High Stakes Learning Continues
Since diagnosis, I have looked for ways to be duplicatable in what I'm doing. In other words, it makes no sense to me to do things that people can not afford. As I've shared, I have the benefit of an inherited business that pays for all the alternative things I've tried that are not covered by insurance. I am not spending nearly what I did at first for several reasons. I want to live but I guess it is my way of finding meaning in this whole thing. I need to find ways that work for me that will also work for others. On the other hand, ice water fills my veins when people ask for my opinion or are newly diagnosed because every month or so I learn something I think everyone should know and it can be overwhelming. In the end, I have to trust for others that God will show them their path just as He has so personally shown me mine.
Until the PET Scan in March, I also felt that I had nothing to stand on because I hadn't really seen any tangible results. Oncologists and specialists think I am crazy for not jumping into conventional treatment. I am part of several Facebook groups that all have differing opinions and points of view. The Square One (Chris Wark) group pretty much says stay away from conventional treatment/biopsies... and trust that the body that made cancer can heal it through nutrition, supplements, and a mirad of detox and wellness strategies. The AITL group is almost exclusively conventional. I also am connected with the Hoxsey Biomedical Clinic group and the Essiac Tea group. I'm very cautious about posting because I don't want to cause anyone doubt when many are going through such hell to try to get well (conventionally). Those in the AITL group almost always relapse and the process of the bone marrow transplant is terrifying and extremely difficult. A person in the group once asked about natural alternatives and people from the group were very forceful about "staying away from that stuff." I gently told a little bit about my story and suggested Chris' book and Radical Remission.
As I've said before, the best advice I was given was that MY body would show me what to do and I have most definately seen God work this way as I pay attention.
Now to the present...
Dr. Block and Dr. West both were excited for me to go see Dr. Robert Nagourney in Long Beach. To my surprise, while dropping off copies of my PET Scans, he was there Saturday and took time with me. He and his receptionist wife were both visibly shocked that I don't look sick and kept saying that. I love that he is a very conventionally trained oncologist hematologist that acknowledges that he doesn't know everything about alternatives and kept saying, "Something you are doing must be working." I felt great when I left there. He said he'd be having lunch with Dr. Block this week at a conference and it felt good to have 2 genius minds on my case and seeming to really care. He will also be showing my discs to surgeons to determine the best route for a new biopsy.
The goal right now is to 1) confirm the diagnosis because doctors are beginning to question it because of how I'm doing and 2) see if Dr. Nagourney's testing of my tissue can find a drug (chemo or otherwise) that works well on my cancer. I read his book, Outliving Cancer, this weekend and find his story and discoveries about cancer fascinating. His basic premise is that cancer doesn't replicate too much but that it lives too long. We must find ways to help cancer kill itself (apoptosis or programmed cell death) or it begins to interfere with normal life processes. This is a huge departure from many doctors who seek to disrupt the duplication of cells with drugs - an approach that hasn't seen much success and can be very toxic.
Confusion creeps in for me when I realized that it does not appear that the lymphoma is killing me at this point, prompting me to stay the course rather than even consider introducing chemo or another drug. I would love to bet into remission, however. Chris Wark warns of becoming impatient and not allowing the body time enough to heal. I continue to use the cannabis, LDN with melatonin, high dose vitamin C, mistletoe, and supplements. When I'm in Colorado, I do saunas and coffee enemas. I need to get more exercise.
It is important to note that there is a very different way to look at cancer. Many people are adopting the idea that we can live with it better than what happens when we try to kill it. I am at a crossroads of ideas...again. I trust that I can find out information and that God will still show me what to do when it is time to make decisions.
In the meantime, I am fully convinced that it is prudent and wise to get Dr. Nagourney's testing before staring standard chemo that slams everyone with a particular diagnosis with the same cocktail of drugs, rather than testing tissue to find out what works that may be much less toxic. If I should chose to use chemo, I will also go to Dr. Block in Illinois to do it his way, using chronomodulation.
Books I wish everyone in my life would read before they have to make decisions:
Chris Beat Cancer
Radical Remission
Outliving Cancer
Once someone has cancer:
The Metabolic Approach to Cancer
Life Over Cancer
Youtube Videos:
Run from the Cure
Hoxsey: The Quack Who Cured Cancer - How the AMA and FDA Shut Down 17 Cancer Clinics
Until the PET Scan in March, I also felt that I had nothing to stand on because I hadn't really seen any tangible results. Oncologists and specialists think I am crazy for not jumping into conventional treatment. I am part of several Facebook groups that all have differing opinions and points of view. The Square One (Chris Wark) group pretty much says stay away from conventional treatment/biopsies... and trust that the body that made cancer can heal it through nutrition, supplements, and a mirad of detox and wellness strategies. The AITL group is almost exclusively conventional. I also am connected with the Hoxsey Biomedical Clinic group and the Essiac Tea group. I'm very cautious about posting because I don't want to cause anyone doubt when many are going through such hell to try to get well (conventionally). Those in the AITL group almost always relapse and the process of the bone marrow transplant is terrifying and extremely difficult. A person in the group once asked about natural alternatives and people from the group were very forceful about "staying away from that stuff." I gently told a little bit about my story and suggested Chris' book and Radical Remission.
As I've said before, the best advice I was given was that MY body would show me what to do and I have most definately seen God work this way as I pay attention.
Now to the present...
Dr. Block and Dr. West both were excited for me to go see Dr. Robert Nagourney in Long Beach. To my surprise, while dropping off copies of my PET Scans, he was there Saturday and took time with me. He and his receptionist wife were both visibly shocked that I don't look sick and kept saying that. I love that he is a very conventionally trained oncologist hematologist that acknowledges that he doesn't know everything about alternatives and kept saying, "Something you are doing must be working." I felt great when I left there. He said he'd be having lunch with Dr. Block this week at a conference and it felt good to have 2 genius minds on my case and seeming to really care. He will also be showing my discs to surgeons to determine the best route for a new biopsy.
The goal right now is to 1) confirm the diagnosis because doctors are beginning to question it because of how I'm doing and 2) see if Dr. Nagourney's testing of my tissue can find a drug (chemo or otherwise) that works well on my cancer. I read his book, Outliving Cancer, this weekend and find his story and discoveries about cancer fascinating. His basic premise is that cancer doesn't replicate too much but that it lives too long. We must find ways to help cancer kill itself (apoptosis or programmed cell death) or it begins to interfere with normal life processes. This is a huge departure from many doctors who seek to disrupt the duplication of cells with drugs - an approach that hasn't seen much success and can be very toxic.
Confusion creeps in for me when I realized that it does not appear that the lymphoma is killing me at this point, prompting me to stay the course rather than even consider introducing chemo or another drug. I would love to bet into remission, however. Chris Wark warns of becoming impatient and not allowing the body time enough to heal. I continue to use the cannabis, LDN with melatonin, high dose vitamin C, mistletoe, and supplements. When I'm in Colorado, I do saunas and coffee enemas. I need to get more exercise.
It is important to note that there is a very different way to look at cancer. Many people are adopting the idea that we can live with it better than what happens when we try to kill it. I am at a crossroads of ideas...again. I trust that I can find out information and that God will still show me what to do when it is time to make decisions.
In the meantime, I am fully convinced that it is prudent and wise to get Dr. Nagourney's testing before staring standard chemo that slams everyone with a particular diagnosis with the same cocktail of drugs, rather than testing tissue to find out what works that may be much less toxic. If I should chose to use chemo, I will also go to Dr. Block in Illinois to do it his way, using chronomodulation.
Books I wish everyone in my life would read before they have to make decisions:
Chris Beat Cancer
Radical Remission
Outliving Cancer
Once someone has cancer:
The Metabolic Approach to Cancer
Life Over Cancer
Youtube Videos:
Run from the Cure
Hoxsey: The Quack Who Cured Cancer - How the AMA and FDA Shut Down 17 Cancer Clinics
Love You Cath!! You're amazing.
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