Why Barbara Wrote “Sugar Pills: Non Medical Ways to Feel Your Best”

People process their challenges in a lot of ways. Some withdraw; others reach out. Barbara Baxter is among the latter. In her own words here she shares how she came to write her book, “Suge Pills: Non-Medical Ways to Feel Your Best” a book filled with positive non-medical ways to feel your best. .

 

The Big C

I’m a cancer survivor and I discovered helpful, inexpensive and easy-to-use information that you and I can use when facing a major illness or other life-changing events.

Not long ago, people with major health issues like heart attacks and cancer were considered on their way out, at the end of the road, facing the final curtain. People felt hopeless. They put their papers in order and waited to die.

Fortunately, medicine has advanced considerably. Early warning signs signal possible problems before they happen. Now, when heart attacks happen, restorative procedures and therapy begin immediately. People who have cancer can benefit tremendously with early diagnosis. Treatments for all stages of cancer have progressed immeasurably.

Let me tell you how I found out I had cancer.

I got a phone call from the nurse asking me to have another blood test because the results from my annual physical showed I had a slightly elevated white count. “OK” I said and a couple of days later I had another test. Again, the results were slightly elevated. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic since an elevated white count could be a sign of an infection somewhere in my system. I returned to the doctor’s office several weeks later.

This time my white count was down. It was almost at normal. My doctor is conservative and suggested I come back six weeks later for one more check of my white count. During those next six weeks, I didn’t think once about my white blood cell count. Then as requested, I once more had a blood test. My white blood count was right back up to where it had been at my annual physical. The doctor questioned me about travel. Sometimes people pick up a virus. He asked if I’d recently been to any foreign countries. Yes. I’d recently been in the Sierra Madre Mountains. “We’ll try this blood test once more,” he said. And so we did.

A Weird Little Bug?

When the phone rang three days later, it was the doctor calling. He told me I should see a specialist in oncology/hematology and recommended one for me. I made the appointment. I fully expected the oncologist to discover some weird little bug in my system, which would then be magically erased by medicine and my white blood cells would happily drop down to where they belonged.

The oncology nurse drew my blood for a test at their facility. The blood sample was put in a large machine that quickly spit out results. I did not have a weird little bug.  Instead, the oncologist came into the examining room with my test results. They showed, unmistakably, I had leukemia and was on the border of leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I gave a look of disbelief. “Make no mistake,” he emphasized, “you have leukemia, possibly non-Hodgkins lymphoma.”

I sat there trying to absorb his words as he explained tests I’d need to have to determine how far along the disease had progressed. I was outwardly silent. Inside, however, voices hollered in my mind. What did this mean? Disease progressed, progressed to what? What on earth was going on with my white blood cells? OH MY GOD! I have cancer! Is the doctor really talking to me? I felt just fine.

I heard the word CANCER and with that, my world changed.

Those of you who also have been diagnosed with cancer understand completely what it means when I say that my world had changed. Those of you with loved ones, family or friends diagnosed with cancer also understand what I mean. Cancer affects everyone. It changes everyone’s world.

It was a moment that my life was made different.

Since that time I’ve had experiences I could never have imagined. Through the adventure of my cancer conquest I have had life-broadening experiences, which have helped me be a cancer survivor, AND a cancer thriver.

I want to help you with your health journey.

I share with you the helpful, inexpensive and easy-to-use things I discovered, which helped me greatly during this process. I call them Sugar Pills. There are seven of them. They are not medical. They work.

These seven timely Sugar Pill tips will lift us up and calm us down.

You can have positive life changes from your cancer experience.

The seven Sugar Pills:

• Color
• Community
• Exercise
• Food
• Guided Imagery
• Music
• Positive Energy

In the upcoming months we’ll explore these 7 ‘sugar pills’ in depth here in this blog hearing from practitioners, experts and regular folk who have hit upon successful ways to turn your health around – turn your life around!