Great Trip to Alaska and home for good news on blood tests

Dear Family and Friends,
Yes, our Alaskan Adventure was awesome. The Alaskan mountains are like the Rockies on steroids. They flow down into cliffs of rainforest that flows to the beautiful, but cold, Pacific ocean, whose waves rock floating ice chunks and icebergs. The glaciers have a beauty and color that comes from within that pictures and words can not truly describe. We saw whales spouting and playing, lots of bald eagles, but no bears. We went crabbing and feasted on fresh Dungeness crabs, saw Russian folk dancers, touched magical glacier ice, and generally had an awesome time.

When we came home we found that Don and his Caregivers also had a great time. And Don's wife Hing, and two of his kids, Chris and Nicole, came for a week long visit shortly after our return. So we were immediately busy having a great family visit. And Ken ran off to Oklahoma for a fun wild boar hunting trip with his archery buddies.

I also returned to have a new series of tests as ordered by the Oregon holistic center, and my new primary care physician. These tests included a "Circulating Tumor Blood Test" ordered by my oncologist. We got really great news from this test which measures exactly how much cancer is actively in my blood stream. It is ranked with numbers 1-10. If my number was 5 or greater even my holistic doctors would want me to start chemo to slow the systemic cancer while working to strengthen my body, immune system and attacking the cancer botanically. My test results were ZERO. To be sure they ran them twice. This means, at this time I have NO cancer in my blood stream, contrary to what we were assuming when we found cancer in the lymph node near my heart.

So while I still have a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer, because it is currently not moving in my blood stream there are a lot of great ramifications. Mainly, it can be considered to be "in remission." I will not have to consider chemo unless someday the cancer begins to "nest" somewhere else in my body. This gives us time to aggressively treat it with careful nutrition and cancer fighting botanicals without the debilitating effects of chemo. I have already started a careful diet and holistic treatments, but with my latest nutritional and hormonal blood tests, we can refine these treatments even more based on my body's needs. I am also starting to take an estrogen blocking pill prescribed by my oncologist since this cancer seems to be estrogen driven. We are currently testing to find the one with the least side effects for me.

My diet is currently extremely restrictive as I must avoid all toxins to support my cancer-fighting liver, and avoid all sugars (except stevia sweetener) to not "feed" the cancer. Everything I consume must be organic and fresh, very little animal proteins (limiting even the grass-fed beef and free range chicken), and daily to include lots of dark leafy green and broccoli or cabbage family veggies. I take large quantities of capsules, tablets, powders, potions, tonics, and teas everyday- all at special times of the day. It is hard to manage to protocol, but yummy to eat. I drink a coconut milk smoothie full of special supplements every morning- delicious. I'm learning to make coconut milk fudgsicles for the summer with dark chocolate flavored stevia- yum!

Meanwhile, since it apparently is my confused adrenals which are creating all the cancer-feeding estrogen, I am rapidly reducing any outside stress in my life. I'm resigning all my volunteer activities (even the ones I like), reassigning all my part time businesses to others (even the ones which actually make money), and turning over the caretaking responsibilities for Don to him and his team. I'm spending more and more time quietly alone (or with Ken) at SunHaven. And Ken and I have great plans for spending 3 weeks together in July- first a week of camping on Horsetooth Reservoir, then 2 weeks at SunHaven together. For my birthday we have reservations at Strawberry Park Hot Springs. Meanwhile Ken is taking more 3-4 days weekends so we can relax together, or go on an adventure together. Studies show that terminal cancer patients with lots to look forward to keep the cancer at bay far longer. So we are adding this technique to our cancer-fighting arsenal- and it’s great fun!

As always I appreciate your support, prayers and well wishes. They mean a lot to both me and Ken. Some of my women friends are gathering in July for a Healing Circle for me. Isn't that just heartfilling? Please let me know if you would like to be included- in-person or from a far.

Healing Circle Ceremony Invitation from Deanna

Dear Wyms ~
As all of you know, our dear friend Kate is going through a huge healing process right now. We are all sending her love, light and healing and now it's time to party. We want to celebrate Kate and all she has done for each one of us, our community and the world. We have picked a date and we’re getting organized. Kate would love to have us up to her mountain home. Please RSVP by hitting reply ASAP so that we can keep this organized and easy on everyone. So here’s all the details:

Sunday • July 17, 2011 • 2 - 4 pm
Sun Haven (directions upon RSVP)

Deanna Estes <deanna@lotusdesign.biz> will be handling
    • RSVPs, directions and helping you connect for car pooling

Mary Whalen <whalenmarya@gmail.com> and Kim Pentecost <kim@wisdomdance.com> will be organizing the ceremony
    • Please bring a flower(s) from your garden. We will be making a bouquet for Kate
    • Be ready to share a SHORT story about Kate. It can humorous, about how she has helped you or anything that is relevant to who she is in the world.
    • We will be chanting so bring rattles, drums or other instruments.

Mary Raymond <mary@marykayray.com> will be organizing food
    • Right now, food will be organic. We will keep you posted if Kate’s dietary needs change before our gathering.

We are excited to come together for celebration. Know that it is important to be flexible. We want to be very organized to keep this easy and simple in respect for Kate’s process. If anything changes with her healing process, we may need to make changes.

Love and blessings,
Deanna, Mary, Mary and Kim