Another year above ground!

Hello to all of you - may you all be focused and disciplined so that you will manifest your dreams this year.........I have been busy having a good time, Christmas came and went quietly ,the New Year came in with a bang as usual and life is treating me well although this drug Arimidex is giving me hell. I wake in the morning with joint pain......what's that? Back pain........is it cancer? Miserable, sad, just feeling out of sorts.......I like nothing to rain on my parade and this is certainly a heavy downpour......don't think I'm going to make 2 years of this treatment Drs Walters and Plummer...........looks like I'll only be taking this girl for 2 months!
Well this past Christmas I did everything that was bad - my son even stopped talking to me as I had ham skin and ham and a lot of it too.
Guess what it tasted good but made me feel awful so I'm back on the green juices and food.....they might not be delicious but you feel good and look good...I now have a dark line in my face which I understand means my liver is toxic..well when you're taking chemicals that will happen wont it? So milk thistle and lots of chlorella is the order of the day.
Why are the doctors loading me up with this drug when I took off both breasts?
I've decided that this year whatever I feel to do I'm going to do, life is going to be lived full steam ahead ,my party won the elections in a massive landslide showing that it's not money but people that do this thing, and if they do a 1/4 of what they say they are going to try to do life in Jamaica is going to be a better place so I'd better start behaving myself as I certainly want to be around to see it!
I have been getting my usual dose of calls re:mothers,sisters friends etc that are facing off with this terrible disease....please remember people its easier to prevent than trying to fight it, for 2012 try and remember without your health you have nothing!

Choice of Treatments

Ah well another famous face announces she is having a double mastectomy and her husband sitting beside her looks more scared than she does......good luck girl you are going to need it as it's not a walk in the park - I'm sure you will be at the ball drop in New York on New Year's eve without a doubt but at what cost ? Is having your own child so important that you will continue to try at all costs, is adoption that bad?
As cancer continues to gobble us up what a toll it brings - have all of us not had a friend or family member who died, was fighting, is trying to fight cancer?
Are we all predisposed to this thing now? Do u realize once u get it ,your life is spent waiting on it to comeback!
I was reading about the GERSON therapy and noticed that it clearly said you must be able to eat, drink and eliminate normally or you cannot benefit from this alternate cancer treatment. Most people wont try the therapy until chemo has knocked everything out of them then its too late. So many people over the years have fought cancer with only chemo......... if you keep burning out all your good cells what is going to happen to you...what is your quality of life going to be like? If you have chemo and keep the same lifestyle aren't the same cancerous cells going to grow back ? Isn't it better to have 6 good months than 6 years in and out of hospitals in terrible pain?
Steve Jobs tried his alternate remedies first and then was too late getting the surgery - I always believe surgery first get that thing out then make sure it doesn't grow back by using any means possible that will keep you up and about and able to fight
I always give thanks for another day above ground, but trust me I don't need to be above ground at all costs..........

The company that manufactures flavours .......Givaudan

Bad diets and bad thoughts. Nothing causes more acidity than that and we do know what acidity causes don't we? But do we have a chance or are we eating in a food carnival where the flavours hijack our brains and we become addicted and can do no better ....we then are eaten up by stress in our relationships, jobs, money matters etc and what happens we can't find any part of us that is alkaline...........
I watched 60 minutes on CBS this past week and learned about a company called Givaudan that is making any flavour you desire but with chemicals...strawberry, raspberry, roast chicken you name it they manufacture it. When this ends up in a package, jar or can what are we to do? We eat it merrily proclaim it delicious and next week we run and buy some more.........
The company's chief chemist, who is a woman, said in her interview "I create thousands of flavours, 750 citrus flavours alone......I can mimic the smell and taste of anything .........."
Are we eating food? When they put taste in powder form and we have it as our favourite frozen dinner what's to become of us?
People like me whose genes obviously cannot take the onslaught of these chemicals what do I do? Please remember even the fruits in the groves are now being genetically modified so what do I eat, grow it myself ?
Life is just getting too hard........ the easier they make it,the sicker we become!

top 5 national dishes

As the Jamaican saying goes "If is egg we inna the red" - no surprise then that this article from the National Geographic book "Food Journeys of a Lifetime" includes one of my favourite dishes - Ackee

Hamburgers, U.S.
Although the origins of the hamburger are disputed, there is no argument over the popularity of this classic dish. Toppings and accompaniments vary from region to region, but for an original version visit Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, which has been serving hamburgers since 1900 and claims to be the oldest hamburger restaurant in the U.S.
Planning: Louis’ Lunch is open most days for lunch and some days until the early hours of the morning.

Ackee and Saltfish, Jamaica
Despite ackee’s unhappy origins as slave food, Jamaicans have reclaimed it as part of their national dish. A nutritious fruit with a buttery-nutty flavor, ackee resembles scrambled egg when boiled. Jamaicans sauté the boiled ackee with saltfish (salt-cured cod), onions, and tomatoes. Sometimes the dish is served atop bammy (deep-fried cassava cakes) with fried plantains.
Planning: Jake’s, Treasure Beach, is renowned for ackee and saltfish and also offers cooking classes.

Coo-Coo and Flying Fish, Barbados
A polenta-like cornmeal and okra porridge, coo-coo pairs perfectly with flying fish, which is either steamed with lime juice, spices, and vegetables or fried and served with a spicy sauce.
Planning: The Flying Fish restaurant overlooking St. Lawrence Bay claims to be the Barbadian national dish’s home.

Bulgogi, Korea
Beef bulgogi (fire meat) is a dish of thinly sliced, prime cuts of meat marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, onions, ginger, sugar, and wine and then grilled. It is often eaten wrapped in lettuce or spinach leaves and accompanied by kimchi (fermented vegetable pickle). Many Korean restaurants have miniature barbecues embedded in tables where diners grill the meat themselves.
Planning: Seoul’s upmarket Byeokje Galbi chain is a bulgogi sensation.

Kibbeh, Lebanon/Syria
Dining well Levantine-style often means sticking to the delicious mezes (appetizers). Kibbeh, a versatile confection of ground lamb, bulgur, and seasonings, is a core component of mezes. It is often fried in torpedo or patty shapes, baked, boiled, or stuffed, but is tastiest raw.
Planning: Aleppans in northern Syria are kibbeh’s greatest innovators, flavoring it with ingredients like pomegranate or cherry juice.

THANK YOU SUNSET FAMILY

You know I have a lot to be thankful for and every day , when I listen to other people, little things I take for granted I have to keep giving the Father thanks over and over....I have the greatest group of friends who are always there at my beck and call to help. I have my children and those that I just call mine that are there every step of the way. I have never had to have a fund raiser, my man didn't leave me because I have breast cancer, and last but not least my work place didn't retire me ....Last night they had a November birthday party for 3 of us and when my boss got up to toast me he said "We couldn't do without you". That makes me feel so special....they at all times try to keep me rested and loved. Even though I have been feeling that due to my absences from work since July as a result of my 2 surgeries, I need to be back at work, I have never been pressured to do so - it has been all on my terms....it doesn't get any better than that. Thank you IK and Cathy, it's been a pleasure working with and for you these past 11 years!
I would like to believe that what you give out comes back to you so those of us battling, try and come out of the "woe is me" if even for a day .........see the good in cancer, it's not all bad .......you have been warned - if you are thinking of malicing someone - there is no time for that so don't bother with the petty things, you wake each day giving thanks and you savour every moment that you are above ground, you say I love you more and you pamper yourself today instead of tomorrow.
I remember my friend Barbara asking me if she would ever drive again, I promised her she would..." Why not?" I exclaimed. She never did! She got diagnosed in January and was dead by April......I was diagnosed in 1978, I'm still here. Hers was aggressive mine is slow moving so I give thanks for that too.
I could have missed out on a black man being President of the United States of America - I didn't......
I could have missed out on my granddaughter - I didn't ......but most of all I could have missed out on raising my son Sajato who was under a year when my first cancer was diagnosed so he would not have remembered his mother......what a miss that would have been and what a lot of stories wouldn't have gotten told.
Those of us who are under the gun , remember it's not the beginning or the end of the race..... hasn't Usain shown you enough times it's how you run the race?

My cancer treatment

I need to inform all of you who watched my TVJ Smile Jamaica interview and left with the impression that I did nothing for my first cancer as that's not so.......Neville kept asking about my reaction at being given 2 weeks to live - at no time did we touch on my surgeries during the interview and when I said I had nothing after that cancer I meant chemo or radiation , however, I HAD SURGERY TO REMOVE THE MASS IN MY COLON IN 1978 FOR A CANCER THEY THOUGHT WAS ABOUT 6 MONTHS OLD AND WHEN THEY WENT IN IT HAD BEEN SITTING THERE FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS ....in fact in total I've had 25 surgeries but that's another story for my book!
Sorry if I mislead any of you into believing I did NOTHING for my first cancer and as I said on the show I had radiation for the bone cancer.

Everything happens for a reason

So yesterday was one of those days that you know for sure that everything happens for a reason.....I have been making jokes around the place that I cannot find my breasts not knowing that the implants were truly lost .... my husband had called me in a panic saying 'Pat I've tracked the shipment as far as it can go - check with Dr. Arscott to see if he has gotten them if not you have to go to the general sorting office and clear them as they must have been shipped in your name...." well since that's what I didn't want to hear I did nothing but when I visited the goodly doctor last week I too started to panic as surgery is set for this coming Saturday the 29th and he told me no the implants had not yet arrived. I couldn't believe this as my stepson who is a plastic surgeon in Philly had confirmed that he had shipped them so I expected it to go as smoothly as when he had sent the expanders - he sent them to the Doctor and that was it.

Well no such luck this time so I decided that I would visit our general post office the next time I was in Kingston which was yesterday when I was booked to appear on the early morning TV show "Smile Jamaica" to do an interview about living with cancer. Well after the interview off I went to the general sorting office to what I thought would be certain hell but as usual I put a smile on my face and entered...well first thing was the man at the counter says ..."Is that the smile I saw on TV this morning?"....I said " same one , I'm here looking for my breasts"
and he said "and vibesy too".... by that time at least 3 women who had seen the TV show gathered around and happily set out to help but my breasts couldn't be located - they went upstairs, they went in the vault, they told me to take a seat - which I did (please bear in mind this is a huge place which has not reached the year 2000 yet ....I tried to count computers and reached the sum of 2 with one looking like a broken down TV ) finally my happy helpers broke the good news - the paper work was found, however, I needed an invoice, I needed a Tax Compliant Certificate(TCC) and most of all I needed a friendly face from customs as no TCC meant tons of duty plus the shipment turned out to be in the Doctor's name not mine .....they nonetheless persevered informing the customs officer "this lady is the vibesy lady from 'Smile Jamaica' this morning".....the goodly customs lady, however, broke the sad news - she couldn't let the breasts out without me going and getting permission from the Doctor to whom it was addressed. Well since I am in the year 2011, I whipped out my Blackberry and called the Doctor's office, made the arrangements with them telling them what the letter should say and that an ID must be attached and off I went to pick it up with the post office workers promising that as soon as I returned with the required documents they would release said package. Knowing Jamaica as I do , I knew that if I didn't make it back by lunch time a whole new crew would be in place knowing nothing about my situation so I had to move fast.

Thankfully letter as requested was waiting for me at the Doctor's office and so I quickly returned to the General Post Office where true to their words they pulled out of the mountain of packages, a box half my size that looked like it had enough implants in it for every woman at the post office not just me ....then they went through their routine of signing what seemed like endless ledgers (also half my size) and volumes of papers that could easily deplete all the remaining trees left in Jamaica .....So off I went walking out of the general post office the box with my new breasts in one hand, saying thanks and waving goodbye with the other I realized that I was crying........now what is that about?