Smarter Cookies and
Lemonade Notes To Cancer

Thank you for visiting the site for Smarter Cookies and Lemonade Notes To Cancer. Some of the most challenging circumstances a family can face inspired Lemonade Notes To Cancer and Smarter Cookies. On the 13th of April, 2005, after I had suffered 6 weeks of increasingly painful headaches, the fourth doctor I went to did a neurological exam and then sent me for an immediate CT Scan of the head. Within an hour I was calling my wife JoAnn from the emergency room telling her that the CT scan had revealed a large diffuse mass with a solid 5cm center in my brain’s right temporal lobe. Within 2 days a brain surgeon was removing what he safely could of the malignant tumor and surrounding brain tissue without severely damaging my cognitive function. The surgery and subsequent medical treatments saved my life. I was lucky to qualify for California medical disability because when the dust settled I no longer had the stamina or focus support my family with any of the career skills I possessed.

Thanks to the loving support of my family and friends, I got through the initial trial of brain surgery in fairly decent spirits. Support manifested financially, spiritually and physically. My prognosis was 6-18 months. As I write this I am a few months from 5 years out and in good condition. My unexpectedly good outcomes have at times inspired people to call me a miracle man. I believe a few miracles and some divine inspiration helped me along the way, but I also chose to respond to my situation as proactively as I could. Some of the steps I took to help with my recovery are detailed in the following sections. The results from my actions include a chapbook called Lemonade Notes To Cancer and a nutritional approach that is embodied in Smarter Cookies, the story of the actions and the outcomes is told together below.

About Us

I was walking my dog Rusty past JoAnn’s house one evening in the early summer of 1996. JoAnn’s dogs, Molly and Patrick were patrolling her front yard, explaining to Rusty that if it weren’t for the metal fence between them they would be chasing her tail into next week, teeth bared all the way. Joann came out of the house to hush her dogs and apparently liked what she saw. I felt the same. After that there was some scheming between JoAnn, Molly and Patrick so that every time I coincidentally walked by with Rusty, Molly and Patrick were out to sound the alarm. Soon enough, JoAnn and I were taking walks and going out on dates. We got married on June 20th, 1998.

In March of 2005 I began experiencing intense headaches. After 6 weeks of nonstop and increasingly painful headaches and visits to three different misdiagnosing doctors, the fourth doctor I saw gave me a neurological exam. She immediately sent me for a CT Scan. That was on April 13th. On the 16th of April, I underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a 5 cm malignant tumor and a larger area of diffuse gelatinous tissue around it. The surgeon also took out as much margin from my brain’s right temporal lobe as he could without causing insurmountable cognitive damage.

This was the beginning of our journey through cancer together. JoAnn has been a dedicated and effective support person. We have worked together to define and focus on the outcomes we wanted. It was JoAnn who encouraged me to write to help process my experiences as a cancer patient.  We eventually published some of the resulting poems as the chapbook featured in this site, Lemonade  Notes To Cancer.

My outcomes since my diagnosis have almost always been much better than expected. I’m grateful that Western and Traditional Medicine have been so effective for me. While brain surgery, radiation therapy and two years of chemo halted the tumor’s growth, they wore me down. Acupuncture and herbs helped to shore me up. I also credit JoAnn’s leadership in helping me to make lemons from lemonade. JoAnn is a certified facilitator with The International Academy of Self Knowledge. Her training in transformational meditation modalities came in very handy not only in helping me to manage stress, but also for helping me define and focus on what I wanted. I wrote what I learned in transformational meditations into my poems. I focused on gratitude and living in the present.

While I was on chemo, high cholesterol became a factor in my health. Instead of taking another pill, I tried changing my nutritional approach. My research revealed that cooking with sufficient quantities of oat bran and grape seed oil could have positive effects, that eating whole grain ingredients could help, that organic butter and eggs are expensive but worth it for healthy nutrition. I found that organic brown sugar and Blackstrap Molasses are significantly healthier ingredients for sweetening conventional white sugar is. I worked healthy ingredients in everywhere I could into our diets. For instance if I were cooking a ground turkey meatloaf, I would add a half cup of oat bran in the mix. No one noticed the difference. The details of how changing my nutritional approach helped solve my cholesterol problems are discussed in About Smarter Cookies and a section on The Fast Track Detox Diet.

My favorite recipe and a favorite of others was a chocolate chip cookie recipe that evolved into the Smarter Cookie Original. The Smarter Cookie Original’s recipe is a carefully modified version of a standard chocolate chip cookie. When I was on chemo and dealing with nausea and queasiness, sometimes eating a healthy chocolate chip cookie was better than eating nothing. This recipe has worked out quite well commercially and I’m developing more. So, that’s our hopefully brief history up to you visiting this site. JoAnn is now managing Smarter Cookie, the business inspired by my cholesterol problems; Short-term memory and fatigue issues have limited what I can do alone, but not what we can do together. It’s February 13th, 2010. I’m alive and well. It’s just less than 3 ½ years past what I was once told would be my best prognosis date. Tomorrow’s valentines day and I have a poem to finish.

About My Healing Modalities
By Richard Harvey

Feeding and Caring for My Body
My physical healing came through extensive Western and Traditional medical treatments, my focus on wellness through nutrition, the practice of Tai Chi and Chi Kung and through my efforts to define and focus on my desired outcomes. During my journey I decided to become certified as a teacher of Chi Kung and Tai Chi. The certification process forced me to overcome some of the balance and coordination issues that resulted from the trauma my brain went through in treatment. It also forced me to learn new skills. Learning helped me to establish new neuropathways to replace those lost to surgery and radiation-related damage

Soul Food
My emotional and spiritual healing came through the loving support of my family, our steady efforts to define and focus on our best possible outcomes, our faith, and specifically for me through creative expression. Creative expression, by its very nature inspires new learning, new learning builds and reroute neuropathways.