August 23

Much ado about everything!

I have experienced a miracle in my life and there is simply no other way to describe it. I have had some time to reflect and I now have answers to questions that I have always had in faith. Look around you, look for the miracles that are clearly there but often we are too blind to see. Everyday there are amazing acts of God but much of the time we have a shadow over our eyes that cloud and distort these mysteries. I suggest to open your eyes to miracles before you! I am thankful for my miracle, and I am doing everything I can to embrace what it feels like to be at one moment ill-fated and the next rejoicing for my fortune. It is quite the ride!

Let's talk about broccoli! When I found out that my recent CT scan of my lungs showed multiple new nodules and solid mass, I felt disheartened and disappointed. I have already had lung metastasis, and this new finding only gave me a dim prognosis. I did many things immediately, the first was lots of prayer to God for healing and strength to get through this. But next, broccoli. Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, and interestingly, the Miriam-Webster meaning of cruciferous is "one who carries a cross..." along with the meaning of a vegetable of the cruciferous family. But originally the cruciferous vegetables were so named because of their 3 leaves and stem resembling a cross. Isn't it interesting that my first plan was prayer, and my second was the cross-bearing vegetable of broccoli. Broccoli has amazing powerful healing effects, and especially on cancer prevention. As I am deciding about my life during this crisis, it seemed only fitting that I overdose on broccoli. An article by the Harvard Gazette states: "New research has linked a compound found in Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and other cruciferous vegetables to one of the body’s most potent tumor-suppressing genes." I have a link to the article below if you want to read it in full. As I am faced with new tumor growth it only made sense to me to eat broccoli and a lot of it. I began eating 1-2 pounds of cooked and raw broccoli everyday. Broccoli can help multiple chronic illnesses and it is very effective in controlling blood pressure, in regulating blood sugar, it supports cardiovascular health, and has much needed fiber for gut-health. I can't think of any downsides to eating broccoli. Take a look at these nutrition facts:  The USDA provides the following nutrition information for one cup (91g) of raw, chopped broccoli.

Calories: 31 Fat: 0.3g Sodium: 30mg Carbohydrates: 6g Fiber: 2.4g Sugars: 1.5g Protein: 2.5g Vitamin C: 81.2mg Calcium: 42.8mg Vitamin K: 92.8µg Magnesium: 19.1mg

In conclusion to this story of my amazing miracle, when I went in for my CT guided biopsy of the lung masses, after thoroughly searching my lungs with the CT scanner, the medical team happily informed me that masses were gone. All of them? Seriously? Just gone? I am in shock and I am delighted. I am thanking in God for prayers answered and I am forever committed to eating my share of the cross-bearing cruciferous vegetables.