treatment – Learning to LOVE

Learning to…..TRUST

Hello friends. I wrote this post yesterday while driving through the Rocky Mountains. I am oh so very excited to be spending the next 10 days surrounded by the beautiful mountains, trees and family. 10 days to sit in the mountains, clear my head and hopefully get some insight on some treatment decisions that I am struggling with.

Looking outside the window, I am amazed at the ability of Mother Nature. I remember when these fires happened along Highway 93. I was younger and my parents would take my brother, sister and I to Panorama on our annual summer holiday. I have always thought the drive through this area was breathtaking and the trip out after the fires was no different. Still breathtaking, our first drive through was a bit more dark and dreary. With burnt mountainsides and no trees as far as you could see, you couldn’t help but feel sad and maybe a bit angry.

Today as I am driving, I see hope. I see small trees, shrubs and flowers peeking through the ground brush that has grown up over the years. The forest is repairing the damage caused by these fires and starting over. Just like I am.

The last 6 weeks or so has been hard. Hard physically, mentally and emotionally. Living for today has been difficult as I was not happy with today. I have been feeling angry, alone and so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired all the time. I was starting to not trust the process or my body to help me through this difficult journey. NOT TODAY!

As I said before, NOT TODAY! Today I feel hopeful. Hopeful that healing, rebuilding and repairing my body is possible. I am much smaller than these vast mountain sides. I have not been completely destroyed by this disease as they were by these fires. Mother nature is fascinating, powerful and healing. She turns tragedy into something beautiful. I will too.

I look forward to making this drive year after year with my family and teach Sawyer as my parents taught me. I look forward to seeing this beautiful mountainside all re-grown over the next 20-30 years. But most of all, I look forward to today. I trust that I will be guided to the right decision for me and my body and I trust that I will allow myself to make the right decisions for me during this transition in my treatment plan.

Lots of LOVE,

Lyndsey Watt

* I will do another full health update once we have sorted through everything and receive all the information we need to process where I am right now. For now I can share that I have stopped the oral chemotherapy that I was on and am looking into all natural and western options available to us.

I am forever GRATEFUL for YOU…..

I have learnt what LOVE feels like from strangers & it’s magic.
Today will be a good day xo

Over the past few weeks friends, family and strangers have been donating their time, money and LOVE so we can actively pursue alternative treatments that are not covered by health care or benefits.

We are forever grateful.

It is an indescribable feeling to have so much LOVE poured over you. Standing in a room like I was on June 5th, filled with people who are cheering for me inside was an experience like no other. I felt a lot of hope, joy and positivity in that room, which made me grateful to be a part of something filled with that sort of energy. Here is a short clip of the evening that was made by Tony.

A big thank you to my aunt Barb Richardson the guys at Classic Events Group for the event “Vibe in the Sky” and the Go Fund Me page that was created (PS – thanks Ryan for our UNI Chillwear, we love them!). The event was fun and classic, with a view like no other. THANK YOU! A big thank you also to all the entertainment, you guys were amazing.

I thought that along with my THANK YOU, I would give you a little overview of where the funds will go and what I am currently doing for treatments.

* IV Vitamin C, Artesunate and Mistletoe treatments (2x/week)
* B12 injections weekly
* Full Body Hyperthermia in Langly, BC (monthly to start)
* Supplements Recommended by my Integrative Oncologist in Calgary. These are based on my diagnosis, blood-work and the genetic testing that I had completed recently (the list is long, 30+ pills daily!).
* Daily Juicing (30+ ounces a day from fresh organic green veggies)
* Travel to and from appointments in Calgary, Edmonton and Langly.
* Drugs and tests not covered under benefits.
* Yoga and Meditation work

People have also donated their time & services offering me energy healing, photography, prayer groups, Reiki treatments, and fitness classes.

I am currently doing all of the above combined with a low dose oral chemotherapy and bone medicine. I have a great medical oncologist and integrative oncologist working with me. My family and I are continuing to do research on other treatments available, should I need to adjust anything in the future.

I get asked a lot about trials, travelling out of country to Mexico or Germany, and about seeking opinions from one of the big cancer clinics in the US. We have looked into all these options, so I thought I would share with you where we are at. I have a Oncologist that we have visited at the Mayo Clinic, who still consults with us over the phone when needed. She is excellent. We have met with the University of Alberta regarding clinical trials and that door is open should we need it later on. We have looked into clinics in both Mexico and Germany. At this point in time, our integrative oncologist is utilizing alternative therapies that they do a lot of in these other countries (mistletoe, hyperthermia, high does Vitamin therapy, low dose chemotherapy etc.) and we are wanting to give them a good try before looking further with these clinics.

I have been in awe since the beginning of this journey on the generosity of people. We have received meals, groceries, flowers, money, cards, hugs, prayers and visits from family, old friends, new friends and even strangers. I often look at my stack of cards (yes I have kept every last one) and think about how lucky I am to have the support of so many. How lucky my family is and how truly blessed we all are to have such a strong, thoughtful and loving support group.

Again, I can’t thank you all enough for your support, generosity and LOVE over the past year, month, week or day. I get surprised by something daily and am forever grateful to all of you who bring that extra joy into our lives on a regular basis.

We LOVE you.

xoxo
Lyndsey

Health Update

Hello friends.

I wanted to give everyone an update on what has been happening in our world over the last couple of weeks.

As I said in my story here, I have been playing the waiting game since finishing radiation in February. My follow up scans were to happen May 5th and I was to meet with my new oncologist today (May 12th, 2015) for the results. However, as we have learnt quite well over the past year… sometimes things don’t always work out the way they are planned.

In April I was having a lot of back pain that was not getting any better from massage, physio, stretching etc. So at the end of the month I went to the doctor to get it checked out. Due to my medical history they sent me for an x-ray and then a bone scan to see what was happening. After a lot of rushed tests, scans and doctors appointments we have discovered that the cancer has spread to my bones, lungs and liver. This has come as a complete shock to my family and I because we were feeling so optimistic about my health. Other than the pain I am in, I am feeling better than I have in a year.

We have been taking the necessary time to cry, grieve and be angry over the last couple of weeks and we are now looking over ALL of our treatment options. Although Western medicine today has no curative treatment plans for this stage of cancer, we are looking at doing complementary therapies combined with some Western medicine, while praying for a miracle.

I am feeling stronger than ever today and ready to tackle this next portion of my journey head on. A big portion of the healing that needs to happen over the next while is emotional and spiritual. Both of which I have been prepping myself for and feel ready to face head on.

I truly believe that our bodies have the ability to heal themselves far beyond what a medicine can do. There are a tonne of natural treatments, integrative therapies and testimonials out there from people who have experienced a radical remission from cancer. These are the people and the stories that my family and I are focusing on right now. If any of you are interested in reading about some of these, check out Dr. Kelly Turners website. She also has a book called Radical Remissions where she documents what she has learnt while studying hundreds of different cases.

I have a great team of professionals behind me, a huge support system and a family who is supporting whatever decision that I make right now.

I have chosen to focus on the small percentage of people who beat the odds and focus on living a life full of LOVE, laughter, joy and peace instead of a life filled with fear.

We all are born onto this earth the same way and we will all have to leave it one day. Some people sooner than others. It is not about how much time we get to spend here but what we do with the time we are given that counts. Quality verses quantity right?

Now this is not to say that any of this has been, or will be easy on me or my family and friends. We will have really good days and some really hard ones. We just need to remember to choose to live a miraculous life and choose a life filled with LOVE and joy every day.

I will be continuing on with my blog and documenting my journey on learning to LOVE again. I will also use it to share updates on how I am doing throughout these next stages of treatment, both for those of you who I may not talk to on a regular basis and those who are following from afar.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your love and support not only in the last few weeks but over the last year. May 8th was my one year “cancerversary” as Kris Carr calls it 🙂 and I could not have gotten through it without the love and support from you and your families. We appreciate everything from everyone.

Lots of LOVE,

Lyndsey