Full of Love and Hope
You may remember me mentioning that my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. At first, we were told she would have surgery to remove the cancer cells and that would be it. Maybe some radiation treatments. It was stage 1 and non-invasive and so there wasn't any reason to be alarmed.
After the surgery, however the doctors discovered that the cancer was actually very aggressive and she needed to have surgery again. So they went in again, checked her lymph nodes (thank God they were clear) and removed the rest of the tissue. We were then told she would need chemotherapy and radiation to prevent the cancer from recurring.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this but my aunt in Ohio has two boys with autism. A couple of years ago, they began treatment with a preventative medicine DAN! doctor. DAN! stands for Defeat Autism Now! Many of you may have heard of them through Jenny McCarthy's involvement with autism research. DAN! doctors are regular certified medical doctor's who are trained in a certain protocol to assist and treat patients with autism.Unfortunately, they are very expensive because insurance does not cover anything since it is considered preventative medicine. I can testify to it's results though. My cousin went from a 4th grade to an 8th grade comprehension level in 2 months. He did chelation, went on supplements and my aunt cut gluten, casein, etc from his diet completely. No white flour, white sugar or white anything either. And as long as he sticks to this diet, his symptoms are minimized drastically.Preventative medicine doctors cure ailments rather than treating symptoms. For something in your body to be malfunctioning, your body must be deficient in something. And considering the garbage that we eat in pretty much everything and the lack of vitamins and nutrients in most foods, that is not hard to understand. Therefore, the doctors test all of your levels, metal levels, blood levels, all of your vitamins, etc. and prescribe certain supplements to bring your body to where it should be.So of course we wanted my grandmother to visit with one of these doctors before jumping in to chemo. I personally, have very mixed feelings about chemotherapy. I've seen so many people suffer from chemo and I sometimes wonder if it doesn't just kill you sooner. Yes, it kills the cancer cells but it also kills all the healthy cells in your body and puts a tremendous strain on your internal organs. Not to mention all the nasty side effects.She met with the doctor and he explained that everyone has cancer cells and once our immune systems get weak (and other contributing factors like diet, etc) the cancer cells begin to multiply and attack the healthy cells. So it is imperative to have a healthy immune system. He was totally against chemo. He prescribed several "super vitamins" and a very strict diet to prevent the cancer from coming back.At first my grandmother was comfortable with this but the more she talked to friends who had cancer and her regular doctor the more confused she became. Everyone advised to attack it aggressively. So she ended up going with the chemo. She was also worried about financially not being able to afford the preventative treatment (vitamins alone would have cost almost $1000 per month). Personally, I think a combination of radiation and the diet and supplements would have been enough since she is officially cancer free and this is just a preventative treatment but I'm not a doctor.Today is her first chemo treatment (i hate it so much that i cringe when i call it treatment) and I am a nervous wreck. She is a strong woman and I know she will pull through this but I hate to see her suffer. I pray the side effects aren't too much for her, she's got a very sensitive stomach. I'm full of love and hope for her every day, but especially this morning.I'd love to hear what you think about treatment options and if anyone has any encouraging stories of cancer survivors that would be wonderful. Please keep her in your prayers.Click here to read an excellent article called Life Over Cancer.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this but my aunt in Ohio has two boys with autism. A couple of years ago, they began treatment with a preventative medicine DAN! doctor. DAN! stands for Defeat Autism Now! Many of you may have heard of them through Jenny McCarthy's involvement with autism research. DAN! doctors are regular certified medical doctor's who are trained in a certain protocol to assist and treat patients with autism.Unfortunately, they are very expensive because insurance does not cover anything since it is considered preventative medicine. I can testify to it's results though. My cousin went from a 4th grade to an 8th grade comprehension level in 2 months. He did chelation, went on supplements and my aunt cut gluten, casein, etc from his diet completely. No white flour, white sugar or white anything either. And as long as he sticks to this diet, his symptoms are minimized drastically.Preventative medicine doctors cure ailments rather than treating symptoms. For something in your body to be malfunctioning, your body must be deficient in something. And considering the garbage that we eat in pretty much everything and the lack of vitamins and nutrients in most foods, that is not hard to understand. Therefore, the doctors test all of your levels, metal levels, blood levels, all of your vitamins, etc. and prescribe certain supplements to bring your body to where it should be.So of course we wanted my grandmother to visit with one of these doctors before jumping in to chemo. I personally, have very mixed feelings about chemotherapy. I've seen so many people suffer from chemo and I sometimes wonder if it doesn't just kill you sooner. Yes, it kills the cancer cells but it also kills all the healthy cells in your body and puts a tremendous strain on your internal organs. Not to mention all the nasty side effects.She met with the doctor and he explained that everyone has cancer cells and once our immune systems get weak (and other contributing factors like diet, etc) the cancer cells begin to multiply and attack the healthy cells. So it is imperative to have a healthy immune system. He was totally against chemo. He prescribed several "super vitamins" and a very strict diet to prevent the cancer from coming back.At first my grandmother was comfortable with this but the more she talked to friends who had cancer and her regular doctor the more confused she became. Everyone advised to attack it aggressively. So she ended up going with the chemo. She was also worried about financially not being able to afford the preventative treatment (vitamins alone would have cost almost $1000 per month). Personally, I think a combination of radiation and the diet and supplements would have been enough since she is officially cancer free and this is just a preventative treatment but I'm not a doctor.Today is her first chemo treatment (i hate it so much that i cringe when i call it treatment) and I am a nervous wreck. She is a strong woman and I know she will pull through this but I hate to see her suffer. I pray the side effects aren't too much for her, she's got a very sensitive stomach. I'm full of love and hope for her every day, but especially this morning.I'd love to hear what you think about treatment options and if anyone has any encouraging stories of cancer survivors that would be wonderful. Please keep her in your prayers.Click here to read an excellent article called Life Over Cancer.