Chasing Kris

I am five days past my diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma and have spend countless hours digesting information on the disease.  I do not have a medical game plan yet, as I have to meet with surgeons this week to discuss the options for treatment. In the meantime, one of the key factors that has clicked with me is the understanding that cancer cells operate on a glucose based energy system.  These little nasties can apparently not use fats to grow, instead relying on glucose.  They are also anaerobic, meaning they don't need or like oxygen in their little bubble. There is a diet recommended by several sites that is designed to switch the body's fuel cells to fat burning.  Chief among them is the ketogenic diet.  This is the hard core phase of the Atkins Diet.  The idea is to burn off all our glucose and begin getting the body to use its fat stores.  The measure for success is the presence of ketones in the urine.  With cancer, there is...

Life can take some really interesting twists and turns, let me tell you.  This week, I was fairly blindsided by a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma (aka breast cancer). A few months back, at a regular exam, my gynecologist noticed a small lump in my right breast.  I took note of it and started being more mindful of it: did it change during my cycle, was it getting bigger, did it hurt, etc. This may seem like a lackadaisacal reaction to something that many women would immediately take action against.  But I have no history of breast cancer anywhere in my family, and I've done everything right in terms of having a low risk of this disease.  I've breastfed three babies for two years each, I exercise regularly, I eat mostly healthy food, I'm not overweight (140 lbs at 5'9"), I don't smoke and never have, I don't take birth control or hormone therapy medications, nor do I have any hormone related issues.  So I figured I'd watch and wait. A week ago, I noti...