Hope for Breast Cancer: Lessons Learned & Truths Revealed (Part 1) – Podcast Episode 40

Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 40 – Hope for Breast Cancer Documentary: Lessons Learned and Truths Revealed

The contents of this presentation are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This presentation does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

 

[0:00 – 0:55] Prelude to Lessons Learned

Mama Z: You know, if you’re at a crossroad and you’re really trying to figure out what to do or where to go, pray for God’s perfect will in your life. And that’s for people who know the Bible or don’t know the Bible. But you can’t go wrong, because we know what His will is for our lives.

Dr. Z: Seeking God’s wisdom to know His perfect will.

Mama Z: Yes, yes; that’s part two.

Dr. Z: So, ask your friend. Say, “Pray for me that God would give me wisdom to know what to do. 

Mama Z: Right. And remember it says that if you pray for wisdom–and this is all throughout Proverbs–, but wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in all things, God will give it to you liberally if you ask. And giving it liberally means without restraint. So, no matter how old you are, you can still be wise in the Lord.

 

[0:56 – 1:33] Intro to Lessons Learned

Dr. Z: Hi! This is Dr. Z.

Mama Z: And Mama Z. And welcome to episode 40 of the Natural Living Family podcast.

Dr. Z: Each week we invite you into our home to talk about how you can master the art and science of natural living. And we share the very same tips our family uses each and every day to enjoy an abundant life. And you are going to love today’s talk.

Mama Z: So, come on in and get comfortable. After all, you’re one of the family, our natural living family.

Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun, we’re excited to invite you to a special event.

 

[1:34 – 2:59] Special Invitation: Hope for Breast Cancer

Mama Z: Within the past few years, we’ve lost Eric’s grandma, as well as my aunt, brother-in-law, and one of my best friends to various forms of cancer.

Dr. Z: All the while, several of our closest friends and family members received that horrifying diagnosis everyone dreads to hear.

Mama Z: So, we’ve decided to partner with our friends at Cancer Tutor to do our part to help you not go through what we’ve experienced.

Dr. Z: For the past eighteen months, Natural Living Family and Cancer Tutor have been busy working on a film project to bring awareness to people that there is truly hope for cancer. We sponsored a stage 2 breast cancer patient to receive non-toxic therapies for one year and have documented her progress along the way.

Mama Z: This story gives a candid look at her journey through integrative cancer treatments. And we want to give you a special access pass to watch the movie before we submit it to film festivals and online streaming services.

Dr. Z: We cordially invite you to a special screening of the global premiere that will air this coming November 6.

Mama Z: Simply go to HopeforBreastCancer.com (that’s h-o-p-e-f-o-r breast cancer, dot com) to reserve your spot today. And you’ll get instant access to some of the behind-the-scenes footage and some other amazing goodies.

Dr. Z: We believe there is hope for breast cancer. And we invite you on our mission to help stop this epidemic.

 

[3:00 – 6:07] The Hope for Breast Cancer Documentary

Dr. Z: Hey there, everybody. Welcome to the show. It’s episode 40 of the Natural Living Family podcast. And it’s also October 21. Things are getting a little nippy outside. We have fall harvest.

Mama Z: Harvest time.

Dr. Z: Vegetables.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: We have a wonderful diffuser blend. Don’t share it yet; but soon, in just a second. And we have a very special show for you today. But I have to tell you, spoiler alerts for those of you who have been tuning in and watching, following along what we have been doing. We are going to be giving fun little spoilers of the up and coming Hope for Breast Cancer documentary. That’s going to have a global premiere starting November 6. And you can sign for free right now to reserve your seat at HopeforBreastCancer.com.

So, today is all about “The Lessons Learned and the Truths Revealed.” And we’re going to really dive deep and into breast cancer, breast health, and everything all related, especially in honor of breast cancer awareness month. And we have a special guest today. Chris is here.

Chris: Hi, howdy ho, good neighbor!

Dr. Z: Chris Price is one of the producers, one of the extraordinary editors and sound mixers. And he did a jack of all trades to help take this wonderful documentary.

Mama Z: Yea, we probably would have had to put a whole slide with all of the things that he did and all the hats that he played for the documentary.

Dr. Z: Well, it’s pretty much all the hats he plays for everything else we do, for all the classes that we produce, and for all of the . . . And for those of you watching right now on You Tube, you don’t see Chris, because we have this little fun joke. Chris is the man behind the curtain.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: So, Chris is actually . . .

Mama Z: If we had a curtain.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Mama Z: He would be the man behind it.

Dr. Z: So, Chris brings a wonderful perspective, because he is not a health expert. He is not a doctor. He loves Jesus. He is very skilled in what he does. But while editing and producing and helping film some of this movie, he learned.

And he had many wild moments. Like, “Wow! I didn’t know that. Wow! I didn’t know that. Wow! I don’t know that.” And so, we talked about why don’t we have a show just talking about those wow moments. And then Sabrina had her own wow moments as really one of Angie’s caregivers and best friend during this process. And me, as the director of this whole entire process and the executive producer, I had my own wow moments.

So, that’s the context for this. And let me tell you, y’all, we already have thousands, literally thousands of people that have already signed up to watch this global screening. We’ve already been told by documentary experts and gurus that this is a favored documentary to win film festivals. And this is legit. This is a legit movie that you’re going to laugh, you’re going to cry. You’ll probably cry again. And you’re going to love it.

Mama Z: Absolutely.

Dr. Z: And because you’re part of our natural living family, we want to give you access to watch it for free.

Mama Z: But we have to give credit where credit is due. And it’s completely inspired by God.

Dr. Z: Amen!

Mama Z: Only God is the best story teller of all. And what He does in our lives is a story.

Dr. Z: Amen.

Mama Z: And we just got to see a glimpse. And this was amazing.

Dr. Z: And if you haven’t, be sure to listen to episode 39, because episode 39 covers in detail the back story to the why and the how, and really why we do what we do.

 

[6:08 – 7:26] Diffuser Blend: Chai Tea

Dr. Z: Well, before we go into all the fun stuff, what’s in our diffuser?

Mama Z: Okay, so, this is called chai tea. And you had said you really liked it.

Dr. Z: I did.

Mama Z: And because it is a fall day, and I steep some chai tea bags and made my own little chai tea, it really inspired me. But we have equal parts in our case, because we have a bigger diffuser. It’s three drops of each. But equal parts are perfect for your diffuser of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger.

Dr. Z: Cinnamon leaf or cinnamon bark? We always get asked that question.

Mama Z: So, this one is actually cinnamon bark.

Dr. Z: Ooh, yummy! Awesome!

Mama Z: So, anyway, I love this. It really does feel like fall. And coming back from Michigan, it was very fall like. So, when I talk to people here, they always say, “Oh, yea, I love how the clothes from the fall are so awesome.” And I’m like, “We only get to really wear them for like a month.” So, people in the South actually wear it more honorary than necessary. But up north, it’s necessary.

Dr. Z: Pretty much. I love that. It’s a good smell.

Mama Z: Mmm hmm.

 

[7:27 – 9:11] Testimonial Time!

Dr. Z: All right, I’m going through notes here. Before we dive in, we have a review.

Mama Z: We do.

Dr. Z: Okay, thank you. Thank everyone.

Mama Z: I will.

Dr. Z: We’ve got to thank people.

Mama Z: I thank you for listening. I thank you . . .

Dr. Z: Well, we thank people for leaving reviews. It’s really a special thing.

Mama Z: It is. It is. And I’m so glad, because . . .

Dr. Z: I just don’t want this to be like, “Okay, it’s review time. It’s diffuser time.” It’s really special for someone to go completely out of their way. They’re listening.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: They click a button. It actually could be a pain in the butt, clicking a button, typing it up, typo, edit. I get it. It’s an effort. And I’m like, “Thank you so much, because we have almost three-hundred whatever reviews.” And it’s like, “Yay!” So, anyway, I have a heart of appreciation for that.

Mama Z: It’s not “yay!” It’s “Yay!!”

Dr. Z: There you go. So, what’s our special review? Because there’s a lead-in why I chose this review today, because it leads into something else.

Mama Z: Okay. It’s five stars. So, thank you so much! It says, “Love, love, love; I love your godly view on everything natural living. Your tips on abundance are everything.” And this is from Taylor B Official, via Apple podcast in the U.S.A.

Dr. Z: Yay!

Mama Z: Yay!

Dr. Z: So, thank you! And I like that one, because I’m going to ask y’all to stay tuned to the very end of the show, because we have a very special natural living family tip for you. And that’s going to be all about using essential oils for breast cancer, and what the research has shown. Because that’s one of the things that I learned filming this documentary and preparing for a product that we actually offer called the Women’s Health Series. We have a whole class on how to use essential oils for breast cancer. And I want to give you at least the list—which is key—the list of oils which have been shown in research to help. Stay tuned to the very, very end.

 

[9:12 – 13:36] Behind the Scenes: A Videographer’s Perspective

Dr. Z: All right, I’ve got lots to cover. Chris has lots to cover. Mama Z has lots to cover. Chris, are you ready? Open us up. What are your thoughts? Because we have been rambling for a while.

Chris: Well, you know, it’s been a very interesting journey getting to work on this project with you guys. And number one, I really want to say thank you, guys, for inviting me to work on this with you, because I’m thankful that you guys trust me the way you do with things. So, I just wanted to say, “Thank you!”

Dr. Z: Well, you’re welcome.

Mama Z: We’re so glad you were.

Dr. Z: Hallelujah! Praise God for putting you on our path.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: You helped take this film to another level that I knew existed, but I didn’t know how to do it. That’s the bottom line.

Chris: But it was a group effort.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Mama Z: And the best and worst part about working with us is your job changes every single day. And it’s like the best of the worst, though. And I’ve loved how you’ve been able to flow with that, too.

Chris: Well, it’s been fun, because I get to do a variety of things.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Chris: Instead of just getting pigeon-holed into just one task. So, it’s kind of cool. It gets a little stressful once in a while, if I have to look up something and kind of see how to do it, if it’s something I don’t know.

Mama Z: So, we’re growing you.

Chris: Oh, it’s been great. It’s like I always like to look for ways that I can grow, whether it’s technically, or just knowledge, or whatever. But this has been a really growing, learning experience. This is actually the first documentary that I have ever really worked on.

Dr. Z: Wow! Yay!

Mama Z: Awesome!

Dr. Z: You couldn’t tell.

Mama Z: Nope.

Dr. Z: It’s been a blast.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: I mean going through this process, there’s literally no less than six times. There’s either a text-messaging email on the phone, like, “Wow! I had no idea. Wow! I had no idea.” Now, I don’t even know how many times you’ve watched it—at least fifteen, maybe twenty, going through the audio pass, the sound pass, this pass, B-roll, all the things. So, you’ve watched this a million times. What are the number one or two things that come to mind right now that are just like, “Wow! I had no idea.” What left you just shocked maybe about this whole breast cancer situation?

Chris: Well, I think for me one of the most impactful things was like, you know, at least in my mind, when I hear the word “cancer,” it’s like there is an immediate level of fear that comes with that. It’s like the “C” word. It’s like, “Dah, dah, dah, dah!” So, the first thing is like, what really struck me is how Angie didn’t react out of fear.

Dr. Z: Amen!

Chris: And probably a lot of that was, Sabrina, because she had you right there by her side, walking her through this, too. So, I imagine that really played a large role, you along with her mom and some other people close to her in her life, that kind of helped her not just immediately revert to the fear, right?

Mama Z: Yea.

Chris: But just seeing that she took the time throughout this process, through the multi-phased process that she went through in her journey, at each phase, at each new thing that happened, she took the time to just stop and pray and seek the Lord about what to do first, rather than just immediate jumping to a conclusion.

Dr. Z: How did you help her through that? Because this is . . .

Mama Z: Right. And she mentions, and I can’t remember how she worded it, that she had a few moments in the documentary. And first of all, before I jump into that, when we say documentary now, when we started this, it was really going to be just a collection of parts to the story to let people kind of know what we do as part of our mission and stuff like that. And so, to have it go from that to the documentary that it is, it’s just, you almost can’t believe it, because it happened; versus being like in and through and being part of it and then seeing the whole collection of everything and reliving so much of the different pieces of it.

 

[13:36 – 17:52] Bringing a Supply of Prayer to Your Situation

Mama Z: And it was a lot of times after doctor visits, or whatever that was really challenging. And it would be different times where God would put her on my heart to call. And she would either be in the waiting room about to leave, or on her way to an appointment, or she would call me. And every time, we just prayed. And then it really just helped whether she would pray or I would pray, but we would pray. Sometimes when you’re in the midst of a battle, God does see it from a totally different perspective.

And I will never forget when God showed me that when I was in the airplane. And I was looking out and you could see all these little box by box like farms and then the city and all these pieces. And God is way higher than even that. And He sees from start to finish, and we don’t.

And so, to be a part of that, and then to see every time when we have those kinds of moments, we do have to step back. We do have to pray, because if we don’t, then we’re just going to react. And we need to be able to get a God perspective on what’s going on, not just in our lives, but our friends’ lives, our family’s lives, and the people that we have influence with.

Dr. Z: You said something that was interesting. And I’m kind of clarifying one point to me. It’s that pretty much every time Angie had a doctor’s appointment, you guys prayed. Is that pretty much ninety percent?

Mama Z: Pretty close. Oh yea. And if it wasn’t, it was the night before. It was either while she was in the waiting room, about to leave, about to go in. It was just how crazy.

Dr. Z: But she didn’t call you every time, though.

Mama Z: No. Most of the time I called her. She was on my heart. She had been on my heart for a number of times. And usually this is my thing. And I think we all just need to be sensitive in our spirit.

Dr. Z: This is a huge lesson to learn if you’re a caregiver, or just anyone, to pray for a family member.

Mama Z: When you’re in tune with the people that you love, or even people that God puts on your heart, if God puts somebody on your heart, I would immediately pray for them. But if it’s like over and over and over, then I know you’re on God’s heart, too. And it’s important to react.

Dr. Z: It’s a wonderful lesson right there.

Mama Z: And there’s been times where I haven’t reacted. And I learned when that happens, you need to react, because there’s a reason for it. And we have to be sensitive to God’s Spirit and obedient, to know that when people are put on our heart, that yes, we pray for them.

But, even if we don’t know what’s going on, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called a friend. They were on the way to surgery that I didn’t even know that they had, or just different things. And it’s all of us just being sensitive in the spirit, and sensitive to . . . And it’s one thing because you know that God cares for you. But it’s another thing to have a human touch of that. And we all need that.

Dr. Z: Two things I get from this. One, if you are in the throes of a cancer battle, or if you’re sick or you just need help, anything, on the verge of divorce, bankruptcy, losing your job, losing your house, whatever–just think just catastrophic events–you’re never ever a burden on those who love you. I think that’s a key take-away. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Because someone like Sabrina, a true friend, a true brother or sister in Christ, a mother, a sister, whoever, blood relative or just related through the blood of Christ, you’re never a burden.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: So, calling someone should always be first on your list. Number two, like she said, like you said, if someone is on your heart, call them, because who’s going to say, “No, I don’t want you to pray for me?”

Mama Z: Exactly.

Dr. Z: So, that’s a really good lesson to be learned here. There is a lot to be said.

 

[17:53 – 20:31] You’re Never Alone

Mama Z: The other part of it is you’re never alone.

Dr. Z: Truly.

Mama Z: And when you’re in the midst of the battle, even if you have a spouse, sometimes you feel alone, whether it’s that you don’t feel the same way about it. But they’re not going through it at the same time. They’re going through it by your side. But you’re not alone.

Dr. Z: Yep.

Mama Z: And to have those couple of people around you that you trust, that no matter what will walk it out with you, no matter what you decide. And you have to have that kind of God love.

Dr. Z: Amen.

Mama Z: That unjudgmental, it’s just unconditional. It’s very important.

Dr. Z: You know, just to throw something out there for those people right now who wish, “I had someone like Sabrina in my life,” there is one lady in one of our groups, our Essential Oils Diet group. And it’s a free group. We have about two-thousand people in it, people that walk through the diet group.

And about two months ago, this sweet, precious woman, I mean she’s in her sixties, maybe even early seventies. But she’s definitely old enough to be my mom. In a sense, when I look at her and my heart went out to her when she said, “You all have no idea how thankful I am for this group.” She goes, “I don’t have any friends that I could talk to you. I have no one that I could really relate to, especially trying to be healthy.” Her husband, her kids completely think she’s nuts. She’s trying to change her life. She feels alone. And you know, for all intents and purposes, she is alone. I mean she is alone, but she’s surrounded by people.

If that’s how you feel, even if you’re literally alone, like if you don’t have friends, if you don’t have family, let me throw something at you. One of the gifts that we want to give to you when someone reserves their seat for the global screening of the Hope for Breast Cancer documentary is to join one of our private Facebook groups just for this documentary. And at the very least, you can communicate and talk with other people. And I hope and pray that you have that same experience that that precious lady did.

But through Facebook, I’m telling you, you could judge social media all you want. But when you have a protected private environment where people are looking out for your best interests…And we actually pay people. Like it’s our service to you—we pay people out of our pocket to monitor comments, to make sure there’s no bullying, there’s no spamming, there’s no selling. If you feel you want that community, go to HopeforBreastCancer.com, reserve your seat for the documentary, and join the group. That’s something I learned, too. People need that community more than ever. It’s awesome. There are a lot of different things here.

 

[20:32 – 23:42] Stewarding Your Healing Journey

Mama Z: One of the other things, you know, too, is in retrospect I really loved when Angie said that she wasn’t going to tell everybody. She kept it very private, except for her family and close friends. And if that’s you, and you’re there for somebody else, always remember unless you have their permission, it’s not your story to tell. And it’s important that you keep it very private until they’re ready to walk that out or until they’re strong enough to talk about it. Or they’re past their point of where they want to take in other influences.

I love it that she kept it that way. And I hadn’t heard her say what she said until watching the documentary. But she said, “We kept it that way, because yes, we knew that more people could pray for us, but we didn’t know what they were praying for.” And if you’re at a crossroads, and you’re really trying to figure out what to do or where to go, pray for God’s perfect will in your life. And that’s for people who know the Bible and don’t know the Bible. But you can’t go wrong, because we know what His will is for our lives.

Dr. Z: Seeking God’s wisdom to know His perfect will.

Mama Z: Yes, yes; that’s part two.

Dr. Z: So, ask your friend. Say, “Pray for me that God would give me wisdom to know what to do.”

Mama Z: Right. And remember it says that if you pray for wisdom–and this is all throughout Proverbs–but wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in all things, God will give it to you liberally if you ask. And giving it liberally means without restraint. So, no matter how old you are, you can still be wise in the Lord.

Dr. Z: Amen!

Chris: Well, it’s James, I think, that says it’s the prayer of faith that will result in someone’s healing.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: Amen.

Chris: And going back to what Angie said, people said that they wanted to pray and support, but you don’t know what they’re praying. And it’s like I personally would rather not have someone pray for me if they weren’t praying in faith.

Mama Z: Right.

Chris: You know, I would rather just not even . . . don’t waste your breath on that.

Mama Z: Right.

Chris: But if you want to seek the Lord and pray in faith, then, yes, I’ll take your prayers all day long.

Mama Z: That’s right. And you know, when people, I’ve heard people pray before and say, “I hope the Lord will heal me.” And we can’t hope the Lord is going to heal us. We know that by His stripes we are healed. And we need to stand on the healing Scriptures that God gives us through His Word, because that is His heart. And we know that faith works by love, and love never fails.

 

 

 

[23:43 – ] Sneak Peak: Some Pearls from Hope for Breast Cancer

Dr. Z: All right, let’s transition a little bit to some of the nitty gritty. And I will share after the break, which will be in a little bit. But after the break, the second half of the show, I have some data points. I want to kind of cover what we’re dealing with with breast cancer as a whole. I want to just give a reality check, because breast cancer is a mammoth right now. It’s a giant in the land. And we need to understand it a little bit more.

And we need to understand some of the treatment options and certain things. We’re going to cover preventive mastectomies, double mastectomies. We’re going to cover genetic potential predispositions. We’re going to cover a little bit of this stuff, because these are a lot of the things that I learned. I’ve really been diving deep into breast cancer, especially as a researcher.

Before that, though, what are some of your thoughts, y’all, about just maybe some of the treatments, the experiences? Chris, any a-ha, wow moments? Like again, you don’t come from a health background. You’re a film guy, right? So, when you’re doing this, what kinds of things are like, “Whoa!?”

Chris: What was really interesting, too, was, I think it was Dr. Stegall that talked about using . . . Well, let me rewind. Like in the past, I knew that there were alternative methods that existed out there for treating cancer. But at least in my mind it was, well, you had two options. You either had the chemo option—that was option A—or you had option B, which was to go the natural route.

Well, I really liked hearing what Dr. Stegall had to say, where what would hurt, like depending on the patient, depending on who it was, because I know people’s bodies react different to things, right? So, depending on the patient, if they are able to handle a certain amount of chemo, I think he introduced the concept to me of using like a lighter dose of chemo, combined with natural remedies and the more natural approach to combat cancer. Instead of just A or B, it was a combination, depending on the blend of A and B. And to me that was very interesting.

Dr. Z: Now, that’s a sneak peek to the sneak peek onto the special features, because I don’t think that’s actually in the documentary. So, Chris

Mama Z: I thought it was.

Dr. Z: No, he doesn’t talk about low dose chemo. Chris has given a truth bomb. Okay, here’s a spoiler alert. We’ve created a wonderful package that goes through the depths of integrative treatments. And what we’ve tried to do was flesh out what Angie did, how she did it, and why she did it. And Chris has a benefit, because Chris plays like twenty hours of video in his head.

Mama Z: Yea, even more than I do.

Dr. Z: Oh, and even though we have these expert interviews, and we have Dr. Stegall, who is an integrative oncologist, trained at Yale and Harvard, and we’re blessed that he’s actually local to us. But that’s a really a good point, Chris, because people don’t realize, the bottom line for me from that is there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

 

[27:55 – 33:41] Mammographies and Thermographies

Dr. Z: And I want you to talk a little bit about the whole mammography, thermography thing.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: Because this is where we’re at. Right now, here’s what happens. You find a lump; you feel a lump. You think something is wrong. You go to the doctor. They’re like, “OMG! You’ve got to get this checked out. Let’s get a mammogram immediately.”

Mama Z: And that happened to me. Okay, so, I want to go even a step further back. Okay, so, a lot of people have the little hangers that you hang in the shower that tells you how to do your self-checks on your breast tissues, all that stuff. How many people actually follow it? How many people just look at it and ignore it and don’t ever use it?

Well, it was because Angela knows her breast tissue; we need to know our bodies. And the amount of men that are getting breast cancer is alarming as well. And that was an a-ha thing for me in the story. But we do need to know our breast tissue, because some people have more dense breast tissue. You don’t know unless you actually palpate and actually know what your body is like, what it’s like for a woman during her cycle, because it’s different.

And I remember being in health class in eighth grade and then in tenth grade, where they passed around little silicone breasts. And we had to like find different things. And I think it’s important to know, (a), what that feels like, what it looks like. And I know we had someone who sent us a breast to practice that.

And that’s really helpful, especially for people who’ve never been even taught that in health class. Because as I understand, some of those classes don’t even exist anymore. They don’t even talk about some of those things. Some places don’t even have health class anymore. And we had it in junior high, and we had it in high school. And so, knowing your breasts is very important. And having some kind of a regular routine on how you palpate for those types of things is important. Because had she not found that, she would be in a totally different position today.

Dr. Z: Yea. She goes on record, too. And this is actually part of the special features, too. I mean there is only so much we could fit. I mean we have hours, hours. And we try to do our best to keep it to like the average hour and forty-minute, hour and forty-five-minute long documentary film.

Mama Z: It was that long? I didn’t even think it was that long.

Dr. Z: Yep. And so, we have her on camera when she spoke at the cancer prevention conference in Dearborn, Michigan, saying on record she believes it was the mammography that spread the cancer, because when she first got diagnosed, the cancer was encapsulated. The tumor was right there, and after mammography, after the extreme compression, the extreme just compression, squeezing, she believed everything just started spreading rapidly. And how many times have we heard from people . . .

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: After mammography, cancer starts to spread.

Mama Z: Right. So, for me, I had found something that I thought was in my breasts. And I called the general practitioner. And I was like, “Hey, can you check this out?” Because I know every year during our yearly checkup, we’re always palpated by a professional. And my nurse midwife, Leslie, she always does the checks as well. Well, this was long before it. I lived back in Michigan. And they didn’t want to see me. They just immediately sent me to get a mammogram, and like it was nothing. But, you know, having somebody just palpate . . .

Dr. Z: Did you get it done?

Mama Z: Yea, I did.

Dr. Z: When was this?

Mama Z: This was when I was in college.

Dr. Z: When was the last time you had one done, though?

Mama Z: Then. I never did it again.

Dr. Z: So, it was about twenty years?

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: Wow! I don’t think you’ve had one since we’ve been married.

Mama Z: No. And so, like I didn’t even get palpated, nothing. It was just go get it done. And I know so many people, that’s like what’s on their radars. But the thing is that I had actually, because I had found a little lump. But I was still nursing, so I talked to you. And I called our friend that does the thermography; not mammography, thermography.

Dr. Z: Thermography.

Mama Z: And I called to ask them what to do. And they have a mobile unit in our area that goes to different places to actually do screenings. And they actually said, because of breast feeding, your breasts can change and can continue changing. So, they wait. If you’re breastfeeding, you really need to wait five or six months afterwards, after you’re done breastfeeding, before you go handle something like that.

Dr. Z: You know, there’s a lot of metabolic activity.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: Because it measures heat, right?

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: It measures metabolic activity.

Mama Z: And she says, “You’ve got a lot of activity going on in there. So, it’s not to give . . .

Dr. Z: So, when you’re pregnant, when you’re nursing, you shouldn’t.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: You may get a false positive.

Mama Z: So, she said, “Just keep monitoring it. And if it gets larger in size, then you should go and get an ultrasound.”

Dr. Z: An ultrasound.

Mama Z: An ultrasound. She said the bottom line is, if you get a thermogram or a mammogram, if they find something, your next step is ultrasound.

Dr. Z: Yep.

Mama Z: So, it’s better to do something like a thermogram, where you are able to see what’s going in there. If there’s a lot of heat signatures and things in that area, we should be concerned. And the thing about Angie was, she went the next week to get a thermogram. And it didn’t show a lot there. She had learned about other things. But there were not heat sensors that really were in that area.

Dr. Z: Her first thermogram was pretty clear.

Mama Z: It was pretty clear.

Dr. Z: But after the mammogram, after things spread potentially . . . Again, we can’t confirm or deny. But the truth is, and this is my takeaway . . .

Mama Z: Things changed. Things changed.

Dr. Z: Mammography isn’t prevention. I think this is the key takeaway. Mammography, even thermography, they’re not prevention. These are diagnostic procedures that tell you whether or not you’re sick. And that’s a big key take-away, too. There’s this whole discussion.

And Chris, I’m sure you have some insight into this. Like how did I get in this mess to begin with? Here we have this super beautiful, fit professional dancer, professional NFL cheerleader, who you look at her, she’s the picture of health; literally the picture of health. And she gets cancer. Like how did that happen? And so, getting a thermogram done, or even getting a mammogram done, that doesn’t help you prevent getting cancer. But, Chris, I’m kind of going to throw this out at you, because this is wonderfully unscripted, which is kind of why I wanted to do it this way.

Mama Z: Have we ever been scripted?

 

[33:42 – 36:44] Lessons Learned: Cancer Prevention

Dr. Z: When it comes to it, like going through the documentary and listening to all the expert interviews and all the survivor stories and all the things that are part of it, what’s your take on prevention?

Chris: Here’s the thing. I don’t think a lot of people that aren’t in the medical space really think about “prevention.” I think they’re more focused on, “Man, I’ve got a bad diagnosis. Now what do I do?”

Dr. Z: Yea, exactly.

Chris: And the other thing, too, is I know it’s like you see things on TV and stuff. And it’s like, “the cure for cancer, the cure for cancer.” And it really hit me and struck me what Angie said. There is no one cure. You said it a minute ago: “There is no one size fits all.” There is no silver bullet. There just is not. But in her case, she prayed, and she listened to the Lord. And He guided her through the treatments and everything she needed in order to come out healthy and healed on the backside. Now, that journey is probably going to look different for each person.

Mama Z: Absolutely.

Chris: And that’s the “treatment” part of it. But you asked about prevention. I don’t think prevention is typically on most people’s minds.

Mama Z: And, see, the thing that really struck a chord for me, just having gone through this so many times with friends, is that they’re not looking at the root cause of what started this, because we can put Band-Aids on all day long.

Dr. Z: Yep.

Mama Z: But if we continue to go ride our bike and fall off of it, we’re still going to have abrasions all over the place. You know what I mean? So, we wear knee pads, or we do something. And when you’re a type of person like I am, I’m a structured person. I would have been awesome on an assembly line, because I’m like, “I want to make it better. I can produce more, and I fix every problem.” And that’s like how I am.

But in the process of it, I’m like, “Okay, this is where we’re at.” And every time when Angela would go to the doctor, they were telling her what was going to happen next. She’s like everybody stamped out all these identical people, and they’re all going to have this happen next. We don’t know. And we aren’t the author and finisher of our faith. God is. So, how could you know what’s going to exactly happen the next step? We don’t.

But what we do know is something happened with our bodies that a hedge was broken, whether it’s in our immunity, and all different kinds of things. But we need to get to the core of what caused it, the root causes, because that’s the only way we’re not going to have this happen again.

 

 

[36:45 – 42:24] The Impact of Our Bio Burden

Dr. Z: So, Chris, you’re just talking about prevention and what really shocked you about this whole just cancer thing, as a whole. And you really have an interesting perspective on this. What got you when it comes to what is prevention, what is not, how to prevent cancer? Like you just said, most people are not even thinking about living a life that is preventative.

Chris: Well, was it Ben Franklin that said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? Was that who it was?

Dr. Z: We’ll give him credit.

Chris: It was one of the guys back in the day.

Dr. Z: Probably him.

Chris: Probably.

Dr. Z: He had a lot of good stuff to say.

Chris: He did.

Mama Z: He did.

Chris: So, I think for me, and I think for most people, if they don’t think about prevention…I don’t think most people think about everything that goes in their mouth each day and what they’re exposed to. And, it’s like when you live a little bit of life and you have some life under your belt, you remember how things used to be when you were younger, right? And I’m not twenty years old anymore.

Mama Z: You’re not?

Chris: Shocking, I know. But it’s like things were different like back when I was a kid. I don’t think they used as many pesticides and all the different things that they employ now, which is really shocking. But when you stop and think about the processed foods that go in your body and just everything that you’re not only consuming, but everything that you’re exposed to, I don’t think most people really stop to consider that too much.

Mama Z: Right.

Chris: And so, it was Dr. Stegall that talked about cancer, like your body is a toxic bucket, right?

Mama Z: Yea.

Chris: So, when you expose it to various things, although we’re very resilient, at some point if you just keep exposing and just keep on putting things in and in and in, eventually that bucket is going to fill up and overflow. And he says that’s when you get cancer.

So, I think if people were to just kind of pause and just start to consider how they feed themselves and what all they come in contact with, I think that would really help cut down the amount of cases of cancer that we see.

Mama Z: And I think, too, because I was at your toxic threshold, we all have a different toxic threshold. And whether it’s cancer, whether it’s other autoimmune things that you’re sensitive to, we need to make our own list of what we have control over and what we don’t. Whether it’s air, water, food, what products we use in our home, on our home, in our yards, all that stuff, they wouldn’t have these commercials.

And I just visited my folks. “And if you use this product and you have this kind of cancer or this, call this number.” I mean they wouldn’t be having these kinds of things up there if it wasn’t a problem. And so, they were not doing that thirty years ago. They were not doing that twenty years ago. So, to be inundated with all of that, it just shows us we only have control over what we have control we have over. But because of the state that we live, if we are not conscious about other areas, we are going to end up filling up those toxic buckets or thresholds just because of living today, versus before when it could have been a myriad of things.

Chris: That’s right, because growing up, I mean it was fairly rare when I heard about someone who had cancer.

Mama Z: Right.

Chris: And I haven’t told you guys this. But I had a cousin that died from leukemia when she was twelve. And that was kind of a rarity.

Dr. Z: Yea.

Chris: I mean you would hear of a few people here and there. But now it’s like, like you guys. It’s like all the time where you’re hearing of someone else that has cancer. And you have to stop and think and look at, all right, what changed from then until now? Because there has to be a reason.

Mama Z: And, you know, I looked just back, because obviously I was in school. I went through school. Then I worked for a photography studio, and we went into schools and took team photos. And I noticed the big difference, too, even at how people looked. You know there were always one or two people that might be a little bit overweight, or pre-dispositioned for certain things. But now, it’s interesting, because when I talked to somebody about it, I said now you see that one or two people are thin or whatever. And somebody had described it to me, “Oh, yea, the one or two scrawny people.”

But it was different back at that time. And so, when we did research for our diet book, the stats reflect what I saw. And that was in the late 1990s, early 2000s when I was doing that. And it has even changed even more now. And so, it kind of shows you where we’re at a place. When I was young, that was just when nutritionally it was coming out.

Dr. Z: Are you that old?

Mama Z: Stop it! You know what? I actually had to print the things on the back.

 

[42:25 – 49:49] Don’t Believe the Hype

Dr. Z: Here, let me kind of wrap a bow to this. And then we have to go on to another, because there are so many different golden nuggets. Now, this isn’t a political discussion. But let me tell you something. As a public health researcher, I’ve learned data points can be construed, and data can be used for an agenda. And this is what I’ve seen. This shocks people. And the media has played this incorrectly. And the media has given people false hope that what we’ve done has worked.

And this is the bottom line. What we’ve done as a people in the medical system has not worked. It has not helped, and we’re in a worse situation than what we were. How do I know that? It’s because even though the new number of cancer cases—we’re talking new people, new people developing breast cancer—even though that number has not skyrocketed in proportion to the number of people that we’re seeing in America.

Now this is interesting, because what we see is, “Hey, look at all these new people we have. We have fifty million additional people in this country since 1999.” But we don’t see what appears to be as many new cases of cancer. So, hey, we’re doing something good, right? Not that cancer rates have flatlined, not that the new number of cases have flatlined. What we’re seeing is a gradual slight increase of people developing cancer. But what has shocked people is that since 1999, there is virtually no difference in the percentage amount of people in our nation getting cancer.

And so, what I am trying to tell you is we have to look at the right data points. And the total number of patients getting cancer, the total number of deaths, the total anything doesn’t really reflect the reality. What we need to look at is the percentage, right? And what we’re seeing, and this is stark, stark data point, is that 12.4 percent, which is one in eight women, will be affected by breast cancer. I mean that’s undeniable.

And it is still the most common cancer in women. It’s still the most common cause of death from cancer among Hispanic women. It’s the second most common cause of death from cancer among black, white, Asian, Pacific islander, American Indian, and Alaskan women. The majority of cases still affect older women. You’re two times more at risk if one of your immediate family members have been diagnosed.

And here’s the key, though. Still, regardless of what you feel about genetic makeup, 85 percent of current women have no family history. They are new cases. So, what does this say? We’re in a really, really bad situation when it comes to cancer. And things aren’t getting better. That’s what I’m trying to paint the picture.

My main take-away from this whole discussion, prevention, diagnosis, what to do, is that regardless of how many times we walk for the cure, race for the cure, like Chris was saying before, what good has this done? What has the awareness done that we have created over the past twenty-five to thirty years? Virtually nothing. Nothing has improved. That’s what I’m trying to paint the picture.

Chris: Well, I think it goes back to what are people being made aware of?

Dr. Z: Yes.

Chris: It’s like, okay, is it the awareness of the possibility of getting cancer? Or is it the awareness of, oh, here are some things that can cause cancer—your lifestyle, what you eat, those types of things. So, it’s like just increasing awareness doesn’t really tell me anything. But it’s like what are people being made aware of? And are people taking steps to implement what they learned about prevention?

Mama Z: Yea, because when I talk to people that there are companies, and there a lot of companies right now that are wearing pink on certain days and doing other things. And when I talk to people about why, because that was one of my questions especially in doing all of this. And their thought back to me was, “Well, we’re showing support for the people who have had or are in the process of having breast cancer.”

And when you look back, and I know that the original story, and you know it, of the pink ribbon was not assigned to a person’s name. But there is a profound story about why that actually started. And that right there was really the reason why people associated pink with, with breast cancer. And I think it’s important that yes, we give people support, and we recognize that people are going through all of that.

But when you look at percentage of tax dollars, and things that people are donating to certain things, is real research getting done? Are these companies using the actual money to do actual research? All that kind of stuff all factors in to the numbers that you talked about. If that was true, then we would see a huge decline in that percentage.

Dr. Z: Yea. We’re not in a better situation. But we can be. And that was one of my key take-aways. And Chris, like you mentioned, and maybe I’m paraphrasing what you said earlier, is that we have more control than maybe you initially thought with our behaviors, diet, exercise, whatever, supplements, or whatever it might be. We have more control in our hands. We’re not a victim of our genetic lottery.

Mama Z: The other thing that was a key take-away, too, is that because Angela was so young, thirty-three, the type of cancer for people who have it younger is more aggressive. And what my understanding is, especially even at the doctor’s office, “Yea, we’re checking, but it’s very unlikely” type of thing. And it’s not something that you actually think about until you’re over fifty or over forty to even have those types of screenings done.

And for me, I would have just kind of put it off and said, “Okay, I’m not in that age bracket yet. So, I’m not even thinking about that.” And what they were trying to say was, and all the people that had seen Angela’s case, was, “She is younger. We do have to care about that, because if you’re younger, it can be more aggressive and stuff like that.” That was eye-opening to me, because that means that even though we’re focusing on that forty and over, when we’re younger is when we really have to start looking at our bodies.

And there’s never a bad time to start. You always want to start now. But we definitely should have been thinking about those types of things from our teens and our twenties, and definitely our thirties, and, of course, older in time. But if you’re going to have breast cancer, and you do have it younger, you do want to be knowing your body so that you can find those types of things.

 

[50:00 – 56:15] Have You Experienced Cancer Amnesia?

Dr. Z: All right, let’s shift gears a little bit to cancer amnesia, is what I’m calling it.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: Just like any mother can relate, you women are crazy. Let me just throw it out there. Most women are crazy. To go through childbirth, that can be painful, agonizing for some. To say, “Let’s do it again.”

Mama Z: Hey, you just said it was a good workout. It was just a good workout.

Dr. Z: It’s a contraction. They call them contractions. Contract your muscle and tell me if it’s agonizing.

Mama Z: A bicep curl is different than pushing a baby.

Dr. Z: Okay. You’ll never let me live that down. I said that once and just . . .

Mama Z: I will never . . .

Dr. Z: And what do you mean? Just contract the muscle, Sabrina. There’s a little bit of stretching.

Mama Z: So, when—

Dr. Z: We’re dealing with—

Mama Z: Right. And I—

Dr. Z: You have to set this up properly.

Mama Z: Well . . .

Dr. Z: Can I set this up? Or you want to set this up?

Mama Z: Okay, because I want to talk about that.

Dr. Z: I know what you’re going to talk about. You’re going to talk . . . See, one thing that Chris and I have a unique perspective on is that Angie didn’t . . . When she was interviewed, and when we followed Angie, she left out a lot of her story. And it wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t her intention. I’m convinced Angie literally forced herself to forget. And she talked about that later.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: And she was like, “I had to do what I had to do to get myself through this. And I could only focus on the positive. I could only focus on the healing aspect.”

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: “I didn’t internalize this cancer diagnosis.” And I will tell you something. What I learned, there’s a lot to be learned here.

But just like how a woman going through labor just, “I’m willing to do it again, and again and again and again.” There’s this level of you need to have cancer amnesia to protect yourself. Or otherwise you’re going to go on such a negative tailspin, it could kill you. That could kill you in and of itself.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: And so, I’m going to hand this off to you, because I know you have a lot to say about this. But as a filmmaker, this was a real challenging story to piece together, which is one of the reasons why we didn’t watch the movie. We actually had chapters. It says chapter one. We have dates. We needed that. We actually put that together because we lost track. Where are we? Like what time zone, what time frame, where are we in this story?

And then Angela just conveniently left things out for herself because she needed to protect herself. And when you shared something, I’m like, “That really happened?” And you’re like, Yea.” And then I asked Angela, and she’s like, “Oh yea. I just didn’t mention that. I forgot.”

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: So, anyway, talk to us a little bit about this whole how you helped Angie through this cancer amnesia something, how she protected her heart.

Mama Z: She didn’t remember different pieces of her healing journey because she was in it. And that’s why it’s so important to keep a journal. And she kept a journal. And she had a lot of her thoughts and feelings and stuff. And I think she left it in the book. Because when you go through her blog, there are some more details that are there. But if you look at it, it’s all very factual. And she didn’t allow the emotional part of it.

Just like when we are giving birth, because a few days later you remember it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work. And you might remember certain details. But you don’t remember that part of it. And so, I think it’s important, because she did protect her heart that way. And she does have some of the details written out. And as it unfolds on her blog, you start to see those things.

But living it in real time was really important. And it’s a good thing to remember, too, because you called me a caretaker. I wouldn’t call myself a caretaker. As a friend, looking at it, remembering all of that, and then watching it, and then having other things be brought back up into my memory and my spirit about either feelings during that time, reactions, things that I was thinking that I didn’t say, all of those things kind of come back.

And I think it’s important that you do take mental snapshots. And I remember telling you that, too, during the process. There are certain parts, certain times that really stuck out to me during that. And it was neat that you were able to capture some of those moments, like the three of us on the beach in Cancun talking, like that moment.

Just some other times, when Angela lost her hair. And I know like she’s always had long hair, ever since I’ve known her. So, I knew it was a huge thing. But then to see the tape of when they shaved it, because she immediately sent me a picture, a text. But you didn’t get her emotion, and some of the stuff you could hear her mom saying over the phone. And that was hard. So, it was interesting to bring back and relive some of those things, because it was hard even a second time.

Chris: And honestly, it was hard for me, even like editing that section. Like when I’m in the midst of like the edit, I was in the editing mode. But whenever I would pause and go back to the beginning and watch it through, I’ve got to tell you, I don’t tear up a lot when I’m watching stuff. But I’ve got to tell you, I had to choke back. I got choked up a little bit almost every time that I watched it through, because I put myself in her shoes and in Felipe’s shoes.

Mama Z: Yes.

Chris: Like my wife has long hair. And I’m thinking, how would I feel if I had to shave my wife’s head like that? And it was almost more than I could take.

Mama Z: Well, that’s the thing. She lived this journey through editing mode.

Dr. Z: What do you mean by that?

Mama Z: I mean, like he said, he had to put all the emotions aside and go through that. I mean there are certain times where it’s just overwhelming. But she had to do that in order to go through that experience.

 

[56:16 – 1:02:09] Handling Emotions and Emotional Blocks

Dr. Z: Yea, I think that’s the biggest take-away from the whole thing. If there’s one take-away, it’s how she was able to by God’s grace control those emotions and not let them ruin her, to make the decisions that she needed to make for her own health.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: That is so key. And there’s a part, I think we actually cut it. I think it’s one of the deleted scenes, the dinner scene, where Felipe says in his own words, “This could have really sucked. She handled this like a champ.”

And she made this really easy because she stood up and she did this. It wasn’t every day coming home, “Woe is me; I’m dying.” She’s like, “Let’s do this.” It was like basically here’s something we learned from one of our coaches, Shauna. We are people designed by God not to be reservoirs of energy. We shouldn’t be holding on to ourselves, anything, whether it’s joy, happiness, sadness. We should allow the energy and the emotion to flow in and out.

We’re not supposed to be a vessel of emotion. You’re happy? Great! Let it out, and then experience another emotion. What happens to a lot of people, especially during their cancer journey, is they harbor. They become a vessel of fear, death, doubt, unbelief. And that actually becomes a contributing cause of their death.

And so, I saw Angela. Like you’re right. She called you, or she prayed with her mom or her husband. She went to God. She allowed those emotions to flow through her. And she’s like, “Okay, let’s get on with this.” But, yes, she was crushed. But you know, the interesting thing was she never teared up during any of the interviews.

Mama Z: And we spent a lot of the time working through tears on the phone.

Dr. Z: That’s it. You see, she processed that. And I think that’s really important, because when she was talking with us during the documentary, she had such a good cleansing, cathartic experience. And that shocked me. I’m like at one point, “Where’s this woman’s emotion?” And I realized the emotion was left at the time when she experienced it.

Mama Z: Yes.

Dr. Z: That’s why I’m grateful. And thank you, Angela, if you’re watching and listening, that you were gracious to give us some behind the scenes footage of the haircut, and the fun little things that happened toward the end and stuff. That still is one of the most impactful things. And you mentioned journaling, to journal those emotions.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: Because if you properly allow yourself to be cleansed of them, just experience it, cry. Like Sonya said at one point, Angie’s mom at the end, “If you’ve got to cut yourself off. Cut yourself off.” Like just do what you’ve got to do to get through this.

Mama Z: Right.

Dr. Z: And if you have to do that, you do that. But journal it, so you don’t forget. Because those types of imprints are why I believe God inspired the prophets to write the Bible, so we don’t forget those things. We don’t forget. How many people have had their lives literally saved because of the lamentations that we read in the book of Lamentations? Like that’s someone’s depth of sorrow or sorrows. Reading David going through pulling on his heart. Those are precious moments that imprint your life forever.

Mama Z: They’re raw, and they’re real.

Dr. Z: And you can’t gloss over it, because if you’re going to do the right thing, you’ve got to do what Angie did. You’ve got to get through those moments. And you can’t let those emotions ruin you. But you also don’t want to forget them. And one thing . . .

Mama Z: You have to have real times where you’re able to express that. Because if not, even with the emotional recall, then you stuff those things down, and they’re part of your body. And that’s going to affect your feeling journey, too. So, you have to have ways of expressing that. And that’s why having a healing journal, or if you’re in a weight loss voyage, really getting a lot of those feelings and things that come up at the time when you’re doing those things is important. You’ll find out things about yourself that you didn’t know. And it’s important that you get those things out.

I remember talking to the lady at The Hope for Cancer Center. And it’s by design that they would do emotional recall before they would do colonics. And what the lady said to me was, “We get the poop out, and then you get the poop out.” You know literally, she says, “You have to get through all of the muck and stuff that’s in your life that you’re ignoring.” And it’s really important to make sure that you deal with the hurts from the past, because whether you understand it or not, it’s still affecting you and it’s still hurting you if you haven’t made it all the way through that yet.

And you, if it’s somebody in your life that you’ve never made amends with and they’ve passed away, then talk to God about it, and release that, because that can be affecting you as well. And then when the lady had said, she said, “It can affect people’s bowels, even like constipation and holding onto things. It can be holding on to emotion. It can be a lot of things. And we know that whether you’re in a healing journey or not, if food goes in, it must come out. And if it doesn’t, then things are starting to become toxic in your body.

And that can also prevent you from living a healed life and a preventive life. And if you’re in a battle, that can be life and death, because you have to get things moving through your body and through your system, because when things don’t do that, then that’s where your breakdown happens in your body. So, when she said that to me, that was like, “Whoa! I never thought of that before.” But it’s very, very true.

 

[1:02:10 – 1:06:59] The Importance of Documenting Your Journey

Mama Z: One of the other things I wanted to mention, too, and having gone through this with friends a number of times, if you are in an integrative approach, or you are in a traditional approach, and you are having an abundance of symptoms…I’ve talked to people who haven’t been able to even write it down, because they were in the throes of it.

Just like, can you imagine during transitional or pushing labor, taking a note? No. Like I remember when I was giving birth to Esther, it was sometime between active and transitional labor, because people are texting me, “What phase of labor are you in? And on and on. And I finally just threw my phone under the couch. And I was like, “I’m done with that.”

When you’re in that battle, a lot of is going on in your body. I remember thinking a lot of things in that process, but not being able to like write it down at the time. And in talking to so many people who have so many symptoms, whether it’s from the traditional therapies that they’re doing, or in a combined approach or whatever, I don’t really hear a lot of that from the natural therapies.

But it’s important even if you can’t write things down to at least take a note in your phone and put it on a voice: “Neuropathy, double vision,” you know, extreme things that are going on in your body. If you don’t communicate that to your health care provider . . . I’ve had a family member who did, and they had to lower her dose. But they’re going to use more extreme things, because that’s the traditional amount that you would use for x amount of person, x amount of person, and what they’re going through. And there’s like a prescription for that.

But we know we’re not all one-size-fits-all people. So, if you have things that are going in your body, you need to communicate them, because if you don’t. . . And that’s one thing that Angie was really, really good at. She would systematically like add things that were going on in her body, and she would communicate them. You have to, because if you don’t, nobody is going to know that you maybe don’t fit that one-size-fits-all thing that’s going on in your body. And you have to know your body enough to know when enough is enough, too.

And that’s one thing that we have really prayed about in the process. And one thing that really stuck with me was I remember her doctor saying, “Now, when you’re done with chemo, you’re done.” And both her mom and I felt that she was probably done. And we were praying that she was. But because we’re not in that battle, we can’t make those decisions.

And I remember just praying with her. And she needed to really have a concrete from God that she was done. And when she got that, she was done. And I think it’s important not only to know your body, but also to communicate your needs and what’s going with your body and with your needs as it relates to your care.

Dr. Z: Well, I think this has been a wonderful show. And as always, what we typically do is we put together just a couple of thoughts about what we want to share. None of these shows are highly scripted, by the way, if you can’t tell. We just kind of wrap. And I want to do a part two.

Mama Z: Hey, speak for yourself. I took notes.

Dr. Z: There are more things . . .

Mama Z: I’ve got everything checked off on my list.

Dr. Z: We need to cover mastectomy. We need to cover preventive mastectomies, double mastectomies. There’s a whole piece. I know Chris has got some more stuff up his sleeve. So, what I suggest we do is that we shelve the next episode. We have one we wanted to do next called “Becoming a Person of Influence and Why It’s So Important.” And we want to cover our mentors and the people that meant the most to us in our spiritual journeys, our careers, and how and why it’s important.

Mama Z: And life.

Dr. Z: Yea. And carry the baton. But . . .

Mama Z: And the lessons we’ve learned from each of them.

Dr. Z: But I think we should switch it up a little bit and go to do a part two. Chris, do you have enough to share maybe for a part two?

Chris: Possibly.

Dr. Z: All right. I think we should do that. And I thank y’all for really just tuning in. We had a completely different feel to this. We didn’t have a mid-day or mid-episode break. We’re just kind of rolling. We’re about seventy minutes or so right now, according to my little countdown timer. But as promised, I promised you this. I don’t want you to feel you’re getting cheated. I want to give you a really special natural living tip.

 

[1:07:00 – 1:09:19] Natural Living Tip: Essential Oils and Chemo

Dr. Z: All right. So, according to the research, the medical research, essential oils have a profound chemo-protective and chemo-therapeutic effect when it comes to cancer cells. Chemo-protective means essential oils can help protect healthy tissue from the toxic effects of anti-cancer drugs. And chemo-therapeutic means the treatment of cancer using specific chemical agents or drugs to kill cancer cells.

We need to put things into perspective. And there is no cure all. We know that. But essential oils have been shown to help in a variety of ways. And here are a few of the essential oils that research has shown to have been proven in one way or another. I know I’m just going to give you a random list as I go through my notes.

Orange oil, curry leaf, and Melissa (also known as lemon balm), frankincense, pine needle, geranium, myrrh, lemongrass, citronella, oregano, thyme, savory, garlic, bergamot, grapefruit, palmarosa, and rose, and essentially, any essential oil that is rich in d-limonene. And from my book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils, I list all of them that start from grapefruit and end in caraway. But all citrus oils are rich in d-limonene.

So, what does that mean? This is just to let you know first and foremost that there is research evaluating not only on cells in the petri dish, in-vitro studies, but animal studies, and also human trials, that essential oils can help with breast cancer specifically. And there are a number of ways. You can apply them topically. You can ingest them. You can use them through steam distillation.

Oh, I don’t want to forget basil, cornmint, and peppermint, because menthol has been shown. The same thing with jasmine and tansy, clary sage, lavender. The list goes on and on and on, all right?

So, I encourage you, if you haven’t, go to EssentialOilsforAbundantLiving.com; again, EssentialOilsforAbundantLiving.com. Get a free screening of our master class, because in lesson ten of the master class, we show you specifically how to use essential oils for cancer. And you’re going to learn even more about some of the safe ways, and maybe even the unsafe ways you shouldn’t be using them.

 

[1:09:20 – 1:09:59] Special Invitation: Hope for Breast Cancer

Mama Z: Don’t forget the free screening of the Hope for Breast Cancer documentary starts November 6.

Dr. Z: Simply go to HopeforBreastCancer.com; that’s h-o-p-e-f-o-r breast cancer dot com. And you’ll get instant access to some behind the scenes footage and some other sweet goodies while you wait for the film to premiere.

Mama Z: And please, share this with a friend. The information and hope shared in this film could be a world of difference for someone in need. God bless!

[1:10:00 – end] Episode WrapUp

Dr. Z: Well, that was next to awesome. It was kind of fun, our first little time adding in Chris to the mix. And in a couple of weeks . . .

Mama Z: You did real good, Chris.

Dr. Z: Chris, you’re the best.

Chris: Thank you, guys.

Dr. Z: And we’re going to give you more time to speak next time. You’re awesome, because you have a lot of good stuff to share.

Mama Z: And it’s nice coming from an outside approach. You’re in our inner circle, but I mean like just looking at data and looking at hours of footage and all that stuff, you might have even more data now behind you than not just the average bear, but like even some professionals that serve in that kind of area, you know. It’s kind of great.

Dr. Z: I know.

Chris: Well, it helps to be around you guys a lot, too. I mean there’s a lot that I get just through osmosis, you know, being around you guys.

Mama Z: Yea, yea.

Chris: So, it’s definitely been a learning experience working with you guys over the past couple of years. It’s been great.

Dr. Z: Well, we appreciate it. And we appreciate you, our natural living family, for tuning in and listening. We hope you enjoyed the show. And as a reminder, you can find all the natural living family podcasts episodes, show notes, and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com.

And while on our website, don’t forget, sign up for our weekly newsletter. And join us live, one on one, in our private Facebook group, because that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll give you a special invite to connect with us and more than five-thousand other natural living lovers just like you.

Mama Z: Yea.

Dr. Z: Don’t forget. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review. We love hearing what you have to say about our show. So, tune in to the next episode. It’s going to be episode 41 of our Natural Living Family Podcast. We’re going to cover “Lessons Learned and Truths Revealed, Part Two.” Are you ready? I’ll be ready.

Mama Z: I’ll be ready.

Dr. Z: And as always, this is Dr. Z.

Mama Z: And Mama Z.

Dr. Z: And our hope and prayer are that you and your family truly experience the abundant life. God bless!

Mama Z: Bye!