Nutrition does play a big part in heallth but it will not cure or stop BC. One of the studies in your link was from 1984 !! And the others are just about nutrition after treatment that MAY help to prevent recurrence. So many charlatans on the internet targeting the vulnerable to make a profit.
Re the link, a quote from Wikipedia regarding the author:
McDougall Plan reception
His eponymous 1983 diet book, The McDougall Plan, has been categorized as a fad diet with possible disadvantages including a boring food choice, flatulence and the risk of feeling hungry. Reviewing McDougall’s book, The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss, nutritionist Frederick J. Stare and epidemiologist Elizabeth Whelan criticized its restrictive regime and “poor advice”, concluding that the diet’s concepts were “extreme and out of keeping with nutritional reality”.
My sister was 78 when she was diagnosed. She refused treatment not because she had alternative treatments in mind. She was not married, no children, no family nearby so to speak ( she lived and worked in Canada). She lived a full life, and felt it was time to let nature take its course…she survived for 5 years, without any form of treatment, continued to live as she always did, ate and drank whatever she wanted.
She was was one of those who did not let family or friends get too close…a very independent woman.
love and best wishes to all you lovely ladies xxx
It really saddens me that such rubbish is allowed to be published, dear God I wish it was all true but if it were that simple cancer would be wiped out!! We’ve all been down the conventional treatment route so know it actually works , I lived a healthy life with a good diet but still got cancer! I will never be convinced we can fight this evil by food alone , if only! Xx
Hi winter i would just like to, add, i would hate to think you may feel you are being ganged up on, as i really dont want you to thin that, lot of strong opinions and respect and concerns of the path you wish yo take. That being said it is your choice and you will choose what suits you, and so you should.
I dont know if any other ladys can help me on this one, but on the mcmillian site there is a blog done by a lady called chloe, i came across it oneday when some body posted a link for it, the lady has been blogging for about 5 years, and still doing so now, she refused any treatment and is takung about 25 supplements and diet, maybe something you may like to read, i just wish i could remember her full name.
All the best to you
Debbie xx
Chloecat is her name on there
Thanks Debbie,
I will take a look at their site, in the end Cancer is big business and yes indeed people are making money from it, ie most of the drug companies!!
I guess we will have to agree to disagree, as for my original post there was me thinking this was a support group for people with breast cancer, and a free democratic place of free speech! I’m not trying to convince anyone that they have made the wrong choice about their treatment. I was just asking if anyone on here had taken the same course of action as I am…
I am not going to comment further at this stage on my choices…
I will recap in 3 months or so after my check up, and yes I am taking Letrozole also and possibly any initial reduction might be down to the drug alone, however my intention assuming after 6 months it is s reduced in size, I will do a further 6 months just on diet alone to see how much difference it might make.
At the end of the day we all want the same thing I’m guessing, which is to beat cancer!
I am also following the guidance of a British Nutrionist Hilda Gkickman which has been recommended by a British Oncologist!!! Called “Take breast cancer off your menu” this book has been extensively researched and whilst it is recommended for prevention and after treatment to stop it returning I am following the advice in it alongside taking letrozole…
Thank you for all your comments and advice and also support in some cases…
Take care
Elaine Xx
Thanks Debbie, I will have a look at that today!! ?
Xx
Thanks again Debbie, I am registering there now and I will start reading her blog after breakfast!
Really appreciate you sharing that with me! ?
Close to tears at this point…
Xxx
Elaine ,if you need support we are here.We all know how awful and overwhelming it is when you are first diagnosed and we are all faced with difficult choices .Maybe just come and join us on some or the other threads for a chat and a bit of emotional support .We all have different views and have followed different paths but we are all are going through/ have been through a horrible ,scary time .Im thinking that now maybe we should leave this discussion respect Elaine’s views and let her update us as to how she gets on and welcome her if she choses to come and have a chat on the other support threads.Jill
Thank you for your recent responses…
You are so right it is a very emotional thing especially after first diagnosis… It is also my personal approach to most things and illnesses that I have previously overcome largely using unconventional methods when possible…
It is not a new approach for me to choose my way of treating cancer it’s how I’ve always treated illness etc, it’s only the cancer that is new to me largely I believe because after I split up with the man I loved last year, I comfort ate my way through the following months so didn’t stick to healthy eating, didn’t exercise etc…
I am back with him now and he fully supports whatever path I choose including this one…
I guess I have joined the forum and given my views based on what has worked for me in the past and I know has worked for others too, and am used to being on forums with people who are like minded…
So much like the diagnosis itself this forum has been a shock to my system…
I forgot that my views of life and treating diseases with nutrition and exercise are not common place…
Also all of you here have mostly survived cancer having undertaken conventional treatment successfully and I’m not knocking that, just saying it’s not for me right now at this point in my life…
We could debate this forever, and never reach agreement…
I feel also that you are all concerned about me and are acting from love rather than fear and I appreciate all your concerns…
I will see if any of the other areas are ones I can join in with too…
I respect also all your views on diet and your individual preferences and tastes…
With regard to healing oneself with the power of the mind, perhaps this article from NewScientist magazine might give you food for thought (pardon the pun)
newscientist.com/round-up/heal-thyself/
Best loving wishes to all those who have expressed a view and shared their stories…
In the end a lot of things like the power of the mind and diet can’t be patented, there is no money in them so most governments and health services rely on drug companies for funding so wont recommend something they don’t get funding from…
Elaine Xxx
Yes Elaine ,come join us on some of the other threads just for a bit of support .If you look at the hormone therapy section you may find info regarding Letrozole and how people are managing side effects etc .There are people who have been prescribed Letrozole to shrink tumours I think .Best wishes .Jill.
Thanks Jill,
I will take a look as that will be very helpful!!
Thank you!! ?
Xx
I feel like BC has been a problem without any attention to it for a very long time. We have to change that, we have to take care of health!
Regards,
Susan - write my research papers
Thanks Susan,
I am trying to focus on the results I want rather than on the BC itself and mostly that works, it is only when the letrozole side effects are particularly bad that I’m reminded why I’m taking it…