Post Brain Tumor Henna

I used to color my hair at home all of the time. Black, red, blonde, chestnut, burgundy and every color in between. But I have never tried henna. The reason for this is you can't use henna on hair that has been chemically processed, and my hair has ALWAYS been chemically processed. That is till I had my brain tumor. I've been natural ever since.

Recently we went to a party and I saw all the women with their fun hair colors. Even women older than me with pink, red, two tone fun hair. I looked at my pictures and thought "I WANT FUN HAIR TOO!" Now my natural color may be nice, but no one would ever say that it's fun. I'm a fun woman and I want fun hair.

I was also going through some old pictures and I saw a few with my hair red. I always loved the magic and myth around a flaming head of hair and Maureen O'Hara is one of my heroes. I thought coloring my hair again was out for me because I want to keep away from chemicals. But then I remembered henna. 

People have been using henna to color their hair for thousands of years. It's a safe, all natural, chemical free process. The one I picked is even organic!

The directions said for an even brighter red to steep some hibiscus tea (which I just happened to have on hand!) and use a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar. I used 2oz white vinegar and 12oz tea mixed together and steeped overnight.

Ok... it looks EXACTLY like poop. Luckily it doesn't smell bad. 

First I painted Vaseline all over the parts of my skin that I didn't want stained. Then I liberally applied the henna mixture all over my hair starting at the crown. Next I wrapped it in plastic wrap (about 3 layers.) Then I topped that off with a warm towel. I did henna my brows too. Very carefully with a fine paint brush and lots of Vaseline around them. I then blasted them with a hair dryer for a few minutes as henna likes heat to activate. 

Four and a half hours and three pairs of gloves later...

I really love the results! Unlike chemical dye it also didn't burn or hurt my scalp. Next time I will use even more Vaseline as I still got some staining, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. The color keeps curing for the next two days and will darken a little bit. 

The process was also a fun History/Science/Cultural Anthropology experiment for me. I could picture a community of women taking the day off and all doing henna for each other. I'm sure they would have group grooming days like that. I also thought of the Egyptians who were documented to use henna liberally. It's amazing that it could do as good a job as chemicals without all that damage and toxicity. 

I think it looks really natural. I will definitely do it again.

And here's a gratuitous puppy picture just because.

Plan Kick Ass Week 1

Don't make the same mistakes

This is Plan Kick Ass - Phase 3 for a reason. My body has undergone a lot of drastic changes during this last year (even not including my brain tumor.) But I also have some tendencies that I'm trying hard to watch out for this time because they did not serve me well in the past.

1) OBSESSING about food. I'm totally an all or nothing type of person (something I'm working on.) In the past I have used food tracking apps. And I don't just USE them, but I over use them. Photographing and tracking everything that goes past my lips. This is a time suck and it has never helped me keep weight off.

Wait, Did I just eat 4 almonds or 6. DAMN!

2) OVER exercising. I actually caught myself yesterday thinking "Maybe I should get a personal trainer or try CrossFit?" Whooooo girl. Reign it in! It's one thing to "gently" push myself, it's another to go too fast and cause an injury, or a well intentioned death by tire flipping. Too much too soon.

Go rest girl

3) Trying too many things all at once. This is an easy one to fall into for me. I get super motivated for change and instead of trying one new thing at a time I do 50. I already was tempted by this one after reading about food that helps with muscle strength. I also read about needing large amounts of Folic Acid and Omegas. I though "I should go get some of those and give it a try." Note, not ONE... but THOSE... meaning all at once. "If one change is good surely 50 is even better?" Maybe, but it's also a) Expensive (and I need to save money now that I'm not working as much. And b) You can't tell WHAT it is that's helping/working when you're trying so much all at the same time. 

One change at a time

Now that I'm aware of these pitfalls I hope to avoid them moving forward. I'll likely pick up some Omegas soon to go along with my "more fish" diet. But that's easy to track.

Today's physical plan is to walk my Sweet girl again then see how I feel. If I'm up to it I'll also do some gardening. Then it's rest, rest, rest.

Plan KA Days 2&3

Plan Kick Ass is going really well. Today I condensed my plan to these 10 steps and put them on my chalkboard in my room as a reminder:

I've been enjoying a simple egg, gluten free toast, herb goat cheese (with fresh herbs) and tomato for breakfast. This morning I had it with two eggs on the side.

Free range, organic, humane, pasture eggs in a tiny bit of avocado oil.

Delicious!

I made it into a breakfast sandwich yesterday with some lavender sea salt on top.

This morning's variation.

We had friends over last night and put out a healthy spread. I indulged in two Ginger Ales (but no booze) and about two tablespoons of "pub cheese" (that I did not buy, but have a hard time saying no to!) Oh yeah, and I put some brown sugar on my strawberries. Other than that it was all very healthy and actually Vegan. It was also my dinner. 

Guest spread

Also a guest appearance by my Sweetie!

So the food choices are going really well. We went to the movies with a friend today and I said "GET THEE BACK SATAN" to movie popcorn and soda. Just had my water and a few raw almonds. Go me! After we went to Chipotle for lunch where I had a salad with pinto beans, grilled veg and corn salsa. No soda and a few chips. No meat, no cheese. No queso dip. GO ME!!!!

You GO GIRL!

I've been pushing myself to walk a lot more. The stretching feels really good in the morning and my husband has been giving me amazing rubs that are also very helpful for my muscles. I'm trying to push myself, but also listen to my body (Rules 1 and 2.)

Tomorrow I'm going to have a morning push and do some gardening. Then relax the rest of the day and get ready for my three day work week. Wish me luck!

Plan KA Day 1

As I said in my previous post, I am re-committing to PLAN KICK ASS to better my health. Here's how day one went down. In the words of my husband "You crushed it!"

My lunch was high good fats and high protein. Three scrambled eggs with mushrooms, onion and peppers all served up like an open face omelet. No gluten free bread and no cheese. It was delicious and kept me feeling full fo a very long time.

Dinner was very veg heavy. My amazing husband planned, bought and made these beautiful sweet stuffed peppers. I made the brown rice and salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.

I don't have the spoons to make my own salad dressing, but this is the BEST Italian vinaigrette I've found. 

Every morning I still indulge in my wonderful cup of Java. I'm not ready to give that up yet, but I am trying to make that my only sugar for the day. I'm also cutting out cheese except for Goat because it's very low in calories, high in protein, full of good fat and Goats are treated better in my country than dairy cows. So that's just a win all around. My husband minces fresh herbs in it and OH MY! It's amazing.

My snacks have been fresh fruit and these bulk bin beauties. Raw almonds.

We were eating a name brand's "Smokehouse" almonds until I looked at the ingredients. Ack! Always look at the ingredients.

As far as pushing myself physically went, I seriously took that to heart. I walked my puppy girl by myself around the block (a really big deal for me), did about 3 loads of dishes, 5 or so loads of laundry, scrubbed out shower/tub, cleaned the bathroom and tidied up. I laid down for a bit, but honestly felt too full of energy to sleep! 

My body did really well till around 6PM. Then my muscles went into revolt. Cramps and soreness kicked up, but I expected it.

I like Friday to be my "big push" day because then I have the weekend to pull back a little bit.

So far, I'm really glad I made this change. My husband is 100% on board and being really supportive and amazing. GO PLAN KICK ASS!!!

Plan "Kick Ass" ROUND 3!

Medicine has taken me as far as it can go. My team of specialists are now reverting back to the general term "Myopathy" to describe my chronic, sudden muscle fatigue and symptom cluster. I've been told that "It COULD be genetic, it COULD have been cause by my brain tumor, by the Plaquenil, by the Latent Tuberculosis treatment, by my immune system..." I've been spiraling into a serious depression although keeping that "stiff upper lip" and smile on my face on the outside. Well, most of the time. 

But this morning I remembered the wise words of Hippocrates.

I've seen where endless doctors appointments, $20 co-pays to be told "Huh, that's not typical" and test after test has gotten me. Some help, some improvement, but still on a steep decline. 

I woke up this morning and told myself that I had two choices. I can put 70% of my week into fighting this and 30% into work OR I can just keep doing what I'm doing and end up using my chairs all of the time within a few months. 

Maybe I'll still need my chairs in a few months, all of the time, but isn't it worth trying something different? I literally have nothing to lose by trying.

Soooo... Here comes PLAN KICK ASS ROUND 3!!!

(Remember PKA round 1 and round 2? No? Yeah, it HAS been a while.)

PLAN KICK ASS - ROUND 3:

• Push myself in some physical way every day that I don't work. Do something big (like walk the dog around the block), then rest for an hour. Then do something big (like mop the kitchen) then rest for an hour. 
• Listen to my body
• Stretch EVERY DAY!
• Reduce my portion size
• No soda... ever
• Eat fresh and chemical free as much as possible
• Switch to 1 cup of coffee in the morning, then green tea
• Eat more fish and veg, keep beef as a rare treat
• Eat LOTS more veg
• Have lots of good fats (grass fed butter, olive oil, avocados)
• 1 caffeine power drink per day (it really does help my muscles)
• Eat breakfast and small snacks
• Have lunch be my biggest meal of the day
• Take a nap every day I don't work
• Reduce my work days from 4 to 3 (30 hours per week)
• Look into swimming again when I feel ready
• Ask for help, but try on my own first
• 1,500mg CoQ10 a day
• 20mg Baclofen a day (this has been very helpful)
• 2,000IU of vitamin D a day
• Stay on my Lyrica and Cymbalta

It's time to take my health and my body into MY OWN hands. Of course I'll still maintain my doctor's appointments too. I have a new geneticist that is going to do a full DNA screening on me and I'll go through with that (as long as my insurance will pay for it). But I'm not going to just keep searching for answers that science isn't ready to give me yet. It's MY body, MY health, MY mobility and I want to know that I literally tried everything that I can to help myself.

My push this morning was taking this beautiful little lady for a walk around the block with just my own two legs. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that. It was a big push, but felt great.