Walking.
Briskly.
Alone.
Chases away Old Man Blues.
Overtakes vague thoughts that wandered off while I was sitting still.
Leads me, step by step by step, to clearer thoughts.
Walking heals.

I love to walk.  I walk for 30 minutes, hard, during my lunch break.  It’s one of the simplest, most peaceful, most healthful forms of exercise.

It’s free.  You can meditate while you walk.  You can plan and think while you walk.  Or you can let your mind float free and just soak up the sights around you.

Do you walk?

Lynn

I quit drinking coffee back in February.  I did love my morning coffee.  Two cups.  Every.  Single.  Day.  I have read recently there are some benefits to drinking coffee.  I’m sure there are, but I won’t be going back to it.   Coffee has a knack for aggravating breast cysts.

I switched to green tea, which still has caffeine but significantly less.  There are also many benefits to drinking green tea.

• contains polyphenols (such as catechins, quercetin)
• phytohormones
• flavonoids
• polyphenols that may help skin
• antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral
• anti-inflammatory
• antiaging
• may protect against cancer (studies in many areas on this)
• may help lower cholesterol
• promising as a weight-loss aid
• may help burn fat
• may help regulate blood sugar and insulin
• reduces clotting tendency
• may protect the heart
• may protect against cavities

I say “may” do this or “may” do that because it just seems safer.  I’m no doctor and can make no guarantees about anyone’s health or longevity.   I just know how much better I feel since cutting the coffee and switching to green tea.   I also dropped a good number of pounds without trying very hard, and the only permanent change I have made is adding green tea.

A note about milk in tea:  it may bind with the flavonoids in the tea, reducing the amount of flavonoids available to benefit your body.

Why am I sharing this today?  Just because.  Because I love my green tea.

One note of caution:  There are reports that green tea plants take fluoride from the soil and from water and store it in their leaves, which in turns ends up in your tea cup.  This is significant because some studies show that consuming fluoride may have a negative impact on the thyroid gland.  Just FYI. 

Lynn

I have never been a tofu eater, never been a big soy milk drinker, never really gotten “into” soy.  Though I have had soy milk before, I prefer regular diary products.  I eat meat, so I’m not a vegetarian looking for protein sources.  I’ve just never had a big desire or need to eat a lot of tofu, or any kind of soy for that matter.

Imagine my shock when, in the middle of my breast biopsy, the doctor asked, “have you been eating a lot of soy?”  My answer was no, but it set me to thinking.

I have done a lot of health and nutrition reading through the years.  It’s one of my favorite subjects.  I am sure that I have read things about soy before — positive and negative, but my mind just “read and released” the information as I did not think it pertained to me.

But there I am getting a biopsy and the doctor asked had I been eating soy.  She would not have asked that for no reason.  Would she?

I challenge you to read the ingredients in the foods you buy and see just how little is available on our grocery store shelves that does not have soy.  We try to stick to the basics such as our venison, a bit of store-bought meat to cook, potatoes, beans, rice, milk, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, but we also like cereals and crackers and granola and an occasional protein drink or mayonaise on a sandwich or a salad dressing that doesn’t have to be made from scratch or a container of yogurt or a loaf of store-bought bread. Well, you get the picture.

You no longer see just “lecithin.”  It’s “soy lecithin.”  Many “nutritious” snacks now have soy isolates or soy protein.  The oils?  Soybean oil or canola oil (which I am also not a fan of at all). 

Just how much soy have I consumed without even thinking about it?  I have always been an ingredient reader, but I fell into the trap of viewing soy as neutral and thus not thinking much about it, but I think that soy may be very dangerous.  At least unfermented soy, that is. 

In her book, Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman says,

“One of my concerns about unfermented soy relates to the widely reported idea that it prevents breast cancer.  It appears that soy isoflavones bind with human cell estrogen receptors, and by occupying space in these receptors, prevent cancer cells from finding a “home.”  Therefore, in some cases, soy is thought to protect against breast cancer.  However, research has also shown that soy may enhance a common type of estrogen-feeding breast cancer.

She goes on to mention research where Dr. Craig Dees concluded that soy isoflavones caused breast cancer cells to grow.  It has also been reported that high levels of genistein may contribute to breast cancer and that genistein may negate the effect of tamoxifen (a breast cancer treatment)

Soy contains goitrogens that interfere with normal thyroid function.  Soy shrinks the brain. (!)

In her book, New Menopausal Years, The Wise Woman Way: Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 (Wise Woman Herbal Series, Book 5) (Wise Woman Ways), Susun Weed says, “Soy has a dark side.”  She goes on to say that,

“Fermented soy foods (such as miso and tamari) clearly protect against breast cancer.  But tofu, soy “milk,” and other soy products expose breast tissues to extra estrogens which may increase breast cancer risk, especially during and after menopause.”

 There’s more, but I’ll stop there.  And I have more books with even more information.  I guess it just did not strike me before because I’m not a soy eater.  At least I didn’t think I was.  Now, however, that I am looking intently at all labels for soy, I’m finding it in a huge number of products.  It makes me mad at whoever, or whatever, is behind the campaigns to market soy products to women, and especially soy formulas to new mothers!  And don’t even get me started on how much soy our boys and girls have consumed in their short lives.

Here’s a page on Dr. Mercola’s website about soy. It contains a great video you might want to watch. I think he explains very well the dangers of soy.

I see oodles and oodles of women come through the store, their carts loaded down with soy products. And since my own quest to completely eliminate soy from this home, I have had no less than three women come to me at work and share their personal stories with soy. One has breast cancer that was estrogen fed and her doctor told her to stop the soy! The next told me of large cysts or growths on her ovaries and part of her thyroid having to be removed, and her doctor told her to stop the soy! Yet another felt she had been unknowingly feeding — again, cysts and fibroids around her uterus and ovaries and now is finding it difficult to eat “normally” without encountering soy.   Yes, soy is all around us.

I guess the bottom line is that soy and I are not friends, and I would urge you, if you are a big soy milk drinker and tofu eater, to do a bit more research.  This site is not for diagnostic purposes, I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist, and I do not propose that I have all the facts.  I’m just sharing some things that have landed on the table before me in my own experiences.

Lynn

My Breast Cancer/Breast Health page is under way!  I will add to it at every opportunity.  I am also committed to supporting breast cancer research whenever I am able to.

Breast Cancer/Health Information

I’m off for my daily walk.

Lynn

works hard for a living.  And he does work hard for me and his dad.  He’s a good boy and a good son. 

It was so late when I posted last night that the date showed up as today, but it was really last night and now this is today — Saturday.  Today is my son’s birthday — the 23rd, and actually he was born on a Saturday.  It was very cold and it snowed on the day he was born.

Today it’s cloudy, but the temperature is mild.  My daughter and I took our daily walk.  (Think breast health.) 

We walked down a street that has a pretty rock wall.

The walk was very good for us.  We talked about how exercise can reduce your risk of disease.  We challenged ourselves to walk up and down some very hilly streets.

Around the block and she sat down for a rest…

but not for long, as she wants to walk the length of the stone wall and she wants me up there walking with her!  We noticed the beautiful moss-covered, flat stones that top the wall.

Once we reached the end of the walkway, I put my camera in my pocket and climbed carefully down.  No jumping for me due to my still-healing incision.  But, of course, she jumped.  But only after I had the camera back out.

We walked along and talked about the verse I have been thinking about in Proverbs.  Chapter 3 Verse 9:

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

 We did not get into the second part of that verse, but we talked about what substance is.

Me:  Do you think substance is what you own?  The material things that you have?

Daughter:  Yes.

Me:  Do you think that substance is also what you are?

Daughter:  Yes, because we own ourselves.

Me:  Yes.  God actually owns us, but we have the privilege to make our own choices, so in a big way, we do own ourselves.  And the choices we make and the things we do, we have to own them.  Yes, I think we are part of that “substance” it talks about.

It was a nice walk and talk.  We did have to stop and take a picture of our most serious walking faces.

There were many pretty sights this morning.  I thought this steeple looked striking against the cloudy sky.

My daughter stopped and took a picture of the railroad tracks.

Now we’re off to get Big Joe’s birthday present.  He wants an Ipod.  I’m happy to be able to get him one.  He’s a good boy.

Happy Saturday,
Lynn

I spoke today with the doctor who did my core needle biopsy.  The diagnosis is fibrosis, which is benign.  I am so very, very thankful. 

I have to go back in six months and get this followed up.

This experience has totally broadened my view.  There’s a bigger place in my heart for those dealing with breast cancer.

One of my goals now is to be consistent in walking daily.  I try to exercise, but I know I don’t exercise daily like I should.  Exercise such as walking has been shown in studies to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

When I came home from work tonight, we celebrated my second son’s 17th birthday. 

Isn’t his cake beautiful?

There were special words — just for Joe — written all over the cake!

It sure was good with vanilla and chocolate ice cream!  Believe me, I am still watching my diet and trying to be careful regarding what I eat, but one splurge to celebrate the birth 17 years ago of a spectacular son surely couldn’t hurt anything!  Right?

Thank you so much to everyone who’s been supporting me and thinking of me and praying for me while I waited.

Lynn

I have debated over blogging about this.  It’s been in my mind — should I blog about it?  Or not?  Right now, it’s just as my post title indicates:  scare.  I found a lump.  (That in itself is scary enough.)  Actually it’s not really a lump as much as it is a lumpy area.  So I went to the doctor, who said what I expected to hear:  let’s get a diagnostic mammogram. 

I’ve known for about a week that I needed to have all this done, but I didn’t know what to say, if anything.  After all, it may be nothing, and I have friends who have dealt with the real thing, so I did not want to stir up some big issue about possibly having cancer when it may not be anything.  But then there’s the very scary what if.

I took my camera with me today.  I have made the decision to keep it with me all the time (if I can remember) because I am always seeing something in nature or in town that I wish I could have photographed.

I sat at the stoplight early this morning looking at the medical helicopter sitting on the hospital.  I would love to be in my garden today was going through my mind.

I have to tell you that I was impressed with the pretty gowns they had for mammogram patients.  I was expecting the standard blue gown.  This gown was soft. 

And it had pink ribbons on it.

I had my mammograms.  And waited.  Then the doctor wanted more.  I had them.  And waited.  Then they wanted an ultrasound.  I had one.  That doctor said the head radiologist wanted to take a look.  So I waited for him.  He looked.  He did not see anything suspicious, discrete, that just jumped out at him, but the fact remained that cancers — especially certain cancers — can hide.  And there was a change on mammogram.  And we could feel something there.  So I went for a stereotactic core needle biopsy. 

I walked to another building.  This was taking all day.  But it was okay.  I was very thankful to get all this done at one time and not have to go back the next day, or the next. 

I was in the next waiting room for a long time.  Thank goodness I had taken two gardening magazines.  I read my magazines, but I kept noticing this pair of lamps.

It’s gonna be hard for you to see it with the full impact it had on me today, but this lamp…  Well, there’s no polite, discreet way to say this.  This lamp looked to me like a patient waiting there with us, with a breast under each arm, and yes the breasts appeared defective.  I think they were supposed to be pineapples.  Maybe?

I mean, who picked these out?

Is it just me?  I certainly was not offended by these lamps.  In fact, I appreciated the humor in it.  And now that I see these pictures, I really wish I had taken a side view of the lamp to show you even more clearly how they looked.  Anyway, I assure you one’s mind is all over the place when dealing with this kind of possibility.  Breast cancer, I mean.

Once called back, I sat in a chair, looking at my boots, and waiting.  More waiting.  The biopsies went well they said, although I can certainly tell you I wouldn’t want to go through that every day.

So why did I make the decision to post this now?  Because it was a long, tiring, and significant day.  I came home sore and drained and hoping the biopsies are negative.  And I met some very, very caring, professional people who I believe want nothing more than to find a cure for breast cancer.  I want people to know that we need to be looking for a cure for breast cancer.  For every cancer. 

Diet can affect breast tissue.  Chemicals can affect breast tissue.  We now know, of course, that genetics play a huge role in some cancers. 

One of the doctors I saw today asked me if I had been eating more soy.  No, she did not say that that causes cancer.  I asked her some questions.  She told me to continue eating what I was eating.  I don’t eat soy, by the way, but I got the impression that large amounts of soy introduced into the diet can cause breast tissue thickening.  Nothing definitive was said, but that’s just it.  That’s the whole point.  What does cause breast thickening?  And breast cancer?

I am thin.  I eat a very healthy diet.  I don’t smoke.  I don’t drink.  I don’t consume much sugar.  I eat fruits and vegetables.  And yet here I am wondering, did I do something to cause cancer? 

I want to clarify again, she was not saying that soy caused cancer.  I think the bottom line is that things — diet included, can affect breast tissue.  I was told a large number of things can cause the tissue thickening I am experiencing.  Fortunately, most of them are nothing to worry about.  Unfortunately, that list of things includes cancer. 

I thought of the friends and family members who have gone through not just a scare, but a diagnosis and all the treatment, and waiting, and pain, that that entails.  I want to be a part of helping.  If there’s a walk to raise money for cancer, maybe I could be a part of it — if I’m not working.  If there’s something for sale and it supports research for breast cancer (you’ll see a pink ribbon), I can support that by buying!  I can teach my daughter to take care of herself.

I did consent today to two studies.  They took a couple of extra cores of tissue to go to a central bank for breast cancer research.  I also gave blood to help them find markers — hopefully – that can tell women by a simple blood test if they are developing breast cancer.

I am setting up a breast page, with links to breast cancer information.  I am also adding a category to blog about the things I read about breast cancer.  I don’t expect to make a huge impact on the world, but I just wanted to speak up and remind people to do what they can. 

When you run head-long into something that could potentially be life-threatening, it makes you stop and think. 

Lynn

PS — There are no school lessons to report today, but Joe actually cooked the ham we’re having tonight.  My husband is cooking the greens, potatoes, and peas.  I have been instructed not to lift anything due to risk of bleeding from the incision and core biopsies today.