#366 Beyond A Breast Cancer Diagnosis - Accepting Your Body and The Test Results

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Today, I want to have a heart-to-heart conversation about something that weighs heavily on many of our minds: the challenge of deciding whether or not to undergo diagnostic tests for breast cancer. These decisions are never easy, and I understand the fear and anxiety that come with them.

In this episode, we dive deep into the dilemma of balancing the potential benefits and harmful side effects of diagnostic tests. It’s a tough spot to be in—on one hand, we want to stay vigilant and catch any issues early, but on the other, we’re wary of the possible harm these tests can bring. It’s a dance between being proactive and protecting ourselves from unnecessary risks.

We also talk about a common and often overlooked emotional response: blaming our bodies when test results don’t meet our expectations. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking our bodies are failing us when we receive less-than-ideal news. But remember, our bodies are incredible, resilient, and always doing their best to heal and protect us.

I’ll share some practical tips on how to approach these decisions with a calm and clear mind, including seeking second opinions, weighing the risks and benefits, and most importantly, listening to your intuition. Your journey is unique, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

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0:00
You're listening to better than before breast cancer with the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm your host, Laura Lummer. I'm a certified life coach, and I'm a breast cancer thriver. In this podcast, I will give you the skills and the insights and the tools to move past the emotional and physical trauma of a breast cancer diagnosis. If you're looking for a way to create a life, that's even better than before breast cancer, you've come to the right place. Let's get started.

0:33
Hey, there friends, you're listening to Episode 366 are better than before breast cancer. I am your host, Laura Lummer. And we got some good stuff to talk about today. So I am coming freshly off of a needle biopsy today. I've talked about on the show a couple of times that I have this one lymph node that is still showing metabolic activity. And it got a little bit bigger. It's still very small, but it got a little bit bigger between PET scans. And my doctor said, you know, I really like to biopsy that, because let's make sure we're still dealing with breast cancer. Let's make sure that because as many of you may know, the treatments that we go through to save our lives from breast cancer can cause secondary cancers. And over the 13 years that I've been managing cancer, I've been through a lot of treatments, a lot of radiation, a lot of scans, X rays, IV chemotherapy, oral chemotherapy, multiple oral chemo therapies, I mean, a lot of stuff. So I have a great oncologist and love that he's thorough. And I love that he wants to be sure, we're still dealing with the same thing because he says it's just so strange that your whole body is quiet, but that one lymph node, what's going on with that? So I thought about it for a while. And I My thoughts are really what I want to talk about today. Because I hear so many amazing women in a difficult position after a diagnosis or going through treatment or living with breast cancer I struggle with whether or not they should get diagnostics, and the struggle with what their body is telling them, right. We go through a lot of I hear a lot of anger and frustration, and even blame and even criticizing our own sense of self worth based on our body's response to things. How does our body respond? Are we still bouncing around like we did when we were 20 years old? When we're 60 years old or older than 60 years old? What if our body didn't completely? Right? I could be here now saying, what's the what the heck, right? I've healed so much from widespread cancer. I've had just one lymph node, why would my body work? I could go into judgment that will do absolutely no good. No good whatsoever. So I'm reading this fantastic book. And I come across this line. And I think this is perfect. This kind of brought everything into perspective for what I want to talk about today. Let me read you this line. This book is phenomenal. It's a little tiny book, it's easy read. It's called switched on by Dr. Christine, who who did H O ugh to in Houston, I think as we say, but this line is really amazing. And she's talking about how we look to our body in the cells of our body for answers. And she says when all our cells function at their peak, we have reached our highest state of good health. And that should be our goal to achieve our individual highest possible state of cellular function by him drop the mic. This is key. It is key to our mental and emotional health. When it comes to telling ourselves whatever it is we tell ourselves about our incredible bodies. We have this strange idea that we should have whatever our perception of perfect health means. Does that mean no aches, no pains? No gas? No. Anything ever that we are like, I don't know, superheroes? What is your expectation of your body? And what are you going to be okay with it? And I think sometimes we have to check in with that. And we have to ask ourselves, What am I expecting of myself? Is that expectation realistic? And if it isn't realistic, is the unrealistic expectation, creating suffering and causing me to miss out on the joy of my life? So when I for the second time in a row, let's see. So it was my scans were for six months apart? I think it was and I see that in six months. There's been a little bit of growth and there's still activity. I get concerned but here's So my thought process goes, well, I know I could dial in my plan even more. I know I could get to higher states of ketosis. I know I could adjust these different things. I know, I could ask about what other holistic treatments might benefit me and might help take care of this. There are options. But then, and then my concerns would be I don't really need a new biopsy. It's just a little lymph node, is there a risk of cancer spread? If I get a needle biopsy? And am I willing to take that risk? But then my mind goes into analyzing, I look at research, what is the risk? I talked to my doctor, I talked to my natural path. Is this worth knowing? And I think that when we are resistant to diagnostics that you're very familiar with the thoughts I just shared with you. I come across many, many women who flat out refuse diagnostics for their own reasons and their own concerns, which is, is fine if that's if that's what they choose if that's what feels right to them. But I think we really, it's important to dig into addressing both sides of this decision making process. What is the fear about the diagnostics? And it's okay, that the fear is there? What is the risk? How real is the risk? And what's the benefit of the data. So for instance, if this lymph node is a lymphoma, rather than breast cancer, that's really valuable data, not with regard to my lifestyle plan, right. And I'm going to touch on that in a sec. But with regard to what my oncologist is doing, right, so if I have no breast cancer left in my body, and this little lymph node is saying it's some other kind of cancer, there's two easy things we can do. It's tiny, right? So, but the data is important to know if something has changed if something has morphed, and the risk factor was extremely low. So the benefit of having the data far outweighed the risk, in my situation, in this circumstance, where it was located, all the things, right, all of the factors that came into play. So we've got this idea, well, hold on, because when we're following a metabolic approach to health and to healing, it doesn't matter the diagnosis, right. And in fact, oh, my gosh, let me come back to that. I think that the last part of that, quote, actually said something about that, we pull out the glasses here. So the last part of that quote that I just shared with you says, The key here is that we don't necessarily need to name diagnose diseases, the principles are the same regardless. And the principles she's referring to, are the principles, she's looking at how you turn on and off genes. This is a book about epigenetics and how our body supports detoxification and the genes involved in that and the foods involved in turning on those genes, all that fun stuff. So in that situation, or in the situation of the lifestyle choices, and the metabolic program I follow, it doesn't matter what type of cancer I'm dealing with, in my body, my job isn't anything to do with cancer, I'm not cancer focus. My job is, am I getting my cells to their healthiest level of functioning? Like the first quote, right? And what is the healthiest level of function my cells can attain? Am I doing all the things I can do? And then what does that mean to me? So if I'm doing all the things I can do, following my program to a tee, adapting, checking in following my natural paths guidance, am I managing stress doing all the things right? And this is my optimal state of health, then this is what it is, right? If this is the highest state of cellular function I can attain, maybe it isn't high enough to get rid of this last lymph node, I don't know, because there's still some things I can do. And in fact, I'm headed out very shortly. So excited about it a little over two weeks, that we're going on a cancer healing retreat with Dr. Nisha winters. And I can't even even put into words how excited I am about everything I'm going to learn about supporting my body and about sharing and supporting you and all the listeners to this podcast. So anyway, that's a whole nother story. Don't I'm not gonna go on a tangent. But I have to think so I could stick with the stick to the plan, Laura, keep doing what you're doing that will go away, and it very well, maybe I might not do anything other than follow my metabolic health plan, and stay on the treatments I'm currently on in my standard of care. I may not do anything, it depends. This is why I want the data. So the data is going to be very beneficial for my standard of care doctor because he's going to know if these cells have mutated and we're dealing with something other than breast cancer right now. That's kind of important information. Right? But I think the bigger point of this show is, can you be kind to your Self? And can you do everything possible to support the most optimal functioning of yourself and be happy with it? Right? So if it is true that this is the healthiest my body can eat, and this is the optimal performance of my cells. And in that optimal state, I may have some active cancer in my body. Okay, what am I going to make that mean, to me, this is what we have to come back to. Because when we go down the path of beating ourselves up of judging ourselves, of actually attaching biological function of this body, this accumulation of cells and chemical reactions, if we attach the function of that, to the value and worth of ourselves as a human being,

10:53
we have made a big leap over a giant gap, right? Because I don't know, I mean, we know for sure there's nobody on the face of this planet right now say this is a cure for cancer. No one in the standard care world, no one in the naturopathic world, because there's no one thing that someone can give to anybody, and it will cure cancer. So we had to say to ourselves, Am I doing everything first of all? And if not, why not? Are you willing to do everything, some of us aren't willing to do everything? And that's okay, too. Right? Some people are not willing to do the things and I've had many people say to me, I hope I never get diagnosed with cancer, because I'm not willing to do the things I see you doing. And that's okay. It's a personal decision, right? I have a feeling most people would feel differently if they actually ever heard those words and got the diagnosis, but somewhat, right, some aren't willing to do it. So if you're not happy with the state of your body, if you're in this mindset that my body is betraying me, I will just ask for you to step back and really think about where that's coming from. Because when I have someone say that, to me, I think you are holding an expectation. So for instance, if I held an expectation that what I'm doing after a certain period of time, is going to result in a certain state. And that's it. And that's the only goal, that's the only thing I'm open to, that's all. And then that time comes and that state hasn't been achieved. And then I blame my body for it. Instead of being in this very real mode of saying, I'm going to do everything I can to support my body to get to that state. And I'm just going to keep learning with it and going with it. And figuring out what works every step. While I enjoy my life. Because the steps I'm taking helped me feel good and have energy and do the things that allow me to engage and connect and enjoy my life. This is a very different mindset. So if you are really hard on yourself, because you're judging your body, I would ask you to take a step back, and kind of give yourself some grace here. But definitely lock into thinking about why you have this expectation. So I am not by in any way, shape, or form disappointed in myself, I look back on the last 13 years of going through cancer, all the treatments that I've done all the diagnostics that I've done, and I have no regrets. Some of them if I knew what I know, now, I would do differently or would not have done at all, but I don't regret having done them. Because in the time I made that decision, it was the best decision for what I knew. At that time. It was the very best decision. There was never a time when I said let me make a decision for myself. It was always Is this the best decision? And as I've said so many times on the show, once you have a cancer diagnosis, there's not a lot of good options, right? There's not a lot of yeah, that treatment sounds fantastic. You know, there's a lot of tough choices and a lot of hard decisions. And so we have to understand weighing them out. And we have to take fear into consideration. Are we letting fear drive the bus and potentially robbing ourselves of valuable data? Right, this is an important thing to consider. So I would say that when you're faced with this kind of thing, when you're faced with a diagnostic of any kind, and God knows we've got a lot of them. There are safer routes, right there are there's a difference between a mammogram and thermography. There is the pre Nuvo scans versus CAT scans or PET scans. Sadly, some of the safer alternatives less damaging less toxic alternatives are quite costly and not covered by insurance. Hopefully we'll see that change someday. So I know that finances play a role in our decision making as well and that's important. But I think the bottom line is, are you making any decisions based on fear? Or are we able to step back and kind of coach our minds through the process of what can we weigh out? How are the cost benefit version of this decision. And then as you do that, understand that that's one side. So like I talked about all the time, there's a tumor focus, and there's a body focus, that's kind of a tumor focused, right? That's saying, Well, I provide this data so that the team player on my medical healthcare team can have the data, he needs to be the best team player for me with the best data he has available. And on the other side of it, not judging and beating up my body, because something isn't the way that I want it to be. I wanted to address this today, because I mentioned a couple of times before on the podcast about that lymph node, and I want to be really transparent with you. Because I know that what I go through and the choices I make, and the decisions I make for myself, are not unique experiences, meaning that you go through them too. And you have those thoughts and ideas too. And I just want to talk about them very openly. So we all know, there's nothing wrong with those thoughts. There's nothing bad about those thoughts. And whatever choice you make to support yourself in the most informed way. Coming from a place of love for yourself, of safety for yourself and belief that that decision, is the best thing for you at this point in time is okay, wherever you land, right? Because there's always going to be people who judge it and let them judge all they want, right? You have to do what's right for you. But when you do that, I would just offer and encourage and emphasize when you do that, support your decision with self love. Support your decision, just as you would if you were making this choice for another person that you loved more than anything in the world. And you were supporting a person and making a really difficult choice. How would you talk to them and support them through that choice, right. And that's the important message here. Give yourself love. Give yourself grace. Give yourself a special treat. After going through whatever it is for the tough decision you make meaning a lovely lunch, lovely time in the sunshine, a lovely dinner with someone you love. Like really, really be supportive of yourself. Because this is not an easy road friends. It's complicated. It changes there's lots of twists and turns. And the best we can do is nourish ourselves and love ourselves in a way that allows our body and each cell in our body to function at its most optimal level. And then Accept where that level is and jump back into enjoying your life today. All right. I hope that helps somebody if you're out there making a tough choice. Know that I'm sending you have virtual, I don't know, I want to say Virtual hug but I mean more of like a virtual like air mattress or something you know like it's gonna catch you when you jump off the cliff like something that just supports that decision so you can support yourself. Alright friends, I'll talk to you again soon. Until then be good to yourself.

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