NOBODY WANTS A CANCER DIAGNOSIS, YET 1 IN 2 WILL MOST LIKELY GET SOME FORM OF CANCER DIAGNOSIS DURING THEIR LIFETIME.

I was one of the 1:2 who got a cancer diagnosis – triple positive breast cancer in November 2017.

We are as afraid of talking about cancer as we are of talking about death.

MY QUESTION TO YOU IS: Are we looking at cancer occurrence from the wrong angle? AS PEOPLE WITH CHOICES – And yes, we all have choices – are we making the wrong choices in our day to day lives? Is the general information out there misleading us to think there is little we can do to change the statistics of 1:2? 

Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/#:~:text=Only%205%E2%80%9310%25%20of%20all%20cancer%20cases%20can%20be,environmental%20pollutants%2C%20infections%2C%20stress%2C%20obesity%2C%20and%20physical%20inactivity.

It is about time that everyone started to take notice of the above findings from the PubMed article highlighted in red above. These facts are lifechanging. 

I decided that there must be more to discover about the cancer diagnosis I received than the medical professionals were leading me to believe. They have an urgency that as soon as you are diagnosed, they want to put you into the process of helping you. A long process of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Most cancers do not just appear overnight, they can take years to form a noticeable tumour. So why the immediate rush to enter into the ‘fight against cancer’, to try and exterminate it with toxicity. A cancer diagnosis is already a sign that your body is toxic!

I made myself my project – a project requires a plan of execution, a monitoring system in place to chart your progress.

Alongside the biopsies, mammogram, and ultrasounds, I decided to invest in thermograms as an additional monitoring system. I have been charting the results of the thermograms since 2017.

My most recent thermogram was in April 2024. I am fascinated by the progress of healing that my body has made during this time of working with my body to help it get into a healthy position to begin healing.

Medical Thermal Imaging say:

Understanding Your Breast Thermogram Report

One of the most commonly asked questions is how a breast thermogram is analysed and what the data means. Under the quality assurance guidelines, strict pre-imaging preparation and imaging laboratory protocols are followed first before each patient is imaged. Using specialised infrared sensing cameras coupled to sophisticated computerised image processing systems, the heat emanating from the surface of your body is generated as an image. The image displays both the intensity of the heat and the course of the superficial blood vessels. Each breast is compared to itself and the opposite breast against a research established normative database. Areas that show abnormal blood vessel patterns are assigned a value. Temperature data is also taken and compared as a difference between the same areas on the opposite breast. This is known as a temperature differential or delta temperature (Delta-T). These temperature readings are also assigned a value. When the blood vessel pattern and temperature values are combined a TH (thermobiological) grading is produced. Each breast is given a TH grading.

So, what does this all mean? Breast thermograms are graded on a scale from TH1 to TH5. As TH values rise from the TH3 range and above there is an increasing risk that an abnormal process might be present, or that you may be at a higher risk for cancer in the future.

Thermal Analysis

Rating scale used for breast evaluation purposes. It is noteworthy that the TH system is not a comparative rating to BI-RADS. 

Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System score

researchgate.net

• The BI-RADS score is an acronym for the Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System score. It’s a scoring system radiologists use to describe mammogram results.

TH-1    Symmetrical Bilateral – Non-Vascular (non-suspicious, normal study)

TH-2    Symmetrical Bilateral – Vascular (non-suspicious, normal study)

TH-3    Equivocal – Low index of suspicion

TH-4    Abnormal – Moderate index of suspicion

TH-5    Suspicious – High index of suspicion” 

MY RESULTS FROM 2017 – 2024

2017 – Right breast: TH-4   Left breast: TH-4

2022 – Right breast: TH-3   Left breast: TH-3

2024 – Right breast: TH-2   Left breast: TH-2

2024 INTERPRETATION: No interval changes: There are no significant thermal changes noted in the breasts compared to the most recent study dated 18 April 2023. The nipple and areola areas as well as global breasts continue to show minor temperature differentials. Thermal patterns and temperature differentials are stable. There is no thermal indication of neovascularity. The long-term stability of all thermal patterns continues to show a reliable comparative record of stable physiology with no indication of tissue changes.

TH-2    Symmetrical Bilateral – Vascular (non-suspicious, normal study)

I have been on this healing journey for nearly 7 years, and yes it has taken time to get a reading of TH-2. It is most likely that my normal reading is TH-2 and I may never reach TH-1.

My health status is excellent, I am well, vibrant, and enjoying life.

I would be lying if I said that it had all been easy, that there weren’t struggles along the way. That it required determination, dedication and 100% belief that I could achieve this outcome without the medical system intervening. But here I am. I shall continue with my protocols, and monitoring my life, and not resenting the life changes that I made along the way.

These life changes literally saved my life.

If you would like to know more about my journey, please head over to my website and see what I am all about. Send me a message if you would like a chat – I would love to hear from you.

https://www.themccourtmethod.com

jane@themccourtmethod.com

My next scan is on Tuesday 30th April 2024 

Scanxiety – a term first coined by a patient writing for Time magazine in 2011. Scanxiety describes the distress before, during and after a cancer-related scan. This term can be used to describe any form of scan/test as the emotions relate. 

Every year around April time, I go on an intensified cleanse – mind, body, spirit. 

Springtime is one of the best times to do a body cleanse, it matches the seasons and what is going on in the world in the UK. The days are longer, we get up in the light and the evenings encourage us to stay up longer. Spring bounces into our lives following many months of dark, cold, wet, damp wintertime, which is where we spend time going underground, regrouping, and generally resting. 

Life is in full flow, the flowers start appearing, the birds are busy feeding and building their nests, lambs appear in the fields, the whole of nature is rejoicing. And we get to see the sun! (well sometimes!!) For me, my whole being feels more alive and ready for life going forward.

Why do I do this? 

In November 2017 I received a breast cancer diagnosis, and every year around April, I start the process of undergoing my yearly tests to ensure that I am still on course and that everything is well. Before I undertake these tests, blood tests, thermogram imaging etc., I tighten up my life. 

I pay particular attention to my diet, cutting out the baddies that may have been creeping in such as cake, or alcohol, or too much fat. I increase my intake of fresh juices, vegetables, and salads. I up my supplement protocols. I WANT TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF MYSELF BEFORE I UNDERGO THE TESTS. 

I work on my mindset, being aware of what stress may have been creeping back into my life, I meditate more and move more. I increase daily positive affirmations where I visualize the results coming back normal, or balanced.  

I do all this too to help with managing the natural scanxiety that anyone who must undergo scans/blood tests for testing some form of illness will know only too well. Do the words fear, anxiety, uncertainty resonate with you too? 

What if treating yourself to a spring-clean as you would do your house, helps relieve some of these emotions? It is worth a try, get lost in the empowerment of consciously creating a healthy you. 

It is incredible how the fear of what possibly might be revealed creeps into our minds, at night when you are in bed, during the day, this unwanted feeling will just land like a lead weight on your chest. 

What if? What if? What it? We start running through different scenarios through our mind like clockwork. What if the cancer has returned? What if the cancer has spread? What if something different is revealed? How will I cope? Can I go through all this again? Do I have the strength, the willpower, and the resources to start all over again? 

As humans we naturally feel uncomfortable going for a medical appointment and this is sometimes referred to as ‘white coat syndrome’ – according to the NHS ‘feeling anxious or stressed when you visit your GP can raise your blood pressure, often referred to as white coat syndrome’. 

Before we even reach the room where the scan/blood test takes place we can naturally be off kilter with our blood pressure rising. Our heart begins to race, and we get that fight or flight feeling. Now is the time to take some deep breaths to switch the sympathetic nervous (fight or flight) system over to the parasympathetic nervous (rest and digest) system. By deep breathing we control our heart rate, we remove that primordial need to ‘get out of there’ and once we relax our bodies can return to the natural state of homeostasis. 

Some medical professionals are great at understanding this and will help you relax before everything begins, some unfortunately are so used to carrying out their ‘work’ that they sometimes forget that they are dealing with a very worried, vulnerable person, who just needs that little extra reassurance. It isn’t the procedure itself; it is the ramifications of the results that are bothering us. 

Once done, we return home, the WAIT BEGINS. I personally find this period the most difficult. It is here that my mind likes to conjure up the biggest WHAT IF’s. I feel irritable, need to isolate myself from people, don’t want to socialise much, and just want to stay in bed. 

The results arrive – they are good, stable, or worse. 

Now we can spring into action accordingly, a renewed resurgence of energy – if it is good we rejoice, if it is stable we are again content to keep going forward, if it is worse we must dig deep, think rationally, engage with the necessary professionals, our loved ones, ourselves, but never give up. A new challenge with a renewed vigor to keep going.

Apologies, I have been a bit quiet sharing blogs lately as life has been a bit more stressful than normal and I have had a lot of things to deal with.

However, I have been writing some articles for Menopause Life and I am now an approved writer for them.

If you would like a free copy of the magazine, Menopause Life, please follow the link below and use the code WRITERSFREE

https://menopauseexperts.com/product-category/menopause-life-magazine/