One User's Guide For The Treatment of Colon Cancer: Avoid Nitrates in foods

Just a quick reminder - avoid foods with Nitrates. Your body will thank you:

http://www.thecancerblog.com/2006/06/26/avoid-nitrates-in-foods-when-possible/

A little about all of this:

I had Stage IIIc Colon Cancer, and I beat it. You can too.

Summer 2007 was just beginning. I was doing my usual: Biking, swimming, working full time, going out and having fun, burning the midnight oil on my artistic and musical projects.. At the end of June 2007, I began a serious discussion with my doctor. I didn't feel anything unusual. There was no way to tell if I was sick or not. I just saw some occasional blood when I would go to the bathroom. I didn't think it was super serious, just something to get taken care of. My doctor's opinion was that this was at most, an internal hemorrhoid. (Hey.. this is about colon cancer remember.)

After a few months of this blood making an occasional appearance, I was referred to a gastroenterologist who performed a colonoscopy. He removed a few pollyps and found a lump in my sigmoid colon, and did a biopsy. Bad news; it came back malignant. After a CT scan and a PET scan, it appeared that this was a small Stage I tumor and I would need surgery, but would be back to life in no time. However to help ease the stress, I started reading up on this. In the next three weeks, I researched diet and exercise, herbs, alternative medicine. I weighed various surgical procedures and interviewed surgeons until I found the best one for me.

On July 12th, 2007 I had laparoscopically assisted colon resection surgery, something that many surgeons refused to do for cancer. A few days later the pathology report came back with shocking news. The cancer had spread to 4 out of 21 associated lymph nodes. That changed everything. Chemotherapy would be necessary. Here I thought I had Stage I cancer, but instead I had Stage IIIc - much much more deadly.

I am keeping it short here because everything is pretty much detailed here in this blog. the ups and downs of chemo, and the research, and links that I found, etc. How I got back in shape after it was all over.

I believe that my clean health today is the result of taking an active role in my fight and recovery, being focused and engaged in my battle- both physically and mentally.
I worked out almost the entire time I went through chemo. I am happy to report that I am stronger and in better shape now than I was even before this all began.

It has been a year since surgery, which is when the clock started ticking officially for me, and I am happy to say that I am cancer-free, and very much back to my old self. Obviously I am very open about it, and plan to continue updating the blog with information and news. Hopefully it will help someone in a similar situation down the road. Feel free to browse through the Archive and check in from time to time. And feel free to leave a comment if something interests you or you have a question.

Thanks much

One User's Guide For The Treatment of Colon Cancer

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Avoid Nitrates in foods

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