My Hubby's lung biopsy report and Tuesday's follow-up appointment

My hubby's lobectomy follow-up appointment was Tuesday July 12th.

Even though each time they look at his esophagus it is improving with no tumor regrowth, they are insisting he must have the esophagectomy. The doctor also told us it was his favorite surgery and he wants to do more than the 1 every other month he does now. I told him that with so many people regularly using antacids and PPI's that wish will come true. He agreed.

He asked Al if he had turned vegan between the PET and the surgery, he couldn't remember. Al told them he had for 2 months but is now back eating a standard diet to try to gain any kind of weight. With the esophagectomy, he can expect to lose 10-20 pounds.

The doctor told us that the team met that morning to discuss the biopsy report, even though there were 5 spots on the PET on his left upper lobe, the team agreed it was stage 1a primary lung adenocarcinoma. They thin-sectioned and froze the entire lobe because they were skeptical of what they had seen and palpated the day of surgery. They also biopsied 6 lymph nodes around the lung, ALL were normal. The second largest (0.8x1 cm) one was the most likely one to be cancer (80%) and the largest one (1x1.4 cm) a close second (60%). The biopsy results showed only ONE malignant spot and the rest of the lung was completely normal - soft, moist, pink and not even any scar tissue or a leison. The largest spot was the only one found, and it was smaller including clean margins than originally seen on the PET. God is so faithful!!!

Everything You Need To Know About Inflammation

Whitney Page has a great article on inflammation titled Everything You Need To Know About Inflammation!!! We have been following an alkalizing diet for 6 years now to reduce our inflammation issues. Being pain and dis-ease free makes it is so worth it!!!

Dragon Fruit

The farmers market had Dragon Fruit. Since we had never tried one, we HAD to buy one. It is so beautiful, ours is a deep red with tiny black seeds. It was extremely ripe, but not nearly as sweet as we had anticipated tasting similar to a kiwi in taste.. Our son ate all but 2 bites with his breakfast. It would be a wonderful addition to a fruit salad bringing a brilliant color to any fruit salad.

drying tomatoes

We received 2 tomato plants from our neighborhood garden club in April. We planted them in a separate area because our garden area was "full" We were able to cover them when the hail hit our area TWICE this spring and so thankful we did. Our other tomato plants received hail damage leading to wilt but these two didn't. What bountiful plants these are!
We have enough to dry for our dried tomato recipes.
Drying them is so easy, slice to ~ 1/4 inch and lightly salt. Dry until it is leathery about 8 hours at 115.

it's stage 1, it's stage 1

Six months ago, the news stage 1 cancer would not be something most people would celebrate, but our lives have taken a much too common turn, as so many people we know, with my hubby's "out of the blue" cancer diagnosis.
April 1st he was admitted to the hospital for a GI bleed. April 2nd we were told it looked like esophageal cancer. The following week, the biopsy results were long high grade dysplasia Barrett's esophagus.  Three weeks later another biopsy and an esophageal cancer diagnosis. May 6th there was also a spot on the lung with the esophageal cancer being a little deeper than originally thought. On May 11th, the PET results of possibly lung cancer were told to us. The lung may be a metastasis from the esophagus.
After much research and talking with my GI,  my hubby contact Shaheen requesting a resectioning procedure of the esophagus. That was done May 31st. To Shaheen's surprise the tumor slipped out, but the biopsy indicated there was still cancer beneath the tumor. This was in agreement with the May 6th ultrasound biopsy.
June 11th my hubby went to Hippocrates in West Palm Beach for 2 weeks, a life style "boot camp". There he changed his diet to eating vegan, drinking green juice and wheatgrass, and came home turning out atrium into a microgreen farm.

There he was running 4 miles a day and felt like he was back in his 20's. He came home looking at least 10 years younger, even his silver hair is reversing to salt and pepper. He was in amazing shape.
June 30th, he had his lobectomy because the lung area was cancer; however, the esophagus had no tumor regrowth. July 7th we heard the lung is not a metastasis, just stage 1 cancer with no other treatments for the lung.
He is walking over 3 miles a day, but still on pain meds, ice packs, lanacane patches, heating pads, and still sleeping in the recliner. He is juicing daily and eating close to 90% raw, as the rest of the household.

Next we meet with the surgeon on the 12th to discuss when the esophagectomy might occur. My hubby wants to wait until he is as strong as he was going into the lobectomy, maybe August, maybe even later in the fall. I know the LORD is leading him.

We are so grateful for all the prayers, support, and love we have received since I thought he had a mild heart attack April 1st. And yes we are praising God and celebrating!!!!

Jackfruit BBQ

Our friend, Debbie, gave us a sampling of Jackfruit BBQ and we loved it.  We were able to find canned Jackfruit in brine through our co-op and ordered a case. We heard it takes HOURS to remove the fruit. We used our BBQ sauce recipe and served it on onion bread, topped with lettuce tomatoes and sprouts. 

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1/4 cup BBQ sauce of your choice

1 can Jackfruit, drained and rinsed

Directions:

Mix with a fork and the Jackfruit shreds easily.

July potluck 2016

We had our annual "Let's build living lasagna" potluck. Each person brought a layer, salad, appetizer, dessert or bread.

The layers are mushrooms, onion and peppers, spinach and herbs, cheese, sauce, cherry tomatoes, olives, and zoodles

garlic bread and living lasagna

Piquillo peppers

Salad

Kiwi Cheesecake