SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE MY LAST POST and I am so excited to share my journey with all of you!!! Two years ago I sat in a hospital bed completely unaware of how much this genetic mutation would really take over my life, consume my thoughts every single day, and completely reroute my goals and plans.

Let’s start with some housekeeping. 

When I first received the news about my mutation I knew little about genetics, disease, or well-being. After processing the news and getting my head on straight, I vowed from that moment on that I would dedicate myself to better understand the body and how it works and to be the absolute best version of myself mentally and physically despite my faulty genes. I spent the past two years narrowing my studies down to biomedical science only to discover my indomitable wonder of the single, most precious unit of life-the cell.  To understand all of what we know now about our bodies and its fundamental building blocks (the cell) is kind of like understanding magic. The intricate and extravagant mechanisms our bodies’ are capable of are carried out with such immaculate grace we don’t even REALIZE (never mind stop to think about) the internal processes that are taking place every single millionth of a nanosecond! Throughout these blogs I hope to bring some light to some of those mechanisms and some ideas about health you may or may not agree with and thats OKAY (woah I know, CRAZY!)!! To understand health and well-being in its entirety is to look at both the physical AND mental states of the body (the phrase “stress is a killer” is NOT A JOKE). Each and every person and each and every cell in that person works differently from the next so specific, personalized plans are definitely the way to go to achieve optimum wellbeing (which is why I LOATHE fad diets-rant number one, sorry!). Each person thinks, does, and fires differently and you MUST aim to do WHATEVER works for you in both your physical and mental realms! Your body will tell you what it likes and what it doesn’t as long as you are listening!!!

Let’s start!

So eventually I hope to make this an all around well-being blog but for now I must stick to my guns! I promised in my first ever blog post that I would get as MUCH information out there on BRCA mutations as I could once I educated myself and that’s where we will start. The good thing is that most of this information overlaps into everyday life (if you have been enjoying my food analysis posts this blog will blow your mind!!) and has a little something for everyone from cancer fighting diets, anti-inflammatory tips and tricks (after all its the #1 cause of aging in the body!), energy boosters and even how to stay sane in a world of Trump (HAH!). There are definitely some synergetic perks to working and studying in the field I am in and having this genetic mutation. My biomed and chemistry degree allows me to specialize in a lot of different areas and I have definitely focused on the cell, genetics, nutrition and how they all can work together-and it’s pretty amazing. My job brings in the top scientists of the world and keeps us up-to-date with cutting edge breakthroughs in cancer and infectious disease and I work with hundreds of targets in pathways every single day. My mutation puts me on a VIP list of medical conferences around the world to be in the know of only the most current BRCA and cancer news. I am lucky enough to be getting the best information in the world academically, industrially, and medically-and for that, I am lucky. There is definitely a slight feeling of safety in being educated about my body as a machine and how to keep it well oiled 🙂

Cell Signaling Pathways

 

THESE ARE MY JAM and where I would like to begin today’s blog. What most people don’t know is that almost every single thing that happens in the body is set off by a cascade of events which ultimately leads to a reaction from the body. These are called pathways and to understand a process in the body, the entire pathway must be analyzed. These pathways can be thought of a lot like dominoes and if even one of these dominoes is out of place the pathway is interrupted potentially deterring an important mechanism of the body. Here’s the catch-these are NOT fun to analyze and begin to understand. For example:

Not so cut and dry, eh?! But in the past few years I have striven to explore all different pathways, deconstruct them and understand them at a level where I can hopefully avoid any road blocks in my own body and help others to do the same. The BRCA mutation is a roadblock for me that I will never be able to bridge. Genetic breakthroughs however, have allowed me to ensure children without the faulty gene and a longer survival rate with preventative care (this is DEFINITELY a pre-disposition so FUCK YOU TRUMP, I’m predisposed and proud!).

That pesky BRCA gene

To have a BRCA (1 or 2) mutation is to have a faulty tumor suppressor gene. Each and every organism will undergo DNA breaks, cells with damaged cell cycle controls or some other onset of cancer. The miraculous things about our bodies is that in most people these issues are cleared up by the body itself by signaling your damaged cell to commit programmed cell death-apoptosis. This is what saves your life billions of times on the daily (along with billions of other cellular programs)!! The integrity of the human genome protection pathway is crucial to survival. As of today, the greatest risk factor for breast and ovarian cancer is the inheritance of a mutation in one of the breast cancer susceptibility genes-BRCA1/2. The name literally comes from the words BReast CAncer. Together they work in a common pathway of genome protection but at different stages of the DNA damage response. BRCA1 is a pleiotropic DDR protein that functions in checkpoint activation and DNA repair. BRCA2 is a mediator of the homologous recombination mechanism. The links between the two are still not quite understood but together they work to protect the genome from double-stranded DNA breaks during DNA replication-the leading cause of cancers. When one of these genes is interrupted by mutation the DNA damage response ceases to exist, thereby, highly increasing a mutant’s occurrence of cancer.

So What Does That Mean for Me?

A couple of things. It means I need to take every precaution available to halt cancer from taking over my body. It means that I load up on foods that I KNOW have cancer fighting compounds (mostly plant based foods, sorry meat lovers!). It means I refrain as much as I can from additives, processed ingredients, red meat, dairy, alcohol and sugar while remembering that quality of life is important and to cheat in moderation. One of the many reasons I never skip vegetables with ANY meal is that it allows me to feel less guilty about splurging on ice cream here and there or binge eating a block of cheese. My golden rule is to just be MINDFUL of what you are putting into your body. It is important not to STRESS over dieting or killing yourself on the treadmill but instead to make sure your body gets what it needs, much like fueling up in your car. (Throughout my upcoming posts I’ll be sure to include a different compound and some of that magic it can do for your body as well as good, natural sources of said compound). If you give your cells what they need to function optimally they are more inclined to be less affected when you slip up! I am a firm believer that what you DON’T eat is more important than what you DO eat. I have found that being deficient in certain compounds is just as, if not more, harmful to your cells than going for that scoop of ice cream or a burger here and there. That’s why I force-feed myself some of the most disgusting concoctions imaginable in the morning so I don’t need to stress the rest of my day. I am a huge fan of super-packing nutrients, blocking your nose, and throwing down a nice glass of disease fighting plants!  It also means that I have A LOT of decisions to make in a very small amount of time. It means I have to meet with a team of doctors and geneticists regularly to make sure I am physically and mentally able to deal with this new lifestyle. It means I have folders and pamphlets with my name on it and preceding big red writing declaring me “HIGH CANCER RISK”. It means I must be screened by breast MRI every 3-6 months to check for cancers. It means I should think about prophylactic surgeries like a double mastectomy and an oophorectomy in my 30s and more specifically by the time my mother had her first cancer. It means dismantling every single part of my body that makes me female in hopes of beating cancer to the punch-and trust me when I tell you, it never gets easier waking up without thinking about it. It never gets easier to undress at the end of the night and scan my own breasts with two fingers probing the circumference of my areola hoping today is not the day I find another lump. It never gets easier to lay on an MRI table face down with my breasts through holes like udders for 65 minutes knowing exactly what they’re looking for. It never gets easier going to the cancer center wanting to be hurt and angry but knowing I am the luckiest one in the room. I don’t need chemo, I don’t need radiation, and right now I am cancer free- and to journey on that must be my main focus.

What now?

On September 13th I have my very first appointment with my plastic surgeon (eeeeek!). I will explore all of my options and ask all of my questions about the double mastectomy procedures with and without reconstruction. My breast cancer doctor at Mass General hand-picked her for me and I can not WAIT to meet her!! This means my next post will be devoted SOLELY to all of the information there is to know about the different types of procedures for a prophylactic double mastectomy (that one’s for my fellow mutants!!!!) As for now my daily routines include a lot of phytochemicals, sulforaphane (my FAVORITE cancer fighting plant compound found mostly from cruciferous vegetables and their sprouts) and antioxidants, walks and bike rides, amazing people, gardening, being outside, smoking/eating medical marijuana, yoga, gratitude and (sorry Mom!) great sex. QUALITY OF LIFE IS IMPORTANT!!!!

LET’S SAY IT AGAIN

QUALITY OF LIFE IS IMPORTANT!!!!!

Be happy, be healthy, and DO YOU. Eat right and exercise. Put your body under a little bit of stress (cold showers, intermittent fasting, strength training) and watch your body thrive. Be the best version of YOU.

Please feel free to contact me in any way if you ever have any questions!!! I love hearing from everyone and their nutritional journeys so keep the questions and comments coming!!! Also I love to hear NEW information!!!!! If you are a health junkie let’s chat!! I want to share what I know, and learn from others what I don’t!!!

Upcoming blog topics to look forward to:

The Prophylactic Double Mastectomy vs Lifetime Screening

Medical Marijuana

Vegetarian vs Vegan vs Moderation: The Pros and Cons

Food Analysis Threads