Do I need to take some responsibility?
And does green soup make it all better?
Cancer! It is a word that nobody wants to hear when sitting opposite a medical professional. But it is a conversation that someone in the UK has every 90 seconds.
Every 90 seconds 😲!
So let’s put that into some context…for the time that it takes for you to listen to The Beatles - Golden Slumber track…BANG! Another cancer diagnosis in the UK.
Does this not just blow your mind in today's medically advanced world?
It did for me, and if you have stumbled across this post as your first read, why not head back to the beginning (promise it is not all doom and gloom) and read my experience of receiving that news for the first time.
After getting through the emotions of being told that there is a lump of cancer fighting its way out of my prostate, a thought (one that I have been pretty much having ever since), is whether I did something to cause it?
My brain: “Did I drink too many Hooch’s as a cool teenage rave goer in the 90’s? Did my horny teenage hormones lead cause for my prostate cells to over produce? Were my underpants too tight? Should I have smoked those cheap cigarettes bought from a market stall in Egypt (by the way, I really shouldn’t have…they were defo fake and tasted like petrol!)?”
Now my logical part of my brain is saying that it is probably just ‘luck of the draw’ and to get on with what I have been dispensed in this life, but this gives me little comfort in what I could have done differently in how I respected my body over its 40+ years.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing (if I had it, I would have definitely bought a shed load of BitCoin in 2009 and now living on a 40 metre super-yacht in the Caribbean) and we are living in the now, not the past. So what is it that I can do about it in the now?
Is the answer green soup?
As you can imagine, after I got diagnosed, Louise (the better half of me) dived into the non-medical things that I could do to help my body fight these rogue cells attacking my insides and the one thing (amongst many and I will share what I have been doing in a future post) that we got advised to explore by a medical expert was GRextra. What is GRextra I hear you shout! Well GRextra is advertised as a super broccoli…not just any broccoli, but a SUPER-BROCOLLI!
With this new found knowledge, the laptop was fired up, google searches performed and within a few days landed 12 packets of this GRextra broccoli soup on my doorstep. Now I am not going to lie to you, this powdered super broccoli is as close to neon green that the natural world will allow, and after mixing it with some boiling water it resembles pureed baby food. But, if it is going to help with reducing some of those pesky prostate cancer cells growth ability, I am all in.
Remember, I am not a medical professional and there will be a lot of varying views around alternative approaches to management of prostate cancer…I get it, but this is a route that I am exploring and it allows for me to take some control over what my body is fuelled with to give it the best chance possible to slam-dunking this cancer shit show.
So what does the research show for this green superfood…you can find more about the research and evidence here. I will allow you to make your own mind up on this one.
So if after doing your own investigations you are feeling the need to be seen eating the green, then the team at Smarter Naturally have given me a 15% off discount code just for you…
So, back to the original question “Do I need to take some responsibility?”.
I think for me the answer is…“Yes!”
I say this with some caveats. I now have the knowledge that there are prostate cancer cells floating around inside of me, I have been through a medical procedure to try and remove as much of the cancer as possible, I have had my willy area zapped by a massive laser gun (OK, not a laser gun, but some pretty targeted radiation) and I am now being monitored regularly by having my bloods drawn every three months.
So I am very aware that I have knowledge that many others may not have, and with knowledge comes a responsibility. It is time for me to take a portion of the responsibility and help my body with taking ownership of the direction in where I want it to be. Therefore, I will be eating green soup (in fairness, I am starting to enjoy the taste now…grated cheese on top helps) every week for at least 12 months and see if this helps doing anything to keep me kicking around for a little longer. Who knows, but I am going to give a damn good try!
Till next week…laters gators!
If you need more support then there are some great charities ready to help:
United Kingdom: https://prostatecanceruk.org
United States: https://www.pcf.org
In relation to support: the charity that looks after prostate cancer peer support groups across the UK is Tackle Prostate Cancer. Their website has a search tool for the one nearest you, plus there are some online meetings for particular groups, like LGBTQ+, partners, people with advanced PC, people who've had brachytherapy, etc.
I am totally with you on the ‘taking responsibility’ thing, going forward.
My partner, Tim’s, prostate cancer had escaped by the time he was diagnosed and gone into his seminal vesicles and spine.
He refused radiotherapy.
He is now on 2 types of hormones; PROSTRAP, injected every 3 months and Enzalutamide, 4 tablets daily.
He had his 3 monthly test phone consultation yesterday and as it has been for quite a long time now they said his PSA is undetectable.
The main ‘alternative’ thing that he’s been doing is having TURKEY TAIL mushrooms in his Kefir every morning, along with eating lots of fruit & veggies.
In Japan turkey tail is on prescription as an Immune system stimulant.
Check it out.
Who knows, but for the time being anyway, something seems to be working.
I’m going to check out the broccoli thing now.