I want to share the links below and the importance of caring for our Lymphatic System. Have you ever wanted to know why you may get frequent colds, headaches and body aches? I have been doing some research on what foods can help my lymphatic system as I continue to heal from my last surgery, which was a lymph node dissection. What I have come across has opened my eyes afresh to the “hows” and “whys” certain foods effect the body.
- http://www.care2.com/greenliving/11-ways-to-boost-your-lymphatic-system-for-great-health.html
- https://sunwarrior.com/healthhub/lymphatic-foods
- https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/ten-ways-improve-lymphatic-system-function/
- http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/foods-that-improve-lymphatic-flow-and-keep-the-body-balanced/
This information totally makes since! Our lymphatic system needs to be understood! We can do so much to prevent diseases and many diseases are preventable! I remember hearing time and again as I was a child, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Let’s learn and turn around our habits so we can live with more energy, vitality, and freedom!
“embrace” or “to embrace.” To embrace (other than a hug) is to receive gladly or eagerly; to accept willingly, i.e., to embrace an idea. It also can mean to avail oneself to an opportunity. Other definitions include… to adopt a profession or religion such as to embrace Buddhism. Or, this can also mean to take in with the eye or the mind such as soaking in a sunset, or the feel of the air, or the scent of the surroundings. Lastly… embracing or to embrace is to encircle or surround someone with love or prayer, or to include or contain as in inviting someone into your space, or to shore up a plant with extra soil.
through the leaves on my way home from school. There is something magical about this time of year when people and animals begin to prepare for the winter. The birds and the squirrels in my back yard are gathering the seed and corn I leave out for them. It is a joy to watch them play and chase each other in the trees and on the fence.
But this season finds me with a new practice. As I shared in my last post, I needed to have a lymph node dissection to assure that I was “clean and clear” of cancer. The removal of 4 lymph node pods totaling 26 lymph nodes can bring changes to the body and to the way a person cares for themselves on a regular daily bases. Two hours have been added to my day. Well, not literally but, I now have to plan for two hours of extra care in the morning for my lymphatic system. I have been taught via physical therapy, how to give myself daily lymphatic drainage massages so that the lymphatic fluid in my abdomen, groin and thighs does not collect and stagnate, but is moved towards the heart. If you are interested, there is many You Tube videos on how to do this. Click 
is also very important for healing, so this was something we needed to jump on right away. My doctor immediately put in a referral for me to receive physical therapy and my insurance will cover the specially made garments for which I was measured for just this week. I have mixed feelings about them as I have not been one to wear tight fitting clothes, much less two layers of clothes on top of increased hot flashes since the hysterectomy back in August. Can you just visualize me ripping off my clothes in public as I get warm!!! But, in all seriousness, I am so very grateful for this to be the only treatment and this is because we caught the lymphedema at its onset and I am responding well to my new practice of physical therapy. The picture to the right is from 
the surgeries with meditation, visualization, positive affirming beliefs, and good eating habits, I now continue in that same mode; seeing my lymphatic system functioning with ease and harmoniously working with my entire body. Visualizing is very powerful and just five minutes a day with my eyes closed and seeing my body functioning and seeing my cells and membranes working at the highest level for my good creates the shift. This is why my health care professionals, friends and family comment that I look and act so good for what I have been through. It takes daily work of mind, body and spirit to get through any sort of health challenge.
thorough and takes the organs that were removed and dissects them to review every millimeter. The first thing they found was what we expected, a very small non aggressive cancerous tumor, in my endometrial lining, that only invaded the wall of my uterus by 2mm. But, they also found some cancer cells in another portion of my uterus wall that invaded the lymphatic highways which travel to the lymph nodes. Therefore, the doctor wanted to make sure the cancer cells had not spread to the lymph nodes and this required a lymph node dissection of the paraaortic lymph nodes in the lumbar region. These are the sentinel lymph nodes; those that if the cancer had spread, it would show up here. 
was just over twice the amount of the standard risk and therefore, a lymph node dissection was needed. I was shocked as was my partner. I said that I needed to think about this. I had concerns. I would be on disability for another 6 weeks and thus, recovering again. A second surgery came with another set of risks from having to remove lymph nodes and what I would later learn about, lymphedema and physical therapy.
On October 5th, I had my second surgery. It took just under three hours. I went into it with the intention that nothing would be found. For 3 weeks before the surgery, I meditated to be calmer and to visualize me coming out of the surgery clean and clear. I continued to take the various herbs and supplements I learned would be helpful for my immune system and of course I had to stop taking them a week before surgery as many of them thinned the blood. This second surgery was harder on my body. It was the same type as before, a laparoscopic / robotic surgery reusing the 5 incisions from the hysterectomy. But, since I still had not recovered completely from the first in regards to the anesthesia and because they had to move around my intestines to get to the lymph nodes, recovery has been harder. I don’t have the same energy at the two week mark as I did after my first surgery.
every morning to help my body absorb the lymphatic fluid from the torso and thighs which was building up due to the loss of a couple dozen lymph nodes. I am also learning exercises to do every day that helps the body move the fluid better. I am learning that I need to be patient with myself. I need more rest and especially after taking a walk. I am learning to go with the flow as sitting and lying down for long periods of time are not comfortable. Walking every few hours, even short little treks out to the yard, are needed. My short term memory will get better with time. It can take up to 6 months for anesthesia to dissipate from just one surgery. So to help with this, I am reading and writing to stretch the brain muscles and I am continuing to eat what is needed to stay healthy and boost my immune system for mind and body. Image above can be found at this 
good and that I am doing well for all I have been through. I truly believe that since I was caring for myself with health, organic foods and supplements before both of these surgeries, I really gave myself an upper edge in my recovery. They can’t tell I am just two weeks out of my second surgery by looking at me. Inside I feel it though and I know what it takes for me to perform normal tasks. Yet, the comments are good to hear and they let me know I am on a good path.
So…here I am, on my continued journey to health and healing and what I want to say to anyone, no matter what you are healing from, whether mind, body or spirit, is to eat healthy! Stay away from processed foods. Eat those dark green veggies. Eat foods that reduced inflammation in the body. Drink bone broth and water and walk every day!!! Don’t think you can go without taking good care of yourself. Comfort yourself with things that benefit the body and what builds up your immune system. Most diseases of mind and body are preventable and we usually don’t know it until it is in our face. We all have the power of choice and we can choose to do the nurturing, preventative thing for ourselves… for our lives.
achieve what we desire. And like Google Maps, we often set out on our designated course only to find that along the way there are detours due to traffic, construction, or accidents. If we listen to the app on our cell phones, we make appropriate course corrections, even when the current flow of traffic seems to be flowing just fine. If we don’t listen to the warning, we can find ourselves a few miles down the road, stuck in a backup, wishing we had listened to the digital voice of our mobile device telling us to go a different way.
I committed to my greater good by joining with a medical team to monitor my weight, health, supplements, exercise, and nutrition. I went to them every week and received counseling and guidance. They performed a body scan every 6 weeks to see how much fat was released, how much muscle was gained, what my water and bone weights were, and they formulated it all on a sheet of paper to show me my progress. It was very effective. I was not hungry, as I was eating nutritious foods, not skipping meals, and becoming conscious of what I was doing, what I was feeling, and learning about myself in new ways. I was able to release 26 pounds and keep them off. I was 150 pounds, and feeling better than I had for some time. I had new energy and was beginning to sleep better as well.
onto for so long. It seemed that in my past attempts to drop the weight, the 150 pound mark was my barrier. What was keeping me there? What was I resisting? I was educated, I knew what to eat, how to exercise, what to do, and how to work out. The motivation waned. I still ate better than most, but through the excitement of buying a vacation home in Oregon and taking trips to New York and Ireland, I began to allow old habits to slip back into my life… but not for long.
that aided my body’s immune system, such has turmeric, holy basil, olive leaf extract, omega 3 and 6, calcium and magnesium, pro-biotics, a good multi-vitamin, and spirulina. I drank green tea in the morning, and in the evening I had either chamomile or lavender tulsi tea. I also made sure that my thoughts and emotions were cared for as I went to see my counselor to talk about all that I was experiencing. I made sure I was reading good things to focus my attention on, and I made sleep my priority, as it is the number one thing we all can do to allow our body and mind to heal. Another thing I did, through the advice of a friend who had been through a hysterectomy before, was to read the book “Preparing for Surgery, Heal Faster” by Peggy Huddleston. I also bought the meditation CD to go along with the book. For 4 weeks I would do the meditations twice a day, and read the book to help me prepare and see myself coming out of the surgery feeling comfortable and peaceful.
can come from being overweight. There are foods that we can eat and choices we can make which benefits our bodies for the longer term. I want to share about this with all my friends, and those I don’t even know. My intention for so long has been to be healthy, happy, vital, and strong, and it was not ignored, no matter how many times I didn’t make the right choice or take the right path. Life did not forget my desires, and the circumstances that came up were not to test me, per se, but were used to help me reach my end result; to be happy and healthy. Life can only do for me what it can do through me. Action and choice on my part is required.
long as possible, to see the grandbabies, and fulfill our desires and dreams, and see the next sunset with a loved one. There is too much living to do to allow ourselves to be dragged down by a body and mind that is sluggish and susceptible to illness. Let’s choose wisely and consciously the highest good for ourselves, and in the process of doing so, we end up helping many more people by our presence in this world.
New Journey 2 Health 