I decided to live before cancer, changing my diet

When five years ago they told me that I had ovarian cancer with metastases, my whole world collapsed. He was thirty-two years old, a three-year-old boy, and had just passed the opposition as a family doctor in the Andalusian Health Service.

Suddenly, my life was turned upside down, my plans for the future were in a state of stand by while the word death It was constantly going through my head. Everything was spinning me couldn’t think straightI only thought about pain, suffering, death, agony… I looked at my little son and I couldn’t stop crying, the idea of ​​him being an orphan terrified me, he was the most important thing I had in my life. They were days of anguish and uncertainty, my pulse was racing, I couldn’t breathe, I felt continuous pressure in my chest… That couldn’t be happening to me.

After crying long and hard for several days, after screaming, kicking and venting the grief, fear, rage and anger that I felt, I rose like a phoenix from my ashes and decided to leave regrets behind and become an active part of my illness. I had gotten sick for one reason or another, but I was also the one who was going to heal, helping me with all the tools that were within my reach.

“Your natural forces will heal you”

In those moments I remembered the History of Medicine classes in which they told us about Hippocrates and his principle Vis medicatrix naturae. Hippocrates affirmed: “Your natural forces, those that are within you, will be the ones that will cure your diseases.” I decided to trust myself, my instincts and my healing power to heal, to stay here and watch my son grow. I decided to live…

At first, as a doctor, I cannot avoid looking for scientific information related to my disease and I see that the statistics are not in my favor. In principle, chemotherapy is palliative, to extend my life as long as possible, and studies show that most patients with my diagnosis die before they are five years old.

I decided to trust my gut and my healing power to heal and watch my son grow. I decided to live…

I think that these statistics are not made for me, I am going to break the Gaussian bell and I am going to live. Now comes the big question… How am I going to break the statistics if I know that chemotherapy has limited effectiveness in my case? I decide to trust the proposed medical treatment of chemotherapy and have an oophorectomy (removal of the affected ovary and tumor), but I decide to look for something else, something that will allow me to be active during my illness and not sit on the couch and see what happens . I don’t want to be passive sick who regrets what is happening to him.

My wish list during chemotherapy

I decide to live from that very moment, enjoying every minute, squeezing life to the fullest. I make a wish list and priorities, I put all the dreams that I want to make come true on paper and together with my partner and my son I get going to give them shape. Traveling is one of those priorities, so I plan wonderful trips during chemo breaks.

Another wish that I reflect on my list is to become a mother again; I dream with the image of a precious baby. Thinking of becoming a mother with such a grim diagnosis may seem crazy and reckless. I know it wasn’t my number one priority, but it was one of my dreams. In addition, I wanted to give birth at home, to be able to make up for a first hospital birth that was not respected. I wanted to be able to feel what it is really like to give birth, to feel that I was the one who gave birth and the one who decided. Since I got over the initial diagnosis, I decided that I would be the one who would make the important decisions in my life, that I would not let others decide for me, and in the case of giving birth again, that would be the case.

I am reminded of Hippocrates and his famous precept: “May your medicine be your food, and food your medicine”. I start to look for scientific information that relates cancer, diet and lifestyles. To my surprise, I discover that there are hundreds of articles that tell us about the curative and preventative power of food and lifestyle. So, after a lot of reading, I decide to make a radical change in my diet to try to promote healing and alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy. I eliminate sugars, refined flours, manufactured products and products loaded with additives, meats, dairy, and I fill my plate with vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, spices, aromatic herbs and legumes. I try to consume as many raw products as possible.

I remember Hippocrates and his famous precept “let your medicine be your food, and food your medicine”

Along with the change in diet, I begin to focus on taking care of my mind and body. I attend yoga and chi kung classes, which give me great peace and tranquility, while making my body feel more flexible. To put order in the whirlwind of emotions that assail me, I begin to attend a psycho-oncologist who helps me accept the diagnosis, but also prepares me in case the final outcome is not what I have projected in my mind. I prepare for death in a calm and serene way, but always with the hope of healing.

Meditation gives me perspective

I start meditating thanks to a Buddhist monk who initiates me into vipassana meditation. Vipassana It means “to see things as they are”. It is one of the oldest meditation techniques. It was taught in India more than 2,500 years ago as a universal remedy to solve any problem or conflict, as an art, the Art of Living. Thanks to meditation I learn to give things their fair importance, I begin not to exaggerate or overstate the details of everyday life, I learn to value all the good things that life offers me and to give thanks for its wonderful gifts.

I decide to surround myself only with people who make me laugh and bring me happiness. I put aside those “toxic” people who make you suffer and are negative. My family was a fundamental support that was with me at all times when I decided to take a new direction in my life. My partner shaved his head the same day that I lost my hair and for several months we looked bald, we were two bald fights. My son was my engine to live. My parents, my sister, my uncle, my grandmother, my friends… they were all there to give me encouragement in the hardest moments.

By focusing on healing, I realized that every day I received “gifts” that helped make my dream of overcoming illness come true. Those gifts came in the form of people lending me support or wisdombooks loaded with information, opportunities to make that list of dreams come true…

My partner shaved his head the same day I lost my hair and we looked bald: we were two quarrelsome baldheads

Suddenly, life brought me only positive and beautiful news; the most important, knowing that after three cycles of chemotherapy there were no traces of disease in my body (although I did not need a PET TAC to confirm it, because I felt so full, happy and radiant that my instinct told me that everything was fine).

I leave the disease behind by changing my diet

After receiving the wonderful news of the disappearance of the disease, I decided to share with everyone who was looking for “something more”, and with healthy people who wanted to prevent the disease, all the knowledge acquired since the diagnosis – articles, recipes and information on anti-cancer lifestyle habits–, in order to provide light and hope with clear and rigorous information. I wanted to give the information that I would have liked to receive when they told me I had cancer and I could not find it in the hospital setting. This is how a blog and a dream were born: My Anticancer Recipes. They say that what is not given is lost and I did not want my experience to be lost if it could help other people in their healing process.

First came the blog and then three books in which I have been capturing everything I have learned during these five years, as well as all the news and updates from the scientific world that every day provide us with more information about the important role that diet, emotions, environment and environment play in the genesis and evolution of cancer.

In the end cancer became a second chance, an opportunity to grow and appreciate life, to make my dreams come true, to help other people, to learn to live without fear, to be more grateful and to give without expecting anything in return. It has taught me to love life, to empathize more with others, to be more intuitive and nonconformist, to maintain a positive attitude in the face of any situation or adversity and to acquire the ability to learn from mistakes, turning misfortunes into something profitable, it has taught me taught to see life with equanimity and to give unconditional love.

After receiving the wonderful news of the disappearance of the disease, I decided to share the knowledge acquired with those who were looking for “something more”

The Odile from before cancer was a very stressed woman, who worked a lot, who did not take care of herself, who did not look for a little time to be with herself, who ran too much, who did not eat well… The current Odile tries to take things More calmly, Enjoy your loved ones more. And whenever he can, he does his bit in the healing process of another person, a role different from that of the doctor who is in an office prescribing drugs, but does not have the opportunity to give the patient that active role.

Two years after finishing the chemo treatment, and naturally and unexpectedly, I got pregnant. Nine months later, a precious baby with an eternal smile came into the world. Iker was born at home, in a labor without pain, without fear, without haste, a serene and calm birth in which my son and I were the protagonists. Within a month a third baby will come into the world, this time a girl. One more dream come true.

If you believe that something is impossible, that it is difficult or that you are not ready, discard that belief and focus on making your dreams come true, to create a dream you just have to trust and believe in it.

Never lose hope.