Here She Comes

Today, my youngest daughter's birthday. While thinking about how I can make this day special for her, I sit and wonder just how the years have flown by so quickly. I still remember her first sight, her first smile, her first word, her first step. 

I want to tell her lots of things. How proud I am of her. How special she is. How she has blossomed into a beautiful and elegant young woman.

I want to tell her that her journey is still a long ways to go. That the world can sometimes be cruel, but she has a family that loves her, supporting her and always on her side. That she needs to keep her head up and have enough confidence and wisdom to respect the choices she makes. That in this life, there are always choices, and that it is these choices that define us, build our character and make us who we are. I want to tell her that it's alright to make mistakes. That learning lessons from mistakes can make her a better person. And if we live life afraid of being wrong, or making a mistake, we will never grow.

Rhea doesn't know why I see 'me' in her; her action, her choices when it comes to fashions and jewelries, her thinking, stubbornness, strong willed, kindness so similar. But she's different in so many ways too.

She doesn't know that from her I learned about patience and forgiveness, as she stretched my tolerance with the sulky attitude as a teenage girl. I want her to always know that whatever she chose to become, I will always feel proud of her simply because she has the key to my heart forever.

To my lovely daughter Rhea, I just have this to say. You're loved for being you and you're wished a world of happiness today and all year through.

Have a very Happy Birthday on your special day!

In The Silence Of My Heart

I love silence. often do my writing when it is quiet and I am all alone with my thoughts. My mind is like a river continuously flowing when spent in silence, calm and harmony.

From the depths of my solitude, so many thoughts finally have a chance to bubble up. Thoughts and feelings that are not able to come in the open amidst the clatter at work and everyday life.

Out of this silence, I heard my heart's whispering...I miss my family in Gensan. My mother is going through a major operation of both eyes today. The last time we talked,  she sounded so scared to go through operation. I think she's scared of the possibility that she might not be able to see again aside from other complications that the doctors told her. She was supposed to be operated last month but her blood pressure was high so her doctors have to wait for her blood pressure to get normal before they could proceed with the process.  I feel sad that I am not there in this scary moment in her life. She just turned 73 last November 18 and the older she gets, the more she makes me feel that she needed her children to be near her if not around her. She would always brand me as being the vagabond among her children. It breaks my heart every time she tells me that they only have few years left in this life and yet I chose to live 13,000 miles away from them. I love my family so dearly. And it is hard to be separated from them. But our parents taught us early in life to be free and independent. And they have taught really well.

All of this takes me to today. I miss the warmth and love of my big family. I miss the camaraderie of my friends. I miss baby Arielle and I wish I could watch her learn new things while growing up. I miss my Bingo Bango golf buddies. I miss kinilaw na tuna. I miss manggang hilaw with bagoong. I miss Durian. I miss the sun and the beach...

Yes, I miss the feeling of familiarity and everything about the city of my birth. But my life is here in the US now. I am happy and blessed to be here and there's nowhere in the world that I wanna be than where I am right now.

So confusing to be sad and happy at the same time. I know I will overcome. I know I am not alone. And today I woke up with joy in my heart but still missing home.

Finding Gifts

It's so amazing that it is just 38 days from now before Christmas. It seems like just yesterday when the girls and I put up that Christmas tree and filled the house with Christmas decor and Christmas lights.

And for Filipinos, no matter where we are in the world, one of the most exciting parts of Christmas celebrations is the giving and receiving gifts to and from family and friends.

Although I already have my list of gifts as early as 2 months ago, I have not started buying them yet. And I plan to do most of my shopping on the internet because I don't really have time to go to stores or malls. I found this search engine on the net that opens to the world of limitless shopping.  Their website has been very helpful to me all these times. Through them you can find anything that you are looking for because they include all retailers in the web, Yes, I said all,including those that do not pay for inclusion.

Shopping on the internet is a great place to find anything under the sun. And because you have unlimited number of choices available to you, it's guaranteed that you can find what you are looking for at the price that you can be comfortable with, aside from the fact that you save time and money.

Sometimes finding the perfect present for our love ones can be a hard task but the internet has opened an unlimited access to us in finding that right gift and also one that is unique. I used to get frantic when I haven't done my Chistmas shopping yet this time of the year. Not anymore. I know I will have no problem in finding the gifts I have on my lists. All I need is a couple of hours to browse the internet and I will find the best deal there is...

Philippines, The Lost Garden Of Eden

To say that the Philippines is a beautiful country is an understatement. It is an amazing tropical jewel of the East and blessed by God with so many beautiful things. Philippines have the world's smallest volcano (Taal Volcano), smallest primate (tarsier) and one of the world's most beautiful beach (Boracay). 

Philippines is composed of 7,107 Islands and is the only Southeast Asian Nation to share no land boundary with it's neighboring countries. Before the Spanish colonial era our country was collectively known as MAHARLIKA, an old Malay language which means "Noble Creation". Philippines has been the criss-cross path of all the Explorers way back centuries ago. 

God really blessed the Philippines with so many breathtaking beauties from the mountains, land, sea and its people. Filipinos are known to be extremely friendly and hospitable. You will feel the warmth and welcoming attitude of the people wherever you go. Through these few photos, it is my honor to show you and tour you to "The Lost Garden of Eden: The Pearl of the Orient."

Enjoy!

Boracay, one of the most beautiful beaches in the World

Camiguin

Pinatubo crater lake

Palawan

Banaue Rice Terraces- Ifugao, Philippines

the 8th wonder of the world

Taal Lake and Volcano-the smallest volcano in the world

Almost perfect cone of Mayon Volcano

Puerto Galera, Mindoro

Hundred Islands, Pangasinan

Tarsier, the smallest primate in the world

The Chocolate Hills in Bohol, 1,776 hills all in all

Siargao Island, the surfing capital of the Philippines

Ortigas Center by night

 Makati-the Manhattan of the Philippines

Just Being Aware

October is Cancer Awareness month. Although it is already November, I thought of sharing this item forwarded to all members of my Alumni's website...Everyday, every month and every year we should be aware of this disease that's affecting so many women all over the world. One way of doing this is by sharing any information, tips or knowledge we get to as much people as we can..I have 4 very close friends who are breast cancer survivors and 2 who died from it.

WHY WOMEN IN CHINA DO NOT GET BREAST CANCER


By Prof. Jane Plant, PhD, CBE

I had no alternative but to die or to try to find a cure for myself. I am a scientist - surely there was a rational explanation for this cruel illness that affects one in 12 women in the UK ?

I had suffered the loss of one breast, and undergone radiotherapy. I was now receiving painful chemotherapy, and had been seen by some of the country's most eminent specialists. But, deep down, I felt certain I was facing death. I had a loving husband, a beautiful home and two young children to care for. I desperately wanted to live.

Fortunately, this desire drove me to unearth the facts, some of which were known only to a handful of scientists at the time.

Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors - such as increasing age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer - are completely out of our control. But there are many risk factors, which we can control easily.

These "controllable" risk factors readily translate into simple changes that we can all make in our day-to-day lives to help prevent or treat breast cancer. My message is that even advanced breast cancer can be overcome because I have done it.

The first clue to understanding what was promoting my breast cancer came when my husband Peter, who was also a scientist, arrived back from working in China while I was being plugged in for a chemotherapy session.

He had brought with him cards and letters, as well as some amazing herbal suppositories, sent by my friends and science colleagues in China .

The suppositories were sent to me as a cure for breast cancer. Despite the awfulness of the situation, we both had a good belly laugh, and I remember saying that this was the treatment for breast cancer in China , then it was little wonder that Chinese women avoided getting the disease.

Those words echoed in my mind.

Why didn't Chinese women in China get breast cancer?

I had collaborated once with Chinese colleagues on a study of links between soil chemistry and disease, and I remembered some of the statistics.

The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country Only one in 10,000 women in China will die from it, compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries.

It is not just a matter of China being a more rural country, with less urban pollution. In highly urbanized Hong Kong , the rate rises to 34 women in every 10,000 but still puts the West to shame.

The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have similar rates. And remember, both cities were attacked withnuclear weapons, so in addition to the usual pollution-related cancers, one would also expect to find some radiation-related cases, too.

The conclusion we can draw from these statistics strikes you with some force. If a Western woman were to move to industrialized, irradiated Hiroshima , she would slash her risk of contracting breast cancer by half. Obviously this is absurd. It seemed obvious to me that some lifestyle factor not related to pollution, urbanization or the environment is seriously increasing the Western woman's chance of contracting breast cancer.

I then discovered that whatever causes the huge differences in breast cancer rates between oriental and Western countries, it isn't genetic.

Scientific research showed that when Chinese or Japanese people move to the West, within one or two generations their rates of breast cancer approach those of their host community.

The same thing happens when oriental people adopt a completely Western lifestyle in Hong Kong . In fact, the slang name for breast cancer in China translates as 'Rich Woman's Disease' This is because, in China , only the better off can afford to eat what is termed ' Hong Kong food'.

The Chinese describe all Western food, including everything from ice cream and chocolate bars to spaghetti and feta cheese, as "Hong Kong food", because of its availability in the former British colony and its scarcity, in the past, in mainland China .

So it made perfect sense to me that whatever was causing my breast cancer and the shockingly high incidence in this country generally, it was almost certainly something to do with our better-off, middle-class, Western lifestyle.

There is an important point for men here, too. I have observed in my research that much of the data about prostate cancer leads to similar conclusions.

According to figures from the World Health Organization, the number of men contracting prostate cancer in rural China is negligible, only 0.5 men in every 100,000. In England , Scotland and Wales , however, this figure is 70 times higher. Like breast cancer, it is a middle-class disease that primarily attacks the wealthier and higher socio-economic groups, those that can afford to eat rich foods.

I remember saying to my husband, "Come on Peter, you have just come back from China . What is it about the Chinese way of life that is so different?"

Why don't they get breast cancer?'

We decided to utilize our joint scientific backgrounds and approach it logically.

We examined scientific data that pointed us in the general direction of fats in diets.

Researchers had discovered in the 1980s that only l4% of calories in the average Chinese diet were from fat, compared to almost 36% in the West.

But the diet I had been living on for years before I contracted breast cancer was very low in fat and high in fibre.

Besides, I knew as a scientist that fat intake in adults has not been shown to increase risk for breast cancer in most investigations that have followed large groups of women for up to a dozen years.

Then one day something rather special happened. Peter and I have worked together so closely over the years that I am not sure which one of us first said: "The Chinese don't eat dairy produce!"

It is hard to explain to a non-scientist the sudden mental and emotional 'buzz' you get when you know you have had an important insight. It's as if you have had a lot of pieces of a jigsaw in your mind, and suddenly, in a few seconds, they all fall into place and the whole picture is clear.

Suddenly I recalled how many Chinese people were physically unable to tolerate milk, how the Chinese people I had worked with had always said that milk was only for babies, and how one of my close friends, who is of Chinese origin, always politely turned down the cheese course at dinner parties.

I knew of no Chinese people who lived a traditional Chinese life who ever used cow or other dairy food to feed their babies. The tradition was to use a wet nurse but never, ever, dairy products.

Culturally, the Chinese find our Western preoccupation with milk and milk products very strange. I remember entertaining a large delegation of Chinese scientists shortly after the ending of the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s.

On advice from the Foreign Office, we had asked the caterer to provide a pudding that contained a lot of ice cream. After inquiring what the pudding consisted of, all of the Chinese, including their interpreter, politely but firmly refused to eat it, and they could not be persuaded to change their minds.

At the time we were all delighted and ate extra portions!

Milk, I discovered, is one of the most common causes of food allergies . Over 70% of the world's population are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which has led nutritionists to believe that this is the normal condition for adults, not some sort of deficiency. Perhaps nature is trying to tell us that we are eating the wrong food.

Before I had breast cancer for the first time, I had eaten a lot of dairy produce, such as skimmed milk, low-fat cheese and yogurt. I had used it as my main source of protein. I also ate cheap but lean minced beef, which I now realized was probably often ground-up dairy cow.

In order to cope with the chemotherapy I received for my fifth case of cancer, I had been eating organic yogurts as a way of helping my digestive tract to recover and repopulate my gut with 'good' bacteria.

Recently, I discovered that way back in 1989 yogurt had been implicated in ovarian cancer. Dr Daniel Cramer of Harvard University studied hundreds of women with ovarian cancer, and had them record in detail what they normally ate. Wish I'd been made aware of his findings when he had first discovered them.

Following Peter's and my insight into the Chinese diet, I decided to give up not just yogurt but all dairy produce immediately. Cheese, butter, milk and yogurt and anything else that contained dairy produce - it went down the sink or in the rubbish.

It is surprising how many products, including commercial soups, biscuits and cakes, contain some form of dairy produce. Even many proprietary brands of margarine marketed as soya, sunflower or olive oil spreads can contain dairy produce

.I therefore became an avid reader of the small print on food labels.

Up to this point, I had been steadfastly measuring the progress of my fifth cancerous lump with callipers and plotting the results. Despite all the encouraging comments and positive feedback from my doctors and nurses, my own precise observations told me the bitter truth.

My first chemotherapy sessions had produced no effect - the lump was still the same size.

Then I eliminated dairy products. Within days, the lump started to shrink

.About two weeks after my second chemotherapy session and one week after giving up dairy produce, the lump in my neck started to itch. Then it began to soften and to reduce in size. The line on the graph, which had shown no change, was now pointing downwards as the tumour got smaller and smaller.

And, very significantly, I noted that instead of declining exponentially (a graceful curve) as cancer is meant to do, the tumour's decrease in size was plotted on a straight line heading off the bottom of the graph, indicating a cure, not suppression (or remission) of the tumour.

One Saturday afternoon after about six weeks of excluding all dairy produce from my diet, I practised an hour of meditation then felt for what was left of the lump. I couldn't find it. Yet I was very experienced at detecting cancerous lumps - I had discovered all five cancers on my own. I went downstairs and asked my husband to feel my neck. He could not find any trace of the lump either.

On the following Thursday I was due to be seen by my cancer specialist at Charing Cross Hospital in London . He examined me thoroughly, especially my neck where the tumour had been. He was initially bemused and then delighted as he said, "I cannot find it." None of my doctors, it appeared, had expected someone with my type and stage of cancer (which had clearly spread to the lymph system) to survive, let alone be so hale and hearty.

My specialist was as overjoyed as I was. When I first discussed my ideas with him he was understandably sceptical. But I understand that he now uses maps showing cancer mortality in China in his lectures, and recommends a non-dairy diet to his cancer patients.

I now believe that the link between dairy produce and breast cancer is similar to the link between smoking and lung cancer. I believe that identifying the link between breast cancer and dairy produce, and then developing a diet specifically targeted at maintaining the health of my breast and hormone system, cured me.

It was difficult for me, as it may be for you, to accept that a substance as 'natural' as milk might have such ominous health implications. But I am a living proof that it works and, starting from tomorrow, I shall reveal the secrets of my revolutionary action plan.

Extracted from Your Life in Your Hands, by Professor Jane Plan