According to statistics, I should not be here to write this…
In April 2017, a couple of weeks before a rare family holiday to Spain to celebrate both mine and my mum’s birthday I was taken into what must have been the dingiest, dullest and most cramped room at Guys Hospital to be told ‘it’s cancer’. I had a felt a lump in my right breast for a little while but put it down to hormonal fluctuations and otherwise felt very well, albeit having had years of grief and stress before. My dad lived with cancer (malignant melonama) for 8 years and sadly passed away 4 years before my diagnosis. I so wish I knew what I now know and have passed the knowledge onto him.
Waiting for treatment
Our family holiday still went ahead as we waited for my treatment plan, which, after finding multiple liver mets, concluding a de novo diagnosis of secondary breast cancer, was to be 6 cycles of EC chemo (known as the red devil). I was told I’d lose all my hair and not to bother with the scalp cooling machine which led me to test that theory and I didn’t lose all my hair! Thank you scalp cooling! Don’t get me wrong, I lost about 70% of it, I cut my hair short and wore different hats depending on the seasons. Clips of Ab Fab got me through the first 10 minutes of wearing the cold cap. I can’t use mint shampoo to this day as the cooling sensation sends some shivers down my spine.
Discovering the power of the mind through yoga and meditation
I’d got into meditation before cancer and completed a yoga teacher training programme in India almost a year before my diagnosis. However, during my bed bound days of insane fatigue and nausea, I would find Youtube meditations and yoga Nidras to listen to. It helped to relax my body and mind I ended up training as a yoga Nidra teacher a week after my treatment ended. I’d kind of forgotten that I had been a life long asthma patient and re-trained as a a Breath Body Mind coach and Buteyko International Instructor. Quality deep relaxation and breathing with more ease has helped me through my different days so far and after all, breath is life.
And now I try not to hold my breath too much, as it’s scan time again…
If you’ve just been diagnosed, a quote that I found helpful when I was first diagnosed was this:
“As long as you’re breathing, there is more right with you than there is wrong” Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Louisa is now a Buteyko International Breathing Instructor, Breath Body Mind Coach and Professional Hypnotherapist.
Connect with Louisa on her Instagram @louisa.breathebalancebe
Book a free chat via her website www.breathebalancebe.com
