365 Days Ago: In January 2011, I was undergoing chemotherapy number 3 and 4 and my follow up PET scan to see how I was doing. My PET scan was on January 21. I remember this because it was two days after my birthday and we were supposed to have the results before chemotherapy #4.

We didn’t. I worried. The results were never delayed.

With intrepidation, I sat at my doctor’s office waiting to talk to him without an appointment. He came out with a smile on his face, handed me my scan results and said that after only three treatments the cancer was almost gone even in my bone marrow! He said they were exceptional and unexpected results. I remember him telling me to continue doing integrative therapies because they were making a major difference in the success of the protocol. [Insert happy dance here.]

The last 34 days:
First, thank you for being patient with me as I figure out how to fit blogging into my schedule.

It has been over a month since I have blogged, but I have wanted to blog. HONEST. Even thought about what a great blog topic something would be. Yet, I didn’t. Why? I was tied up. My fingers were… My…

I was in a funk. A miserable, cranky, saddy pants funk.

Part regular every year funk (except last year because I had bigger things on my plate) and part detoxing funk.

What is every year funk? It revolves around a few things…1. Unaccomplished hopes and dreams in the previous year. 2. The death of my mom (Jan. 7, 2000) 3. Trying to figure out where I want to go. Sometimes I am not finished with the last year yet. This was especially the case with 2011. You would think I would be over it and ready to move on considering it was a huge year of transition – surviving cancer AGAIN, moving to DE from AZ, enrolling in school and putting my brain to work.

Yet, I wasn’t done with it. I missed out on a few months and still had things to check off my to do list. I don’t like to carry anything into the next year.

Then the second funk started taking place – The Detox Funk. In December, I found out that I am experiencing delayed food allergies to cane sugar and all things cow and goat dairy. Now, I know what you are all thinking. She shouldn’t be eating sugar, dairy or beef anyway. Yes, you are right. But any change that starts with what I should or shouldn’t be doing isn’t going to last long if it even starts. I did give up sugar and dairy several times and went back to it. I know it impacts cancer and the immune system effectiveness. Then add the fact that I am allergic to it and WHAMO – it impairs my immune system and creates inflammation.

New Year’s Day I went cold turkey. All dairy and sugar products were removed from the house. Do you know how many names sugar has and where it is hidden?

It was awesome easy hard as hell. Death by chocolate is real, my friends, but it is death for chocolate. I even went as far as ordering 5 sugar free chocolate bars for $22! What?! I found myself trying to find something, anything buried deep in my cupboards that had sugar in it. When I did, I would stare it down. Jeff would come home to find some random thing on the counter and just shake his head. Oddly enough, two cookie containers were sitting in the garage full of peanut butter balls and cranberry, white chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t eat them. I still have eaten them. They sit there. I look at them every day on my way to the car. It’s like giving someone the silent treatment and waiting to see who cracks first. Senseless, right?! I know. Welcome to the world of detox.

A world that rears its ugly head in a lot of ways. Headaches, extreme fatigue, crabbiness, negative thoughts, low energy, inability to focus, judgement, severe ezcema patches and some not so pretty bowel movements. Oh yes, I did just say it. As Heilee says, “poop, there it is!”

This is why I haven’t been blogging as of late. Nothing I had to say was nice and it probably wouldn’t make much sense. My wires were crossing with all the sugar and dairy coming out. I barely had enough synapses firing to get my school work completed. Ironically though, a lot of profound thinking went on during this down time, which will be shared over the coming weeks.

Good news! I am on the other side of it now. My energy has increased, my headaches are gone, sugar and dairy are no longer missed, my synapses are firing, and I am back in the game.  By eating more nutrient-rich foods, my body began to feel better;  positive thinking is natural again; I am more connected spiritually with this level of extreme faith that it is all happening as it should; my pH is becoming more alkaline; and I feel more grounded and centered. My “light” feels like it is turned back on after four years of being extremely dimmed. WOW! What I eat really does influence how I feel and how I “see” the world and myself in the world.

Sometimes I wish I knew this nutrition information sooner and then I remember it comes when the subject is ready for it and can hear it. My NDs have been telling me this stuff in different ways for years. It just took me until now to hear it. I am incredibly grateful to still be “here” to hear it. I am ready to welcome 2012 with open arms and let go of what didn’t get done in 2011. Most likely, it didn’t serve my best and highest good anyway.

Happy New Year, my friends!