I was at the gym riding the stationary bike when my doctor called with the diagnosis of breast cancer. On 3/4/03 I had a mastectomy. It’s a date well entrenched in my memory. And here I am, 12 years later, completely cancer free. (This is my personal experience, not medical advice)
I am grateful for my outcome and I would like to share some of what helped me get through the surgery and recovery more easily.
And, just to be real, I did virtually nothing prior to this surgery. I could not believe that I actually had cancer. Denial – it’s not just a river in Egypt.
Intuition
Intuitively, I knew that having the surgery was the right choice for me. However, some of the other healing protocols that were strongly recommended didn’t feel important. Such as chemotherapy. My oncologist asked no less that three times if I had given more thought to it.
My thought was, “I have cancer and you want to fill my body with chemicals that will depress my immune system. Hmmm, that really sounds counter productive.” So I continued to say no, much to the dismay of my doctor.
Statistically, though, it would only give me an additional 10-15% risk reduction of a recurrence. I told him that I could get that from my spiritual practices. I got a lot of blank looks from this fresh-out-of-school M.D.
I did say yes to Arimidex. And then I told myself that it did only what is was intended to do. I had no side effects.
Turning within
Self hypnosis has always been a huge factor in accelerating physical healing. I practice for 20-30 minutes a day. Before most surgeries I picture myself calm and relaxed and vibrantly healthy after.
I also held perfectly still for a full day after surgery which is a really bad idea. We all want to avoid moving an area that hurts but the long term effects will come back to bite you. Breathe, relax and move! It will improve. Yoga stretches helped me regain my flexibility.
Physical changes
My first view of the physical change after surgery left me in a puddle of tears. Until I remembered EFT. A few rounds of tapping and I could see that I was simply a work in progress.
It isn’t our physical form that makes us beautiful. It’s the beautiful spirit that lives inside that form and shines through. Beauty lives on the inside and no amount of surgery can change that. I wasn’t on that page immediately but I did get there.
Spiritual message
My spiritual practices helped me to stay centered and calm. During a group meditation, not long after the surgery, I heard a voice inside my head. The voice said, “Truly I say to you, you have been healed so that you may heal those around you.” I responded with, “Well, that would be nice, but…”
The voice repeated those exact words again, and again. At about the sixth repetition I stopped discounting what I was hearing and suggested, “If you stop saying that to me I will accept it as my truth.”
The voice stopped.
A few times a tiny bit of fear would creep back in about the cancer but then I would remember my agreement and the fear would disappear. Life flows much more easily without fear.