I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After the initial shock, followed by surgery and recovery, and then reconstruction and recovery again, I revaluated my life. This is how Mumma J’s began and you can read all about it here. It took twelve months before I felt really recovered.
It was daunting and numbing. I remember thinking, “Now I understand how people feel when they are told they have this ugly thing growing inside of them”. I was angry, I was scared, I was worried for my husband and my children – how would they cope with all of this? It made me realise that I wasn’t immortal. I did ask the big “Why me?” question, but I’ve never had the answer to that one. I just wanted this blackness out of me, and I remember the time between seeing the surgeon and having the surgery felt like forever.
Once the surgery was done then it’s the wait for the results. The not knowing how bad this thing is. Then there was the relief that it was gone and that I didn’t need chemo and that I just needed to take some pills every day. I consider myself extremely lucky compared to other ladies.
Having cancer made me re-evaluate things and I realised that I wanted to spend quality time with my children and grandchildren. I also wanted to grow Mumma Js as it is my passion and my happy place. I learned who my “real” friends were – this was a huge thing for me as the people I thought were there to support me – weren’t, so I had to close those doors and move on.
The big “C” is never far from my thoughts. Most days I can keep the thoughts of “what happens if it comes back” at bay but there are times when it still overwhelms me. Especially around the time of my yearly check-up. I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore and look for the positive in every situation. I’ve also learned to listen to my body – when it tells me to stop, I stop.
My surgeon had recommended Bio Oil and Rosehip Oil to help with the scarring. Because I had taken an interest in healing and reducing scar tissue, I developed a cream that turned into oil, to not only help other women scarred from mastectomies, but also for others with scars resulting from burns or other accidents.
I used Rosehip Oil because it contains carotenoids which help keep your skin fresh and healthy by creating new skin cells. It also contains vitamin F which helps to trap moisture in your skin and is a natural retinol – the kind of vitamin A your skin doesn’t have to convert to make use of its ability to smooth rough and bumpy skin textures.
Adding Tamanu Oil was a no-brainer, it comes from the Pacific Islands (a large evergreen plant native to tropical Asia) and is very similar to Kawakawa Oil (a New Zealand endemic plant). I did plenty of research and Tamanu was the one that kept popping up in the results for so many cures. It is an antineuralgic, which also counteracts sharp nerve pain.
Essential oils Frankincense, Geranium, and Helichrysum are included, and the synergistic blend works wonders.
Frankincense: used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine, it appears to offer certain health benefits such as reducing inflammation and is rumoured to have compounds that may help kill cancer cells and prevent tumours from spreading (more research needs to be done).
Geranium: derived by steam distillation of the leaves of a plant native to South Africa, researchers have examined the benefits including antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and astringent properties.
Helichrysum: the oil can be found in all green parts of the Helichrysum Italicum plant and studies have suggested that it can help promote healing, fight infection, and reduce inflammation.
I used it on my scars – which were quite tender to begin with, so gently massaged the oil into my suture lines. Once the tenderness reduced, I massaged with a bit more pressure. The action of massaging moves the scar tissue around which stops it from building up, breaking it down, and dissolving it into the bloodstream. I’m not scientific enough to explain how or why it does what it does, but my surgeon was amazed at the results. It put my healing 4-6 weeks ahead of where he thought it should’ve been. After four months I stopped using it because there wasn’t any scar tissue remaining.
More recently, I also had surgery to reconstruct my thumb to remove arthritis. The joints were cleaned up and part of the tendon from the arm was used as a cushion between the joints. This is a story in pictures of one of the scars and the healing process using Mumma J’s My Oil every day over three weeks.
There is no scar tissue at all – in fact, during the process, the oil relieved the ‘pulling’ of scar tissue. You can see the redness reducing and the scar is now barely visible. I would massage the oil into the suture lines every day.
And it didn’t just work for me, many customers have raved about the results. A lady had Lupis scarring on her face – it was a bad rash that made it look like she had burn scarring across her nose. She started using My Oil once a day as a facial moisturiser. Four months later it, and the redness was gone – people were asking what she had done because her face had changed so much.
Here is a surgery scar from one of my customers spanning over three months with the use of My Oil.
I call it ‘My Oil’ because dealing with scars of any kind is personal and I wanted this product to feel personal to those using it. It works on new scars, old scars, and stretch marks – reducing scar tissue and redness. How? It’s the ingredients and the synergy created when they’re blended and massaged in.