Hello!
I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2002. Lumpectomy, then full Mastectomy. Several positive lymph nodes, but no bad scans otherwise (bone scans, etc.). Did 6 months of CEF Chemotherapy followed by 16 radiation treatments and Tamoxifen (I was 41).
Then, this past September, I developed pain in my mid-left abdomen. I thought I had pulled a muscle in a yoga class or something, but the pain ended up getting so bad, I wound up in Emergency. And that was the beginning of quite a journey - nearly a dozen Emergency visits over the next several months, every test the doctors could think of to do to me. Until finally, this past March, my family doctor said he was going to send me for a bone scan. I never for a minute thought anything would show up, but it turned out that they now believe I have metastatic cancer in two places in my spine, in my scapula and two lesions in my skull. What an absolute shock!
My lifestyle the past several years has been to mostly follow a McDougall plan - and often switching it up to a Fuhrman style of eating (my daughter does that), but also, some of the time, I have gone ahead and eaten things that are not quite on plan - like vegan "Cheese", Burgers, restaurant vegan food, etc. I try to treat that stuff as an occasional "treat" food, but it has snuck in from time to time. I don't smoke or drink, but I have struggled with a coffee habit over the years.
My oncologist says that the cancer in my bones is still pretty small, and that he feels that it is from my original diagnosis (as opposed to having developed a new cancer since then). He said that 19 years between diagnosis and metastases is a lot, but not unheard of. I will still need a couple more tests to confirm that, but it makes sense that it would have been pretty slow developing considering that my eating habits were pretty good. He also says that one radiation treatment should put out this excruciating pain that I have been living with.
The oncologist wants to put me on a course of Arimidex and some kind of supplements to support my bones (I think one of the side effects of Arimidex is osteoporosis). This is where I am running into a bit of a problem. The oncologist says that the Arimidex will be very helpful to me because it will basically delete the estrogen in my system. But that doesn't seem quite right to me, and it seems to me that a person who is not assaulting their system with meat and dairy products would not really be suffering from that big of an excess of estrogen in their system. It seems to me that a person who is plant based should be approached a little differently. What if the amount of estrogen that my body produces from eating fruits and vegetables and plenty of potatoes is actually the correct amount for a woman my age and at my stage of life. (59)
So, my question is this. I live in BC, Canada. And I would like to know if there is such a thing as a cancer specialist who I could find to give me an opinion on this, who has some kind of experience or specialty in working with people who already are following a pretty healthy diet? I haven't even started this particular conversation with my present oncologist because I am so used to the bad understanding that most medical people seem to have about nutrition, but I think that is a conversation that is going to have to happen. I really want to make sure to make the next few decisions very intelligently because there is a lot at stake here for me.
Thank you so much for any ideas or insights you might have to help me out.
