Day 1, Part 2

So after sitting down and making some lists, I challenged myself to pick one item off of the list and write more about it. My brain automatically wants to make a list of my top choices, and then a list of what I could say about each one, but instead I'm just going to choose the one that stood out earlier today in my mind: My mom has cancer and it's scary.

My mom was diagnosed with melanoma, the most dangerous of the skin cancers, in May of 2008. She has had at least 3 surgeries to remove melanoma from her arm, where it keeps growing back. She is getting good treatment, has sought second opinions, and is in good physical and mental health most days, which is all great news. But it keeps coming back and it's frustrating and scary to watch her go through this over and over again.

During our last phone conversation we had a disagreement that we have had a few times since this all began. I continued to believe that nutrition can help- can help avoid cancer, can help diminish cancer, and can help BEAT cancer. She has read books and articles I've sent her and shared them with her doctors, but since there is no little research about melanoma in general and about nutrition linked to melanoma specifically, her doctors discourage this thinking. That frustrates me, because it gives her the belief that she doesn't need to change any habits, or read into it anymore. The more I read (I found a new article today through a melanoma research site), the more I believe that there is a link and that if nothing else, improving our nutrition can only help ALL of us improve our health and our lives. How can I convince her so she can take on the fight with her doctors? When will research catchup so it can actually help her fight? What is the next step? Live the talk... be the model... set the expectation so that others follow? It's a challenge I want to accept, but have a hard time remindind myself of after a stressful work day. But I will press on...