Raw vegan foodie, pt. 2

I have been making a more strong effort to follow the 7 – 21 day system of Queen Afua. She is known in these parts and beyond as a real healer and change maker in the womens wellness arena. My first time trying her was a success and I will go into detail soon. But now, my partner and I have gone into the world of extreme wellness.

Whoooohoooo! Can I get an amen?

A glimpse of what it looks like is raw veggies all day, some steamed. Lots of juicing, Lots of juicing. Lots of wheatgrass. Lots of chlorophyll. I am staying away from as much soy as possible and plastics. I am cutting down on wheat and dairy remains a no no. I certainly have my energy back. My anemia has been a serious pain in my ass.

It is a lot to keep up with and I am fortunate enough to have a partner and friends who support me. I feel like all my days are made up of eating. Thinking and preparing for the next meal.

Raw Vegan Foodie, here I come

After the doctors visit where I said yes to surgery, I had a few days immediately following that where I was depressed. I was also sorta free and liberated, and I was also a tiny bit scared. Once I make my mind up, there is no turning back. I am a typical Taurus in that way. Also, I watched a documentary on Netflix, “More about the Business of Being Born” VBAC edition. One of my gals on Instagram put me onto looking into my post surgery life… having children and the like.

I want to have children. I am 34 and have never had children. My boyfriend and I talk about children and marriage with frequency and that is a part of our future. I had my own birth plan of being at home, in my tub or a borrowed tub. Doula and Midwife, candles and India Arie in the background. That was and is my dream. VBAC means vaginal birth after cesarean. While an open myomectomy is not a cesarean, some of my understanding of the surgery remain similar. Risks, depth, time, healing, preparation and so forth. Lots of folks, and by folks I mean doctors, say that once a person having this surgery, then its continued c- sections from that point forward. I certainly don’t want to undergo that experience for the two to three children I dream of having.

So… mysel;f along with my partner are deciding to look at things from the desired end result first. How do we find a team, how do we exhaust all of our options and make the most informed decisions with the end goal of having 2-3 children and maintaining my womanly parts? Back to the drawing board it is, in a way. Find new doctors meeting the criteria I mentioned a few blogs back and start from there. If at all I need to make the surgery decision again, I will do it – gladly. Right now, I want to go forward with some other options first.

I started off 2015 with a full on vegan mindset. I am now delving into raw vegan territory and doing it around the clock. I have a lot to say about that, but for the sake of time and the length of this post, I will continue on in the next post.

Allow me to introduce myself

October 2013. I will never forget that day, the hours, the minutes I lay in the hospital scared shitless. I had no real idea what was actually happening. I literally just could not stop bleeding. The months and weeks of intense and a non-stop cycle. I attributed it to age. I attributed it to normalcy. Ain’t that normal? What do you mean it’s not? Having my period for close to 16 days was not the way to live?

Well, I had been living that way. I do not know anything else but that moment in the hospital. I lay down and the doctor came into my room and told me that I indeed had uterine fibroids. And with that declaration, the room faded to black. Suddenly he was throwing around careless words like hysterectomy and childless. how can you tell a 33 year old woman in the prime of her life such a thing?

I fainted at school, on campus. I was unable to make it to class more often than I cared to count and I thought my graduation was in real danger. I could not move from my dorm room bed, I could not keep a damn sanitary napkin or tampon. I burned through them all. What I did for the next twelve months was in between sort of babysitting it and straight up ignoring it. Five months after that, I had fallen really ill and the fibroids were taking over my entire life. More on that in another post. Now I am paying full attention. Now I am fighting it the natural and holistic way. I am daring to keep my womb and keep my ovaries and keep my uterus. I will be a mother and I will carry and birth my own children.

These fibroids can’t have my life. They can’t have my dreams either. I’m going to shrink them. Black motherhood is too fragile and argued about in America. I will not let my future children have no choice because of a callous and uncaring medical system that wants to bill you, pillage you and slice you. Not me. Not now. Not without me trying my damnedest first.

This is my story. I am not a doctor. I am doing what works for me. But share and chronicle, I must.