Over Coming Breast Cancer 2

Not long after I returned home, I caught an infection, and ended back in hospital. It was some form of pneumonia and was finally brought under control with heavy doses of antibiotics. I was very weak and felt worse than I had after the cancer operation. The surgeon cheered me up by explaining that an operation often weakens the immune system, which is why I caught the infection. Now having fought it off, my immune system was in good working order, so I should expect to make a full recovery.

During my convalescence I had time to think about the breast cancer, what had caused it, and how to prevent it happening again. I was and still am convinced that it was caused by stress. The surgeon had told me how long the cancer had been growing, and was surprised that it was not bigger.

The early growth of the cancer related to a very stressful period of my life. During that time I had also suffered from blackouts, which only happen to me when I am extremely stressed. However, once this period had passed, I went through a tranquil phase during which time I believe the cancer remained dormant. The medical profession will argue that I have no proof, but I think in the near future we will come to understand a lot more about how stress affects cancer and our life in general.

At this time I had been married about thirty years, and as I have said my husband was extremely supportive, so we sat down together and discussed ways of making our life stress free. Like most couples with a house and 1.5 children, we had decided to go the full Monty and have 2, and the debt that went with it. We were both working and able to service the debt, but it was always something I worried about, so we made becoming debt free our number one priority.

I also looked at my diet, being a non-smoker was a plus, but I figured I could be eating healthier food. I cut out the biscuits and cakes replacing these with fruit and nuts that I could nibble on between meals. I also increased the variety of vegetables at meal times and the number of times we had red meat. Yes I am a believer; if we were meant to be vegetarian then we would have a different digestive system. If you don't eat meat because you don't like killing animals then you should take a closer look at nature, you should also wonder if plants have feelings. Our diet is too important to have fads.

I love walking, but at this stage in my convalescence, I only had the energy to walk to the mail box, so I started a regime of simple floor exercises such as sit ups, to build up my strength. This became a morning routine that I still follow .and of course walking is one of the best exercises you can do.

In my research towards a healthy life, I read loads of books, one of them, “You can Heal your Life” by Louise Hay, made a big impact on me. I followed through with some of the suggestions and looked at life from a different perspective. I took up meditation and was amazed at how much better it made me feel. I was able to relax and let my cares lift away, while my body healed itself.

Happiness and contentment contribute to our peace of mind. My husband and I decided we weren't really happy with our way of life, so we changed it. We had virtually brought our children up on boats that we lived aboard and cruised, but for the last few years of their schooling we had decided to move ashore to give them the best chance. Now they had both left home, to go traveling of course, not to uni as we had thought, we could also go back to a life we had enjoyed and still hankered after. Being settled didn't suit us so we sold up and bought another yacht and are cruising.

We move on when the mood takes us and money allows, we have a very relaxed attitude towards life and keep our stress levels down. I walk a lot, get plenty of sleep, eat a balanced diet, meditate and enjoy life. Will it keep the cancer at bay? I don't know, but it is now twelve years since my op and I have never felt better.