Uncategorized – Page 4 – The McCourt Method

Bank Holiday Thoughts … Health related as always!

by Jane McCourt | Jun 3, 2022 | Uncategorized

WHAT?!!!! CRPS or complex regional pain syndrome.

I have had an unbelievably tough road health wise over the past 6 years … I remember thinking in September 2015 that I was the healthiest I had ever been. Physically, mentally and emotionally.

Fast forward to 28th December 2015 and the following has happened to me: Left frozen shoulder, leading to an undiagnosed burst appendix. One month stay in hospital with major life saving midline abdominal surgery, peritonitis, sepsis, subphrenic abscess, further infections, intensive care x 3 days, drips and drains etc. A basal cell carcinoma on my face which was surgically removed. A triple positive breast cancer diagnosis. Right frozen shoulder. Dupuytren’s Contracture in both hands. Dental surgery that was so painful I had to halt proceedings with a bruised jaw and stitches as a result. Hand surgery in March 2022 which has now resulted in extremely painful CRPS. (more…)

The Very First Step

by Jane McCourt | May 25, 2022 | Uncategorized

The first step is the hardest ….

The First Step ….

The very first step in anything you do is always going to be the hardest. Receiving a breast cancer diagnosis is no different. You will be totally bewildered, feeling great fear, and having no idea at first what is going on.

I have been in your situation, I know that feeling of complete helplessness, or fear, or thought such as “Am I going to die?”.

Everyone in the oncology office is talking with urgency, you have to react quickly, you need surgery as soon as possible to get on top of this. You need this type of chemo, your need this form of radiation or this or that tablet.

But, I ask you to consider this question… Do you really need to act that quickly? Cancer did not just appear over night, it will have been there for a long time before it appears big enough for you to notice.

Please do not act in haste, give yourself a Breathing Space – I am happy just to have a chat and help to alleviate the fear. Please book in some time with me via Calendly on my page https://themccourtmethod.com/breathing-space or send me a message on FB, at https://www.facebook.com/TheMcCourtMethod

Time is precious, and you do need to act, but look at what time you really need, and what you need to start working out your own protocol, what suits you and how you want to go about it.

Take care, and I am always here – Much love Jane

The Total Buzz of Cold Water Swimming and an Ice Bath

by Jane McCourt | May 21, 2022 | Uncategorized

Ice Bath Wim Hof Style

I Love The Cold Water – what an unexpected surprise in my life!!!

The Total Buzz of Being in Cold Water & an Ice Bath!

Before I moved down to North Devon in 2020, I didn’t interact much with cold water, or swimming or the sea for that matter. I am not the hugest fan of my body in a swimsuit either, so perhaps that may have stopped me too!

Moving to the coast in North Devon, I found that I was surrounded by beautiful beaches, sea pools and gorgeous women who love cold water swimming, or dipping in my case! Nobody cared what you looked like in your swimsuit, it is all about the fun and the camaraderie.

Wim Hof has recently been on TV with his challenge so everyone is getting to know him. In January 2022 three of us decided that we wanted to do a one day challenge with Wim Hof (not him personally but one of his trainers) so we searched for places to do this and found one in Cornwall which was a 2 hour drive for us.

We learnt so much about breathing techniques, how to create an altered state and get into a trance like state to endure the cold water. You literally switch your body from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system – a great way to activate your immune system. You also get such a natural high it lasts throughout the day, along with increased energy and loss of mental fog. To get ready for the challenge, you have a 3 week challenge before hand to turn your shower each morning down to cold and gradually increase the time you are able to stand there! It certainly wakes you up and again creates that amazing mental high and the feel good factor.

We stayed in the ice bath for 2 minutes, then I put my head under for about 30 seconds, the feeling being submerged under the ice with the light from the sky streaming through was surreal. This was followed by the most delicious sauna ever with the others on the day. We were like children all giggling about what we had just achieved. So easy to make friends in the cold water world!

If you haven’t tried getting into cold water, I would highly recommend it. My next thing to try is a lake, or a river.

I Should Be Living In Spain

by Jane McCourt | May 21, 2022 | Uncategorized

I love Spain, and always thought that it would be somewhere that I could live, but the universe had other plans for me!!

I Should Be Living In Spain

I sold my successful guest house business of 11 years in June 2017. I had always wanted to spend 6 months of the year living abroad, and in particular Spain, and the rest in the UK. I had it all sorted, apartment in Spain and the spare room in my son’s flat for the remaining time which gave me the perfect freedom to explore the world and make my next move.

The universe had other plans, on November 17th 2017 I received a triple positive breast cancer diagnosis. My life for a period was in disarray. I felt angry, cross with my body for letting me down, irritated that when at last I had some freedom from working 7 days a week to do as I pleased, a life threatening event took over.

I had just decided on a 3 month road trip through France and Spain, ironically 2 days after the diagnosis, so I decided to keep to my plan and go. The oncologist wasn’t happy, but it was my life. It was the best choice ever!

I discovered that there were alternative, successful ways of healing from this – so I holed up and followed my nose. I ignored everyone’s opinions and thoughts – some were totally negative, one friend declared all over Facebook that I should “ffs get it cut out” (that was so helpful to me!!!) and my sister asked me if I was happy to die!

Fast forward almost 5 years, I find myself extremely well, thriving, loving life. In October 2020 (at the release of a long lockdown) I relocated my whole family – Mum with Alzheimer’s, 2 son’s and a daughter-in-law (now with a baby girl on the way) from Wantage in Oxfordshire, down to Instow in Devon. We were all stale and needed an injection of new life and new direction. We all live together and it works surprisingly well.

It is from here that I wrote down what I did in those early days when I escaped to Spain for 10 weeks, leaving everyone behind to concentrate on myself. I have called my process the Breathing Space because that’s what it was for me. It gave me time to start healing my sick body. If you have cancer your body is telling you that you are sick and please pay attention. I created my new business The McCourt Method, and Breathing Space is my first ever online programme. An 8 week on-line programme, a signpost of all the information, books, research I found and implemented on myself over the 10 week period to get my body into a healing state before I made the next big decision on my healing path. You will have 6.5 hours of 1-1 ‘Check in with Jane’ time with me through this process.

Some say getting a cancer diagnosis can be a gift – perhaps that is true, I have a new happy life and my aim is to help remove the fear from a cancer diagnosis and help you realise that you are more in control than you are led to believe.

An Inquisitive Mind …

by Jane McCourt | May 19, 2022 | Uncategorized

Always Have an Inquisitive Mind

Ever since a child I have had an inquisitive mind, I had so many hobbies, stamp collecting, ponies, food, ballet, trying to learn the recorder – on that one my parents banished me to the shed with the guinea pigs and rabbits, so I used to play and sing to them! This pattern has continued throughout my life and I have had various job roles in totally different industries. I find meeting people who do something I know nothing about absolutely fascinating.

The longest “job” (10 years) I had was running my own 8 bed guest house along with 2 other 8 bed guest houses and 7 letting houses for someone else. I literally learnt as I went. When I was looking for funding to purchase the guest house my own Bank said no, I had no experience. I said with total confidence that I had done my research, produced my business plan and knew at a deep level that I could do it successfully – I was a people person, the number one ingredient in the accommodation industry. They still said no – so I said “well watch me, I will get this funding and it will be successful”. I went across the road to another Bank, and organised a meeting with the Business Manager – he said “YES”, we have faith in you and your vision – so off I went with a big smile, money in the Bank and my new business. It was a huge success and I won awards from Bookings.com and other institutions for excellence in customer service. I had plenty of repeat business, I never advertised and as I used to laugh with my contractor guests, “that I was like the wife without the sex” – my guys just needed someone to listen to them , a clean bed and a really good tasty full English breakfast in the morning! They used to bring their wives to stay as well, we were one great big happy family. Gorgeous staff and my two son’s also leant a hand.

Fast forward to The McCourt Method and Breathing Space – this is a new business for me, a totally unexpected direction for me also. After receiving a triple positive breast cancer diagnosis in November 2017, I was at a loss for words to begin with. But then something deep inside reminded me of the times when I knew nothing about a subject, it became my absolute absorbing passion. This feeling began the process of researching into all things cancer, healing cancer, and alternative methods of healing cancer. I decided to use myself as my project. It was a journey, it wasn’t easy, there were times I felt that I couldn’t go on, was I going to die doing it this way? As an old boss of mine used to say “persistence wears down resistance” – it certainly does. I am still here, nearly 5 years down the line, very healthy, enjoying life.

I still keep a big eye on the game – I have regular thermograms, regular blood testing, consults with my experts, and would say I live an 80/20 life on the food front. Everyday I am grateful for the path I chose, for the people who showed up for me, the experts in their field who I trusted.

The Breathing Space needed to be created, it saved me from despair and fear. It was cathartic to write it down – so I guess in essence, I did it for myself. My hope and wish is that it may help someone else in my position to get a glimmer of hope that there is another way to view a cancer diagnosis. Remove the fear, make yourself your project and believe at a core level that your body actually wants to be well. Cancer shows up when your body is sick, it is signalling to you that you need to take a long deep hard look at your life. Please respect your body’s wish, listen and take action.

I am here, just message me if you have a question. Much love Jane xx

Always A Quest for Alternative Therapies

by Jane McCourt | May 10, 2022 | Uncategorized

The latest thing for me to research is into Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). According to the NHS it is “a poorly understood condition where a person experiences persistent severe and debilitating pain”.

On 7th March, 2022, I required surgery on my left hand for Dupuytren’s Contracture. This is a condition which affects the palmar fascia, and the common signs are the bending of the fingers down towards the palm of the hand. Usually the outside two fingers, but can affect the whole hand.

A pretty straight forward operation apparently which good success rates. Unfortunately for me this hasn’t been the case. I often wonder if in a previous life I was perhaps a rather naughty person – over the past 6 years I have had nothing but problems, one after the other with my health. There isn’t much known about this disease, no-one in my family has it, it doesn’t appear to be diet related and my diet is really good. They mention a possible alcohol link, and granted I used to drink every day prior to my cancer diagnosis. I very rarely drink now, so perhaps this is the left overs of my previous life!! This condition literally appeared over a period of a few weeks during the lockdown we experienced in 2020. Perhaps it was a fear reaction?

My body and perhaps my mind has gone into overdrive and is still reacting to a trauma response to my hand. My hand is still swollen, I cannot bend properly my 3 middle fingers, and the middle finger which was operated on along with the palm of my hand are extremely painful. It actually hurts still to touch or rub the skin around the scars. And every time I stretch my hand out, it feels like the skin will split. My body seems to have laid extra scar tissue along these incisions as well. I have had several invasive surgeries through my life without this response.

I have seen the surgeon and he has prescribed pregabalin, which is supposed to help with the nerve relationship with pain – change the pain pathways. It has reduced the pain a little not but enough for me to use my hand properly. This medication is also prescribed for anxiety and depression – I am neither of these things – it is a drug which is addictive so you have to have a plan to come off it.

I am seeing the physio every week at the hospital and have exercises, play dough, a splint to wear at night, various pressure bandages for my finger, and silicone tubing and pads. None of these things are reducing the swelling, helping with the finger movement or the pain. The best thing that the physio suggested is alternately immersing my hand in hot and cold water – 1 minute in hot then 30 seconds in the cold water. This actually feels good and relieves the pain for a short while.

Tomorrow I am going to try out Shock Wave Therapy. I had never heard of it before, but a friend of mine who is a runner has it for an injury and suggested I try it out. So I am!

According to https://www.shockwavetherapy.eu/subpage#top shockwave therapy is “a multidisciplinary device used in orthopaedics, physiotherapy, sports medicine, urology and veterinary medicine. Its main assets are fast pain relief and mobility restoration. Together with being a non-surgical therapy with no need for painkillers makes it an ideal therapy to speed up recovery and cure various indications causing acute or chronic pain”.

“Shockwave is an acoustic wave which carries high energy to painful spots and myoskeletal tissues with subacute, subchronic and chronic conditions. The energy promotes regeneration and reparative processes of the bones, tendons and other soft tissues”.

I will report back with my experiences over the course of the next few weeks.

I also wonder who else is experiencing this after an operation? What they have found to help with the pain management and what alternative treatments have been tried? Most importantly of all – does it eventually go away? I sincerely hope so, life is tough with only the full use of one hand with the other in pain 24/7 and one which cannot pick up a tea cup properly.

Also on the list to try is a flotation tank, maybe that will switch off the nerve/pain relationship that has gone into overdrive! There has to be something out there for me to try which yields results!

The Countdown is nearly over …

by Jane McCourt | May 8, 2022 | Uncategorized

The idea of writing down everything that I did during my time in Spain following my breast cancer diagnosis has been circulating in the back of my mind since 2019. In fact, I attended a business course in London and one in Northamptonshire, trying to get my ideas into some kind of format. I didn’t feel right at these meetings, I couldn’t articulate what my message was, I felt that good old “imposter syndrome”, lack of confidence in my offering, feeling that people wouldn’t believe that I had actually achieved this.

In fact, over the course of the past couple of years I have actually had one professional tell me that I can’t have had cancer in the first place to do this, and another person telling me that I was irresponsible in encouraging people to believe that they could do something about a cancer diagnosis for themselves. This all added fuel to my feelings of lack of confidence.

In December last year, I was chatting to a friend about this and he laughed when I said that someone told me that I was irresponsible. He said “I would call someone running around a kindergarten with a gun irresponsible”, “go for it, you have a sound message”. This was all I needed to start off the process and begin finally writing the Breathing Space. I began early December 2021, and am now launching 9 May 2022.

Recurring numbers are things that we notice, my numbers are 5 and 9. I was born on 9th May 1959, remove the 19, and you get 9.5.59. This also works in reverse 59.5.9 – a palindrome. Whenever I get verification codes, or other types of access numbers, they are always full of 5’s and 9’s. I am aware that your date of birth with feature in some of these, but they occur randomly. With this in mind, whilst doing some energy work with a gorgeous woman from South Korea, it came to me that I must launch on my birthday, 9 May. I shall be 63 on this day, if you add 6 + 3 it equals 9!

Once this date was out there, things began to happen. This programme almost wrote itself. The ideas came, and all the people that I respected and have worked with during this healing process agreed to take part in the programme, offering assistance or services – I had my experts. I am not an expert, but I am a collector of information – A Sign Post if you wish. On the production side, again my team came together. I had my expert on the background technicals, Debbie Bunce, and I had my expert photographer, Jo Blackwell, and I had my expert video maker, Dan Blackwell. Everyone has worked with me to ensure this programme works, they have given up their weekend to help get this programme out.

I now choose to BELIEVE that I am on the right path, I have the confidence that this course is what is needed right now for so many who are bewildered with a cancer diagnosis. We do have time to work out what is right for us, don’t let others try and make you believe otherwise. I am not an imposter and I have walked this path and come a long way since that day in November 2017.

Welcome to Breathing Space 9 May 2022

Out Out…

by Jane McCourt | Apr 28, 2022 | Uncategorized

It’s been a long haul since my breast cancer diagnosis in November 2017. I have literally kept my head down, researched and followed a very strict protocol.

This hasn’t left much time for socialising, doing things that make me happy and make me feel alive.

A few weeks ago, I posted about how I was feeling so low, unhappy and confused about who I am. I think that anyone who has had a life-threatening illness that has also pulled through, will identify with this. I lost my sense of essentially “who am I?” Totally focussing on my healing gave me a purpose, something to consume my days and nights – can I do this? Will it all be OK? But now I am healing, the tumour is breaking down, no sign of cancer, what is life now?

I feel a little like a caterpillar breaking out of the chrysalis and becoming a butterfly. A new fresh, clean person. All the work I have done personally to clear out the “deadly” parts of my life have left a big gap! So, what now?

Well, I was invited to a party last night. A party invite from a dear friend from my past – there would be lots of people there that I hadn’t seen in a long time, some 15 years ago. My “old life”. This made me very nervous – I haven’t been out much over the past two years, I haven’t done fun chat, laughing, dancing, being carefree, I have almost forgotten what it’s like! I had a new outfit, new shoes and went to the hairdressers for a wash and ‘out out’ blow dry – I wanted to feel good, this outward me to help with the anxiety inside.

At the last minute I decided I couldn’t go, I didn’t like the anxious feeling, the “oh what if I don’t know anyone, how will I be received?” Daft really, but very real to me.

I am currently staying with my youngest son, life throws curve balls for sure! I mentioned how I was feeling to him – his take was that I should go, enjoy myself and start living again. I had done “the time” so to speak, it was time to re-engage with life… meet old friends, make new ones and above all let my hair down, have a couple of drinks, laugh and dance.

So, that is precisely what I did… and guess what? I had a wonderful night – I woke up this morning with a slight headache, but also with the feeling of joy and happiness – I am so pleased that I went. A hurdle overcome and now I have a new purpose in life, it is meant to be lived with adventure and energy. The down times are necessary, but not for life. That old phrase, “one life, live it” is precisely what I am going to do. And yes, no doubt, I will experience down days, but the best is on its way.

Wake Up People

by Jane McCourt | Apr 28, 2022 | Uncategorized

Be responsible for your own health and wellbeing. Stop relying on the pharmaceutical industry to fix every problem in your physical, emotional, and spiritual life. YOU ARE NOT A CAR, OR A BIKE OR TRAIN – general maintenance for “off the shelf” parts doesn’t work in the long term.

Emergency repair is needed on occasion, and I have no beef with that – I too needed life saving abdominal surgery in 2016, and I gratefully thank the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry for that – this is not what I am referring to.

EVERYDAY GENERAL HEALTH OF YOUR OWN BODY IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

If you have a heart attack and you have a stent fitted, don’t go back to your old ways and back to the pub to drink your red wine and smoke your e cigarette – and tell me it’s better than a normal cigarette, of course it isn’t. Wake up and start taking responsibility for the food you are eating, the exercise you are taking, the life you are leading, look at the stress levels you are under.

CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION ABOUT YOUR OWN LIFE – because I will tell you a secret, no one else will, you are not their responsibility.

If you have an auto immune disease, give up the dairy, give up the stimulants in the form of coffee, tea, alcohol, lashings of cheese (oh! I can’t possibly give all this up, life would be boring.) No shit Sherlock, you can always reinvent your life, be happy, full of joy, but you can’t if you are sick.

I had a friend yesterday who went to Dignitas – he was my very first boyfriend, a lovely man. I have another dear friend who is not doing too well, and I am going to miss her dearly. I am grieving for my friends who are no longer here and those who are sick.

During my own two-year cancer healing journey life has been tough. I have had to say NO to friends, parties, events, food, drink, social life, Christmas, New Year, birthday celebrations – I changed my life, I lived on a farm for a year away from everything and everyone. I got my food delivered from Riverford Organic Farms so that I wasn’t tempted but by the smell of sausage rolls, and take away foods which litter our streets.

How did I do this? MINDSET, pure and simple. At times I felt sorry for myself, poor me, only natural. But do you know what? Every bloody day I got up, made my coffee enema, made my juices, cooked my simple life force giving food, took my supplements. I cried, I laughed, I feel sick due to the massive detox I put my body through. I was weak, stressed, bored, happy, sad, elated, joyful. I listened to random music, read books whilst laying on the floor during my enema and even chatted to friends! Good job I didn’t have the video camera on!

Wake up, wake up, wake up – take responsibility for yourself my friends.

If you get cancer diagnosis or any serious health issue please think, research, change your life before you act. Do not automatically go for the “get it out of my body” knee jerk reaction – surgery not performed correctly can release millions of cancer cells loose into your body, spread cancer cells like wildfire. You are creating the perfect environment – increased blood supply, nutrients, growth hormones to heal the surgery. Cancer and general ill health are big money earners for the pharmaceutical industries – they don’t care about you or the cause of your illness. They only want to treat the symptoms not the cause. You are the cause by living in a misinformed state of bliss.

Written in 2019

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