[Update: I wrote this in October of 2014. It’s been 3 years, and I’m still doing great. Thanks to all of you who continue to check up on me and wish me well!]
It was February 5th, my mother’s birthday and a month before the 20th anniversary of my becoming vegan. I was sitting in a breast surgeon’s office in a paper gown, cradling my biopsied breast and waiting. After about an hour and a half, my surgeon finally appeared, apologizing for keeping me waiting because the results had only just come in. He took a deep breath and said, “You don’t have cancer.” I thought, “I didn’t think I did.” Unfortunately, as I would later find out, we both were wrong.
He went on to explain that the biopsy found abnormal cells, officially called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), but often referred to as Stage 0 or pre-cancer. While I was still reeling from the word “carcinoma,” he explained that these cells might become cancer, so they had to be treated like cancer. My options were a lumpectomy with radiation or a mastectomy. I asked whether there was any chance that the pathology report could be wrong, and my doctor said no.
I was stunned. I left in a daze and went over to my husband’s office nearby to give him the news.
Three months before, a routine mammogram had spotted a place that looked different from my last mammogram. I was sent to the Breast Health Center for another mam and then an ultrasound to get a closer look. The spot was so small and deep inside the breast that the ultrasound technician couldn’t find it at all, so I was given an appointment to return in three months. At that three month mammogram, the “spot” was clearly visible even to me as a glowing white circle in a sea of black and gray. A ultrasound-guided biopsy was scheduled for early the next week.
I’d had one of these biopsies four years ago, and that spot had turned out to be nothing but a harmless cyst, so I had been expecting the same results this time. Like most women, I didn’t think “The Big C” could happen to me. But because I was a vegan, I think I was even more positive that I couldn’t have cancer. After all, wasn’t I doing everything the vegan doctors tell us to do to protect ourselves from heart disease and cancer? Low-fat, lots of green and cruciferous vegetables and brightly colored fruit? No animal products? Moreover, no one in my family had ever had cancer. I naively thought I was immune.
So I didn’t really believe the pathology report, and I became even more skeptical when I read an article that said that DCIS is sometimes misdiagnosed. I decided to get a second opinion from one of the doctors mentioned in that article, a pathologist specializing in breast cancer in San Francisco. I had the hospital send him my biopsy slides, and a week later, I had a consultation with him on the phone. He was unable to confirm DCIS or rule out actual cancer because the radiologist who had performed the biopsy had noted that he had actually missed the “mass.” The biopsy needle had gone in front of the suspected tumor and gathered cells from there, just a few that looked abnormal. But until the actual mass was tested, the pathology specialist couldn’t rule out either DCIS or invasive cancer. He suggested I get another, more accurate, biopsy called a stereotactic biopsy, and I asked my doctor to schedule it.
I had high hopes that this second biopsy would show no DCIS and no cancer. Those hopes were shot down when my new medical oncologist called to give me the results: I had a small invasive cancer, Stage 1, that showed signs of being aggressive. She recommended surgery within the next 3-4 weeks. Just to be sure, I had the slides sent to the pathologist in San Francisco, who agreed with her diagnosis.
Snowball Fight with Daughter E at Oberlin College
So I did what any logical person would do: I took a vacation. It was Spring Break, and my husband and I had planned a 5-day trip to take our high school junior (now senior) to visit 6 colleges in the Midwest. We wanted to do it while we could because we knew that after the surgery, I would need 6 ½ weeks of daily radiation treatments and might not be able to get away during the summer. The trip was a great distraction, but as soon as we got home, I made an appointment with the surgeon and scheduled my lumpectomy for the following week.
The surgery went perfectly. The surgeon removed the tumor and the area around it, as well as three lymph nodes which tested negative: the cancer had not spread to them. A week later, I returned to the surgeon’s office for more good news: The final pathology report showed that the “margins” or edges of the material he had removed were clean, meaning that all of the targeted cancer cells had probably been removed. The only worrisome thing to my husband and me were some figures in the report that seemed a little scary, particularly a “grade” of 3, meaning the cancer was aggressive. My surgeon was unconcerned, and my oncologist said that she would order a genetic test called Oncotype DX to more conclusively determine my chances of having the cancer recur.
A few weeks went by as I recovered from the surgery and waited for the results of the Oncotype test. I was expecting to start radiation soon when my medical oncologist called with the test results. They indicated that I was at a moderately high risk of recurrence. She was recommending that I have chemo.
This was the first time the other Big C word had been mentioned, and for some reason, “chemotherapy” scared me more than “cancer.” The oncologist explained that the type of chemo she was recommending was “well-tolerated” and without all of the serious long-term consequences of other treatments. I wasn’t convinced, and I began frantically researching the chemo itself and alternatives to it.
Walking and thinking in a cypress swamp
I was in a panic. On the one hand, I’ve always believed in fighting disease with nutrition and had always been opposed to taking any medication if it could be avoided. On the other hand, hadn’t I been doing just that for the past 20 years? My oncologist was telling me that chemo could reduce my risk of having the cancer recur and spread, that preventing it now would be much easier than trying to stop if it spread to my other organs. I went back and forth, one day deciding that chemo was just too dangerous and the next deciding that I didn’t want to take the risk of the cancer coming back. I was, frankly, a mess. I couldn’t sleep or eat for worrying about the chemo. I finally decided to get a second opinion from a highly recommended breast cancer oncologist at the University Medical Center.
My second opinion doctor came back with the same recommendation as the first: Have the chemo. She assured me that I was young (me!) and healthy and I could handle it. And it would cut my chance of recurrence in half.
My husband was very careful to stand back and let me make the decision for myself, but I knew that he hoped that I would have the chemo. And I was afraid that if I didn’t have it, I would be anxious for the rest of my life, afraid that I hadn’t done everything I possibly could to prevent a recurrence. I’d read the stories of people who had fought their cancer with diet and lifestyle choices, but those people weren’t already eating a whole foods, plant-based diet like I was.
So I decided to do the chemo, four rounds, three weeks apart. I read everything I could find about the treatments and armed myself with supplements that could help prevent side effects. And I found out my oncologist was right: the treatments, though no fun, we’re not as bad as I’d feared. My side effects were minimal, the most annoying being a bad taste in my mouth that would come and go and made it difficult to create new recipes.
Just after my initial diagnosis, I’d begun getting up at 5:30 every morning and walking with my husband and our dog. During chemo, and later radiation, I considered it a point of honor that I never missed a walk. On the weekends, my family and I tried to get out of the house and do a little hiking or local sightseeing so that I wouldn’t feel like the treatment was making me isolated. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables to support my immune system and was careful to avoid coming into contact with people who were sick, and I sailed through my summer of chemo without so much as a sniffle.
A Visit to “My” Lake at Montreat, NC
When chemo ended, I was determined to take a family vacation before I had to start radiation therapy, so at the beginning of August, we spent a week in the mountains of North Carolina and a few days in Nashville, seeing my newest niece for the first time (and, of course, my brother and sister-in-law).
I got back home and jumped right into daily radiation treatments–33 of them. Again, the treatments weren’t nearly as bad as I expected, but I was thrilled when they ended last week. I couldn’t wait to put all of this cancer stuff behind me.
I didn’t write about this while it was going on mainly because I was afraid that people would offer suggestions and criticisms of my decision to go through with chemo and radiation, and I just couldn’t risk the additional stress that would have put on me. So why am I telling you now? Even though this blog is recipe-oriented and not usually very personal, I wasn’t sure if I could go on writing it if I had to pretend like something this big hadn’t happened to me, something that has consumed the last eight months of my life and has changed the way I see myself and the way I think about diet, veganism, and health.
My first month post-diagnosis, before I had the specter of chemo to worry me, all I could think about was “why” and “how”: Why did I, a vegan who tries to eat healthy, get cancer when no one else in my Standard American Diet-eating family has ever had cancer? What had I done wrong? Had I eaten too few nuts? Too little cilantro? Not enough flax seeds? BPA? Soy?! I worried that I had caused my cancer by never being able to get to my goal weight and stay there, that I didn’t exercise consistently, that I had had only one child late in life and that I hadn’t breastfed her long enough.
I was blaming myself, and I had a lot of help from the Internet. I couldn’t visit Facebook without seeing posts about how eating X (broccoli, nuts, soy, orange) would help prevent cancer. Or people posting about their frustration that a friend or family member had breast cancer and refused to treat it by adopting a plant-based diet. If I, someone who had been eating all the right things (and not eating all the wrong ones), got the message that I was to blame for my cancer, how must other cancer patients feel, the ones who hadn’t been stuffing themselves with kale and mushrooms? Is there a way to promote a plant-based diet that doesn’t point the finger of blame, that doesn’t make grand promises of health, and that doesn’t make people like me feel so confident in the invincibility of our diets that we put off mammograms or other screening tests?
I don’t know. But for me, it’s been helpful to think of the vegan diet as promoting health, but not providing a “Get out of Disease Free” card. My friend Maria made me see that even if my diet didn’t prevent me from getting cancer, perhaps the cancer would have grown much more quickly if I hadn’t been vegan. Perhaps I wouldn’t have sailed through chemo without ever needing nausea meds if I hadn’t been nourishing my body with fruits and vegetables. Perhaps my immune system wouldn’t have stayed as strong as it did or my energy as high if I had been consuming animal products.
It’s also been helpful to me to remember my real reason for being vegan. Though I’ve followed a McDougall-type diet ever since I became vegan, my ultimate reason for becoming vegan was not to improve my own health but to decrease the suffering of animals. So if you’re reading this and worrying that I’m going to be another vegan blogger who goes back to eating animals for her own health, don’t. No diagnosis in the world could convince me to eat another animal or animal product.
As for my current health, I feel great, and I’m confident that I caught this cancer early and have done and am doing everything medically and nutritionally possible to make sure I never have to worry about it again. I’ve tweaked my diet to reduce or eliminate foods I don’t need (sugar, soy, wine, and coffee) and to increase those I wasn’t eating enough of before (broccoli sprouts, flax seeds, organics). I walk at least once and sometimes twice a day, and soon I’ll be starting a workout routine at the gym. I plan to lose the extra weight I’ve been carrying around, which is the biggest threat to my health.
I think the hardest struggle I’ve faced isn’t physical but emotional. My image of myself as a healthy person who never took pills and was confident her vegan diet would protect her from anything–that image took a pretty big hit. I’ve been worried about “coming out” as a vegan with cancer for fear that non-vegans would see it as proof that a vegan diet “doesn’t work” and that some vegans would skewer me for resorting to traditional medicine. In the end, I decided that I had to put my truth out there so that I can get past it and get back to blogging as usual. Next post, you can expect a recipe. Cancer isn’t on the menu.
Loki has become an excellent therapy cat–when he isn’t destroying the house.
Thank you to all my family, friends, and friends of friends who offered love and support. And to my church, the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Jackson, and my parents’ church, The First Presbyterian Church of Hammond, LA (love the shawl and cap, y’all!) And to Maria Maggi, Nava Atlas, Dreena Burton, and Stephanie Weaver–wise women all, whose words of advice and offers of support helped me more than they probably know.
Eileen
Thanks for sharing your story. I so resonate with what you said about diet and immunity to disease and reluctance to do drugs. My husband was very unexpectedly diagnosed with a Stage IV Gleason 10 Prostate Cancer. I felt betrayed and angry and terrified. We tried the “natural” route with a naturopath guiding the treatment, but he rapidly got worse-way worse. So we went to Low Dose Chemo and lots of supplements. Now we go to a Prostate Cancer Oncologist in LA, he takes a boat load of medicines has just finished a second round of Low Dose Chemo treatments, and is doing fairly well. I was almost arrogant about our diet and good health- but not anymore-as you said it is no gu guarantee. My very best wishes to you as you fight this beast! And a big hug from another cancer fighter.
Anne
Susan,
I was deeply moved by you courageously sharing your journey. You are such a light to this world and I just wanted to express my gratitude to you for your inspiration. Sending you healing energy and love.
Barbara
Susan, thank you. At first I was stunned but I devoured your post. I think your friend Maria nailed it. My hubris at eating plant strong has been great but this was a loud reminder. Like you it doesn’t change my commitment to this WOE because I am off bp meds for 5 years. You are one of my favorite recipe rock stars. I have added you to my daily prayer list and will keep you there just to send goodness back to you and your family. Thank you for sharing so eloquently.
Patty
Hi Susan,
So glad you are O.K.I really enjoy your blog.
I have friend who had a mild heart attack.He is plant-based,and works out all the time.His Dr.told him if he hadn’t been doing those things it could have been much worse.:) So my point is keep doing what your doing.
Blessings to you,and yours.
Sayward Rebhal
I was so moved by this post, Susan. I completely understand why you wanted to keep this private while you were int he thick of it, but thank you for choosing to share it with your readers now. I feel inspired by both your strength and your vulnerability. And, in my own way (though my struggles are in no way comparable to cancer), I found myself relating to what you wrote here.
I’m so glad to hear that you’re cancer-free and feeling more empowered in your health – and life! – journey now. And I can’t wait to give you a big hug in Austin next May! Sending lots of healing love until then. <3
Alyssa
Thank you for writing this! On one hand, it’s a sad state of affairs when people are blamed for contracting a disease, then raked over the coals for their choice of treatment. On the other, it is brave folks like you who lead us to the reality: Cancer can, and does, affect anyone. It is not a punishment or a moral judgement, it is a horrible, awful disease.
I’ so glad to hear that you are doing well!
Reni Desort
I’m a recent vegan who found your blog only a few months ago. Thank you for your honesty and courage in this post. Wishing you health, happiness and blessings.
Ceara @ Ceara's Kitchen
Susan, your post brought tears to my eyes. I am sorry to hear that you have been fighting cancer and struggling with so many emotional and physical burdens over the past few months. This really resonated with me:
“Is there a way to promote a plant-based diet that doesn’t point the finger of blame, that doesn’t make grand promises of health, and that doesn’t make people like me feel so confident in the invincibility of our diets that we put off mammograms or other screening tests?”
Cancer hit someone in our home this past year and you are very right, you never thinking it is going to happen to you or someone so close to home for that matter. I too try to live a life of health, filled with whole plant based foods but I also have to remember that this does not make me invisible. I am happy to hear that your cancer has been healed and I wish you nothing but health and happiness in the future <3 You are an inspiration and thank you for being so brave to share your story.
JL Fields
Susan, I had no idea. I am so happy to read you are in good health! And I love and adore you for talking about what veganism means to you and that though, yes, a vegan diet is incredibly healthy and good nutrition can lead to good health, there are NO guarantees. I’m sending you the biggest cyber hug ever! xxoo
Meri
You are awesome! I doubt that anyone could face what you’ve been through this year with as much courage & finesse and still manage to blog and have an even healthier lifestyle.
Health and nutrition is a personal “battle” for most of us who choose to eat differently from the masses. In every facet of life there are the naysayers and it seems to me you have done what’s best for your health and your family. Kudos to you!
Laurie Mrvos
Dear Susan,
What a gift to share this scary journey with us. I take strength in your brave (and wise) choices, and your decision to share them with us. I am so grateful to hear that you are doing well.
My husband and I went vegan a year ago, and would probably not be able to stay the course without your delicious recipes and great advice. Many of these recipes are in our rotation, and each one of our all-time favorites are yours.
This past summer, my husband was diagnosed with bladder cancer. His disease clearly can be mapped back to lifestyle decisions he made decades ago. He had stopped those unhealthy habits, become a marathon runner, and had recently become vegan for his health, but even more so for ethical reasons. His doctor was thrilled when we told him about our plant-based diet, and felt that it was going to play a big part in his fight.
I needed to read your story. I had decided I was not going to get a mammogram this year, but your story has changed my mind. Thank you for sharing, and I am cheering for you, (and as always, looking forward to the next recipe!!!)
Laurie
Doris Law
Good luck in your fight. You’re doing the right things. You’re an inspiration. I learned of you on the McDougall board. My prayers are with you.
Walter Jones
Thank you Susan for sharing from your heart. Believe you were wise to hold off providing all the details until you were done with the treatment you have had to undergo. God Bless you for your honesty, and know that many people will benefit greatly. Looking forward to more great recipes in future days and further details when you feel they are appropriate to share.
Nicole O'Shea
Hello Susan,
Although we have not formally or virtually “met” before, I have been following your recipes and blog for years, so I feel like I know you, and I am sure I am not alone in feeling this way. I am so sorry to hear of this difficult time in your life, yet also glad to know now so I am your other readers have the chance to let you know how much we love and support you. Thank you for your honesty and courage to share your experience.
I fully agree with Maria – your plant-based diet may well have been helping you all along, and enabled your relatively smooth treatment experience. There are no guarantees in this life, we do what we can and we take it as it comes.
Much love to you and your family!
Nicole
Myra
You have articulated a lot of the things I felt when I got that biopsy result that told me I also had “pre-cancerous” breast cells. It was hard at first to talk about; to one’s family, and to the others in one’s life (co-workers, friends). My sister is a physician and was by my side the whole way. She gravely said to me that I have already done all the recommended lifestyle modifications to keep healthy and probably should take the recommended drugs now. I am vegan, too and worried about all the things you mentioned. In the end I opted not to take the drugs, but to take the supplements recommended by an integrative oncology clinic doc and tweak my diet and exercise routine. We still have to live our lives. Susan, thanks for sharing your story with us. It is sort of liberating to finally tell about it; maybe you feel the same way. Be well.
Elisabeth
You have handled this serious problem in a way that I would wish to do in the same circumstances. I am tired of the “blame the victim” meme when cancer is diagnosed! Even worse is the advice to “think positively”. While it may make you feel more confident and optimistic, there is no proof that it changes an outcome. I will keep you in my thoughts. Thanks for all you do!
Ada
Susan: Hopefully this will encourage everyone to get checked. This post is just another way that you have helped us. I agree with Anna@StuffedVeggies that it is important for the individual to decide – to respect their decision. Thank you for all your time and energy put into this site. You are a tremendous help to all of us. Know that a lot of prayers and good wishes for a speedy and complete recovery are being set your way from all of us. Ada
Amy
Susan,
Thank you so much for sharing your very personal story- you will continue to be in my thoughts as you continue to fully heal! Amy
Lisa Harlow
I think you have handled this brilliantly and very courageously!
I wish you the very best!
Lisa
chris
So sorry. I will make this short. It is very possible if you had not been vegan you
Would have had cancer 15 years earlier. I have been vegetarian for years, mostly vegan. I had an angiogram due to chest pain in 2010.. A main artery was 95 and 75% blocked, and they put in two overlapping stents. I realized I had used oil and found your wonderful website, Dr. McDougal, and Dr. Esselstyne. So for four years I had no oil. In June 2014 One of the stents moved and totally blocked the main artery, and a blood clot also was formed. I survived a SIX hour heart attack. Why? Because my other arteries were clear which gave enough blood/oxygen to my heart. There is no way I would be here if not for the way of eating. I now have 3 stents. I can’t control if they moved again (the overlapping is the issue), but I can control and keep my arteries clear. Just in case another stent wants to do a runner.
So thank you…..have heart you have also done amazing! Great inspiration to your family and to all of us!
Mary Jo Wenckus
Thanks for sharing. There are no guarantees, and us vegans may shave off several percentage points from the likelihood of contracting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases, we’re still only human. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m very happy that you’re up and about. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your website! I just hope you aren’t disheartened by this. There are many reasons to be vegan, as you know. The animals and the future (environmental impact of animal agriculture) depend on it.
Claire Ervin Lee
All my very best to you! It took guts to post this, and I appreciate it. Your recipes are some of my favorites, and it’s good to be reminded that being a vegan is wonderful for our health and the health of the planet, but is not a guarantee against illness.
cakemix
i’m sorry this has happened to you, and pray the horrible C stays away! thank you so much for sharing and for all your lovely recipes. love from london xxx
Margaret
I’m so glad you are well again. I love your blog and your recipes!
PJ
Very courageous writing. Thank you for sharing this part of your life. Been enjoying your recipes for some time now and wish you all the best in future health.
Be well,
Paul
Liisa
Thank you for sharing your story. Your courage is inspiring. I am glad you are doing well and hope all goes well for you in the future.
Lynnie
Hello
Eating healthy gives you the best chances at a healthy life, and when health fails, eathing healthy gives you the best chances at recovery. We all wish to be lucky.
Enjoy eating healthy, and I wish you the best.
Karin
I feel as though I just read a version of my own story! It will have been four years in November when I was diagnosed with stage one invasive ductal carcinoma, which was days from my 20th wedding and a couple weeks from my vegan anniversary. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe cancer was going to be a part of my life story. But unlike you, I already had met up with a handful of unlikely health challenges, given my non smoking, organic, vegan lifestyle.
Also like you, I was drawn to veganism for compasionate reasons, for animals, and for the planet. Listening to John Robbins one day, on NPR, made me an instant vegetarian, and within a year, vegan! But I was grateful that health benefits were part of this lifestyle, given all my grandparents had passed young, and my dad and uncle had both had open heart surgeries at 42 and 40. Unfortunately,within a couple years of my diet change I began losing hair and suffering severe joint pain. It took nearly ten years for the diagnosis of lupus, and a lot of ups and downs, but I never blamed my diet -and I’m glad my doctors were astute enough to know that a diet free of animal protiens is actually best for auto immune diseases. Long story short, I have been able to get accustomed to understanding that diet, lifestyle, postivie attitude – no one thing we DO can cause or prevent our illnesses. It’s humbling! There is no right answer, in my opinion, because we are each so individual, and are exposed to so many unknowns. When I got cancer, I questioned myself at first too – was it too much soy, too many canned products with BPA, too much sunscreen with hormone changing chemicals I was unaware of…?? Now I do the best I can, and support only companies that do the same.
I have been here a number of times, and I have enjoyed your recipes over the years. Thank you for sharing all of yourself – your creativity, your wisdom, your courage, your challenges, and your triumphs. I wish you all the best, of health and life!
Pen
thanks for your post. as a vegetarian who spent 2013 with cancer, surgery, chemo & radiation, I also felt nervous about the criticisms/suggestions and kept it pretty quiet. i hope you’re powering ahead now 🙂
Richa {VeganRicha.com}
Thank you so much for this post Susan. This is going to be very helpful to a lot of people to put things into perspective and think deeply about the blame game.
Wish you the bestest and a wonderful healthy life ahead.
Clare
Thanks for sharing your story Susan, I am so glad you are in remission and feeling good, and that the treatment wasn’t too hard on you. I have been vegan almost as long as you and am a believer in the health benefits, but the recent idea put forward by some of the ‘plant-based’ people that this diet is a cure all/prevent all really annoys me – it is a fantasy. I am sure this diet reduces your risk of many diseases but nothing can 100% eliminate risk. Furthermore, there are good data to show this diet can reduce your risk of cancer recurrence, but it is not a treatment when you actually have cancer. A healthy diet can support you when you are recovering, but I am very glad you did not refuse chemotherapy – these medical treatments are cutting edge and life-saving. They are the main reason most women survive breast cancer now. I hope you continue to get stronger and stronger and can put this behind you.
Debbie Bellerose
Susan,
Thank you so much for writing this blog! I have not been diagnosed with cancer, but as I was reading this, I thought you were speaking directly to me. I have only been educated on and following a WFPB diet for 6 years, but until I read your blog, I also believed that I would be invincible. As I think back (I am 54), over the years, I struggled with weight constantly, until I became educated about 6 years ago, also carrying more weight than I should have been. You have opened my eyes…we all know cancer doesn’t happen overnight, so following all kinds of crazy diets, many that were not healthy, gaining and losing weight constantly, who knows what may be “happening” in my body. However, I truly believe that because you have been following a WFPB diet, your outcome was fantastic! Obviously, you made the right choice in regards to your treatment; I truly commend you for writing this blog and opening many people’s eyes, especially mine! The words “thank you” are an understatement……….
Theresa
A brave and beautifully written piece. Thank you.
Kim
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I have been following your blog for a while, although I don’t comment, and do love your perspective on cooking and veganism. It is frustrating that you were worried about being judged by other people in the vegan community for what is a very personal decision. Please take heart that there are a lot of women out there who are regular people just trying to eat a good, humane diet and who like to cook (such as myself) who follow your blog. I’m not an activist, and I certainly appreciate your story, because the more we share each others’ experiences the more we all learn. I do hope that you continue to thrive! You’re definitely an inspiration just as you are.
Lonna Murphy
Susan, thank you so much for sharing your story. I have just been diagnosed with Lobular Carcinoma in situ after having a biopsy done. I have been vegan for 18 years myself, and was shocked at the diagnosis. Fortunately, I don’t have cancer, but now I am living with the fear that cancer will appear one day. My doctors have also been reassuring, but it’s awful to go through these things. Knowing there’s a community out there helps tremendously. I seriously hope that everything is over for you and your family. I have a ten-year-old son and a lovely husband. I worry about them more than I worry about myself at this point.
Alixe tayler
I thought maybe you would be interested in this documentary. It a 11 part show starting today and it is free. http://www.thethruthaboutcancer.com
I love your sight! You are truly an inspiration to me!
Kate Garcia Rouh
Thank you for sharing openly. You are right – we cannot control what happens, but we can do all we can to be our healthiest so that we can “weather the storms” that may come our way. God bless your full recovery!
Jennifer
So glad to hear you stayed the course – you did what YOU thought was right. It was a smart decision to stay off FB and the internet while dealing with this and making choices about your life. And, cats really are the best therapy, aren’t they?
Davol
You inspire all of us, on so many levels. Wishing you strength, happiness, good health and love.
Mary Cowans
Susan,
Thank you for sharing your story. I’ve always enjoyed your posts. Your honesty and truth is so much appreciated. Someone I admire said to me that our healthy diet and lifestyle isn’t a guarantee of nothing bad happening. She likened it to wearing a seat belt. You do the best you can to protect yourself and then live your life. While there are no guarantees, we still do the best to protect ourselves.
I’m glad you’re feeling better and hope you have continued health!