Osteosarcoma is a rare bone cancer with 800-900 new cases each year in the United States. Most of these diagnosed in people between the ages of 10 and 30. Most commonly found in teenagers. There is no known way to prevent this type of cancer, no lifestyle-related environmental causes and no way to protect against it. Very high dose chemotherapy is the most common treatment, and the side effects are brutal.
Even though it has been a little over 20 years since I went through chemotherapy, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was quite literally the darkest time of my life. I was on a combination of Methotrexate, Ifosfamide and Cisplatin for 7 months when I was 29/30 years old. Our kids were four and eight at the time. My husband Rich took fantastic care of me he was my home nurse, and a superb one at that. He was absolutely my rock. Two months after chemo started and I had my biopsy with the diagnosis of Osteosarcoma
http://sarcomahelp.org/osteosarcoma.html I underwent a total knee replacement with titanium rods going into my femur and shin bone. It was difficult to heal while poison pumped through my veins. As many people already know, chemotherapy kills the good cells along with the bad. I tried to pretend it was medicine that was killing the bad cells. I was so extremely weak and lethargic that I couldn’t get out of bed some days, and usually couldn’t get off the couch. I’d pray for 7 pm to roll around so I could go to bed without feeling guilty, because at least it was a respectable hour to turn in. I wanted to sleep all the time and I could usually be found in a small ball under many blankets with a pillow over my little bald head. Even on the warmest days I was freezing. I didn’t eat for days at a time, sometimes because I could not stomach the smell of food, let alone the taste, and other times because there were so many sores in my mouth and throat I physically could not get food in me. Popsicles were my best friends. I went 10 days without solid food after my last round of chemo. One week I would be so constipated that my hemorrhoids felt like shards of glass coming out. Then the next week, I drank Gatorade all day because I had diarrhea so bad I just knew I was going to become dehydrated. I think now that this was the worst part of all of my symptoms. I passed out one day in the grocery store while shopping for Valentine cards. My girlfriend woke me up terrified, she thought I’d died. We went straight to the hospital where the nurses pumped 2 full bags of fluids into me. I was severely dehydrated. This was a repetitive series of events. I’d lost so much weight, I was like a skeleton. I am not sure how I continued on this path without going insane. I was so miserable it was impossible to smile. I was very depressed and I just wanted to not wake up again. The things that kept me going were the constant thoughts of my girls growing up without a mother. I had to be there for them! I didn’t want my husband to have to do it all alone. Their love and light kept me on the path to health.
I really did not know how to take care of myself back before my osteosarcoma diagnosis. Before the days of Google we gained our information from magazine articles, the encyclopedia and Reader’s Digest. I was thin, but I ate pretty crappy. Our idea of a 3 course meal was chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. If we were feeling prosperous once in a while we’d grill some steaks or maybe go out for a large pasta meal at Olive Garden. I was popping vitamins and herbs like they were going to save me from whatever I was lacking in. I was drinking too much, stressed about working, running the girls around to their activities and how I was going to get it all done. My husband was gone for months at a time while he was in the Air Force so I was like a single Mom much of the time. Needless to say I was ignorant about good healthy food, vitamins, minerals, mental health, and spiritual health.
I remember craving fresh pink grapefruit in the hospital. It was the only thing I ever asked for. I never ate it before and I rarely eat it now. I realized my body was trying to tell me what I needed. Our bodies are pretty amazing that way, if we would just pay attention. I wish I had eaten better back then but I did the best I could with the knowledge I had and I’m not going to beat myself up about it. But at the end of my treatment I wondered if I would ever feel good again, I just could’t imagine it. It took me about two weeks until I could eat a full sandwich. I was so very exhausted but hopeful for the future.
Fast forward eight years. I had recently started working at a law firm as a receptionist. Armed with a computer and lots of free time on my hands I ran across a book while messing around on the internet titled funnily enough,
Skinny Bitch, A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want To Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous.
https://www.amazon.com/Skinny-Bitch-No-Nonsense-Tough-Love-Fabulous/dp/0762424931 “What’s this?” I thought. “Sounds interesting, and of course the title was catchy as hell. Well, of course I ordered it right away and read the entire book in about two days at work. Let me just say this was a total life changer for me. I was horrified to learn how animals are treated on farms before they are slaughtered. I literally went vegan the day I finished the book. Although 12 years ago the selection of vegan friendly food and drink was not as available as it is today I made it work by trial and error and lots of research. Vegweb.com was and still is my friend, this is where I accessed all of my recipes and compiled them neatly into a notebook. I was giddy! I refused to be responsible for killing another living being, or to continue to take part in harming the environment because I thought I had to eat flesh to survive. So I started experimenting with meals at home, all the while getting gruff from the family, making separate meals for them. I lost 6 pounds the first week and felt energized and very clear headed! My lingering chemo brain fog was gone! I wasn’t constipated anymore, that’s for sure! I was getting lots of vegetables and fruits in my body along with nuts and seeds and I really cut down on the alcohol as well. I couldn’t believe how great I felt! I was getting compliments from people walking by my desk like, “You look really great, your skin looks so smooth”. I knew this was the new way of living for me. And as the the years went on I played around with many recipes, figured out how to veganize our favorite meals and a few years later my husband went vegetarian as well.
Some unexpected improvements in my health were: Lower cholesterol, much less sickness, no more constipation, lower blood pressure, and no more headaches!
Today this is our lifestyle, and now of course many restaurants these days offer vegan options, which is lovely and the stores carry more and more brands of vegan items as well. It’s so wonderful to feel energetic again and know we’re not contributing to any living creature being harmed for our meal! If we can live a healthy life eating wholesome plant based foods that fight disease, help the environment and leave animals off our plates than the world will be a much better place for it.
So inspiring! Thanks for the links.