Day 5 Chemo 1. Mon. 07/24/2017 12:30PM "daily exercise of AM/PM meditation on Sonia Ricotti’s Unsinkable Bounce Back System"

Day 5 Chemo 1. Mon. 07/24/2017 12:30PM

Stretching a 5 day marathon of no appetite one could certainly say after a tribulation of vomiting, stomachache and headache: “Finally, lunch just taste so good after regaining a hearty appetite. Thank you so much Lord.”

The day just started so awesome with a wonderful sleep, waking up just once in order to pee.

I was so excited to continually feel well today in God’s mercy. And that I would make it a point to have this continued throughout the day despite any obstacles.

Hedi Pink Color Holy Rosary with
Lourdes Medal 

And speaking of obstacle something just showed up too. In the early morning my brother was so loud and noisy already complaining about a lot of things. Since yesterday he had been angry even on minute issues. I gave him a pep talk to at least in a little way he could perhaps do service with love and be thankful that despite of all his vices God has freed him from the illness that I have. While I did my rosary I prayed to God to calm him down.

With calmness a lot of magnificent things happen. Today I had a surprised visit from my patient Atty. Llewelyn “Laulau” Menchavez Porta and from Ms. Eunice Salinas, once was my friend/ adopted daughter (another story to tell).

Laulau’s father had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, thus she could relate what I had been going through. Sharing the same vibe in the conversation we tackled on the different diet for people who have cancers. She then told me the variety of juices she made for her dad which helped out a lot not only in terms of caring the sick person but the bonding that resulted between her dad and herself. The situation made them closer to each other.  

I guess the same thing happened to me. Before I used to take care of all my nieces, now they in turn looked after me. Deep down our relationship something had grown, the bonding that ensued when everyone is focused in one goal, “healing”. They prayed hard and they served me like their second mother. Every moment there is something to savor, its goodness is so magical, just as what I experienced too with my little one. While relaxing, and enjoying watching tv at the same time scribbling this journal there was that wonderful feeling inside. Beholding my son mesmerised  watching youtube videos, and getting a big, tight hug from him every now and then when I ask, is therapeutic indeed, like a medicine that gets you healed faster and even better.  

What else could make one better? Of course, when something good needed to make you better arrived sent by someone special helping you out in recovery. The delivery from my living guardian angel just arrived containing the Vitamin D3 that could not be found elsewhere in the Philippines. It came as package from Calgary, Alberta, Canada along with the Immune 7 which he included as a Immune booster for me. With all the excitement and the spiritual energy pooled with my daily exercise of AM/PM meditation on Sonia Ricotti’s Unsinkable Bounce Back System the delivery guy could not believe that the person he was delivering the package has cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, because there was no trace in the sound of my voice nor expression of my face. The secret lies on beholding the beautiful, perfect and phenomenal health as if it already exist. Right after lunch I had the dose of the 2 supplements that arrived. Thank you very much Jer for all the support.

Day 4 Chemo 1. Sun. 07/23/2017 12:30PM "..still your family that you will turn to."

Day 4 Chemo 1. Sun. 07/23/2017 12:30PM

Thank you Lord for the better sleep last night. My tummy felt comfortable after my dinner. I only woke up twice in the middle of the night and was able to attend the Holy Mass at 5 AM. Upon arriving home I did my AM meditation. Since the weather was so conducive for sleeping and everyone were still asleep, I went back to bed and had a few more hours of sleep.

Woke up later 'coz my guardian angel was checking on me if his patient has been feeling better. I told him that I’m a lot better than before and in fact,  I did accomplish a lot of things already early this morning. My living angel never fails to cheer me up so that I won't give up in the middle of this healing process putting tears of joy in my eyes every time. I wanna thank again the "Noel’s Family" for all their support. Superb! They are the exact example of living the second commandment of Jesus “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

We just had a short conversation because he needs to go and present a business proposal and my niece was calling me to have breakfast already.

After breakfast, I went to sleep again and just woke up asking if lunch was ready already. Since the time I got sick everyone in the house were pampering me with love and care. Long before this event in my life I used to be the one taking good care of all of them. Now it's the other way around. Again,”Thank you Lord for my family”. Despite being dysfunctional, family is still a family.

All of us will always go back to our family. That's why I always say this to my 3 nieces that even if you quarrel or argue a lot with one another, always maintain that respect to your parents and siblings 'coz in the end when you get sick it's still your family that you will turn to. And  It's still your family who will be obliged to take care of you. That is why after God, family is next.

Holding these thoughts I recalled way back when my 3 nieces were little, I used to bring them to the hospital for admission and to clinic for consultation, now they're the ones taking good care of me and helping me take care of my one and only son Zacchaeus, my joy and their joy.

“Zac” became the focal point of our unconditional love. Whenever he is taken by his father, everyone would always feel an emptiness, when the house suddenly just turned so quiet, giving some kind of melancholy for his presence. Thus, in the early morning, the entire family would never fail to look for Zac if he had been back. Everyday I thank God for giving us Zac. He is our happiness and joy. I love him so much...so much!!!

And talking about the little angel. He just passed by while I was scribbling this journal. I told him that we will review for his exam for tomorrow. He gave me a sly answer with a smile: "Later on Mommy, early in the evening when it's a little dark." I laughed because I knew he got his delaying tactic again. Ha...ha...ha.

Knowing that it's weekend and we had been reviewing for the last 3 days since Friday, I did not force him instead, 'coz I felt the review of one topic at a time we did sufficed already for his preparation.

Thanks again to my nieces' help in all other subjects but when it comes to Filipino and Math they would always surrender. That's why last Friday even if I was not feeling very well I had to review with him the Filipino and Math subjects and tonight as well. God in all His goodness had blessed me with enough strength to finish teaching him with his Math and Filipino subjects.

Day 3 Chemo 1. Sat. 07/22/2017 1:11PM "Deep breathing helped ease my upset stomach and sleeping in a fetal position.."

Day 3 Chemo 1. Sat. 07/22/2017 1:11PM

Just finished eating lunch. Don't have heavy feeling on my head anymore but my tummy still bothered a lot. Every hour or every two hours the hyperacidity feeling continued to persist despite having the “omeprazole.”

Feeling weak and tired all I could think of is to ask the help from on High.

“God let this discomfort go away completely and put me to a sound sleep tonight. It's been two nights that I slept like a chicken, waking up every 2-4 hours because of the growing pain in my stomach.”

The last time I had this feeling was when I was pregnant with my own child "Zac" during the first trimester of my pregnancy. But that was not as uncomfortable as what I experienced with this Post Chemo ordeal, since that would usually occur during midnight until dawn while this one is grievous, getting on and off for 24 hours.

Hopefully, God will send His Holy Spirit to heal me today and I will be able to attend the Sunday Holy Mass tomorrow at 5:00AM. “Lord God Almighty please bring comfort to me today. Have mercy on me. Though I'm still not up and about I thank you Lord that I can still drink and eat without throwing up, that I can still go to the bathroom to pee and poo and take a bath and even scrub the bathroom floors.”.

The stomach feels a little okay right now, that is why I'm able to do my journal at this time. Deep breathing helped ease my upset stomach and sleeping in a fetal position lying on my side curling up.

Now I need to go to the comfort room. Call of nature.

Day 2 Chemo 1. Fri. 07/21/2017 10:00AM "non-dairy SOYA MILK against hyper-acidity after first Chemotherapy session"

Day 2 Chemo 1. Fri. 07/21/2017 10:00AM

The morning  was a bit better compared to yesterday’s late afternoon of which the hyper-acidity feeling was really bad causing me to throw up. Early evening of yesterday, after dinner about an hour or two I had vomited again succeeding the late afternoon bout. I prayed hard to God to eliminate all the discomfort and put me to sleep.

With the aid of the non-dairy SOYA MILK the acidity feeling in my tummy had subsided. Thanks to Ate Sinead, my niece who bought it for me. She's really taking good care of me. Kudos also to my brother Alson buying and cooking the food I'd like to eat.

Based on the experience of yesterday, taking 8 kinds of medications which seemed to upset my stomach I had to device a plan. Today I'm testing not to take the other supplements as I thought they're the ones aggravating or inducing the hyperacidity feeling. So far the discomfort took a milder hit. The last episode of vomiting was that of last night after dinner.

I need to go 'coz I haven't done my AM meditation 'coz I’m not yet so up and about this morning.

3:24PM

Thank you God, the discomfort is not so bad now. I was able to sleep for 2 hours after lunch. I'm eating biscuits with my son to erase the hunger pangs. At the same time texting my very good friend Dr. Roselyn Yu whom we fondly call "Bulak" or flower. Like a beautiful rose, she has  a very beautiful face aside from having a beautiful heart. Always my friend through thick and thin during our OB-GYNE residency training.

Remembering the residency years I could recall that it had been so tough for both of us and yet we survived. Roselyn almost stop when she lost her brother, who wasn’t only her brother but her best friend. The agony in her heart had been so depressing for her to have made such a decision of stopping. But being her best friend as well, I had to step up and told her; "Don't worry. Just go on leave as long as you like until you recover. I will cover all your duties. Just don't stop." Had she ever not continued maybe I would have not made it too.

Our graduation from our residency training was one of the happiest moments of our friendship since it was the culmination of all our struggles in surviving the tough times we went through.

Bulak had always been very sweet and very thoughtful. Even after our residency training she was still helping me a lot. I liked it when our breakfast is hard boiled eggs during our training 'coz she would give me the white and I would give my yolk to her. Simple joys.

Day 1 Chemo 1. Thu. 07/20/2017 3:20PM "The Vitamin B17 Deficiency"

Day 1 Chemo 1. Thu. 07/20/2017 3:20PM

So far, no major odd feelings, just slight headache and hunger pangs coming like every 2 hours that I have to eat something every now and then.

I tried to sleep in between but the feeling of acidity in my stomach would always wake me up aside from the occasional texts coming from my patients and friends that I have to read and reply. The carpenters on the neighbour's construction had kept me awake as well.Thus, I decided to better do this journal so that I will not be able to focus the heavy feeling on my head and the acidity feeling in my tummy.

One thing that made so cool today was waking up in the morning with a very good news. My guardian angel who I just talked few hours before my sleep, about the needed vitamin D3 prescribed by my doctor had actually  sent me a package of my vitamin D3 right away. This supplement is nowhere to be found in the Philippines as it is imported. Yet in short amount of time Jerome had it found and delivered along with the immune boosting supplement called Immune 7.

It is not an easy feat taking 8 kinds of medication per day but I suppose I'm getting by well with it, because I have nothing to do since my doctor had me curtailed working back until the repeat CBC (Complete Blood Count) is done, which will be due next week July 26, 2017. Hopefully, in God's mercy the result will be normal so I can go back to work and serve my patients again.

Caring my patients is one of my pleasures and it gives me joy seeing them so excited to find out the sex of their baby. By the way, I am an OB-Gyne Sonologist.

Better still, I had a good conversation too with my sister Jona this morning after breakfast. She is one of those who joined the ranks of being my donor for my 4 session chemotherapy. That is why through facebook messenger I let her knew how deeply I thanked her for the financial help she sent for my “Vitamin B17 deficiency”, 'coz cancer on the current literature is not  a disease after all, but a vitamin B17 deficiency. This has been some kind of secret of which FDA(Food Development Authority) cannot expose to the public since the natural remedies of cancer is in nature itself which cannot be patented.

 

Help from family, friends, neighbors and colleagues were pouring in. That's how good God is. He always provides. All I could feel now is so much love and care from everybody. I couldn't ask for more but to say thank you, thank you, thank you.

Day 0 Chemo 1. Wed. 07/19/2017 5:20PM "have the 2 breast removed so I could really choose well the size I need for silicon replacements"

My Breast Cancer (Vitamin B17 Deficiency) Recuperation Journey

CHEMOTHERAPY 01

Day 0 Chemo 1. Wed. 07/19/2017 5:20PM

Hi! My Journal, Finally I have the time to scribble now. Thanks to my good friend “Noel Jerome Noel”, poking me to get one small notebook and Hurray!!! I’m writing on it now. Ha ha ha!!!

Just finished my first cycle of chemo this morning. So far so good. God is good all the time.

Since I have to rest, I’m charting my meds to make sure I’m able to take everything without fail. In between, I’m reading the books that Jerome, “My Living Guardian Angel” shared to me. God sent him to me exactly on the day (July 14, 2017) when I was told by my surgeon (Dr. Mateo Tipgos) that I have an Invasive Ductal Carcinoma-in-situ, solid type, nuclear grade 2, histologic grade 3, 2.4cm size, no definite lymphovascular invasion, with foci suspicious for perineural invasion, tumor within 0.1cm of the nearest surgical margin.  

I told him (Dr. Mateo Tipgos) over the phone “Doki that is a bad joke” ‘coz he is a joker. But he was really very serious, so I asked him what is the first thing I have to do. He said: “Let us ask for second opinion to make sure of the diagnosis.” Obediently, after my clinic on that day, I went to Perpetual Succour Hospital (PSH). God was just so good that right away I was entertained by Dr. Nilepta Lim, the pathologist who taught me Pathology while I was having my OB-Gyne residency training at PSH way back 1996-1999. She agreed with the diagnosis after checking the slides under the microscope. Thus, my surgeon advised surgery as soon as possible.

He said that I could have Lumpectomy and Radiotherapy.

But I reckoned to have modified radical mastectomy (MRM) so that he can give me the complete staging and they can manage me properly to the best of their ability. Thus, I called my anesthesiologist right away, to check if he would be free on June 19, 2017. Once again, God is so good that I have Dr. Johann Hugo as my anesthesiologist.

My anesthesiologist, Dr. Johann Hugo was having a hard time accepting the fact that I have a cancer because he knew that I also joke a lot. Yet I told him that I am not wrong and I don’t do bad joke. Yet I jokingly mentioned to him that if it is possible I will have the 2 breast removed so I could really choose well the size I need for silicon replacements. And we laughed.

I got admitted at PSH on June 18, 2017. My niece, “Sinead Morata” and my sister “Rabbi Morata” were with me. My guardian angel, “Jerome” literally my living guardian angel again came over. I told him it was ok to visit me but on the day of my surgery please don’t come, ‘coz I don’t want you to see me in my most ungroomed moment. But this guardian angel just kept visiting me everyday without fail that when I was discharged on June 22, 2017, he and his sister, “Rachel Noel Caballes” were helping us to carry all our things to our very small car “Kia Picanto”.

God just works in His mysterious ways. Jerome is my prayer warrior to the point that he has to convince his entire family to pray for me and light a candle and had it lighted from early morning until noon as per suggestion of his other sister, “Lia Noel”.

On the day of my admission, my very good friend, “Dr. Claudia Vilma Prado” and her husband, “Sir Anthony” and her beautiful daughter Tonivi came over. Right after surgery all my very good friends came over too. Just it was so untimely for them, as I could not entertain since I was so sleepy that I could not even move a single muscle of my eyes as if I was having Hypokalemia, “when your potassium of your blood is too low.” That’s how knocked out I was with my in vitro transcription and translation (IVTT) Diphenhydramine (Benadryl - intravenous). With that state I could barely tell who came first. My niece, Sinead was the one who mentioned that the following doctors and associates came over: Dr. Maria Christina Aban, Dr. Cytesse Cambronero, Dr. Marissa Garcia, (My IM - Internal Medicine Internist) who cleared me of my surgery,

Dr. Roselyn Cabahug Yu, Jeanie (my Secretary), and 2 other secretaries who happened to be my patient too (Che-che and Maricel) and  Dr. Melvic Pimentel-Justimbaste who arrived when I was already awake.

As far as memory goes I remembered Dr. Yvette Garcia, Dr. Lyn Alana Busa,

Dr. Editha “B-B Tiu” Vasquez with her husband “Sir Glenn” came over as well.

My three other good friends are worth mentioning too for their support despite not being able to come. First is Dr. Lizelle Go who had been taking care of Dr. Tyronne Mercader (her long time partner and friend) who had been on dialysis. Second is Dr. Maritess Pepito who had been on duty. Third is Dr. Gina Jiao Cal who’s in Australia.

Before I forget, my cousin Ma. Concepcion “Bebskie” Acosta visited me too. My husband and son I personally instructed on with my niece Sinead not to come over even if he insisted (another story to tell).

Thank you to all of you, from the bottom of my heart.

For almost 3 weeks I’d been trying to accomplish my AM and PM meditation from Sonia Ricotti’s "Unsinkable Bounce Back System” and do the best I can to  eat raw vegetables and fruits. I’m obsessed on my watermelon juice ‘coz it has a lot of folic acid and hopefully prevent hair loss in God’s mercy although I am ready to be bald that’s why I have 10 pieces of bandana. For now Let me stop here.