I first became interested in health and wellness in my early twenties, or at least I thought I did…. I was more interested in looking healthy than actually being healthy. I would go to the gym 3-5 times a week following weight routines I had seen in various health magazines, and they definitely helped pack on some muscle, but I could never get rid of the flab and look the way I wanted. Along came the ‘low fat’ way of eating, which I tried with little to no success. Then there was ‘Body for Life’ which is a 12-week program complete with meal plans and exercise routines. Initially I had some success, but eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day for six days a week as well as training six days a week is not sustainable, and then what happens at the end of the 12 weeks?
Along comes marriage and children and very little time for any form of exercise, so I focus on trying to eat healthy and try the Healthpointe 2.0 way of eating, which promotes a high protein, low carb, low fat diet. Again, some initial success but trying to find healthy protein snacks proved to be a problem. So, I do some research regarding protein alternatives and come across a site called “Mark’s Daily Apple”. This guy claims the way to true health is by eliminating grains and sugar, what utter nonsense.
A few months later professor Tim Noakes releases his book “The Real Meal Revolution” and claims the way to true health is by eliminating grains and sugar, which is a complete about turn on his stance of carbo-loading. So, I buy the book, read it, and start eliminating grains and sugars from my diet. And it happens, the flab starts disappearing! I decide to do a bit more research on this new High Fat, Low Carb way of eating and again I come across the site called “Mark’s Daily Apple”, but this time I take it a bit more seriously and delve a little deeper and find “The Primal Blueprint”.
While the eating principles are the same as those mentioned in “The Real Meal Revolution” there is a lot more information on exercise and relaxation. I download all the free e-books and devour all the information as fast as I can. I can’t believe that all this information isn’t mainstream, it just makes so much sense. I gradually start implementing all that I’ve read and the results are amazing. The excess fat just melts off, my energy levels increase and I start feeling healthier….
And then my health starts to deteriorate. I develop itchy skin with no rash and start losing too much weight. My GP can’t explain it so I go to a homeopath, then a naturopath, then an acupuncturist, then an endocrinologist, then a dermatologist, I even go for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. I try all manner of natural remedies but nothing helps. During all this I am going through a divorce which doesn’t help matters much so I finally settle on going to a psychologist because I believe it is stress related.
A year later I drive myself to hospital with severe stomach pain only to find out I need to have my appendix removed. During the regulatory CT Scan the nurse detects some irregularities in my lungs and asks if I have been coughing a lot. I hadn’t noticed. A week later I am back in hospital with what looks like blood in my urine. Another CT scan and again the nurse comments on my lungs and recommends the scans get sent to a pulmonologist for further investigation. A cystoscopy later and thankfully nothing wrong with my bladder.
The pulmonologist then contacts me and wants to perform a bronchoscopy to get a better look at my lungs, he then sends me for a bronchoscopy under conscious sedation so they can get some tissue samples. Still inconclusive, so they send me for a CT guided biopsy and finally a diagnosis, Lymphoma. Not what one wants to hear, but at last I know what I am dealing with.
Off to the oncologist I go. She sends me for a bone marrow biopsy in order to determine the exact nature of the lymphoma and what stage the cancer has reached. The result, Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She recommends six months of chemotherapy, and after a long discussion about natural alternatives and how much time I have left if I don’t get treatment I agree. Those six months were really tough and the chemotherapy did a lot of damage, but I believe that if I hadn’t stuck to the Primal Blueprint lifestyle it would have been a lot worse, and I might have had to extend the treatment.
Once I am given the all clear I decide it is now time to start taking better care of myself so I decide what better way than to learn more about health and wellness, and then apply the principles to my own life. I sign up for the Primal Health Coach course and sixteen weeks later I am a Certified Primal Health Coach.
Unfortunately my story does not end here. Once you are diagnosed with cancer you are pretty much guaranteed a CT scan and a PET scan every year, six months apart. After my 6th scan, 3 years of remission, my oncologist notices something and sends me for another lung biopsy, the cancer is back, but this time it is slightly different. No itching, just weight loss and struggling to breathe. Because this is my 2nd strike my oncologist passes me over to a Haematologist, someone who specializes in blood-related conditions.
I am told I will need another round of chemotherapy, but this one will be a different cocktail and will include immunotherapy if I can afford it. At the time I cannot and the alternative is a nasty cocktail which requires hospitalization. I am also informed that once I am in remission I will require a stem cell transplant.
The first round was brutal, but while in hospital I received what some might consider a miracle, an insurance payout which allows me to revert back to the alternative treatment which included the immunotherapy, and no hospitalization. This round of chemotherapy is tougher than the fist one, I feel terrible and most of the time I’m just tired. Thankfully at the end of it all I’m given the all clear.
Time for my stem cell transplant, and along comes Covid-19. For most of us this was a terrible time, but for me it was a blessing in disguise. The procedure involved harvesting my own stem cells, then reducing my white cell count to zero, and reintroducing my healthy stem cells. To destroy my immune system I went through radiation and more chemotherapy. Covid made everyone more conscious about cleanliness and with everyone wearing masks I was less exposed to airborne germs.
December 2020 I have a PET/CT scan and receive the good news. Complete metabolic response.
What I have been through does not define me, it was a journey with a lot of detours into some pretty dark places, but it was what I needed at the time.
It is now January 2025 and next month I have my last regular PET/CT scan. I believe the results will be the same as all the previous ones since my stem cell transplant.
Update: My February 2025 CT Scan was all clear and August 2025 I had my last scheduled blood test, all was clear. It has been 5 years since my stem cell transplant, my doctor is setting me free, no more regular checkups. What a ride it has been, time for some new adventures.
Thank you for reading my body story…