Musang king - you got me!

I was in quite a severe pain this week because of this culprit - musang king, the yellow flesh durian that is very rich and creamy, courtesy of my neighbour :-) Can't sleep at night because the thing throbbed really bad that I had to take pain killer to doze me off.

Well, I actually have been having durian since last week, the trees back in my hometown bare some fruits and I cannot resist looking at the king of fruit! I'm going back home again this weekend, but this time, I promise not to take any :-) Boy it was really painful. When I look back, durian is one of the forbidden item to consume while I'm on Sabah Snake Grass. Padan muka ku - langgar pantang!

Usually when I have had durian, I also drink the fresh hempedu bumi tea just to neutralize the sweetness. Unfortunately, when I had the durian at home here, there was no hempedu bumi tea to take. My hempedu bumi that grew wild in my garden pot, has been destroyed by the guy who cleared my garden recently. As the remedy, I just boil the soursop leaves and drink it as and when, and make sure I bring some to the office too. It works and the pain is now manageable.

What an experience at the end of 2011...2012 is coming, wishing everyone who reads this blog a prosperous and a happy new year. 2011 was quite a good year, hoping for a better 2012, Insya'Allah...

Ample supply of Sabah Snake Grass

A friend has just called that he has ample supply of Sabah Snake Grass in his nursery. This is a very good news to me as my SSG are still growing and the leaves are still young. The matured leaves seem to work for me based on my experience taking them. My friend has ample of it now in this rainy season, real big leaves which are ready for harvest. To those in Klang Valley area who would like a supply of fresh leaves at a very minimal cost (upah petik:-), do contact me at 019-2287366. Not only that the SSG is good to treat cancer, it can also be used to treat those with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high uric acid and diabetes. So why not give it a try...

Thankful for another birthday

Alhamdulillah, I get to see 45 :-) Hope for many more years to come with good health of course. I've been busy lately with teaching loads, some shootings (as I appeared in Wanita Hari Ini (TV3) recently and will appear in Nona soon) and managing the kids who were supposed to go for surgery last month but postponed til next week.

Health wise, manageable. Felt a bit of pain lately after I had hempedu bumi blended with green apple recently. Came to know that the hempedu bumi is also call Indian Snake Grass, the cousin of Sabah Snake Grass that I've been taking :-) As for the pain, it shows that the treatment is responding. Soon the lump will get smaller and smaller and will be totally gone. At least I dreamt about it last night!

Have to pen off now to go out and celebrate...

Go green

It has been almost two months since my previous entry. Well, actually I wrote one during fasting month but it did get published. Just to mention that it was a blissful Ramadhan, fasting at ease, praying at ease too. The best part is that I lost 4 kg and my BMI is now at the normal range.

Raya was a good one too. Our theme this year is 'green'. In line with going back to nature, growing greens, eating greens :-)

Raya is almost over, semester has already started and I'm back to normal life - teaching and finishing off my thesis. And at the same time, still fighting with the big 'C'.

I went to Pasar Tani Shah Alam two weeks back and glad to find the Sabah Snake Grass - very healthy and bushy plant and I grabbed 4 of them, planning to re-grow more. I revisited about SSG in the net and guess what, some do advise to just chew the leaves! I'd be like kambing (goat) soon :-) For the sake of getting better, I don't mind. But I like it better by drinking the blended SSG with green apple which reminds me, I'm out of green apple and I should drop by at the pasar malam here to get some.

Had breakfast with friends this morning and when chatting about health, they were amazed on how relax I'm when I told them that I felt another lump near my armpit. Well, as long as I'm ok, and I'm taking what I should to get rid of it, I need not worry about it. Besides, I haven't gone for my scan to check whether it's cancerous or not. I guess it's time to really go green eh!

Admitted into Hospital Ramadhan

Welcome Ramadhan! Heard in the radio yesterday about embracing Ramadhan – it is as if we are admitted into Hospital Ramadhan. Take all the opportunity and grab as much as possible. I’m thankful that I can still fast at ease and perform tarawikh at ease too. I still go to the same masjid where the imam recites 30 juz of the Al-Qur’an. This time I bring along a bottle of plain water and let the cap open during the prayer time. Drinking the water that has been recited with Al-Qur’an is therapeutic too. In addition, it’s indeed a good 2 hour exercise and hopefully the lump will shrink and will totally be gone by raya time…

Another alternative - Herbs based

My friend sent me a text message to find out how I was doing. She was a bit down and almost giving up with the alternative option; her lump at times shrunk and at times gets bigger. She got frustrated when the lump gets bigger especially nearing to menstrual. Well, it should be because the cancer cells are lavish with the estrogens isn’t it? Easy way out – take out the lump and the ovaries. But then again, what for…

Actually my friend was intimidated by the words of a blogger in her recent post. Well, I told her if she is not happy with it, just don’t read. We are free to write what we want, and we are free to read what we want. If we don’t like it, by all means, don’t read it. It’s a free country and we are free to choose what treatment we prefer. Personally I don’t like to go to the hospital for treatment. My BP can easily go up and I feel really stressed when I’m at the hospital. Stress is certainly not good for the cancer. When I go and see the alternative practitioner, they talk happily, act happily and usually very encouraging that it can be cured. This will certainly send positive vibes to the brain and who knows it leads to self-healing.

I recently went to another alternative practitioner who uses herbs for treatment. I came across him through a blogger who recently lost her sister to BC (who happened to be my friends’ colleague in another university). She just met this practitioner and not sure whether her sis got to meet him. This practitioner is a pensioner now (used to work in the local university) who, based on his knowledge on herbs has prepared medications to cure many ailments including cancer. I was prescribed capsules to be taken during night time and caplets to be taken in the morning. The night one is to kill the cancer cells. I don’t swallow the capsule and instead, take it out and mix with water and drink. It doesn’t taste bad and it has a bit of celery taste in it. The caplets taken in the morning is to clean the blood, small and easily swallowed and has a nice smell too. It has been three days since I took it, too early to tell but I think it’s responding well. The lump feels smaller and less throbbing. On top of it I still take the cendawan susu rimau by mixing it with my coffee and blended juice. My Sabah Snake Grass is growing and I’m going to let it grow more leaves before I harvest them.

Be it alternative or conventional treatment, we all are going to die anyway and it’s written somewhere there but we never know when and in what condition. The point is we have to be prepared at all times. Fasting month is coming and it’s a good avenue to pray for longer and healthier years. I’m fortunate that I have five kids that always pray for my good health of which two are special ones. God will answer to their prayers and I’ll be around until all of them are independent. In the meantime, I’m grateful of my condition now; even though I have cancer, I am at par with those who are free of cancer and in fact better that those who suffer other diseases like SLE, arthritis and so on. I feel good, I’m free to do whatever I want, go wherever I want at ease, eat well and sleep well too. And at the point of writing, I’m looking forward to our reunion (ex-secondary schoolmates) tomorrow, surely there will be lots of giggles and we certainly will be like kids again…

Sabah Snake Grass

Recently, a friend forwarded me an email about Sabah Snake Grass (SSG) or Belalai Gajah as it called in malay, a remedy for C. SSG is a small plant like the hempedu bumi except it doesn’t taste bitter. We just need to blend some leaves together with green apple plus a bit of lime and drink it right away. I got my Sabah Snake Grass recently (my friend came back from Sarawak and brought along the SSG, the plant as well as the dried ones). I have tried it for several days now and I’m running out of leaves already, so I just boiled the dried ones and drink it. It tastes alright, just like herbal tea.

I’m in the mood of juicing lately, besides the SSG plus green apple juice, I also juice the soursop and aloe vera. Whenever I got a supply of soursop, I cut them into slices and store them in the freezer. When I feel like having one, I’ll just take out a slice and blend it together with aloe vera. My neighbour has the barbados type, real big one and she gave me some recently.

On top of the juices, I also take turmeric juice as recently discovered the powerful benefits of it. Usually ladies who have just given birth are given this turmeric juice as a uterine stimulant. When I was on confinement, I simply refuse to take this turmeric juice when my mother offered for one, but now, I’m ever willing to drink one. I have also been warned not to take it regularly as it will result in early menopause. Come to think of it, it’s in fact a natural effect of ‘tamoxifen’, to block the estrogen receptors on the breast tissue cells.

In conclusion, I’m living a quality life, traveling to work everyday, and making trips back to my hometown almost every week managing the land that we recently bought. The lump is still there; based on the alternative practitioner that I went to, said that it’s not cancerous, it’s just a growth. How does the practitioner come with that thought, I don’t know but I like to think that way too :-) Maybe my regime has shown its result and the lump must have turn benign. Well, we will see in a few months when my yearly check up is due…

Photo competition

My eldest daughter entered a photo competition at her college recently whereby she has to narrate something about the photo. I suggested to her this picture and guess what, she won first prize for the competition.

This is what she wrote about the photo :

This picture of my mother is taken two years ago in Nottingham, United Kingdom. My mom is pursuing her dream to get a PhD there. Unfortunately, after a year living there, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the number one killer among women. However, she is a very tough and strong woman. She did not give up her PhD, instead she keeps her mind positive with determination that the disease will be cured, as Allah has stated in the Quran, every disease have their cure, unless death. That is just what makes her so special. In this picture, she is smiling even though at that time, the medicine for her chemotherapy is being infused in her veins for two hours. In the meantime, she reads the book about the disease so that the time will not fly away easily. As the sun shines behind her, we know that the hope is still there..We just have to strive and don’t ever give up..That is what she always telling me..

Two years down the road, this is my latest pic - taken at the hospital where my mother was recently warded for acute pancreatitis. She got over with it, well and fine, and we can celebrate mother's day together this weekend.

Thanks to my Nokia 6630 of which both pics were taken using it - not bad eh... the phone that I've owned for 6 years now and will continue using it till the end. Blame me on not keeping up with the technology, and in fact I have a new blackberry, but I still prefer my Nokia 6630 - a sentimental value, a gift from my hubby...

Annona plant family

Re-reading about soursop, and glad to find out that buah nona or sweetsop or scientific name annona squamosa is also part of annona plant family. Since soursop is hard to get, this sweetsop will be a great substitute. I can't wait to go home this weekend - my mom's nona is riping on the tree. I hope it's still there if the monkeys don't eat it...

Kind of busy this past few weeks and the stress makes my BP go up that I now have to take medication to control it. One tablet of 10mg Amlong at night does the trick but I'm looking for other substitute so that I don't have to depend of this medication throughout my life. Tasted buah tunjuk langit or mahogany recently but can't stand the bitterness of it - more bitter than apricot seed. Probably I'll get it in a capsule form.

My other worries - the radiation from Japan's nuclear reactor. I have friends and relatives staying there and pity them that they are exposed to the radiation. But how can we be sure that the radiation won't get here? Maybe the authorities can control the fruits and vegetables from Japan but what about the fish? Won't the fish at their ocean swim at our ocean? Something to ponder isn't it?

Well, we have to consume more soursops or sweetsops then...

Another anniversary

It’s our 20^th wedding anniversary yesterday and thank Allah we have made it this far. Time really flies, I just can’t believe that it has been 20 years already.

This is what we got for our wedding anniversary this year – a piece of land around 1.8 acres at my hometown. Plans are on the way to cultivate this land, planting rubber trees as well as fruit trees, including soursop of course. No hurry in building a house yet as we have around ten years to go before retirement. And of course, this will be the place that we will spend our retirement years at.

Cultivating this land will certainly keep me busy. I ever blog about doing other thing so as not to worry much about this C. So, this is it. This will certainly take my mind out of it. Besides, it is also a therapy for me. Surrounded by trees, the air is still fresh, a natural oxygen therapy for me.

In the meantime, I’m feeling great, leading my day-to-day life at ease. I now have constant supply of cendawan susu harimau courtesy of a research company who is researching on the cendawan. On top of it, I am taking the apricot seeds, the real bitter ones this time. I also drink my serai tea, and habatussauda oil as well as extra virgin olive oil everyday. I’ve been trying very hard to reduce on sugar and totally take out dairy products from my diet. So far so good...

Secret of self-healing by Dr Mao

I'm done with Prof Jane's book and am trying very hard to implement what I've learned from it. Surprisingly, lots of products contain milk protein; the coco crunch cereal that I bought for my kids also contain milk protein and even the powdered form coconut milk for my curry also have milk protein. Why is that so? Are they cheap that they can simply add as part of it's ingredients? And how come the kids' milk are so expensive then? Something to ponder, isn't it?

Leaving out the dairy products seems quite ok so far. I do miss the ice cream though but no worries, I can have ice lolly without milk in case I crave for one. She also suggested tofu, tempeh as substitute of proteins and I have started doing it too. While eating out, I choose tofu, tempeh and green veges plus ulam2 together with my rice. Guess what, it's cheap too :-) Most of the time, I pack my lunch from home as I have to cook for my family early in the morning anyway. And since we have a new stock of fish last week, I bet the daily menu would be fish and fish and fish with variety of ways to cook them, of course.

I'm now reading the secrets of self-healing by Dr Mao. It doesn't target specifically on curing the C but it has good tips for self-healing and for sure it will do me good...

Your life in your hands - Prof Jane Plant

During my last visit, I found this book at the carboot sales - a very good bargain, I thought I'd add it to my collection. It's written by a scientist who contracted BC in 1987, had several recurrences and finally defeated her BC, using her training and knowledge as a natural scientist to understand it and to overcome it.

262 pages, hard cover, a very personalized writing, once I start reading it, I cannot stop :-) A very inspiring writing, which has given me answers to why I contracted this BC. I remember I had an email which says dairy products cause cancer. In this book, I found out ‘why’ and ‘how’ scientifically.

I’m trying my best to follow her steps- remove dairy products totally. The best – be a vegan but I don’t think I’d go to that extend. Vegan means taking produce from plants only. I’m not ready to sacrifice the fish and chicken. My husband will be going for a fishing trip next week and I can’t resist the freshness of it, the smell of fresh curry fish, steam fish etc. And once in a while, I also go for the ayam kampung near my office.

So far I have no complaint over my health. Although the lump is still there, I still lead a good quality life, with no pains here and there. I pity some of my friends who have contracted arthritis and so on, suffer pains at their joints, backbones etc, and as the results, limiting their movements and so on. I’m still blessed with good health, Alhamdulillah…

The next book that I will read – Secrets of Self-Healing by Dr Mao. An excerpt from the cover,

"we all have a built-in healing ability, so why not try to activate it with natural means before we resort to drugs and invasive procedures?”

Hmmm, this is a very strong reason why I should not go for surgery…