Apologies to anyone who takes offense to the title, I honestly just couldn't think of a better word to describe today. Tim's numbers went back up yet again so he started treatment again today with full-blown chemo as well as an anti-angiogenic called Zaltrap. Its really similar to another one he was previously on called Avastin but targets more pathways to the cancer cells. We're really hoping that this is the miracle we've been waiting so long for.
The plan was for me to drop Tim off this morning then for his mom to sit with him during treatment before bringing him by his office or home depending upon how he felt. Obviously it really hard for him going back on chemo again not only mentally but really hard to get back into it yet again physically. I know I just want to crawl into bed for a few days after a round and I'm not even the patient. I knew today would be tough for both of us no matter how well he did as I haven't been away from Tim during treatment in almost 2 1/2 years. Unfortunately that was not the case at all for Tim this time around. It always takes a bit of tweaking to get the meds just right whenever Tim starts a new plan of treatment, usually we're pretty close, this time we couldn't have been further from the mark.
Tim started feeling sick before he even left treatment today, they gave him more nausea medication (or as you'll typically hear us refer to them, pre-meds) but he couldn't get ahead of it before he left the cancer center. I came home to help him out this afternoon and he was able to eat a bagel, egg & cheese sandwich but that's about where we've left off today. Currently I'm having to apply some tough love in the attempt to get something on his stomach. So far we've been through two different soups, toast & applesauce and I think I've listed just about every type of food I can think of but he still can't find anything that sounds good to him or that doesn't turn his stomach after two bites. I did end up calling the doctor on call who gave us the go-ahead to double dose him on the nausea meds which he took about 20 minutes ago. I'm really hoping that these do the trick because I know he is so miserable right now and would do anything just to be able to sleep. So if you get this tonight please say a quick prayer that the rest of this treatment will go a little easier on him, he could really use a break today!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
What We've Been Up To
The past two weeks have had some highs and some lows but the lows so far have ended up being humorous later. Tim had a meltdown about this new way of living but ultimately made the decision he was still going to give it a shot. I think my favorite quote from him during the meltdown was "Jenny, people don't not eat meat and survive. You can't do it." He also recently asked me how I could eat coconuts if I was allergic to tree nuts...just let it sink in for a minute. I was rendered speechless by him with that one. :)
The biggest news to hit the Bright household happened today when Diana Watson of Fox Carolina came to our house to interview Tim for a segment they will show on Friday night (Feb. 15) at 10PM. Make sure to set a reminder for yourself to catch it live or make sure you DVR it. For anyone who isn't local we will be sure to post a link to the video for you guys to check out! They even got a shot of our messy fridge (currently has 2 shelves occupied by carrots) and even messier freezer (that still has some forbidden items in it including cookie dough...I promise that it isn't for us). I even got to make some awkward cameos for "B roll" footage where Tim & I make our green juice and check out some pictures. Essentially any time a camera is focused on me, my brain is cycling the same thoughts over and over..."where do I look, what do I do, this is so awkward, omg this is going on TV." For that reason I like to stay in the safety zone behind the lens and let the master (Tim) work. :) Everyone that was around got to try our green juice though and agreed (if hesitantly) that it was better than they thought it would be/not too bad.
Tim has eaten 2 types of fish in the last week, Ahi & Salmon, we had a little chat with the fishmonger at Whole Foods the other day who gave some great suggestions for additional types of fish Tim can try. One of these days he will love it! Last night was some salmon and asparagus (we've been drenching everything in some Palmetto Olive Oil Balsamic Vinegar...we are officially hooked on the stuff).
We also found some baby bananas at Whole Foods which we got for Tim to eat. Basically our only reasoning for the purchase was that they were mini-sized and the last bunch left....
Once again Tim's eyelashes have grown incredibly long & curly, we can't find our mini-scissors for me to trim them yet so here is a shot of them from yesterday. It looks like we glued extensions on there but they are 100% real, supermodels everywhere want to know his secret...
I've finally found a few things to snack on since I cannot eat the cashews & almonds that Tim frequently snacks on, one being ranch flavored peas, the other being ranch flavored Kale chips. They taste slightly like off-brand Cool Ranch Doritos...slightly is the key word.
We bought sashimi grade Ahi last week and seared it for a salad topper along with reduced balsamic vinegar. Tim couldn't handle the spice but loved it otherwise. He discovered his love of ahi after we went to dinner at Breakwater for a friend's birthday. I ordered onion soup (and after removing the bread and cheese discovered there wasn't much to it) as well as tuna tartare, Tim got salmon. After eating half of his salmon and half of my tuna tartare I called it a wash, gave him my tuna and took his salmon.
This tea has become my nightly ritual, I just brew it up, add the tiniest bit of honey and sip it before going to bed. It's nice and sweet on it's own so I save it as my nightly treat.
We moved onto a different kind of juice...it's not our favorite to say the least. It's called "Lively Liver" and includes carrots, beets, spinach and apples. We ran out of carrots & spinach the other day so I substituted raspberries & blueberries along with apples. It tasted pretty good but our juicer made some apples start flying everywhere, including into the juice which was a disaster. It stained all of the fingers on one of my hands, my wrist on the other, got on my shoes and one of my shirts as well as all over the kitchen. The color made it look as though some horrible accident had happened in our kitchen turning it into a crime scene.
My favorite dish so far out of all of this was made last week. You make some quinoa (which Tim now loves) and mix it with roasted butternut squash, scallions and cranberries before making a lemon vinaigrette to cover it with. It was amazing enough that we're making it again next week when we have company coming for dinner for the first time.
I also made two soups last week (although I only took pictures of one). Both were given to my by my super healthy neighbors Liz & Jess. They are the ones I've been asking all of my questions to lately :).
Liz gave me some of her broccoli & spinach soup the other day so I replicated it (minus the blending up as our blender is currently being replaced). I did make sure to pulverize the beans with a potato masher before adding them so they were harder for Tim to take out.
Jess has never liked the taste/texture of meat so she's been a HUGE help with vegetarian options. She made some sweet potato chili last week that she gave us a sample of and it was fantastic so I made it too, except without the tomatos she used. It was great and Tim enjoyed it as well, his only complaint was that the skins were still on the sweet potato.
Some girls came over so we could finish the planning for another friend's baby shower and Tim got to "babysit" Henry who came over in his Thomas pjs and Spiderman slippers. They watched Diego and, as you can see, were equally entranced by the storyline. This is the night that my friend Liz got me hooked on San Pellegrino sparkling water. It's pretty much amazing.
The biggest news to hit the Bright household happened today when Diana Watson of Fox Carolina came to our house to interview Tim for a segment they will show on Friday night (Feb. 15) at 10PM. Make sure to set a reminder for yourself to catch it live or make sure you DVR it. For anyone who isn't local we will be sure to post a link to the video for you guys to check out! They even got a shot of our messy fridge (currently has 2 shelves occupied by carrots) and even messier freezer (that still has some forbidden items in it including cookie dough...I promise that it isn't for us). I even got to make some awkward cameos for "B roll" footage where Tim & I make our green juice and check out some pictures. Essentially any time a camera is focused on me, my brain is cycling the same thoughts over and over..."where do I look, what do I do, this is so awkward, omg this is going on TV." For that reason I like to stay in the safety zone behind the lens and let the master (Tim) work. :) Everyone that was around got to try our green juice though and agreed (if hesitantly) that it was better than they thought it would be/not too bad.
Tim has eaten 2 types of fish in the last week, Ahi & Salmon, we had a little chat with the fishmonger at Whole Foods the other day who gave some great suggestions for additional types of fish Tim can try. One of these days he will love it! Last night was some salmon and asparagus (we've been drenching everything in some Palmetto Olive Oil Balsamic Vinegar...we are officially hooked on the stuff).
We also found some baby bananas at Whole Foods which we got for Tim to eat. Basically our only reasoning for the purchase was that they were mini-sized and the last bunch left....
Once again Tim's eyelashes have grown incredibly long & curly, we can't find our mini-scissors for me to trim them yet so here is a shot of them from yesterday. It looks like we glued extensions on there but they are 100% real, supermodels everywhere want to know his secret...
I've finally found a few things to snack on since I cannot eat the cashews & almonds that Tim frequently snacks on, one being ranch flavored peas, the other being ranch flavored Kale chips. They taste slightly like off-brand Cool Ranch Doritos...slightly is the key word.
We bought sashimi grade Ahi last week and seared it for a salad topper along with reduced balsamic vinegar. Tim couldn't handle the spice but loved it otherwise. He discovered his love of ahi after we went to dinner at Breakwater for a friend's birthday. I ordered onion soup (and after removing the bread and cheese discovered there wasn't much to it) as well as tuna tartare, Tim got salmon. After eating half of his salmon and half of my tuna tartare I called it a wash, gave him my tuna and took his salmon.
This tea has become my nightly ritual, I just brew it up, add the tiniest bit of honey and sip it before going to bed. It's nice and sweet on it's own so I save it as my nightly treat.
We moved onto a different kind of juice...it's not our favorite to say the least. It's called "Lively Liver" and includes carrots, beets, spinach and apples. We ran out of carrots & spinach the other day so I substituted raspberries & blueberries along with apples. It tasted pretty good but our juicer made some apples start flying everywhere, including into the juice which was a disaster. It stained all of the fingers on one of my hands, my wrist on the other, got on my shoes and one of my shirts as well as all over the kitchen. The color made it look as though some horrible accident had happened in our kitchen turning it into a crime scene.
My beets & berries stained shirt.
My favorite dish so far out of all of this was made last week. You make some quinoa (which Tim now loves) and mix it with roasted butternut squash, scallions and cranberries before making a lemon vinaigrette to cover it with. It was amazing enough that we're making it again next week when we have company coming for dinner for the first time.
I also made two soups last week (although I only took pictures of one). Both were given to my by my super healthy neighbors Liz & Jess. They are the ones I've been asking all of my questions to lately :).
Liz gave me some of her broccoli & spinach soup the other day so I replicated it (minus the blending up as our blender is currently being replaced). I did make sure to pulverize the beans with a potato masher before adding them so they were harder for Tim to take out.
Jess has never liked the taste/texture of meat so she's been a HUGE help with vegetarian options. She made some sweet potato chili last week that she gave us a sample of and it was fantastic so I made it too, except without the tomatos she used. It was great and Tim enjoyed it as well, his only complaint was that the skins were still on the sweet potato.
Some girls came over so we could finish the planning for another friend's baby shower and Tim got to "babysit" Henry who came over in his Thomas pjs and Spiderman slippers. They watched Diego and, as you can see, were equally entranced by the storyline. This is the night that my friend Liz got me hooked on San Pellegrino sparkling water. It's pretty much amazing.
Other than that we had a few instances of temptation where we mostly came out on top. I brought some dinner from Stax's (one of my favorites) to a friend and her husband who recently had a baby and didn't even make their meat & three become a meat & two on my way to their house. Although Tim has been cheating with wheat, dairy, pork and tomatoes, he is doing great about not eating any sugar and has actually given up coffee. I have not given up coffee (and have no plans to) and I had a weak moment while walking through Whole Foods the other day. I couldn't resist these pretty little cookies with chocolate in the middle. It was just as good as I thought it would be. I've actually been worse than Tim about wanting to cheat, being "good" is incredibly hard, expensive & time consuming so I often miss the ease of just throwing something together without having to check the recipe 15 times to make sure I'm doing it right. Remembering (& taking the time) to pack a lunch every night for the next day gets tough too when you are using so many different containers. We've also spent about $800 on groceries since we began our little adventure which is shocking but I'm trying to keep in mind that we aren't spending money on Restaurant food (or Starbucks) or alcohol (or Starbucks) anymore so it does even out. I'm also trying to keep it in perspective that we are still having to buy staples so once everything in the kitchen has been replaced the costs will be going down.
Overall we're adjusting and Tim has been really great about trying different things, we've both lost about 10 pounds in the past two weeks and it is inspiring to watch those numbers finally go in the right direction (p.s. stress eating is very bad). We bought a frozen pizza this week to try that is gluten-free so that should be an adventure. Life also may be turned upside down a bit as we find out if Tim's numbers have gone down so that he can stay on Vectibix or if he will be returning to traditional chemo with a new drug called Zaltrap added to it. We're both pretty apprehensive about the switch and getting back into that schedule of not knowing what Wed-Sat will bring us every other week. The chemo weeks are pretty tough on Tim as well, we've estimated that he has probably been through around 75-100 rounds of chemo over the past 3 years (and that number is by no way scientific so we could be completely off base either way). We should find out Wednesday what the results are of the blood test he had today. We're praying that all of our hard work in changing our diets is reflected in those numbers but my expectations on that are pretty low as I just think it would take more time for this to really become effective so I'm praying they went up minimally and really praying that the Zaltrap is the miracle we've been searching so hard for.
It's an exhausting process for the both of us mentally, physically but most of all emotionally, the ups & downs of all of this really take their toll after awhile. From my perspective I've completely had to readjust the way I approach life. To be perfectly honest I was diagnosed with ADHD in high school, the reason it went undiagnosed for so long was that I compensated (& kept it hidden) with my extreme case of OCD. As anyone who has lived with me can attest (apologies to my family, Tim, Amanda, Bailey, Jessica & Megan) I can be incredibly messy but it all falls to the fact that I'm extremely particular about where things go. This carries over to my day-to-day life in that I like everything to be packaged with a neat little bow on it so I can get a grip on what is happening without dropping the ball on anything because I've become distracted by some other bright & shiny object. Cancer takes away all of that ability to plan and put everything into place as I can't tell you what Tim's treatment/treatment schedule will be like in a week from now, much less in two months or two years. Life continues to cycle by but I constantly feel like we're stuck holding our breath while hoping & praying that we get to two months from now unscathed by this process. In a way this has been good as I've become much more relaxed & laid back than I ever have been before (this is not to say that I'm the least bit laid-back or relaxed, I'm just better in the grand scheme :)). Ultimately we've both learned that this process is exactly that, a process, and at times it promotes a lot of growth within us but to getting to that growth is extremely hard and sometimes pretty painful. I use the picture below that I got from the blog Wellness Warrior as my computer's background as telling myself to slow down and breathe when I start to feel too panicked has helped immensely.
In other news, our friend Fallon, alerted us to a friend of her family's that has gone missing from the Greenville area named Marcus James Hall. This hasn't gotten on the news yet so they are trying to spread the word on social media/email as much as possible. If anyone has seen him or his car they are asking that you contact the Sheriff's Dept but in the meantime you can help by spreading the flyer below so word gets out & media picks up on the story.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Finally.
We decided to backtrack a bit and, for the time being, stop worrying about the raw part and concentrate on eating the right things. Tonight we returned to one of man's greatest inventions. Fire.
Today's food was pretty uneventful besides the fact I forgot my carrots for my carrot and hummus mid-afternoon snack. Won't do that again... For dinner tonight I made a "pizza" by combining grated cauliflower, cheese and garlic and baking it into a crust. Then mixed the remainder of our ricotta with more garlic (we've gone through two bulbs in two days) and used that mixture as a sauce before layering it with shallots, squash and zucchini and topping that with feta. That got baked for a little while more and finally we added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and green onions to the top. It was amazing, even Tim loved it and we are finally full.
We came home to the sweetest note along with a balloon and flower from one of our neighbors. Emery told her mom that "Mr. Tim needs a pink flower" and apparently searched through the balloons until she found just the right one. We are incredibly lucky to not only be surrounded by great neighbors but to have become close friends with so many of them.
Unfortunately we did find out today that Tim's CEA has risen again so it looks like it is business as usual for the next two weeks and unless this new diet plan does some amazing things in the next two weeks he will be switching after that. We're really praying hard that it will stabilize as we need the security and stability of knowing what to expect with the current treatment he is on and he's still so worn out from the last treatments. Just not ready to get back into that schedule again.
Also, please keep our friends Ally and Landon Powell and their families in your prayers as the Memorial Service for their daughter Izzy is tomorrow evening.
Today's food was pretty uneventful besides the fact I forgot my carrots for my carrot and hummus mid-afternoon snack. Won't do that again... For dinner tonight I made a "pizza" by combining grated cauliflower, cheese and garlic and baking it into a crust. Then mixed the remainder of our ricotta with more garlic (we've gone through two bulbs in two days) and used that mixture as a sauce before layering it with shallots, squash and zucchini and topping that with feta. That got baked for a little while more and finally we added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and green onions to the top. It was amazing, even Tim loved it and we are finally full.
We came home to the sweetest note along with a balloon and flower from one of our neighbors. Emery told her mom that "Mr. Tim needs a pink flower" and apparently searched through the balloons until she found just the right one. We are incredibly lucky to not only be surrounded by great neighbors but to have become close friends with so many of them.
Unfortunately we did find out today that Tim's CEA has risen again so it looks like it is business as usual for the next two weeks and unless this new diet plan does some amazing things in the next two weeks he will be switching after that. We're really praying hard that it will stabilize as we need the security and stability of knowing what to expect with the current treatment he is on and he's still so worn out from the last treatments. Just not ready to get back into that schedule again.
Also, please keep our friends Ally and Landon Powell and their families in your prayers as the Memorial Service for their daughter Izzy is tomorrow evening.
Monday, January 28, 2013
"OMG. You mean we don't cook anything? Like ever?"
So Monday started out pretty well, no huge problems occurred with our new diet plan other than practically lugging around a suitcase of all of the snacks, juices, etc. Then lunchtime came.
First I went downstairs to my office kitchen to find that someone brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Sometimes fate is cruel, sometimes you find out that fate is your father. Yep, he actually brought doughnuts to work on my first full day of the new diet regime. Thanks for the support dad! :) I had to use a lot of Peppermint Oil to resist that temptation.
I took the leftover "Garden Lasagna" only to find it had become "Garden Soup". Needless to say it was not appetizing. Luckily I brought a salad (always thinking ahead!) and an afternoon snack of berries, hummus and carrots. I ate it all at lunch. By 3 I was so hungry and all I could think about was sinking my teeth into a cheeseburger (I never said that Tim was alone in his drama). Not too long after that I got a text from Tim saying how hungry he was as well. Lesson learned, have to bring even more vegetables in until our bodies adjust to the new standards.
Needless to say we were both really looking forward to dinner. I made another Kris Carr original, a Buddha Bowl which promises to be fast, easy, filling and delicious. Lies. First of all, short grain brown rice is not rice as we all know it. It's chewy little orbs of nothingness. Secondly I think I have discovered Kris Carr's secret. Garlic is used in every raw dish as an attempt to hide the flavor of whatever creation has been concocted that time. In this instance the Buddha Bowl was past the point of no return. Tim got the idea to add some hoisin sauce to "make it taste better" which it absolutely did not do. That was the first dish of this experiment to head to the compost bin. At this rate it won't be the last. :)
We also tried to make a veggie Pad Thai. It started out strong and quickly went to mediocre, even though we used real spaghetti noodles rather than Kelp Noodles. It was another Kris Carr raw recipe and, you guessed it, was loaded with garlic. We both got through almost a bowl each.
Tim finished his dinner off with the remainder of his yogurt and granola while I worked at our berry tray.
I'm thinking we may have been a bit too ambitious to start out with all raw recipes in our first week (my stomach just growled its agreement). In our defense we had no idea that these were all raw recipes...you are a tricky woman Mrs. Carr! I believe we will go back to cooking our food next week while keeping the same parameters. Hunger does not suit us well. So if you see either of us and we look slightly on edge or are a bit grumpier than usual (another lesson learned, two grouchy people are not a ball of fun :) ) just know its because we either smell that delicious meat you ate for lunch and are extremely jealous or it's that our bodies/minds are currently rebelling us for the forced changes. The goal is to make it for two whole weeks and go from there once we get Tim's results. We're hoping (really hoping) that we can get Tim's cancer under control and maybe one day not eat like rabbits any more . :) As Tim's cousin Danielle pointed out, I'm really looking forward to the point where this becomes habit rather than effort.
First I went downstairs to my office kitchen to find that someone brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Sometimes fate is cruel, sometimes you find out that fate is your father. Yep, he actually brought doughnuts to work on my first full day of the new diet regime. Thanks for the support dad! :) I had to use a lot of Peppermint Oil to resist that temptation.
I took the leftover "Garden Lasagna" only to find it had become "Garden Soup". Needless to say it was not appetizing. Luckily I brought a salad (always thinking ahead!) and an afternoon snack of berries, hummus and carrots. I ate it all at lunch. By 3 I was so hungry and all I could think about was sinking my teeth into a cheeseburger (I never said that Tim was alone in his drama). Not too long after that I got a text from Tim saying how hungry he was as well. Lesson learned, have to bring even more vegetables in until our bodies adjust to the new standards.
Needless to say we were both really looking forward to dinner. I made another Kris Carr original, a Buddha Bowl which promises to be fast, easy, filling and delicious. Lies. First of all, short grain brown rice is not rice as we all know it. It's chewy little orbs of nothingness. Secondly I think I have discovered Kris Carr's secret. Garlic is used in every raw dish as an attempt to hide the flavor of whatever creation has been concocted that time. In this instance the Buddha Bowl was past the point of no return. Tim got the idea to add some hoisin sauce to "make it taste better" which it absolutely did not do. That was the first dish of this experiment to head to the compost bin. At this rate it won't be the last. :)
We also tried to make a veggie Pad Thai. It started out strong and quickly went to mediocre, even though we used real spaghetti noodles rather than Kelp Noodles. It was another Kris Carr raw recipe and, you guessed it, was loaded with garlic. We both got through almost a bowl each.
Tim finished his dinner off with the remainder of his yogurt and granola while I worked at our berry tray.
I'm thinking we may have been a bit too ambitious to start out with all raw recipes in our first week (my stomach just growled its agreement). In our defense we had no idea that these were all raw recipes...you are a tricky woman Mrs. Carr! I believe we will go back to cooking our food next week while keeping the same parameters. Hunger does not suit us well. So if you see either of us and we look slightly on edge or are a bit grumpier than usual (another lesson learned, two grouchy people are not a ball of fun :) ) just know its because we either smell that delicious meat you ate for lunch and are extremely jealous or it's that our bodies/minds are currently rebelling us for the forced changes. The goal is to make it for two whole weeks and go from there once we get Tim's results. We're hoping (really hoping) that we can get Tim's cancer under control and maybe one day not eat like rabbits any more . :) As Tim's cousin Danielle pointed out, I'm really looking forward to the point where this becomes habit rather than effort.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Parsley - It's Not Just a Garnish Anymore
Tomorrow is a big day, Tim will get a blood draw which will tell us if his CEA has gone up or not. We're hoping that perhaps it hasn't gone up too much and maybe Dr. Edenfield will let him stay on his current treatment for two more weeks so we can really get a feel as to if our clean eating really makes a difference. So if you think to, if you could say a quick prayer about Tim's CEA staying even at the very least (but a drop would be fantastic!) over the next few days we'd be really grateful (we should get his CEA back on Wednesday).
Yesterday we spent a good hour at Barnes & Noble trying to find some cookbooks that followed along with (somewhat) the new & stringent guidelines for Tim (& myself). Mrs. Haas gave us Crazy Sexy Diet awhile back and it is by a woman who has controlled her liver cancer by living on a raw vegan diet. We found two options (one complimenting Crazy Sexy Diet) and two more at Williams Sonoma today. So these are now our food bibles. Feel free to pass along any additional cookbooks or recipes you'd suggest if they will go along with our crazy new plan!
After quickly selecting some recipes from Crazy Sexy Kitchen and armed with the recipes for the required juices we headed to Whole Foods. $300 later (if anyone has any local sources for inexpensive local produce - preferably organic - we'd appreciate it!) we unloaded and started trying to figure out how and where to store our new produce section.
We made batches of the juices yesterday to get an idea for what all it would take. A head of romaine, 1 1/2 handfuls of parsley, a lemon, a lime, 6 granny smith apples and almost a container of coconut juice/milk? later we had our first 3 days supply of green juice. It actually isn't too bad but of course Tim had to be slightly overdramatic and gag his down :).
Tonight's dinner was a Kris Carr original, Garden Lasagna. We left out the cashews & pine nuts it calls for bc of my allergy but has soy sauce and olive oil soaked portobello mushrooms layered with sliced tomatoes and zucchini. ricotta and a mix of tomato and garlic.
You don't cook it so you can get the best nutrients from all of the vegetables (and this actually broke two of our rules or no tomatoes and no dairy). I was surprised and thought it was pretty delicious. Tim on the other hand did not as shown by the picture below...
Yesterday we spent a good hour at Barnes & Noble trying to find some cookbooks that followed along with (somewhat) the new & stringent guidelines for Tim (& myself). Mrs. Haas gave us Crazy Sexy Diet awhile back and it is by a woman who has controlled her liver cancer by living on a raw vegan diet. We found two options (one complimenting Crazy Sexy Diet) and two more at Williams Sonoma today. So these are now our food bibles. Feel free to pass along any additional cookbooks or recipes you'd suggest if they will go along with our crazy new plan!
After quickly selecting some recipes from Crazy Sexy Kitchen and armed with the recipes for the required juices we headed to Whole Foods. $300 later (if anyone has any local sources for inexpensive local produce - preferably organic - we'd appreciate it!) we unloaded and started trying to figure out how and where to store our new produce section.
We made batches of the juices yesterday to get an idea for what all it would take. A head of romaine, 1 1/2 handfuls of parsley, a lemon, a lime, 6 granny smith apples and almost a container of coconut juice/milk? later we had our first 3 days supply of green juice. It actually isn't too bad but of course Tim had to be slightly overdramatic and gag his down :).
We made our second juice which is called a "blood builder" out of six carrots, a few sprigs of parsley (I have no idea what's so special about parsley but it's slightly ridiculous how much we're using these days), two leaves of lettuce and a red apple. The color actually slightly looks like blood...go figure. It tastes like carrots though (sweet) and I think would actually be good with an additional apple added in.
Tonight's dinner was a Kris Carr original, Garden Lasagna. We left out the cashews & pine nuts it calls for bc of my allergy but has soy sauce and olive oil soaked portobello mushrooms layered with sliced tomatoes and zucchini. ricotta and a mix of tomato and garlic.
You don't cook it so you can get the best nutrients from all of the vegetables (and this actually broke two of our rules or no tomatoes and no dairy). I was surprised and thought it was pretty delicious. Tim on the other hand did not as shown by the picture below...
Basically we have to cut out dairy, alcohol, wheat, meat (except 5oz. of fish a day), acidic fruits (oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes - for some reason we are supposed to use lemons & limes in the juice though...), coffee (so far Tim is refusing this one) and my biggest love, sugar. Whenever we get a craving for sugar (for me that's all the time) we're supposed to swirl peppermint oil around in our mouths. All it does for me is trigger the thought of Girl Scout Thin Mints....
Initially we are not going to be too strict (for example Tim had a tuna salad sandwich for dinner tonight) but are severely limiting the amount of any food that is "not allowed." Neither of us are quite ready to give up coffee so rather than Starbucks we will each be allowed one small cup from the house a day. Sugar is only allowed in small quantities in our coffee. We're each eating a little bit of chicken at lunch each day but are not going to eat any red meat or pork at all. Once the rest of our bread is gone (only 5 slices left!) we're not bringing any more into our house (and are not allowed to eat it while we are out). We each have a little bit of creamer in our coffee in the morning but that is all we're allowed for dairy even though we cheated a bit tonight (good-bye butter and eggs!). We did use some tomatoes in tonight's dinner and have a little bit for one other dinner but that is all we get and those will be out as well.
We're going to be as strict as possible for the next two weeks in the hopes that just maybe it will help to bring down his CEA so he can stay on his current course of treatments. The nutritionist has good reasoning for all of these intense changes, cancer thrives in an acidic environment and lives off of sugar so essentially starving it and creating an environment that is not conducive to it living will hopefully help to kill it.
In the meantime I will be constantly smelling like peppermints (My name is Jenny & I am a sugar addict) and Tim will struggling to swallow our juices and eat hummus as his snack (which he hates). We should make quite a pair!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
For Izzy
It's late and Blogger erased my previous post but this is something I've been thinking about for awhile but lacking the words I need.
Our friends, Landon and Allyson Powell, had two beautiful baby girls recently. Ellie got to come home awhile ago to meet her big brother Holden. Izzy has remained in the hospital and was actually Medivac'd up to Cincinnati for treatment. Landon and Ally have been coming back and forth trying to balance their time between their two kids here and their very sick baby up there.
I can't even begin to imagine what they've been going through much less what they are facing now. They have shown more strength, graciousness and faith in this short amount of time than many of us will ever have to.
They have also inspired me as although I've grown up in a church that I love, I've never been comfortable talking about my faith. Ally and Landon have not only been unwavering in their faith throughout this but have set an example of that faith that we should all hope to follow.
Tonight is a big night for Izzy, the Powell family could really use a miracle. Please say a prayer for this little baby to be able to receive that miracle and for Ally and Landon to have a sense of peace. I can't imagine what they are going through but I do know how much it helps to have that feeling of peace during a scary time.
Our friends, Landon and Allyson Powell, had two beautiful baby girls recently. Ellie got to come home awhile ago to meet her big brother Holden. Izzy has remained in the hospital and was actually Medivac'd up to Cincinnati for treatment. Landon and Ally have been coming back and forth trying to balance their time between their two kids here and their very sick baby up there.
I can't even begin to imagine what they've been going through much less what they are facing now. They have shown more strength, graciousness and faith in this short amount of time than many of us will ever have to.
They have also inspired me as although I've grown up in a church that I love, I've never been comfortable talking about my faith. Ally and Landon have not only been unwavering in their faith throughout this but have set an example of that faith that we should all hope to follow.
Tonight is a big night for Izzy, the Powell family could really use a miracle. Please say a prayer for this little baby to be able to receive that miracle and for Ally and Landon to have a sense of peace. I can't imagine what they are going through but I do know how much it helps to have that feeling of peace during a scary time.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
More Updates & Save the Date!
We met with Dr. Edenfield yesterday to get the status of Tim's treatment and what will happen next. As of right now he will continue on his current form of treatment. They will take another CEA on the 29th and if that test shows another rise in his numbers then it is time to move onto the next treatment. There is a new drug out and approved by the FDA that is taken in combination with chemo which Tim hasn't tried yet. There are also some trials out there that we can evaluate when the time comes to see if Tim has any interest.
In the meantime I have become a nazi about everything that goes into Tim's mouth. Food is the one thing we can control during this and I've noticed a correlation between what and how Tim eats and how successful treatment is. It may all end up being nonsense but for now it gives me just a little feeling of control in our very out of control lives. Eating out has become the enemy as we have no control over if the food is local, processed, filled with chemicals, etc. I've always enjoyed cooking so Tim never had to suffer through me burning meals or anything of the sort when we first married but now is a different story. I'm learning how to cook a different way, with everything from scratch and different types of food that we've never considered so Tim has been "blessed" to now get to experience my experimentation. Spaghetti Squash was a success, mashed cauliflower was not...at all... He has been very open to the experimentation though and I think it may partially be due to a book and some advice he was given by a friend's girlfriend (who happens to be gorgeous :)). Hopefully some of these efforts will be rewarded by Tim having a drop in his CEA with the test on the 29th and buy us some more time with his current treatment. If you think to, please pray for that CEA to drop over the next 2 weeks!
Regardless of the circumstances we're in or the trials we go through, we know that we are very very lucky for Tim to be doing as well as he is. I finally (after almost 3 years) got him registered with the Cancer Society of Greenville and after they heard his diagnosis they seemed shocked to hear that he works full time, we live a relatively normal life with all things considered and that he didn't really need nutritional supplements or medical assistant devices right now. On top of that, interest in colon cancer research is starting to finally gain a little ground and there are some promising things on the horizon, we're just hanging on until the right one comes along for Tim. Each week that Tim gets through on his current therapy buys a little more time in finding a cure for him. Ultimately we just trust that God has a greater plan for him and I believe that he is working through Tim and all of your to spread the awareness of this disease.
Below is an email I sent out recently letting people know that the date has been set for this year's golf tournament, dinner and silent auction. We are really excited and this truly is one of our favorite days of the year. We hope that you all will be able to make it out to join us and we will share more information as we get it together! Please feel free to pass along this information about the tournament as well as the wonderful house that is being built by Goodwin Foust and their incredible network of contractors and vendors to anyone you think may be interested, we're hoping to beat our donation from last year of almost $15,000 and need all the help we can get to do so!
Hi all!
It's about that time again! Each year we put together a golf tournament that is followed by dinner & a silent auction. You don't have to be a golfer to attend the dinner (and technically you don't have to be a golfer to play in the tournament either...).
The funds we raise from the tournament are donated to iTOR Center for Cancer Research here in Greenville. They are doing some amazing work and making huge strides in finding additional treatments, enough so that Tim is still able to be here with us today and enjoy a semi-normal lifestyle.
I wanted to pass along the information to you all about the tournament and dinner so you can save the date in case you're interested. I'll be sure to send out more information about registration as the date approaches.
2013 BrightLife Tee It Up for Cancer
Thornblade Country Club
Greer, SC
April 8, 2013
Golf :12PM - 6PM
Dinner & Silent Auction: 6PM - 8PM
This year some family friends of ours have also VERY generously decided to build a house and donate the proceeds of the sale to BrightLife/iTOR. It will be open for tours during April and is really incredible, enough so that it blows my imaginary Pinterest house out of the water, which is saying a lot :). The contractors and subcontractors have all been very generous in making sure that this house has all of the bells and whistles.
Here is a link to the current listing for the house, feel free to drive by and check it out (or buy it! :)): http://www.cdanjoyner.com/list
Please also feel free to pass along this information to anyone else you think may be interested in our events or the house!
You can also "like" our Facebook page to get updates as we have them: https://www.facebook.com/Brigh
And as if that isn't enough for you to click on, in case you were not already aware, Tim & I write blog posts periodically to keep everyone up to date on his condition, if you're interested you can find the posts here and keep up with us: storyoftim.blogspot.com
As much work as this all entails, this day always ends up being our favorite of the year as we get to have so many family members and friends in the same room. Most only get to experience that once in their lives, on their wedding day :). Thanks so much in advance for your help and we're looking forward to seeing you all there!
Jenny & Tim
In the meantime I have become a nazi about everything that goes into Tim's mouth. Food is the one thing we can control during this and I've noticed a correlation between what and how Tim eats and how successful treatment is. It may all end up being nonsense but for now it gives me just a little feeling of control in our very out of control lives. Eating out has become the enemy as we have no control over if the food is local, processed, filled with chemicals, etc. I've always enjoyed cooking so Tim never had to suffer through me burning meals or anything of the sort when we first married but now is a different story. I'm learning how to cook a different way, with everything from scratch and different types of food that we've never considered so Tim has been "blessed" to now get to experience my experimentation. Spaghetti Squash was a success, mashed cauliflower was not...at all... He has been very open to the experimentation though and I think it may partially be due to a book and some advice he was given by a friend's girlfriend (who happens to be gorgeous :)). Hopefully some of these efforts will be rewarded by Tim having a drop in his CEA with the test on the 29th and buy us some more time with his current treatment. If you think to, please pray for that CEA to drop over the next 2 weeks!
Regardless of the circumstances we're in or the trials we go through, we know that we are very very lucky for Tim to be doing as well as he is. I finally (after almost 3 years) got him registered with the Cancer Society of Greenville and after they heard his diagnosis they seemed shocked to hear that he works full time, we live a relatively normal life with all things considered and that he didn't really need nutritional supplements or medical assistant devices right now. On top of that, interest in colon cancer research is starting to finally gain a little ground and there are some promising things on the horizon, we're just hanging on until the right one comes along for Tim. Each week that Tim gets through on his current therapy buys a little more time in finding a cure for him. Ultimately we just trust that God has a greater plan for him and I believe that he is working through Tim and all of your to spread the awareness of this disease.
Below is an email I sent out recently letting people know that the date has been set for this year's golf tournament, dinner and silent auction. We are really excited and this truly is one of our favorite days of the year. We hope that you all will be able to make it out to join us and we will share more information as we get it together! Please feel free to pass along this information about the tournament as well as the wonderful house that is being built by Goodwin Foust and their incredible network of contractors and vendors to anyone you think may be interested, we're hoping to beat our donation from last year of almost $15,000 and need all the help we can get to do so!
Hi all!
It's about that time again! Each year we put together a golf tournament that is followed by dinner & a silent auction. You don't have to be a golfer to attend the dinner (and technically you don't have to be a golfer to play in the tournament either...).
The funds we raise from the tournament are donated to iTOR Center for Cancer Research here in Greenville. They are doing some amazing work and making huge strides in finding additional treatments, enough so that Tim is still able to be here with us today and enjoy a semi-normal lifestyle.
I wanted to pass along the information to you all about the tournament and dinner so you can save the date in case you're interested. I'll be sure to send out more information about registration as the date approaches.
2013 BrightLife Tee It Up for Cancer
Thornblade Country Club
Greer, SC
April 8, 2013
Golf :12PM - 6PM
Dinner & Silent Auction: 6PM - 8PM
This year some family friends of ours have also VERY generously decided to build a house and donate the proceeds of the sale to BrightLife/iTOR. It will be open for tours during April and is really incredible, enough so that it blows my imaginary Pinterest house out of the water, which is saying a lot :). The contractors and subcontractors have all been very generous in making sure that this house has all of the bells and whistles.
Here is a link to the current listing for the house, feel free to drive by and check it out (or buy it! :)): http://www.cdanjoyner.com/list
Please also feel free to pass along this information to anyone else you think may be interested in our events or the house!
You can also "like" our Facebook page to get updates as we have them: https://www.facebook.com/Brigh
And as if that isn't enough for you to click on, in case you were not already aware, Tim & I write blog posts periodically to keep everyone up to date on his condition, if you're interested you can find the posts here and keep up with us: storyoftim.blogspot.com
As much work as this all entails, this day always ends up being our favorite of the year as we get to have so many family members and friends in the same room. Most only get to experience that once in their lives, on their wedding day :). Thanks so much in advance for your help and we're looking forward to seeing you all there!
Jenny & Tim
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