How to keep cancer away?

Let me recap on the factors that influences the development of cancer. The three factors that causes cancer are 1)age 2)genetics and 3)livestyle.The first two, we can't control or change but the third factor is something everyone of us can do to minimize the possibility of cancer. So, what lifestyle will minimize being a cancer victim? Lifestyle changes means 1)what to refrain or reduce and 2) what to do to create a body environment where cancer cannot thrive.


So what lifestyle changes?


Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are two aspects which contributes to a lot of health issues, not just cancer. It is believe that smoking and excessive alcohol creates free radicals. Free radicals robs cells of life. When cells are depleted, the body cannot fight the onslaught of harmful things like bacteria, viruses and mutation of badly form cells. This is the start of cancer. If you need to consume alcohol, then choose red wine. Although most alcohol compromises the immune system, except for red wine which has antioxidant to fight free radicals and that are good for heart and immune system.



Excessive consumption of red meat creates an acidic body environment in the body where cancer cells can growth and mutate. Most people believe that our meats are now laden with antibiotics and growth hormones which may promote cancer cell growth. The same goes with chicken. So, perhaps it is best to avoid all meats.


But what about proteins that the body needs? Well, fish and seafood are good source of proteins. Personally, I do not eat chicken regularly. However, I do eat eggs and milk based products like cheese, butter and yogurt. I avoid processed food such as margarine, soy-based processed food, pre-made hamburgers and hotdogs. There are just too many processed food in our world right now. No wonder we are faced with an epidemic of dreadful diseases like cancer.


Increase omega-3 oil and reduce omega-6 oil. Omega-6 is responsible for inflammation, which will increase the chance of tumor growth. On the other hand, Omega-3 reduces inflammation.


Omega-3 oil can be found in olive oil and other heavy oil such as palm olein and coconut oil. Olive oil should not be use for cooking but palm olien and coconut oil are suitable for cooking. Avoid using vegetable, sunflower or groundnut oil as they are rich in omega-6. Fish especially deep sea fish like cod, salmon are rich in omega-3. Take flaxseed with cereal or oats in the morning. Flaxseed is rich in omega-3 and phytoestrogen which may inhibit breast cancer growth. Too little omega-3 depresses your immune system and increases risk of infection.


Increase intake of vegetables and fruits. Choose multi-color assortment of vegetables and fruits to ensure you can have a complete range of vitamins and minerals. On top of that, vegetables and fruits are rich in anti-oxidants and they reduce free radicals. Anti-oxidants basically eats up free radicals.

Vegetables and fruits are alkaline in nature, even fruits like oranges, which may contain mild acid will turn alkaline when they are consume. All fruits are generally safe. Please remember that some fruits when eaten unripe can cause discomfort e.g. pineapples.

Generally a good diet plan given to me by a alternative doctor is 50% vegetable/fruits, 25% carbo, 25% animal protein (optional). Do consider fish as replacement for animal protein like what I have done.
 


Reduce intake of salt and sugar. If you have to take salt, use sea salt instead of processed salt. And for sugar, use organically grown raw sugar instead. I can't emphasize enough the reduction of sugar because sugar is cancer food. Sugar feeds cancer cells. Sugar found naturally is enough to keep the body functioning so we do not need to added sugar in our diet. So, cakes, chocolates and other made-made products laden with sugar should be avoided diligently.


Another dangerous made-made product is MSG - monosodium glutamate. Cancer cells just love this. Avoid it totally if you can. Most commercially prepared chinese food and dishes uses MSG unless they are home cooked. Generally, western, european and indian food do not use MSG. However, these are just general rule of thumb. 
 
Exercise is another must-do activity. Exercise helps to build up body resistance. When you sweat, you remove toxins from your body. Exercise also refreshes the body and mind. Exercise keeps your weight in check and stretches your muscles. One of the reasons I advocate QiGong is that QiGong exercises stretches every part of our body and they are light enough to be done by anyone of any age and in any health condition. Of course, QiGong has another benefit that it rejuvenates the mind. I have always been conscious of exercise and I believe that my rapid recovery from Chemotherapy is partly due to body strength that I had before I started Chemotherapy.
 
Daily bowel movements is a must. It is our body's way of getting rid of waste and toxins. Drink plenty of water, of course like everything, do not overdo it. Drink about 2 litres a day. Again, water helps to flush out bodily toxins. Water also keeps germ-trapping mucous membranes moist and effective. Do not over drink water. Too much water is also bad for health. It dilutes your system of vital minerals and can lead to blindness.
 
Sleep at least 6 to 8 hrs daily. Quality sleep is more important than quantity. It is during sleep that your body builds up your immune system. Lack of sleep cause cancer but they 'tax' our immune system. An optimum immune system makes sure that cancer cells are killed before they become dangerous. Exercise helps one to sleep well too.

 
Take care of your gut. Your gut is the starting point where nutrients are extracted from food. Thus, it is very important to make sure you have a good and healthy gut. Probiotics and yogurt are full of good bacteria which will improve your absorption of nutrients.
 











High stress environment is a very important lifestyle change that needs focus. I can't emphasize enough to manage stress in your life. Even if you exercise and eat the right food but do not keep stress under control, you may still face dreadful disease like cancer. However, exercise and healthy food are still very important in relieving stress. Meditation and QiGong are very good ways to relieve stress. Meditation and QiGong gives you the much neede 'me-quiet-time'. Learning to 'let things go' is another stress reliever. This does not mean that you do not your best in everything you do. However, If certain things are beyond your control, don't worry about it. Learn to let go. Sometimes things that you are worried about most have a way of working out by themselves.
 
By having a calm and stress-less mind and adequate rest, it will improve your ability to self heal and prevent cancer in the first place. It has been proven that having a positive attitude and calm life, you are already 50% ahead in tackling your ailment especially cancer. 



Increase Oxygen level in cell level. I have been recommended to take 'cell food' products - these are supplements which helps to increase oxygen intake into the cells. The cell food contains trace minerals and nutrients which promote cell growth.



















Manage stress. Stress arising from work pressure and even personal circumstances can affect body. Stress effects the psyche and the psyche will affect the physical body.Stress can undermine the body immune system and when the immune system is under duress, diseases especially cancer can get the upper hand. Cancer develops over time. There are cancers which are aggressive which spreads within months and the slow ones can take years to become significant.

I can't emphasize enough about getting stress under control. My guess that the cancer developed in my body because primarily because of stress (of work). I have taken a long 8 months rest while going through and after chemo. I am going into flexi-work now to keep stress under control. I have realized that there is more to life than money and work.




I have just finished reading Knockout. Somers not only gives many alternative remedies but the book is inspiring and gives hope to cancer victims.

Most of the treatments are in the US but it gives me hope when I read it.


There is also a good section on how to keep cancer away.

What has qigong done for me?

Before I go into this topic, perhaps I should give a brief and simplistic description of QiGong. Please do not take my explanation as gospel truth about QiGong because I am only a student of QiGong and still learning. But I like to share my thoughts and understanding of QiGong and you will know why QiGong has helped me.
 
I went into QiGong because someone told me that QiGong helps with cancer recovery. Some people have even gone as far to say that QiGong should be a part of cancer treatment. And I now know that they are right!

QiGong is a combination of physical movement and focused mental process. If one were to do the physical movement alone, it is just exercise. The combination of physical and mental exercise makes it QiGong. QiGong theory says that all living matter is made up of Chi. Chi can be loosely translated to 'energy'. Chi can form matter and matter can be made to dissipate to become energy. This is the reason in QiGong, it is believed that any disease can be cured. Tumors can be made to dissolve and any injury in the body can be made to heal by practicing QiGong. Chi is everywhere and abundantly in the universe. Another important idea is that we can move Chi around. All of us have the ability to move universe chi to human chi and vice verse. We can direct Chi to dissolve a tumor or form matter to heal our body. 
 
Each physical QiGong movement has a purpose and helps in strengthening, reinforcing or enhancing the flow of Chi in the body. By bringing Chi from the universe into our body, we ensure that our body has abundant Chi to do repair and enhance our bodily functions. Chi can be moved with our thoughts by focusing where-from and where-to. Visualization is the method of moving Chi. The mental concentration on visualization with physical movements gives each one of us the power of self-healing.

For me, initially it was difficult to perform both aspects - form and concentration. But after a few weeks of practice, even at such an early stage, I could feel the benefits of QiGong. Initially, I was told to visualize that my cancer cells were dissipating from my body whenever I practice QiGong. I exchanged Chi between my body and the Universe. I did this for a few weeks and, then one day when I was trying to focus to dissipate the cancer cells, an overwhelming realization came over me that the cancer was no longer in my body. There was no cancer cells to dissipate. I knew then from that day, I was healed. My subsequent PET scan confirmed it. (by the way, it was about the same time that 'warm feeling' came over me in church).
 
The key thing is QiGong helped me focused positively on my health and not on the cancer. QiGong gave me the belief that I can beat this cancer and be on top of my cancer. QiGong also gave me 'me time', another important life lesson I have discovered with this cancer experience. It took me 50 years to realize this one important aspect of life. I am fortunate that I have been given a second chance in life and I hope not to screw it up.
 
My cancer was the worst thing that happened to me but the experience was 'life giving' to me. It made me realized things that are important in life and how each moment is a blessing from God, so I should treasure, embrace and live the moment that is given to me.

Below are some books which can definitely better explain QiGong.


 

Awesome way to look at life

I found this awesome video which talks about life. When life throws you a screwball, what do you do? Do you have a choice? I hope this has given you a different view as well. Enjoy.

After a Traumatic Experience, your perspective in life change... I am

Not the only one. Here is one lady who had a brain tumour and she expresses that same thing I went through.

My journey about GOD

Cancer is the disease I dreaded the most. I have seen relatives and friends suffer from cancer and cancer's treatment (conventional), and how it has taken their life. I was so afraid of it that I changed to a healthy lifestyle. For many years, I exercised regularly and had moderated eating habits. I ran or hiked daily. I also careful of what I ate but was not too fanatical. I do not drink or smoke. So I thought if did all these, I will be able to keep cancer at bay.

So you can understand how I felt when the doctor told me "You have cancer". And not just that, after a series of test, the doctors came back and said "You have stage 3 cancer". My whole world just collapse in front of my eyes. It took awhile for me to accept that I had cancer and it took me awhile to stop asking "Why me?" question. It took a whole mindset change to put myself on the road to healing.

I started to question the purpose of life too. If life was all about working hard and then let cancer take it away, then life is really not worth it. I questioned "So, why am I here then?" I had a lot of question but no answers. My mind was so negative that I almost fell into depression. I started to look for answers. I read Christian books and Buddhist books but none had a satisfactory answer for me. Several pastors and friends with religious background tried to help me but their answers were also not relevant. I was fighting cancer and these burning questions. I even thought that if I accepted Christianity that my cancer and the treatment will become easier to handle. Nothing of that sort happened. So from that perspective, religion disappointed me. I then realised that I was the only one who could help my situation. How I reacted to the cancer and the chemo was the only way my situation was going to improve. I started to look for ways to alleviate the suffering of the Chemo and it worked! I finally realised that I was in charge of my life. How I reacted to the effects and what I was going to do was going to determine the severity of the situation.

When I took that approach, things started to become better. I found I could handle the situation much better. In fact, more positive things started to happen. Whenever, I was felt miserable, someone or something will come to perk me up and things become a bit better to handle. From the beginning, I knew that I needed to learn QiGong properly to help myself and a proper class opened up near my home. I started positive distractions in my life and focus on things that help in my healing. The after effects of chemo did became progressively worst but I was able to cope. Towards the end, although it became unbearable but I could still will myself to persist and believed that "I will be healed"

However, those burning questions were still in my mind but they were not as important anymore until my final CT Scan result came back. The result were not very encouraging. I was again thrown into a defeating mind tunnel. I couldn't take anymore Chemo (in fact, the doctors told me that I may need salvage Chemo - a Chemo many times worst than the one I went through). However, the doctors ordered a PET scan to confirm their suspicion. I wanted another way out. I need to look for alternative solution. I researched about salvage Chemo and looking at the success rate, I already made up my mind that I was not going to do anymore Chemo regardless of the PET results.

Those burning question started all over again and a friend of mine sent me a book called "The Shack". This is not a true story book but a story which helped me answer some of the burning questions. I realized that I was not alone in the journey all along. So many positive things did happen to me during the Chemo journey and I had often wondered if those were just coincidences. It seemed like someone or something was watching and guiding the entire process. I am generally a pessimistic person and for me to realized that positive attitude was the way to go was really a major breakthrough. With the help of the book, I finally believed that there is a higher 'thing'  guiding us in our lives. 

So on one Sunday, I decided to follow my wife to church. My PET scan was going to happen on the following Tuesday. I went to the back of the church and started praying. While songs were being sung, all of sudden, the whole church become quiet and a warm feeling fell over me. The feeling told me that I was going to be alright and a peace swept over me. I felt like a huge burden was lifted. Mentally, I became more quiet and less anxious. I went to PET scan with a little more confidence but was still worried. I continued to pray for complete healing everyday and asked for GOD 's protection and guidance.

The few weeks waiting for the results was torturous but with renewed calmness, I handled the duration well and I trusted GOD to handle the outcome. The PET scan results finally arrived and the words were a miracle - "No scan evidence of lymphoma".

I am still learning about GOD. I don't have all the answers but somehow I think the answers do lie with the understanding of GOD. I have chosen Christianity to be my path to understanding about GOD and life. And do hope that I find those answers. Although, The Shack (Special Hardcover Edition) is a fictional book but it has help me understand GOD. I have derived peace from understanding GOD.

How does cancer develop?

I am going to use simple explanation what I know about how cancer comes about. I am not a medical expert or a scientist. There are a number of versions but these are the ones that made sense to me.

However, if you ask a conventional doctor why do people get cancer? The typical answer will be "Nobody really knows". I find this odd because it is like they took a sacred oath that they cannot reveal the how cancer happens. But maybe it is as simple as that they cannot tell you what they believe to be the cause because there is no scientific proof of it. Anyway, it is alright because the Net provides lots of possible answers. Just believe what you make sense to you. Some of these do make sense to me.
 
The general consensus is this. Cancer cells are actually normal body cells that have gone havoc. Something in them has gone wrong in cell genetics and the rogue cells start to replicate uncontrollably to the extend it hinders proper function of that body part.  Cells are constantly being created and die. It is the body’s normal mode of operation. Sometimes new cells have a defect in them. In a normal person, the cells will automatically die off. If that doesn’t happen, the body’s immune system will go after the defective cells and kill them. The problem starts when the immune system is compromised and cannot go after the defective cells. If these defective cells start to replicate themselves ferociously, it then is called cancerous. These defective cells can travel to other parts of the body and repeat the process. This ability to replicate rapidly and travel in the body makes cancer one of mankind’s dreaded disease. Here is a video showing how cancer moves.







Another explanation is called angiogenesis. Cells replicate because they are supplied with nutrients. Nutrients are delivered via blood capillaries. Think about when you have a cut, in matter of hours the wound dries up and the wound starts to heal by itself without any medication. When the body detects a wound, capillaries are extended to the wound area to supply more nutrients to the area. Cells start to build up more rapidly surrounding the wound area and magically, the wound heals. Once the wound heals, the capillaries retracts to normal level and supply the area with normal amount of nutrients, thus maintaining normal growth. Sometimes in some parts of the body, these capillaries go wrong and continue to supply more nutrients to the specific area. Cells start build up at a rapid pace without slowing down. The overgrowth becomes a problem and interferes with normal function of the body.  There a video which explain this.

Age, genetics and environment influences angiogenesis to creation of defective cells. As you age, more defective cells are created. You may also have inherited ‘not-so-fantastic’ genes which can increase the defective cell production. Age and genetics are things we cannot control. However, environment factors are things we can control. So what are environmental factors?

Environmental factors
•    Food and drinks we take
•    Lifestyle – smoking,  body rest and relaxation, STRESS management
•    Exposure – living in unhealthy environments, etc.


These are things we can control. In the following chapters, I will discuss these topics in more detail.

How to survive chemotherapy (radiotherapy, surgery) - the conventional treatment

Like most of us, I listened to doctor's advice and the only treatment I was left with was chemotherapy. Surgery and radiotherapy was not an option for me. Although, if I had that option, I would have opted for them. However, I didn't. Mine was at least 12 times of chemotherapy fortnightly which means I need at least 6 months to complete the treatment.

I went into chemotherapy blindly. I really didn't think too much about it and jump straight into it without much advice from other people or do any detailed research. Most website do not tell you how bad it can be or how to cope with chemotherapy.

I understand from the doctors, some chemo medication can be very bad on the person. Apparently, I was told that the effects of my type of chemo medicine will be mediocre. So, I should do well to withstand it considering my age and physical shape. I do consider myself physically strong. I do exercise at least 6 times a week. My usual is a 7 to 10km jog and on weekends I do 2-3 hour hikes. But, because I was physically strong, I believe it has helped me to recover relatively fast from the onslaught of Chemo.

But let say this, Chemo's side effects is bad and I would not want to go through it again. It is not just the immediate side effects but also the long term effects of the chemo treatment. I am not persuading anyone from not going through chemo as treatment. The choice of treatment is a personal one.

Anyway, I have gone through Chemo and I like to share how I did it with my type of chemo. Perhaps I should also say a bit about my situation.

I have a chemo port put into my body. Let me say that if you can afford it and it is available to you, do put in a chemo port. It saves you the additional pain from going through the arm veins. Also, it helps to preserve the veins in the arms. With the chemo port, I didn't feel much pain when administering the chemo medicine. You can check the web about the chemo port. My chemo treatment was ABVD to treat Hodgkin's Disease.

During Chemo Day.

Before Chemo, I was advised to eat a hearty meal and then have about 1hr or 2hrs rest before doing the Chemo. The reason being is after the Chemo, your appetite goes to zero and if you are like me, it can be days before I can eat anything solid. So this is good advice.

During Chemo.

In the early Chemo session, I never had any problems during Chemo but the later stages of the Chemo, I would vomit several times during Chemo. I had tried not to eat during Chemo but I was still vomiting out my gut juices and it feels terrible. I figured I had to eat something and I know it will all come out but at least it was food coming out and not awful gut juices.

Normally, I would have bananas or papayas as solid food. I drink ice-cold water and a hot drink. The water flushes out the toxins almost immediately. I keep drinking about 2 liters of water every day and during Chemo, I would easily drink at least 1 liter of water. Throughout the day, I would continue to drink ice-cold water.

Water is the best to flush out the chemo toxins. I didn't always drink water while going through Chemo. My nails turned black. When I started on 2 liters of water everyday, the pink color return to my nails. Look at the tips of the nails, it is black in colour, then look at the base of the nail, it started to return to pink in colour.

So make sure you drink lots of water. Some people may find water difficult to drink ( I know, at one point I could not drink water) so I had coconut water as alternative. About a week after Chemo day, I would drink some isotonic drink. I remove the carbonation by putting in a little salt. It helps to replenish salts in the body.

I suffered a lot during the Chemo session. Towards the end, I was vomiting 6 to 7 times during Chemo day. It tapered off to once a day on third day after Chemo day. I would be on liquid food for about 2 to 3 days after Chemo. Soy bean drink had become my staple food. Soy drink and Soy pudding were considered my 'saviour' food.  

You have to figure out what you can take during Chemo. The idea is to avoid your normally favourite food because if it turns you off during chemo, it will turn you off that favourite food for a long time. For me, I do not take Soy anymore because it reminds me of Chemo days. Spaghetti with tomatoes puree and tomatoes were my 'safe' food during Chemo. Now I avoid Spaghetti. I find that during Chemo, simple food are best. Less spiced dishes and less oil dishes are best. Clear noodle soup (without all the additives) are best. It may taste bland but at least you can eat and keep the food down.

As the days go by, your physical body will recover and you will find you can take more variety of food. Just go easy and take it slowly. Again, it avoid 'complex' meals - those with a lot of spices. One advice given to me "Eat what you can". You will get a lot of advice what to eat and what not to eat. Doctors will say you can eat anything but my 'take' on is that it is better to avoid certain foods during your treatment.

One advice from the hospital was to avoid raw foods. I realised why they say that. It is not that raw food is not good, if fact on the contrary. It is because if you do not wash them properly, there may be bacteria which your body may not be able to 'fight' off. Once you do Chemo, your white-blood cells becomes compromised and may not be able to ward off infections. So, if you want to eat raw food, make sure they are properly washed. It is best to peel off the skins.

Tip: To wash vegetables and fruits. Soak them in water and put a teaspoon of vinegar for about 30mins. If possible, peel the skins of vegetables and fruits. I use apple cider (vinegar) to clean the veges and fruits.

I start to take juices (carrots, cucumber, apples and beetroot mix) on the 4th day after chemo. I take this juice everyday until the next chemo. I was told that Beetroot is good for the blood. My recipe for the juice.

3 carrots peeled 1 cucumber peeled
1 beetroot peeled
1 green apple peeled

put into a juicer and then drink it immediately. To make the juice cooler, put the fresh ingredients in the fridge for about 1 hour. You can add other things like celery too but make sure you clean the celery well.

I also avoid red meat (mutton, lamp, beef and pork). I have also reduce my intact of poultry. I am 'almost' vegetarian diet, however, I do take the occasional fish. Why meats are off my diet? The reason - hormones. Well, most meat available today are fed with hormones and when you have cancer cells activated, you do not want to feed them with these growth hormones (Other people may dispute with me on this, but this is my body and this is my belief).

There is also a theory about diary products. Same reason. However, I do consume diary-based yogurt. I have reduced milk and milk based product. I suppose you can opt for soy-based yogurt. And I take a lot of yogurt. Yogurt contains good bacteria to help heal the stomach. This is important to do.

Most important - avoid refined sugar

Sugar is cancer food especially refine sugar. Sucrose (fruit sugar) are fine. Organic raw sugar is acceptable but try to reduce sugar intact. Just remember, if you can starve the cancer cells, they have no chance of spreading or get activated.

Watch out for infection. 

Avoid getting any infection during Chemo treatment. Any small infection like flu or fever means you have to go to the hospital immediately. It can develop into a more serious problem if untreated.

So how to avoid infection?

• Stay at home, avoid going to where there are crowds.
• Minimise visitors. Make sure that visitors do not have any infection however small. Even a sore throat should be avoided.
• Food must be clean. Cooked food are best. Raw food must be thoroughly clean. Avoid skins of veges and fruits.
• Wear a mask if you have to go out.

Keep a thermometer handy. Take your body temperate regularly. Keep a track on your normal body temperature as a benchmark. Your body temperature should not stay above 38.5 degree celcius for too long. If you find you are feel hot inside and uncomfortable, go to the hospital immediately and get yourself admitted. Fever can indicate a more serious development. Don't take the risk.

Parsley water as a system cleansing

You remember I said water is your best weapon to get rid of chemo toxins in your body? Well, Chemo toxins are bad for kidneys and liver. Before any your next chemo session, the doctors will take a blood test. From what I know, they are looking at

1. White blood count
2. Kidney function
3. Liver function

(I am sure they are looking at other things too but I was told that they are particularly interested in these three). Chemo basically kills off the white blood cells and if it is too low, your body may not be able to ward off infections, which is bad news for Chemo patients. For low white blood count, they can give boaster shots which will increase white blood count.

It is harder to ensure kidneys and liver health. Kidneys and liver are bombarded with Chemo toxins and they can fail.

Well, one way to make sure that your kidneys and liver are cleanse regularly is to drink parsley water. (I have seen one of the marker reading for my kidney go down, when I regularly take parsley water, so I know it works).

Plug a few stalks of parsley and put in about a liter of water. Bring it to boil and then simmer for a few more minutes. Then drink the water. I like the parsley water cold. So I put them in the fridge.

Combining alternative treatment with conventional treatment

If you are doing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it is best to avoid alternative treatments especially Chinese herbs and Indian ayurvedic herbs. The reason being is that some of these herbs may have ingredients that interfere with the chemo medicine. However, after you have completed the treatments, you can start on those. In fact, I recommend those after chemo treatment.

I have come across some people find relief from side-effects of chemo from acupuncture. I believe this does not deal with any herbs so it should be alright. I have tried acupuncture before but not for Chemo treatment.

One of the best things I did was to learn QiGong. Qi Gong exercises are highly recommended if you can gather the energy to practice regularly. QiGong has helped me to withstand the onslaught of Chemo. I learned QiGong from a VCD which is not the best approach. If there is a class, try to join them and you can learn the right way. You can buy training VCDs on Amazon. There are many types of QiGong - Go for Healing QiGong or Zhineng QiGong.

Healing QiGong or Zhineng QiGong basically focuses on healing the body. It is not as rigorous in the movement so even the very sick can practice them. I will talk about QiGong in other chapters.










Or if you want to read about Zhineng QiGong first. The main thing is practice the movement. If you can find a center which teaches you Zhineng QiGong, that's the best approach. The classes should not be too expensive since the good ones are normally not-for-profit type organizations.

                                    

Belief and positive attitude

Now that you have decided your course of treatment, may it be conventional (Chemotherapy, Surgery or Radiotherapy), traditional or alternative, that's one major decision already made. You have to stick to the course you have chosen. You must believe that it will and is the best course of action for you. It must be your decision because it is your life and not anyone else.

So, what do you do next?
As I have said, you must believe that the path you have chosen will heal you. I can't emphasize enough about the power of belief. Having a strong belief will create a positive atmosphere which will impact on your healing progress. Look at it another way. A negative atmosphere will only create a rotten environment where you make yourself intolerable to yourself and others. In fact, a negative attitude has been proven to negate treatments and conversely, a positive attitude can significantly enhanced the effectiveness of treatment. Especially in Cancer, having a positive attitude is 50% of the battle.

Actually, when I was going through Chemo, it really didn't occur to me about having a positive attitude. Looking back, during my entire treatment I did have a positive attitude. I didn't complain very much. Initially, I did have doubts and often have the "Why me?" question, and I almost went into depression but majority of the time after I had realised that having negative thoughts and going depression was just going to make things worst, I got out of it. Of course, I had a lot of help. My primary care giver (my wife) and my support group had a lot to do with my positive attitude throughout the treatment.

So how do you have a positive attitude?
1. Don't think about the problem! Let's look at the problem logically. You really can't change it. You can't wish it away. You can't reverse the situation. Only way is going forward. So, we might as well look forward.

2. Have positive distractions. Plan out mini projects to distract your attention away from the situation. Your mind cannot focus on two things at any one time. So, if you have positive distractions, you will not think of the problem you have.

I started a farm (as I like to call it), planting tomatoes, ocra and spinach. I dug up patches of my garden.

It is quite refreshing to see something grow. I did not have a single produce but it didn't matter. It was a distraction and it gave me something to look forward to everyday. I also started a blog, which was extremely helpful to monitor my thoughts. I focus on discussing positive things. My support group never fails to visit me every week and our focus was always about food. I also started to learn Zhineng QiGong from a VCD. I watch lots of movies and I got plenty of rest.

3. Focus on small steps. Focus on getting through each hour, each day rather than focusing on how long things will take. Take one small step at a time. Keep looking for short term events which makes you happy. It may be looking forward to watching a movie tonight. It may be looking forward to a support group visit this weekend.

I noticed that I took each small steps every day and eventually, everything came into place for me. I believe the "law of attraction" had something to do with a lot of positive things that happened in my journey with Chemotherapy. Somehow in "Believe and Positive Attitude", your mind will look for the best things that happened in your life. You are not so stress out with the little irritating things.

4. Simplify your life and forget non-essential things. Your primary care giver really becomes very important here. A lot non-essential daily task you used to do have to be taken off your responsibility. Do the things that focuses your life in getting well.

I have a extremely caring primary care giver. I am absolutely convinced that a significant part of my healing is due to my wife - the primary care giver. She took over all the unnecessary task. E.g we used to do a major cleanup our house weekly. We hired a part-time helper to come in fortnightly to take over from us. Our grocery shopping was done by a friend for us. Minor repairs in the house was put on hold if they can be tolerate. Those major ones, we paid someone to do it.

The idea is to make everything you do to focus on healing and getting better.