Cervical Cancer at 19 to True Health at 40

When at age 19 Nicole Serafin was diagnosed with a form of cervical cancer she knew her life was potentially in danger. Today at 40 years old she reflects on how she came to do much more than survive her cancer scare and how she subsequently chose to deeply heal the way she was living. Originally published at the Truth about Universal Medicine blog we include it here because of its great relevance to women’s health and wellbeing. A must read for all women, this article also raises interesting questions about the validity of a purely genetic understanding in our view of the generational effects of illness and disease.

by Nicole Serafin

At the age of 19, I was diagnosed with CIN3 (also called carcinoma in situ or stage 0 cervical cancer) the highest level of cell changes that can occur before there is invasion into deeper tissues. As such it was imperative to have it treated before it progressed further and became invasive.

I had no symptoms that I knew of, and had been for a regular check-up at my local doctor when she asked if I had ever had a pap smear. Being 19, I thought that was something that older people had. She explained to me that it was not an age thing, so I decided to have one. I did not think anything of it at the time, not expecting to hear another word about it.

Carbon Copy Mum

For most of my life, I believed being a woman was the same thing as being a mother – there was no distinction between them. The turning point of when a girl would become a woman appeared to be when she produced children and became a mother. From an early age I took notice of every detail of how to be a mother, and because almost all of the grown women around me fitted into this category – there were plenty of mothers to model myself on.

I have three sisters, all of whom are now mums too. It was never asked of us if we would ever like to have children or presented with the idea of there being a choice involved – it was expected of us from the start. If you weren’t born a boy then at least you could have babies one day. It was more a question of ‘when’ it would happen. When I was six years old I very clearly remember being told about a girl in our street who had fallen pregnant in her teenage years and how her life would now be over for her – that she had given up having a life when she chose to have children. So it was at age six that I registered that having children meant you couldn’t have a life anymore.

Re-claiming my Relationship with my Period

In this article Vanessa McHardy reveals how the simple act of checking in with herself, via daily notes, has had a big affect on the quality of her monthly cycle.

Four months ago during my period the pain in my left hip was so painful that I was taking nurofen with no relief gained (I take painkillers once in a blue moon). My periods were so heavy on the first and second day it required me to change my pad every hour. They lasted four days max and I had PMT for a week before the period began. My last period I had slight pain for a few hours, it was only heavy for a few hours and lasted 7 days.

So what happened in those three months? I have taken no drugs, had no medical intervention, so what was it – how could there be such a significant change?

Brought Back to Life

This post has been moved to another location. You can visit its new home here: http://truthaboutuniversalmedicine.com/2012/08/20/brought-back-to-life/

Reflections on Women’s Health

Sara Williams’ seminal text on the state of Women’s Health.

In this article practitioner Sara Williams explores the state of Women’s Health through personal experience interwoven with historical references. Her reflections reveal the limited ways in which we have previously viewed this important aspect of our lives and documents an Esoteric perspective which may just herald a turning of the tide, the beginning of a new chapter in Women’s Health internationally.

by Sara Williams – International Co-ordinator for the Esoteric Breast Massage – Healing Modality / UK

‘ADVANCEMENTS’ IN WOMEN’S HEALTH

Few would argue we have come a long way since the first female doctor of the modern era graduated from a medical school in 1849 (US). The concept of women’s health has come a long way in the last 50 years alone, as we witness more books published, more female voices on women’s health heard, more research conducted – with an expanded awareness in the field of Gynaecology and diseases such as breast and cervical cancers, less medicalisation, more humanising of women’s experience of medical care and more female medical professionals, including the first female dean of a major medical school in the US (albeit only in 2007).

Returning to Tenderness

After a life of tennis training, drug taking and ‘Do-It-Yourself’ in overdrive, practitioner Mary-Louise Myers shares how she eventually came to find a truly tender way of being with herself.

by Mary-Louise Myers

I was a gorgeous little girl who started playing competitive tennis at seven to win my father’s attention: each time I won a match he would pat me on my head and say, “well done, little one!” (I don’t think he could remember my name!). That was my way of getting the attention I was craving for. I was Victorian junior champion at a young age and continued to spend all my younger years training or playing in tennis tournaments around Victoria. As I reached teenage years I realised that I did not even enjoy playing tennis. I now know that I only did it for recognition and acceptance.

I gave it all up and started down a path of anorexia and bulimia. My father was obsessed with his own weight and his family’s. My sister was given diet books at around the age of 13, mind you, looking back she was simply going through a chubby stage and I was championed for being skinny. From a young age there was a lot of emphasis on how you looked, not your being. (Please note I am not in any way, shape or form blaming my parents; they were good people who did the best they could.)

Breast Massage & the Esoteric Breast Massage – an Open Approach

Lucy Dahill explores both a conventional and an Esoteric approach to the practice of the breast massage in this delicate and most important offering in the area of Women’s Health.

This article is to help bring an open and educated perspective on the subject of breast massage and the Esoteric Breast Massage (EBM). To place both in some sort of context, relative to our society today and current health issues, so we can understand how much breast massage is currently being taught and the intention, standards and ethics around its teaching, as well as the Esoteric Breast Massage and how it is similar, and then also differs.

I originally trained in Aromatherapy and subsequently furthered my skills and expanded my experience with short courses learning Sports and Remedial Massage, Aromatherapy and Pregnancy and 3 courses in Aromatherapy and Ayurveda followed by Ayurveda Massage. There was specific focus during many of the courses on Lymphatic Drainage, which is part of a very effective lymphodeoma treatment recognised in hospitals internationally.  I studied ‘End of Life’ care with Aromatherapy and then specifically in cancer palliative care.  I studied further in Australia undertaking a diploma in Remedial Massage which involved Swedish Massage and specific courses in Visceral and Myofascial Release and this focus re-connected me with my initial connection to the subtler communications of the lymph and connective tissues of the body. I worked in one of the first wellness centres in the United Kingdom, which was directly attached to the Oncology Department of a major hospital.