The Battle of Flowers parade was scheduled, but I chose to hike Government Canyon with my companion. It was just the kind of temperate sunny day that makes a four-hour hike a joy. I was tired but never suspected any illness. 
The nausea and inability to keep down any liquids or solids began that evening. A month passed before I was diagnosed with Her2 positive breast cancer. The cancer had metastasized in the brain. It was stage 4. In May of 2014, I began treatments, although already weakened by a lack of nutrition. The chemotherapy was at times interrupted by the need for a blood transfusion, treatment for fungal pneumonia, but continued regardless of my dropsy foot, having to learn to walk, and introducing solid foods into my diet.
Something wonderful happened just as I became able to walk and lift myself off the floor: Horatio Lopez came into my life. Horatio and I had had very little interaction, even though both of us rented space in the Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church. He had learned from the church’s secretary, Sandine, that I was in treatment for cancer. Coincidentally, Thrivewell had just hired him to teach Boundless. Horatio contacted me and offered to pick me up for class and deliver me back home. This arrangement continued for a year. Each week I would attend four of the classes he taught. I attribute my full recovery to these sessions that allowed my traumatized body to regain the much-needed connection between the body and the brain.
I still continue to attend Boundless classes with Jaqui Crow because of its continuing ability to inform me about movement and the mind, but I now carry an ability to do more. Thrivewell has been with me from the beginning of cancer treatments and continues to be a big part of my life as I continue to grow stronger and more active in my San Antonio community.
See video of Norma on healing and discussing a conversation she had with her doctor. And while you’re there, please subscribe to ThriveWell Cancer Foundation on You Tube.