Petra's Healing Journey

It’s been a difficult few weeks, despite my brilliant news.

My digestive system has been notoriously badly behaved in the past, which as I’ve said before, was labelled as IBS.

After cutting out sugar and carbs and processed foods, it went away and I thought I’d finally solved the problem.

But when I got really strict with the keto diet, cutting out fruit and veg, apart from berries and greens, it made me lose weight, and I can’t really afford to lose much more weight, so I increased my fat intake quite a bit.

At the same time (unwisely), I changed some of the supplements I was taking, and suddenly my ‘IBS’ was back.

After a few weeks of testing different things and stopping my supplements, I’m pretty sure I’ve got to the bottom of it (pardon the pun!).

I had my gallbladder removed about 20 years ago, which stores bile, which is used to break down fats. My high fat diet was too much for it to cope with.

So I’ve gone back to my original diet of ‘kind of keto’, so much less fat and more fruit and veg, avoiding really high carbs like potatoes 🥔 and bananas 🍌 and limiting other carby stuff like beetroot, sweet potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, and fruit 🍎

This means I’m not in ketosis, which is the ideal state for fighting cancer as when you’re in ketosis, there is nothing for the cancer to feed on, but if I’m not able to keep my food down (or up 😜, as the case may be), I’m not gonna be able to function. Constant diarrhoea makes you weak, it saps your energy completely, which is the last thing I need right now.

So I’m back to a much more ‘normal’ diet than the one I’ve been on, and more enjoyable. And because there are some natural sugars in it, I’m craving cake much less! 🥳

When you go strict keto, your sugar cravings are supposed to disappear, but mine only seemed to get stronger, which was really difficult. I’m not known for my self control, so it meant I would crumble and give in to cravings. I would find myself staring into the Pastry Section window looking at cake porn 🍰

The good news is that I managed to shrink my lump despite these indiscretions, which has reassured me that my treatments are definitely working. Just think what I could achieve if manage to be even more strict?! Not craving cake all the time is a good start! 🩷

Tomorrow I am going to Moffat to see my family, for a month of rest and relaxation – where there are no amazing bakeries! 🤩

It means leaving my 19yr old daughter to fend for herself for a while, but her dad is close by, and she is embracing the idea of doing some ‘adulting’. When I was her age I was working two jobs and running a house, but times have changed since then!

I’m looking forward to the peace and tranquillity of the countryside.

Lots of time in nature and grounding, meditation, writing, and good quality sleep 🥰

My sister and her husband have a little studio flat called The Burrow, that they lived in for 6 years while they built their new house in the Moffat hills. They’ve said I can go there to sleep when I need to, which I’m really looking forward to. It’s so quiet there, and so dark, it’s like sleeping in a cocoon! 🥰

Sleep has been a big problem for me for years, ever since I had insomnia during my treatment for Hepatitis C around 15 years ago. Since then I’ve been cursed with being a very light sleeper, and living in the city means I get woken up a lot.

I’ve never needed good quality sleep as much as I do now, so the thought of being cocooned in the Moffat hills seems like heaven right now 🩷

And spending a month with my parents feels like exactly what I need. They are the most wonderful people I know. My scatty little Swedish mum, a human dynamo, with her quirky little routines (she does naked yoga every morning when she gets out of bed 😆), and my dad, the rock of my life, wise and wonderful in every way (except being a stubborn old goat), who is also dealing with cancer, a rare form of non aggressive blood cancer.

With statistics as they are, it’s more likely that you will get cancer than you won’t. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid, considering all the carcinogens in the food, the heavy metals everywhere and the stressful way we live our lives.

If I could go back, I would have stopped eating sugar and carbs and processed food years ago. And would be eating 7 apricot kernels a day. Seems a small price to pay..

Here is a video from an oncologist and surgeon and cancer survivor Dr Jen Simmons. If you’ve got boobs, or know someone who has, then you really should watch it 🩷