Wednesday, December 1, 2010

#22 It's good news time!

For those of you who have been following these sporadic postings you know it's been an uphill battle right from the beginning. We had the previous cancer history of both of Becky's parents and their "main stream" medical outcome. Point blank... they both died wasted away and penniless after the medical system had "done all they could do." Nice code speak for keeping them barely alive long enough to drain them of not only their dignity but also their life savings.

Becky flatly refused to follow that path when she found out she had cancer too. She had seen how well "modern" cancer treatment worked first hand and the sad fact is...... it usually doesn't. People who recover after traditional treatment seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies don't make any money by curing you...... only by *treating* you... so there is no incentive to find a true cure in America.

Thus we began the slow and difficult investigation of alternative therapy options. The power of the FDA and big Pharma to intimidate, prosecute and imprison people for saying or writing things they don't approve of is frightening. (Hang on, gang, because the recent passage of S510 gives them far more power to control your life..... by controlling your food supply!) We had some false starts with therapies which were simply not powerful enough to combat what we were dealing with..... and we lost ground. More research and a couple of more trips in the wrong direction and we eventually started to make some progress.

Cancer has a few things going for it. #1 is that it is basically immortal. Once a defective cell changes enough to become cancerous the apoptosis (natural programmed cell death) stops. #2 is that it is highly adaptive. There isn't just one cancer... there are hundreds and they affect all parts of the body. #3 is almost complete environmental isolation. Cancer survives as a fairly isolated entity in an environment of it's own creation. It's mechanism for creating the energy it needs is totally different from what all normal cells utilize. It is also able to "hide" itself through chemical signals which make it invisible to the bodies normal immune system responses.

The treatment we eventually came to utilize targets as many of cancers unique properties as we can without having any one treatment compromise any of the other treatments. Everything has to work together for maximum benefit.

Becky's cancer is estrogen receptive..... meaning that it has the ability to convert estrogen into an energy source. That had to be dealt with so she takes an estrogen inhibitor called Arimidex. The immortality issue had to be addressed so we eventually settled on DCA to handle that task.

We started adding Oleander extract to accomplish two different tasks. One is to kill stray cancer cells should they be drifting around in her body attempting to settle in elsewhere. The second is that the Oleander interferes with atherogenesis which is cancers ability to cause the body to grow new blood vessels to support it as it grows.

We tossed Amygdalin into the mix to kill the cancer outright. This was taken via tablets but with those we had no way of verifying what *exactly* was in them. Might have been all fillers. So we use dried apricot kernels instead purchased from a Christian farm in Canada. With all these measures we were attacking the cancer from four different directions and attempting to target cancers various traits and weaknesses. To all of that we added supplements to support her immune system so it could deal with the treatment as well as help her effectively eliminate debris from her body. Many many of you.... added the power of prayer and for that we cannot thank you enough!

And now.... the GOOD news! On her last visit to the Oncologist he found that ALL of her cancer markers were down! The mass in her breast continues to shrink even if slowly. There is no sign of the cancer spreading to any of her internal organs either. Also the open sores that had appeared in her breast following the biopsy have all started to heal and grow closed. Even though we had declined conventional chemo and radiation at Baylor and even though we had declined the same therapy with our current Oncologist..... her cancer is still shrinking and being eliminated from her body. Her Dr. said he saw no reason to keep monitoring her monthly and we're going to go now every 2 to 3 months.

We both know that we're far from being out of the woods yet even though it is getting a bit brighter now. We will likely continue with our current therapy as formulated now for at least one to two more years. After that we'll likely keep it in place but at a lowered dose for the rest of her life as a prophylactic measure.

Meanwhile our focus is expanding to address other internal issues. I have made an appointment for her to see Dr. Liu who is a Dr. of traditional Chinese Acupuncture and herbal therapy. She also has 8 years and two degrees in "female" medicine. Our goal in seeing her is two fold. One is to bring her body back into balance so that it can more effectively combat the cancer that remains. The second is to address some female issues.

I consider Dr. Liu to be a miracle worker. I had suffered from various skin issues related to agent orange for over 20 years. The VA kept sending me home with more and more drugs to take..... but nothing ever improved. I stopped taking all the VA prescribed drugs and went to see Dr. Liu. She had my skin back to normal in less than 30 days! Over 6 years later and I'm still doing better than at any time the VA was "treating" me.

The estrogen inhibitor and some other issues have resulted in a rather significant decline in her sex drive. While normal aging and menopause can have a negative impact in that area most women still exhibit some interest in sexual activity even if at a reduced frequency. Going from normal activity to no activity, however, is neither typical nor normal.

The battle wages on but at least we seem to have the upper hand now and are making measurable progress. Becky has lost a significant amount of weight but is fairly stable now right around 160 pounds. That weight loss simply takes more stress off her system. She remains happy and positive about everything we're doing and is enjoying being back at work with her friends.

If nothing else our struggle, although far from over, indicates that everything you've ever been told about cancer and how to treat it is a lie. Many clinics and many doctors all over the world are treating cancer very differently from the "standard model" here in America and are having amazing results. All without the ugly side effects and dangers associated with Chemo, Radiation and Surgery. Becky never lost her hair, was ill but never the deathly sick that Chemo and Radiation cause. Her cancer has gone down from the size of a grapefruit to perhaps the size of a handball. Still large..... but shrinking rather than growing. Even with our success there are therapies that were left untried....... most simply due to expense. All that means is that IF we need them..... there are still other effective treatment options left for us to use.

She sees Dr. Liu on the 8th for her first visit. From my experience it can take a few weeks before the effects of the acupuncture and the herbal teas are noticeable in a significant way. Once they begin, however, changes occur fairly rapidly and can be dramatic. I'll keep you posted.

Until then.... be good to each other and may God bless.

No comments:

Post a Comment