After 24 Years of Recovery From Ovarian Cancer

It was my birthday on April 4th this month of April.

I spent the most ordinary, beautiful birthday at my favorite place in the world: the beach.

Watching a beautiful sunset and a full moon at the same time touched my soul so much.

Now I am 62 years old.

I had ovarian cancer when I was 38 years old. It has been 24 years I am very proud that I almost never got sick after I recovered from cancer and have been living a happy life.

Photo: On my birthday with Kula’s sister, Oro who is my new service dog at the beach

There were two incidents that led me to get sick last 24 years:

One was when I had a serious car crash in 2001 and had a blood transfusion. I found out I got hepatitis C virus ((HCV primarily affects the liver) from the blood transfusion. I was able to manage with macrobiotics and a natural lifestyle, so I did not have to take any medication.

The second incident was when I got Helicobacter pylori (bacteria infection in the stomach) while I was traveling 3.5 years ago. It was very challenging to recover from this bacteria, but I again used all-holistic methods—macrobiotics, homeopathic medicine, and other natural healing remedies. It took more than three months to see positive results.

Hepatitis C virus and Helicobacter pylori bacteria are types of conditions that you can manage, but once you get them, your body never gets rid of them completely. Also, they can lead to cancer, so I have been careful.

Photo: Sunset and seagulls

But sometimes we face unexpected disaster, misfortune, accidents, trouble, sadness, grief, pain and suffering. I faced the loss of my beloved dog daughter, who was also my service dog for 13 years, as well as the closing of our restaurant Seed Kitchen after 8 years—both of which were very painful and challenging times last year. I was not feeling 100 percent last 6 months. I have been feeling weak and extremely fatigued without doing much, so I knew there was something going on. I decided to go see my doctor and take tests since I did not have any complete tests for a few years.

I was shocked to find out the hepatitis C virus had flared up, but I knew my emotional state was very fragile with grieving so much since last Aug.

Now I know why I was feeling so exhausted, so even though I was shocked to find out, I know what to do. To see if everything is all right, I will have some more tests to take soon. In the meantime, I need to rest a lot. I have started to make special healing food and remedies that work for me so I am able to get up and move around.

I also decided to take a leave of absence from most of my work and not take any new clients. I would like to focus on healing my mind, body and spirit.

I made a decision to live my life preciously when I had cancer, so I want to respect “Sanae” and her feeling and continue my life preciously and slowly.

Photo: Full moon on my birthday

I love to express myself by writing, so I still want to write when I am feeling all right here and there like today. I will not be able to reply to you, so please understand.

I look forward to announcing my recovery and my new adventure.

Love, Sanae 💖