Satisfied & Strengthened

Today was my third day of treatment. Thankfully, I am starting off pretty strong. (This may get a bit confusing, but I’m going to be specific for Sylvia, Jennifer, Sarah, Lea & Stacie in particular.) Sorry it is so long.

Every morning we start in a fasting state and a nurse takes our vitals. Starting today, they’ve included our blood ketone levels for us "newbies". Mine was a 4.3! Three or higher means “ketosis”. That’s a great thing, especially when fighting cancer or many other "diseases".

The nurses were pretty impressed. After reading my ketone level, the nurse shouted my number to a nurse in the other room. The other responded, “Damn!” (in a good, shocked way). I’ll take it! That was super encouraging. But I figured it would be short lived. Since next on the agenda was my IPC treatment. Cancer feeds on glucose, so I eat a diet that greatly restricts glucose (understatement of the day). Then when treatment time comes, under careful watch and timing, they drop my glucose levels even further. That was quite the fascinating experience! And I just realized I probably didn’t get the lightheadedness I usually get because I am in Ketosis and my brain is utilizing ketones for fuel instead of glucose. Sweet! Anyways, then they give me raw apple juice (fructose-sugar) to raise my glucose and open up those hungry cancer cells. While those cells are open and receptive, in comes whatever agent we are using to specifically attack the cancer cells, instead of destroying my entire body. Brilliant! My starting fasting glucose level was 66 (Nice!) Then after the juice it was 113! (Bad!) I’m thinking, “Crap! My glucose hasn’t been that high in a long time. There goes my ketosis! Oh, well, as long as the cancer goes along with it, I guess.” At the end of the day after all my IV, lymph, and colon treatments, they took my vitals again. My ketone level was a 5! What?! Deeper ketosis? After all that fructose?! They did give me a fat bomb which helped reduce the insulin spike. (FYI Never eat sugar or carbs naked…meaning: eat them with fat so you don’t spike your insulin levels. For example, if you are eating an apple, have it with nuts or a nutbutter. A piece of bread, spread real butter on it. Fat is not the villain media makes it our to be. The low fat diet I started in high school was a major player in my health issues as an adult.) Hurray! Not only am I in ketosis, but in deep ketosis! That’s super encouraging. And it really keeps food cravings and crashes away. Hopefully I will stay in Ketosis even with my temporary alkaline detox diet which is very low in fat. We’ll find out next week or I will know with food cravings.

I am simply amazed at how God has prepared me for this road is in so many ways: physically, spiritually, mentally, and with such a beautiful support team. (Physically: Debbie-lymph treatments; Stephanie-colon therapy; Sylvia, Mercola’s "Fat for Fuel" book, Haley Berry, yah, that one, she’s diabetic and does keto and helped me pull the trigger; Stacie’s Truth About Cancer books) Spiritually, mentally and emotionally: the list would go on forever with the names of all of you reading this and Facebook. Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your encouragement, prayers and listening to me. I wish I could give you all hugs and write you eloquent thank you’s. But then I wouldn’t have any time for treatment, so that would defeat the purpose. ;-)

How do I feel today? Treatment today was a lot of new stuff and exhausting. I could hardly keep my eyes open; my eyelids were so heavy. I fell asleep multiple times during lymph treatment, talked to most people with my eyes closed, and didn’t read, color, or talk much to others. Nonetheless, I felt deep within my bones: “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” (Isaiah 58:11) Today He satisfied my soul, strengthened my bones and quenched my thirst. God truly is good all the time; even on difficult roads we don’t choose. Sometimes we just have to look a little harder for Him. Even with eyelids too heavy to lift, He can still be found.