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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Making Lemonade<\/h3>\n
I<\/span>scheduled my first mammogram right before the big 4\u20130. The results came back clear. I was feeling fit. But just 11 days later, I found a lump.<\/p>\n Concerned, I hauled ass to my ob-gyn, who said it was just a normal, glandular effect of getting older. I believed her. Why wouldn\u2019t I? Dr. E was my first doctor when I moved to Los Angeles at 23. She coached Michael and me through two blissful pregnancies and greeted both of our girls when they came into the world. I trusted her.<\/p>\n Yet over the next few weeks, that lump stared me down, taunting me. To make sure I wasn\u2019t crazy, I asked my hubby if he could feel it. Yep. Could he see it? Ditto. So it made sense to have my GP check it out. He also said I had nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n Four months passed, and the lump was still freaking me out. My gut told me to be triple sure, so I scheduled a consult with a surgical oncologist. Two ultrasounds and a needle biopsy later, the oncologist said it didn\u2019t seem problematic. But she wasn\u2019t sure what it was, so she advised we take it out just to be safe. Hasta la vista, lumpy, and hola to my very first surgery.<\/p>\n Back in my surgeon\u2019s office, every indication pointed to getting the all clear.<\/p>\n No cancer, I imagined, but good for you for being vigilant and an advocate for your own health.<\/p>\n Then all of a sudden there it was.<\/p>\n Cancer.<\/p>\n CANCER.<\/p>\n I had stage 1A invasive ductal cancer of the breast: two small tumors, one noninvasive and one smaller, scarier one. As far as diagnoses go, it was a pretty good one.<\/p>\n Surgery options, radiation consults, chemo consults, reconstruction information\u2014spending hours with six of the top surgeons in L.A. made my brain feel like it was about to burst. The first two surgeons told me to have a double mastectomy.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my first health PSA: Fondle yourself. Please touch your lady lumps. If you find something, rush to a breast specialist. Getting checked out can be terrifying, but not checking it out is scarier. Being proactive might have saved my life.<\/p>\n In my case, the surgeon who deals with breasts made the right call. My other nonspecialist doctors, who are fabulous in their own fields, didn\u2019t. It\u2019s hard not to fault them, but even my lumpectomy surgeon said the only person who could have known for sure was the pathologist looking at the tissue samples. That\u2019s why you gotta be your own advocate.\nDuring my mastectomy, my surgeon found that the cancer had spread to one of my lymph nodes. Thankfully, he was able to remove it all, so after the mastectomy and two reconstructive surgeries, my oncologists gave me the all clear.<\/p>\n My surgery, however, came with a newly scarred body, having to come to terms with that, and zero feeling in my breasts, the back of my arm, and my armpit where they removed several lymph nodes. But if that\u2019s the worst of it, count me lucky.<\/p>\n Life gave me a big, fat lemon, which is why my hubby reminded me: \u201cBabe, you gotta make lemonade.\u201d That little clich\u00e9 impacted me so much that Michael and I founded GottaMakeLemonade.com where people dealing with all kinds of challenges can share their stories, find support, and snag inspiration.<\/p>\n After my diagnosis and treatment, I obsessed over why this had happened to me and dived headfirst into overhauling my health. I was a fit chick. I didn\u2019t eat double bacon cheeseburgers. I wore sunscreen. I treated cardio like a religion. How the hell did I have cancer?<\/p>\n Many people had trudged the same complicated, scary-as-shit road before me. The proliferation of chronic diseases in \u201chealthy\u201d people both stunned and scared me. I needed answers. It took more than two years of poring over books, articles, and websites\u2014plus consultations with nutritionists, internists specializing in integrative medicine, healthy chefs, various oncologists, and other experts\u2014to navigate my way from healthy to my healthiest.<\/p>\n In my post cancer reality, reexamining my \u201chealthy\u201d lifestyle became paramount. I had no genetic predisposition for cancer. I went far beyond testing for BRCA mutations; I did a full panel, which tested for any DNA red flags, and came up clean.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve done enough planks and burpees in the last decade to make a boot camp instructor sweat, and my habit of ordering egg-white omelets and cheeseless pizzas prompted almost everyone I knew to give me a Healthiest Eater award. Here I was, the \u201chealthiest\u201d one in the room, but my sports bra had that hot pink \u201cC\u201d emblazoned on it. WTF was I doing wrong?<\/p>\n Could the food I scarfed have created the C-monster? I didn\u2019t think so. What about my fitness routine? Turns out my low-fat, low-cal, diet foods way of eating did need an overhaul. My gym sessions needed some shaping up. The more I read, the more I felt like Alice falling into a Wonderland of information. If the causes weren\u2019t inside my body, could my environment have invited cancer to come knocking?<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot to process, and I wish someone had given me a road map. It\u2019s not always easy. Navigating the labyrinth of conflicting health info to figure out what foods are healthy, what products are toxin-free, and what screenings are necessary can feel dizzying. Here are the first three steps you need to take:<\/p>\n Since you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019ve already done that. Congrats!<\/p>\n Look at every area of your life: diet, fitness, relationships, and beyond. Figure out what you need to embrace (vegetables and workouts you like, people who support you), and be honest about what you need to change.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t do everything all at once. Make one small change at a time. That one step can revolutionize your life with hardcore healthiness.<\/p>\n It is my goal to help you \u2026 hold my hand, laugh at my jokes, and let my inner Laker Girl cheer you on. We\u2019re in this together!<\/p>\n Samantha Harris shares inspirational breast cancer recovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2018","category-fall-2018-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7981"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8421,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7981\/revisions\/8421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Step 1. Resolve to Pursue Your Healthiest Self<\/h4>\n
Step 2. Evaluate What’s Working<\/h4>\n
Step 3. Take Bite-Sized Action<\/h4>\n
Samantha Harris is most notable as co-host of Dancing with the Stars and Entertainment Tonight. She is an Emmy-winning TV host and journalist, author, certified personal trainer, nutrition advocate and promoter of healthy living and mother of two. She is the author of Your Healthiest Healthy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>For more info visit Instagram @SamanthaHarrisTV<\/a> and website, Samantha-Harris.com<\/a>.<\/h5>\n
Reprinted with permission from Your Healthiest Healthy<\/em><\/a> by Samantha Harris \u00a9 2018 The King\u2019s Daughter, Inc. Published by Sterling Publishing.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"