When the rubber meets the road

As I re-read my last post, I am vividly reminded of where my head was at when I wrote it. I was at peace (again) with jumping into conventional treatment because I was so certain I was doing worse. It had happened once before when we had scheduled chemo and all that goes with it, just to have the oncologist miraculously not be able to find the swollen lymph nodes that were there before I got to the appointment and were back a couple hours after. Advice I received very early on has helped me tremendously. She told me, "Your body will tell you what to do." and "You can change paths if things change." Because I believe Jesus is who he said he is, I have leaned on the fact that God will show me what to do through my body. And, he would show me if I need to change direction - and he has again. Monday, I was driving to the doctor appointment where I was going to get the results of my annual PET Scan (the doctors want them every 3 months to monitor my "fast grow...

Hi There, I've felt kind of badly ever since the last post. I was in a very down place for a few days. But a new breeze is blowing. I've gone through the grueling task of getting set up with yet another doctor - the one in the Chicago area, Keith Block. I've moved the appointment up to April 8. Andy will go with me, of course. What would I do without my Drewbud? This could change once we meet, but I suspect Dr. Block will suggest we start CHOEP chemo. I have no idea if he'll advise the clinical trial, adding Optivo. He uses chemo differently, with Chronomodulation, that makes it safer. You can google it if you want to know more. I don't fully understand it yet. I'm sure he also has his patients fast before, during, and after chemo with the studies showing that fasting metabolically protects healthy cells while making the chemo more effective against cancer cells. He also puts all the other integrative stuff in place. We will probably fly in to Chicago every ...

Hi There, It's been awhile. Tomorrow is a big day. PET Scan day. I have opted to do only 1 Pet Scan annually, which is the only way to know if the lymphoma is growing or not (besides invasive biopsies). This scan could be a huge turning point. To be honest, I know the lymph nodes in my groin and neck are bigger. Sometimes I have terrible swelling behind my knees where nodes swell into hard balls, making it hard to walk normally. My hands and feet are almost always swollen but only hurt sometimes. I tend to blame myself for it all, thinking my imperfect diet is doing it but I have been unable to isolate what might be causing it. When the swelling is painful, my wrists and ankles hurt and one wrist appears to be permanently changed, looking as if I had a fracture heal badly. I was tested for Rheumatoid Arthritis but it came back negative. My tonsils appear to be very swollen but I think that is actually swelling from the lymph nodes in my neck. I am in the middle of a cannabis p...

The toughest part of the past 22 months or so has been confusion that has landed me in a somewhat frozen position this last several months. When I first was diagnosed, the oncologists were definite and seemingly confident in their fervent recommendations; they still are. But I knew just a little bit too much to just go along. It's not like I knew enough to know what to do, however. I landed at the Cancer Center for Healing but the lack of congruence in what I saw there, combined with my inability to ignore caution signs greeting me at every juncture, led me to "try" things and spend a ton of money, but I have never felt like I was on track to actually beat this. I have done things for a few months each, things like the Ketogenic diet, Salecinium IVs, Mistletoe and High Dose Vitamin C IV's, Chinese herbs and electrically charged waters, acupuncture, EVOX therapy, EMDR, Recall Healing, treatment by an intuitive chiropractor, tons of supplements. I struggle to find a c...

Howdy. I hope you and yours are well and your Thanksgiving was fantastic. Ours was - we had all our kids and grandkids together for the first time in a year, at it was all I hoped it would be. There is just nothing like being with the complete set. I am going back to work today and just realized that could prompt some to wonder what's going on. Whenever someone asks me how I'm doing, I have the hardest time answering. I wish I were one of those people who could say something very deep and meaningful like, "God is healing me day by day." Things like that do not feel genuine to me, although I am counting on just that. Things are pretty status quo, although I am always keenly aware when a lymph node is swollen and/or I feel like the nodes in my groin are starting to hurt. My diet hasn't been perfect, I sometimes fail to get all the supplements in, I don't do enough saunas and salt baths and exercise. I sometimes experience a fatigue that is debilitating and...

The Tiger in the Corner One of the doctors I see at the Cancer Center for Healing in Irvine (Von Schaefer) describes my situation like having a Tiger in the Corner. You can ’ t take your eyes off of it; it needs constant attention. She claims it is all about diet and mental state for lymphomas and leukemias.  This analogy is helping me conceptualize where I ’ m at right now. I struggle to justify what it seems to take for me to keep this tiger tamed and quietly sitting in the corner. As I ’ ve explained before, this lymphoma is supposed to be a “ wild fire cancer. ” It isn ’ t behaving as such in my case – hopefully all I am doing for it, and all the prayer on my behalf, is why. I have just completed 2 months of working full-time, traveling for work and family, living with dear friends, and essentially hoping the tiger was tamed sufficiently enough that I could do all I have been doing without it pouncing. I haven ’ t kept up on much of the regimen I ’ ve learned...

Hi There, I hope this finds you and yours well and thriving! I'm back in the IV chair after having taken a break from this part of healing. I was looking forward to this new protocol but I'm afraid that now, 6 hours into what was to be a 4 hour day of an appointment to access my port, an hour in the hyperbaric chamber, and a "2 hour" IV, I am coming to realize the reality of this new initiative. It's going to take a lot of time. And...I don't feel well when I'm getting this high of a dose of Vitamin C and the Mistletoe can make a person feel flu-ish and induce a favorable fever. What was excitement has turned to some melancholy. Just for reference, just the Mistletoe for this month, not the administration of it or anything else, costs $1300.00 and I may need to stay on it for a long time. The doctor in Boulder ordered tests in Germany to see which type of Mistletoe (I'll paste a page in below explaining Mistletoe) might work best for me via IV an...