I've been reading an interesting book lately, Dying to Be Me, by Anita Moorjani. She is a young Indian woman living in Hong Kong who got cancer, went into a coma and started to die from it, then somehow made a decision to come back, and her cancer-ridden body was spontaneously healed in a matter of days. It's a fascinating account of her experiences on the other side of life and has a lot of insights about healing and what it takes from a psychological/emotional perspective, to get that to happen.
She's championed by Wayne Dyer, the best-selling self-help author who's on public TV a lot. I'm sort of a fan of his, but have only really read a couple of his books; I just like his attitude. When he was diagnosed with leukemia a few years back I became interested to follow his progress and see if the great Wayne Dyer, Mr. "Manifest Your Destiny" himself, could somehow manage to lick this one. In my mind I'm sitting there with my arms crossed going "Alright, Wayne, let's see how you do with the Big One, let's see how enlightened you are now!" Then I forgot about it and, having just finished Anita's book, thought I'd check online to see what had happened to him a couple of years later. Well, darned if he hasn't managed to do it. I was flabbergasted! (Great word that, flabbergasted — I suppose the UK equivalent would be gobsmacked — but I digress.) How he healed his leukemia was most unorthodox, using a long-distance psychic healer from Brazil (John of God). His account of what happened is in an interview on Youtube with Oprah (look it up if you're interested, I'm not going to link it here because I don't know that I really champion this John of God or his methods). It's a pretty wild story, as is Anita's.
And before that I had looked briefly through one of the books about attraction which said that what you focus on is what draws itself to you. If you focus on your lack of healing, your illness/poverty/lousy job etc. exclusively that's what you are drawing to yourself inadvertently. So I somehow wonder if Mr. Dyer managed to get rid of his illness not so much through the John of God person as through having the intent of healing, and focusing on health, wellness and just being himself (following his truth, living his bliss, etc, to use the '80s terminology).
This isn't actually all that woo-woo, as the Bible recounts many tales of Jesus and the apostles as master healers. In one story a woman only had to touch Jesus' garment without his knowing it to be healed. So the intent, the faith, seems to be paramount here.
So having said that, I'm going to slightly change the title of this blog. Instead of "Joy's Journey with Multiple Myeloma" -- which reinforces the presence of the illness in my life -- I am going to change it for now to . . . well, what you see up above. But really, it shouldn't even have Multiple Myeloma in the title at all, as that's giving it too much power, reinforcing its reality. This should be about focusing somehow on making my own life whole and happy (as in some of those people who have cured their cancer using laughter therapy), and as related by Moorjani and Dyer, and then supposedly the body just falls in line with that and naturally readjusts itself to a state of health.
Sounds great in theory, let's see if I can get anywhere in practice! I have to look into this a little more. It sounds like so much more fun than endlessly obsessing about supplements, diets, M-spike numbers and ketones.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
My life is becoming a series of doctor visits . . .
This has been a busy week of health practitioner visits. First was a long drive down to Olympia to visit my naturopath, David Lerner (well, he's not a naturopath, really, more of an acupuncturist/herbalist). He put me on eleven more things, on top of the 14 I was already on, so now I'm on about 25 different supplements! I think I am going to start calling him my supplement manager, because that's what he does, mainly. But he really knows his stuff, I'm seeing improvement in my sleep and energy already from adding melatonin and DHEA.
Then I met via Skype with Miriam, a nutritionist who specializes in the ketogenic diet for cancer patients. That's all she consults on, so she really knows a lot about it. I definitely need someone to supervise this. It is going to be even more restrictive than I had initially thought, very limited amounts of protein and calories allowed. We're going to ease in slowly, revamping one meal a week, otherwise it's too big a shock to the system and can mess up your thyroid. I've only just gotten my thyroid sorted out after 27 years of difficulty, so certainly don't want that to happen.
Then today I saw my endocrinologist for the twice-yearly checkup, and she is thrilled with the way I've managed to get my thyroid almost totally sorted out using natural means, after 27 years of being on medication, which I am now off! The numbers are perfect now and it feels so much better not to be on any form of thyroid med. I know they say it's better to take it, but I sort of feel it was part of the problem, rather than the solution. (What I did: rub coconut oil into it every day [seriously], and take iodine for the past two years. Then very very very slowly, over two years, wean down and off the Armour Thyroid. I also do a little massage maneuver on it daily that I read about in a Donna Eden energy medicine book.)
She has been wanting to do surgery to remove this thyroid for awhile, and actually can't believe I've done this via natural means and once said she wanted to write a paper on me. I told her today to hold off until I can figure out how to get rid of the M-spike as well [the myeloma blood protein], and she said then she will write a whole book about me! She's just joking, I'm sure — these very traditional doctors can't believe it when alternative stuff actually works. Oh, and my "supplement manager" has advised a rather expensive herbal concoction that supports the thyroid, I'm sure that is helping also.
The endo is also very supportive about doing the Zometa infusion (the bone strengthening drug I have to have an IV infusion of soon). (She has an extremely bubbly and excitable and upbeat personality -- I walked in there today feeling sort of depressed for no good reason and kind of bounced out feeling like I could conquer the world.) So I guess I need to bite the bullet and have that . . . it's a fine balance between using regular medicine and the natural approaches. I gather this is completely necessary if I don't want holes in my bones, which are forming otherwise. So I'll post on that when I get it done, in about 10 days time.
Meanwhile, I get to go to the Loreena McKennitt concert outdoors in Seattle this week, as a well deserved R&R from all this medical stuff. Yay! She sings like an angel from heaven.
Then I met via Skype with Miriam, a nutritionist who specializes in the ketogenic diet for cancer patients. That's all she consults on, so she really knows a lot about it. I definitely need someone to supervise this. It is going to be even more restrictive than I had initially thought, very limited amounts of protein and calories allowed. We're going to ease in slowly, revamping one meal a week, otherwise it's too big a shock to the system and can mess up your thyroid. I've only just gotten my thyroid sorted out after 27 years of difficulty, so certainly don't want that to happen.
Then today I saw my endocrinologist for the twice-yearly checkup, and she is thrilled with the way I've managed to get my thyroid almost totally sorted out using natural means, after 27 years of being on medication, which I am now off! The numbers are perfect now and it feels so much better not to be on any form of thyroid med. I know they say it's better to take it, but I sort of feel it was part of the problem, rather than the solution. (What I did: rub coconut oil into it every day [seriously], and take iodine for the past two years. Then very very very slowly, over two years, wean down and off the Armour Thyroid. I also do a little massage maneuver on it daily that I read about in a Donna Eden energy medicine book.)
She has been wanting to do surgery to remove this thyroid for awhile, and actually can't believe I've done this via natural means and once said she wanted to write a paper on me. I told her today to hold off until I can figure out how to get rid of the M-spike as well [the myeloma blood protein], and she said then she will write a whole book about me! She's just joking, I'm sure — these very traditional doctors can't believe it when alternative stuff actually works. Oh, and my "supplement manager" has advised a rather expensive herbal concoction that supports the thyroid, I'm sure that is helping also.
The endo is also very supportive about doing the Zometa infusion (the bone strengthening drug I have to have an IV infusion of soon). (She has an extremely bubbly and excitable and upbeat personality -- I walked in there today feeling sort of depressed for no good reason and kind of bounced out feeling like I could conquer the world.) So I guess I need to bite the bullet and have that . . . it's a fine balance between using regular medicine and the natural approaches. I gather this is completely necessary if I don't want holes in my bones, which are forming otherwise. So I'll post on that when I get it done, in about 10 days time.
Meanwhile, I get to go to the Loreena McKennitt concert outdoors in Seattle this week, as a well deserved R&R from all this medical stuff. Yay! She sings like an angel from heaven.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Vegetarians vs. Meat Eating
People keep mentioning Gerson therapy to me. Below are my reasons for not being interested in doing this right now.
The short reason:
I don't like vegetable juice. It gives me a headache. Gerson Therapy consists of twelve large glasses of fresh vegetable juice (from a juicer — ever try and clean out a juicer afterwards?) and five coffee enemas a day. I don't want to spend my life doing nothing but this all day long.
The long reason:
I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all diet for curing cancer. While Gerson may work for some people, for others it is possibly even harmful. Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez is a top alternate cancer specialist in New York who successfully treats all types of cancers using a spectrum of diets from strict vegetarian to primarily heavy meat. Mercola did a great, very long interview with him, which you can see here:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/23/dr-nicholas-gonzalez-on-alternative-cancer-treatments.aspx
I've been looking at a blog from a woman who also has myeloma, and she did the Gerson therapy for two years, and did not have a very easy time of it. She then switched to doing Gonzalez' treatment and diet, and is much happier and making better progress physically. She has this to say about Dr. Gonzalez' diet theory:
"About six months into the Gerson Therapy, I read Suzanne Somers' book "Knockout - Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer". The largest chapter in the book was dedicated to an interview with Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, a doctor in New York who uses nutritional therapies to treat cancer.
A couple things stuck out to me when I read the interview. The first thing I noticed was how effective his treatment is when compared to both the Gerson Therapy and conventional medicine. Most of Dr. Gonzalez' patients have incurable cancer and have been sent home to die by their oncologists. Once on the Gonzalez therapy, the majority of these patients are outliving the expectations set by their oncologists by several decades. The second thing I noticed is that he requires that his myeloma patients eat red meat. [emphasis mine] I found this disturbing since I was eating a fruit and vegetable diet and Dr. Gonzalez' efficacy rates are much higher than Dr. Gerson's were. I was immediately concerned that I was on the wrong therapy."
This is a link to her story, she describes her experiences on the Gonzales therapy quite eloquently. (I'm sort of trying to keep my posts free of excessive links, but it can be nearly impossible sometimes! We live in the information age, indeed.)
http://curingmyeloma.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
And . . .
Nora Gedgaudas, the author of Primal Body/Primal Mind and a gorgeously healthy advocate of the ketogenic diet, had this to say to me personally in an e-mail when I asked her about Gerson vs. Ketogenic diet for cancer:
". . . cleansing/detoxifying approach (probably good in the early stages of any cancer therapy), rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants. --But it simply cannot serve to rebuild the body nor supply critical fat-soluble nutrients and active methylators to support long term effective ketosis, liver support and nourishment. This helps explain why raw food vegan diets have so many initial benefits---and are such a disaster long-term. The ORIGINAL Gerson approach, BTW, actually used raw liver as a part of it's program...which Charlotte Gerson has since eliminated--erroneously opting for the purely vegan-thing and clearly not understanding what her father was really trying to do (note, too, that the Gerson method was much more effective as a therapy under Max Gerson's more considered approach than his daughter, Charlotte's). Fat soluble nutrients--particularly preformed animal-source vitamin A--MUST play a vital role in recovery."
I've researched both paths, and when I read Nora's book everything in me just said yes, this is what I need to be doing. When I read Charlotte Gerson's book I couldn't wait to put it away and never have to think about that again. The thought of endless juicing (not to mention coffee enemas all day long!) just doesn't sound like the healing path I need to be on right now. I actually do coffee enemas already, but only twice a week, and Gonzalez also utilizes them. But not all day long.
So I am giving this ketogenic diet a good six month trial starting in a couple of weeks. I intend to starve those little cancer cells of their food (glucose) by following this proven diet for cancer eradication, even if it does contain the supposedly evil (to the Gerson-ites) red meat and high fat. I'd much rather have bacon and eggs for breakfast than a big glass of veg juice, that's for sure. Wish me luck and I'll report back here what my experiences are with it. (And the next person to mention Gerson Therapy to me, I'm just going to say "read my blog post" in response!)
I seem totally incapable of making short posts here. Perhaps I should start putting an abstract at the top!
The short reason:
I don't like vegetable juice. It gives me a headache. Gerson Therapy consists of twelve large glasses of fresh vegetable juice (from a juicer — ever try and clean out a juicer afterwards?) and five coffee enemas a day. I don't want to spend my life doing nothing but this all day long.
The long reason:
I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all diet for curing cancer. While Gerson may work for some people, for others it is possibly even harmful. Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez is a top alternate cancer specialist in New York who successfully treats all types of cancers using a spectrum of diets from strict vegetarian to primarily heavy meat. Mercola did a great, very long interview with him, which you can see here:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/23/dr-nicholas-gonzalez-on-alternative-cancer-treatments.aspx
I've been looking at a blog from a woman who also has myeloma, and she did the Gerson therapy for two years, and did not have a very easy time of it. She then switched to doing Gonzalez' treatment and diet, and is much happier and making better progress physically. She has this to say about Dr. Gonzalez' diet theory:
"About six months into the Gerson Therapy, I read Suzanne Somers' book "Knockout - Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer". The largest chapter in the book was dedicated to an interview with Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, a doctor in New York who uses nutritional therapies to treat cancer.
A couple things stuck out to me when I read the interview. The first thing I noticed was how effective his treatment is when compared to both the Gerson Therapy and conventional medicine. Most of Dr. Gonzalez' patients have incurable cancer and have been sent home to die by their oncologists. Once on the Gonzalez therapy, the majority of these patients are outliving the expectations set by their oncologists by several decades. The second thing I noticed is that he requires that his myeloma patients eat red meat. [emphasis mine] I found this disturbing since I was eating a fruit and vegetable diet and Dr. Gonzalez' efficacy rates are much higher than Dr. Gerson's were. I was immediately concerned that I was on the wrong therapy."
This is a link to her story, she describes her experiences on the Gonzales therapy quite eloquently. (I'm sort of trying to keep my posts free of excessive links, but it can be nearly impossible sometimes! We live in the information age, indeed.)
http://curingmyeloma.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
And . . .
Nora Gedgaudas, the author of Primal Body/Primal Mind and a gorgeously healthy advocate of the ketogenic diet, had this to say to me personally in an e-mail when I asked her about Gerson vs. Ketogenic diet for cancer:
". . . cleansing/detoxifying approach (probably good in the early stages of any cancer therapy), rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants. --But it simply cannot serve to rebuild the body nor supply critical fat-soluble nutrients and active methylators to support long term effective ketosis, liver support and nourishment. This helps explain why raw food vegan diets have so many initial benefits---and are such a disaster long-term. The ORIGINAL Gerson approach, BTW, actually used raw liver as a part of it's program...which Charlotte Gerson has since eliminated--erroneously opting for the purely vegan-thing and clearly not understanding what her father was really trying to do (note, too, that the Gerson method was much more effective as a therapy under Max Gerson's more considered approach than his daughter, Charlotte's). Fat soluble nutrients--particularly preformed animal-source vitamin A--MUST play a vital role in recovery."
I've researched both paths, and when I read Nora's book everything in me just said yes, this is what I need to be doing. When I read Charlotte Gerson's book I couldn't wait to put it away and never have to think about that again. The thought of endless juicing (not to mention coffee enemas all day long!) just doesn't sound like the healing path I need to be on right now. I actually do coffee enemas already, but only twice a week, and Gonzalez also utilizes them. But not all day long.
So I am giving this ketogenic diet a good six month trial starting in a couple of weeks. I intend to starve those little cancer cells of their food (glucose) by following this proven diet for cancer eradication, even if it does contain the supposedly evil (to the Gerson-ites) red meat and high fat. I'd much rather have bacon and eggs for breakfast than a big glass of veg juice, that's for sure. Wish me luck and I'll report back here what my experiences are with it. (And the next person to mention Gerson Therapy to me, I'm just going to say "read my blog post" in response!)
I seem totally incapable of making short posts here. Perhaps I should start putting an abstract at the top!
Sunday, July 28, 2013
A note to those with MCS
This post is specifically for folks with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity). Aack, as if it wasn't bad enough to have one diagnosis with "Multiple" in the name, now I have two! Could I not have something single? Actually, I do, as Multiple Myeloma starts out as something called MGUS which stands for Monoclonal Gammopathy of Uncertain Significance. (mono means single) It is a protein spike in one of the single protein bands in the blood, which indicates excess plasma cells cloning themselves out of control. It is also known as "simmering or smouldering myeloma". The 'Uncertain Significance' basically means they don't have a flippin clue what causes it or how to deal with it.
As you know, we have broken detox pathways or we wouldn't be dealing with MCS in the first place. Myeloma is a cancer which is related to toxins in the body. Please take a moment and watch this little video clip from Dr. Majid Ali, one of my guiding light doctors, about the diagnosis of MGUS. It is from this that I learned that detoxification is the key to getting rid of myeloma. (Dr. Ali predicted that a lot of the 9/11 "first responders" would come down with myeloma because of what they got exposed to, and he was right.)
youtube.com/watch?v=L2YeWOcD6XU
I first found out that I had this precursor condition to myeloma, MGUS, when a doctor was doing routine blood work to search for a cause of the peripheral neuropathy in my feet. At the time I didn't take it too terribly seriously as it was yet another thing to be dealt with in the far distant future. Though it was a bit daunting to be told to go see an oncologist to have it monitored — walking through the doors of the Swedish Cancer Institute for the first time is a sobering experience, even if you're not dying at the moment. All they do in the early stages is "watch and wait" and monitor it with a blood test a few times a year, to see if it gets worse.
Well, my advice to anyone reading this with MCS is to find a neurologist or oncologist and get a blood test for MGUS (they will know what this is, and it's an easy blood test to have done). If you have any elevation at all, you are in the very early beginning stages of smouldering myeloma and it would be of great importance to address detoxification now. Do not wait until years later when it has developed into full blown myeloma.
Do a yearly cleansing regime or two, read Sherry Rogers' Detoxify or Die and do what she says, adopt some of Dr. Ali's ideas on detox, do colonics, whatever it takes to clean your system out really well and keep it that way. Also work on unblocking the methylation pathway, since with a jammed up methylation pathway you can't detoxify properly — read Amy Yasko or Neil Nathan about this, and find a practitioner who can help. (This last thing is cutting edge genetic stuff and wasn't even around ten years ago.) I truly believe that if I had been addressing detox the whole time I've had MCS (19 years now) I wouldn't be in this situation right now. I was always waiting for "safe housing" to manifest before beginning any detox. (Ha! 19 years later, and still waiting on that one.)
This is probably really good advice for everyone else also, to avoid other types of cancer and the inevitable nasty illnesses that result from all the toxicity in our environment these days. Detox is a huge subject, there's a lot to learn, and you have to be kind of careful when you have MCS or you can make yourself a lot sicker, since we don't process it out as easily as most do. But for me, at least, it's time to get started on this, and hopefully for you, too. I'll be making another post soon about what I've done in the natural supplement/detox realm, but that's a subject for another day.
Love to you all, I'm out to take a walk now (oxygen from exercise is an excellent detoxer!).
As you know, we have broken detox pathways or we wouldn't be dealing with MCS in the first place. Myeloma is a cancer which is related to toxins in the body. Please take a moment and watch this little video clip from Dr. Majid Ali, one of my guiding light doctors, about the diagnosis of MGUS. It is from this that I learned that detoxification is the key to getting rid of myeloma. (Dr. Ali predicted that a lot of the 9/11 "first responders" would come down with myeloma because of what they got exposed to, and he was right.)
youtube.com/watch?v=L2YeWOcD6XU
I first found out that I had this precursor condition to myeloma, MGUS, when a doctor was doing routine blood work to search for a cause of the peripheral neuropathy in my feet. At the time I didn't take it too terribly seriously as it was yet another thing to be dealt with in the far distant future. Though it was a bit daunting to be told to go see an oncologist to have it monitored — walking through the doors of the Swedish Cancer Institute for the first time is a sobering experience, even if you're not dying at the moment. All they do in the early stages is "watch and wait" and monitor it with a blood test a few times a year, to see if it gets worse.
Well, my advice to anyone reading this with MCS is to find a neurologist or oncologist and get a blood test for MGUS (they will know what this is, and it's an easy blood test to have done). If you have any elevation at all, you are in the very early beginning stages of smouldering myeloma and it would be of great importance to address detoxification now. Do not wait until years later when it has developed into full blown myeloma.
Do a yearly cleansing regime or two, read Sherry Rogers' Detoxify or Die and do what she says, adopt some of Dr. Ali's ideas on detox, do colonics, whatever it takes to clean your system out really well and keep it that way. Also work on unblocking the methylation pathway, since with a jammed up methylation pathway you can't detoxify properly — read Amy Yasko or Neil Nathan about this, and find a practitioner who can help. (This last thing is cutting edge genetic stuff and wasn't even around ten years ago.) I truly believe that if I had been addressing detox the whole time I've had MCS (19 years now) I wouldn't be in this situation right now. I was always waiting for "safe housing" to manifest before beginning any detox. (Ha! 19 years later, and still waiting on that one.)
This is probably really good advice for everyone else also, to avoid other types of cancer and the inevitable nasty illnesses that result from all the toxicity in our environment these days. Detox is a huge subject, there's a lot to learn, and you have to be kind of careful when you have MCS or you can make yourself a lot sicker, since we don't process it out as easily as most do. But for me, at least, it's time to get started on this, and hopefully for you, too. I'll be making another post soon about what I've done in the natural supplement/detox realm, but that's a subject for another day.
Love to you all, I'm out to take a walk now (oxygen from exercise is an excellent detoxer!).
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Hospital Stays
A couple of people have asked about my hospital stays, so here are the gory details on that, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Otherwise, no need to read this post!
The first was in the summer of 2011, when I noticed increasing discomfort in my upper back, around the ribs, getting worse over several months. When it started to get really bad, I went to a general doctor I sometimes saw and he didn't investigate much at all, said I had a pulled muscle and sent me home telling me to use ice. (can you spell m-a-l-p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e??) Since it didn't get better, a couple days later I went to my chiropractor and asked him to do an X-ray but he said he didn't do X-rays and sent me home also. By the next night I could hardly move. When it got to the point where I couldn't get out of bed at all, I had to call 911. Fortunately the fire station is two miles from my house, so at 2 in the morning they quickly came and hauled me into the ambulance and down to Harrison Hospital, 35 miles away. (under different circumstances I probably wouldn't have minded two beefy young guys invading my bedroom in the middle of the night! Except for their cologne, ugh.)
Harrison immediately gave me an MRI and saw a tumor had formed on one of my vertebrae (T6), which was starting to fracture it. Some of the cancerous bone marrow cells had gotten out. They put me into radiation for that tumor the very next day. I stayed at Harrison for three weeks, having 18 radiation treatments and nothing more, really. Those totally got rid of the tumor and I gradually began to get my mobility back, which fully returned within three weeks. For the first two weeks I couldn't even turn over in bed, had to call in the nurses to reposition me. That was a wild time. Harrison Hospital were wonderful, they have a fragrance free policy there to begin with, and they bent over backwards to accommodate my MCS needs, even going so far as to purchase a special air filter for me, and using my Dr. Bronner's soap instead of the hand sanitizers whenever they'd come into the room. They actually took the hand sanitizer dispenser out of the room altogether, unscrewed it from the wall.
The second episode was September of 2012, when I got a life-threatening infection in my throat. My white blood cell count is kind of low due to having to constantly deal with the bone cancer cells. I thought I perhaps had tonsillitis or strep throat, but none of my little natural remedies was working, and as it got worse and worse and to the point where I couldn't eat or swallow, again those beefy young guys had to come to the rescue and haul me down to Harrison. (At least this time I could walk into the ambulance.) This turned out to be something called epiglottitis, an inflammation of a little flap called the epiglottis that sits at the top of the windpipe and lets down either air or food/water, with every breath you take. (No, I'd never heard of it either.) I was in intensive care for two days on IV antibiotics and steroids. While I was in there it was so bad that even the merest sip of water would cause me to gag and choke for half an hour. Yikes. The doctors told me that if I hadn't gotten in there within 24 more hours I'd have been dead as it would have closed off the ability to breathe. Yikes again.
So Harrison Hospital has saved my life twice now, for which I'm very grateful. Apart from these two episodes, I continue to run around as normal, as if they never happened, some sort of strange dream. And meanwhile I'm doing everything I can holistically and naturally to keep my body strong and able to fight off these little bugger cancer cells. That'll be another post entirely.
I want to say that even though all this sounds really dreadful and awful and scary, at no point was I scared or even anxious. I felt the Grace of the Lord surrounding me the entire time, and never in my life have I been more grateful to be a Christian. His angels were my constant companion, without being aware of it, and I felt a peace which never deserted me, even in the most difficult moments. It makes me confident and unafraid to face whatever may come, as I know I am not alone.
The first was in the summer of 2011, when I noticed increasing discomfort in my upper back, around the ribs, getting worse over several months. When it started to get really bad, I went to a general doctor I sometimes saw and he didn't investigate much at all, said I had a pulled muscle and sent me home telling me to use ice. (can you spell m-a-l-p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e??) Since it didn't get better, a couple days later I went to my chiropractor and asked him to do an X-ray but he said he didn't do X-rays and sent me home also. By the next night I could hardly move. When it got to the point where I couldn't get out of bed at all, I had to call 911. Fortunately the fire station is two miles from my house, so at 2 in the morning they quickly came and hauled me into the ambulance and down to Harrison Hospital, 35 miles away. (under different circumstances I probably wouldn't have minded two beefy young guys invading my bedroom in the middle of the night! Except for their cologne, ugh.)
Harrison immediately gave me an MRI and saw a tumor had formed on one of my vertebrae (T6), which was starting to fracture it. Some of the cancerous bone marrow cells had gotten out. They put me into radiation for that tumor the very next day. I stayed at Harrison for three weeks, having 18 radiation treatments and nothing more, really. Those totally got rid of the tumor and I gradually began to get my mobility back, which fully returned within three weeks. For the first two weeks I couldn't even turn over in bed, had to call in the nurses to reposition me. That was a wild time. Harrison Hospital were wonderful, they have a fragrance free policy there to begin with, and they bent over backwards to accommodate my MCS needs, even going so far as to purchase a special air filter for me, and using my Dr. Bronner's soap instead of the hand sanitizers whenever they'd come into the room. They actually took the hand sanitizer dispenser out of the room altogether, unscrewed it from the wall.
The second episode was September of 2012, when I got a life-threatening infection in my throat. My white blood cell count is kind of low due to having to constantly deal with the bone cancer cells. I thought I perhaps had tonsillitis or strep throat, but none of my little natural remedies was working, and as it got worse and worse and to the point where I couldn't eat or swallow, again those beefy young guys had to come to the rescue and haul me down to Harrison. (At least this time I could walk into the ambulance.) This turned out to be something called epiglottitis, an inflammation of a little flap called the epiglottis that sits at the top of the windpipe and lets down either air or food/water, with every breath you take. (No, I'd never heard of it either.) I was in intensive care for two days on IV antibiotics and steroids. While I was in there it was so bad that even the merest sip of water would cause me to gag and choke for half an hour. Yikes. The doctors told me that if I hadn't gotten in there within 24 more hours I'd have been dead as it would have closed off the ability to breathe. Yikes again.
So Harrison Hospital has saved my life twice now, for which I'm very grateful. Apart from these two episodes, I continue to run around as normal, as if they never happened, some sort of strange dream. And meanwhile I'm doing everything I can holistically and naturally to keep my body strong and able to fight off these little bugger cancer cells. That'll be another post entirely.
I want to say that even though all this sounds really dreadful and awful and scary, at no point was I scared or even anxious. I felt the Grace of the Lord surrounding me the entire time, and never in my life have I been more grateful to be a Christian. His angels were my constant companion, without being aware of it, and I felt a peace which never deserted me, even in the most difficult moments. It makes me confident and unafraid to face whatever may come, as I know I am not alone.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Blogging is good for the soul
I am really enjoying doing this blog! My friend who's in a creative writing group thinks it's a great idea, if only for the sake of writing itself. I always thought I'd have to be really witty and funny to be able to blog. My Mom thinks I'm a good writer and has always encouraged me to write, but I've always felt unless I could come off like Iris Murdoch or Margaret Drabble, what's the point?
The thing that's so great about this is it's a good stress reliever. I feel like I'm not going through it all alone now. Even if nobody reads it, it's an outlet for my feelings about what's going on. And perhaps it will encourage others to work on their health more NOW, before something like this happens, and not take these precious bodies for granted.
Now if I can just get up the courage to invite people to view it. So far I've only shown it to three people (with glowing reviews from all), so maybe should just take the plunge and make it more public.
The thing that's so great about this is it's a good stress reliever. I feel like I'm not going through it all alone now. Even if nobody reads it, it's an outlet for my feelings about what's going on. And perhaps it will encourage others to work on their health more NOW, before something like this happens, and not take these precious bodies for granted.
Now if I can just get up the courage to invite people to view it. So far I've only shown it to three people (with glowing reviews from all), so maybe should just take the plunge and make it more public.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
New diet directions
I've been hearing about how a ketogenic diet can kill cancer cells. It's used for kids with epilepsy, to control seizures. Read about it here:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/10/ketogenic-diet.aspx
I'm seriously planning on doing this, starting soon. Having not had a very good MRI report this week, the good Dr. W wants to start me on chemo drugs soon so I told him about this diet and asked for a six month reprieve so I can start it and see if it can bring my numbers down.
This is not going to be easy! (or maybe it will be?) This diet involves eating no carbohydrates at all. Zero. It's mainly meat, fish and vegetables, with a majority of the calories coming from (good) fats. Actually, I think it could be quite yummy. I've already ordered up a cookbook. And as long as I can still have my cheesy omelets full of stir fried mushrooms and veg, I'll be happy.
But having been a carb addict all of my life really, this is going to be something of a major challenge. My earliest memories of sugar/carb addiction were from when I was a baby and we were fed that Gerber custard pudding -- I can still remember the taste of that stuff! Unhealthy and full of sugar for sure, but the tastiest stuff ever. That was the start of my lifelong love of sugar.
I have a good friend with MCS who already eats this way, because, she says, it's the only way she feels good. So perhaps it won't be so hard after all? And with the threat of chemo drugs hanging over my head, I think that will be a major incentive to stick with it. "Now Joy, which would you rather have — this nice sweet treat and a bunch of chemotherapy, or this piece of celery and almond butter and no chemotherapy?" A no brainer!
We shall see. Watch this space.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/10/ketogenic-diet.aspx
I'm seriously planning on doing this, starting soon. Having not had a very good MRI report this week, the good Dr. W wants to start me on chemo drugs soon so I told him about this diet and asked for a six month reprieve so I can start it and see if it can bring my numbers down.
This is not going to be easy! (or maybe it will be?) This diet involves eating no carbohydrates at all. Zero. It's mainly meat, fish and vegetables, with a majority of the calories coming from (good) fats. Actually, I think it could be quite yummy. I've already ordered up a cookbook. And as long as I can still have my cheesy omelets full of stir fried mushrooms and veg, I'll be happy.
But having been a carb addict all of my life really, this is going to be something of a major challenge. My earliest memories of sugar/carb addiction were from when I was a baby and we were fed that Gerber custard pudding -- I can still remember the taste of that stuff! Unhealthy and full of sugar for sure, but the tastiest stuff ever. That was the start of my lifelong love of sugar.
I have a good friend with MCS who already eats this way, because, she says, it's the only way she feels good. So perhaps it won't be so hard after all? And with the threat of chemo drugs hanging over my head, I think that will be a major incentive to stick with it. "Now Joy, which would you rather have — this nice sweet treat and a bunch of chemotherapy, or this piece of celery and almond butter and no chemotherapy?" A no brainer!
We shall see. Watch this space.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Don't Be Sad
Dearest friends and family,
A good friend who saw my post said they felt sad. Please don't be sad! I realize it can be a bit of a shock to people when they first hear it, and one of the harder things for me when I was in hospital with a myeloma related problem a couple of summers ago was seeing how upset my family were by it. I've had a lot longer to come to terms with the idea of living with this, and am at peace with it, though it seems like my life's focus these days has become trying to figure out how to overcome it (peace is different than ignoring a problem). I don't really get upset about this myself -- other stuff sometimes, but not the myeloma situation.
My main way of dealing with this has been to arm myself with information. I have read book after book about natural cancer treatments and nutrition. And I have a great oncologist and two excellent cancer-focused naturopaths, so am trying to utilize the best of both worlds. In that respect, I am well cared for.
This has actually been a very good thing in many ways, as a diagnosis like this really brings you back into appreciation of how precious absolutely everything about your life really is. We take SO much for granted. We all know so abstractly that we're going to die someday, nothing lasts forever, etc. But when something confronts you as big and potentially uncontrollable as this, you really really get that there are a set number of days for every one of us on this planet, and to make the most of every single one.
I find tremendous daily inspiration from Pastor Steve's Unfolding Light website, so if you're feeling upset or unsettled, I highly recommend wandering over there and drinking your fill.
A good friend who saw my post said they felt sad. Please don't be sad! I realize it can be a bit of a shock to people when they first hear it, and one of the harder things for me when I was in hospital with a myeloma related problem a couple of summers ago was seeing how upset my family were by it. I've had a lot longer to come to terms with the idea of living with this, and am at peace with it, though it seems like my life's focus these days has become trying to figure out how to overcome it (peace is different than ignoring a problem). I don't really get upset about this myself -- other stuff sometimes, but not the myeloma situation.
My main way of dealing with this has been to arm myself with information. I have read book after book about natural cancer treatments and nutrition. And I have a great oncologist and two excellent cancer-focused naturopaths, so am trying to utilize the best of both worlds. In that respect, I am well cared for.
This has actually been a very good thing in many ways, as a diagnosis like this really brings you back into appreciation of how precious absolutely everything about your life really is. We take SO much for granted. We all know so abstractly that we're going to die someday, nothing lasts forever, etc. But when something confronts you as big and potentially uncontrollable as this, you really really get that there are a set number of days for every one of us on this planet, and to make the most of every single one.
I find tremendous daily inspiration from Pastor Steve's Unfolding Light website, so if you're feeling upset or unsettled, I highly recommend wandering over there and drinking your fill.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Apart from Facebook, I am totally new to the idea of doing a blog. But since I have now been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (bone marrow cancer), various adventures befall me at times with regards my health that I need to take a great deal of time and effort to explain to everyone sometimes. Effort better used for healing.
So if you can see this, you are one of the "select few" dearest friends and family who can check up on my progress here from time to time, so we can have better talks when we do connect. I think it's also true that what you focus on is what becomes your reality, so having to explain what's going on over and over can sometimes reinforce it and make it more difficult to move beyond.
My oncologist, the wonderful and kind Dennis Willerford (I would want to marry him if he weren't my doctor!), yesterday told me that myeloma patients can live a long time with proper "treatment" (i.e. drugs), so it's not necessarily an immediate death sentence, but some of the twists and turns of this road are going to be a bit rocky at times. Hence this blog, for updates.
Maybe I should start with the background, for those who won't know and would care to read. Feel free to skip this. (Oh dear, this was supposed to be a short post! But that's the beauty of a blog, you can rave on at length, no need to keep it to quickie sound bytes like on Facebook).
About ten years ago some routine blood tests uncovered an abnormal protein spike in my blood which meant I may or may not develop MM. The excess proteins were indicative of plasma cells in the bones, cloning themselves and multiplying. The doctors said not to worry about it at the time, as if it did develop it would likely be in my old age. So I really didn't pay much attention. Big mistake. I should have immediately started working on figuring out how to do detox and nip that thing in the bud. Dr. Majid Ali states that if you have this diagnosis (MGUS), unless you detoxify your system, it will progress to myeloma. I wish I had known this some years ago. (All people with chemical sensitivity should take note of this and be tested for MGUS in case it is developing, and detox NOW.) Unfortunately, it's progressed rather faster than it should and there have already been two disasters from it which landed me in hospital (I'll spare you those details).
I'm doing a huge amount of reading and research these days and would like to put up some links to books and other things which I have found really useful, maybe over on the right if I can figure out how to do that. Perhaps other people can be helped by that. It is my sincerest wish that anything I post here may be of use to someone else at some point in their lives.
But I think the time for reading is about over, and it's time to pick a path and put some of the self-help, alternative theories into action. The sheer amount of information on alternative cancer treatments is a bit daunting. I feel a little like Dorothy and the Tin Man at the crossroads: "Some folks take this path . . . but then again others like this one!" Making decisions can be hard when your life may depend on what you do. Perhaps I should have called this blog The Yellow Brick Road.
More later. Blessings to you this day on whatever Yellow Brick Road you happen to find yourself on.
So if you can see this, you are one of the "select few" dearest friends and family who can check up on my progress here from time to time, so we can have better talks when we do connect. I think it's also true that what you focus on is what becomes your reality, so having to explain what's going on over and over can sometimes reinforce it and make it more difficult to move beyond.
My oncologist, the wonderful and kind Dennis Willerford (I would want to marry him if he weren't my doctor!), yesterday told me that myeloma patients can live a long time with proper "treatment" (i.e. drugs), so it's not necessarily an immediate death sentence, but some of the twists and turns of this road are going to be a bit rocky at times. Hence this blog, for updates.
Maybe I should start with the background, for those who won't know and would care to read. Feel free to skip this. (Oh dear, this was supposed to be a short post! But that's the beauty of a blog, you can rave on at length, no need to keep it to quickie sound bytes like on Facebook).
About ten years ago some routine blood tests uncovered an abnormal protein spike in my blood which meant I may or may not develop MM. The excess proteins were indicative of plasma cells in the bones, cloning themselves and multiplying. The doctors said not to worry about it at the time, as if it did develop it would likely be in my old age. So I really didn't pay much attention. Big mistake. I should have immediately started working on figuring out how to do detox and nip that thing in the bud. Dr. Majid Ali states that if you have this diagnosis (MGUS), unless you detoxify your system, it will progress to myeloma. I wish I had known this some years ago. (All people with chemical sensitivity should take note of this and be tested for MGUS in case it is developing, and detox NOW.) Unfortunately, it's progressed rather faster than it should and there have already been two disasters from it which landed me in hospital (I'll spare you those details).
I'm doing a huge amount of reading and research these days and would like to put up some links to books and other things which I have found really useful, maybe over on the right if I can figure out how to do that. Perhaps other people can be helped by that. It is my sincerest wish that anything I post here may be of use to someone else at some point in their lives.
But I think the time for reading is about over, and it's time to pick a path and put some of the self-help, alternative theories into action. The sheer amount of information on alternative cancer treatments is a bit daunting. I feel a little like Dorothy and the Tin Man at the crossroads: "Some folks take this path . . . but then again others like this one!" Making decisions can be hard when your life may depend on what you do. Perhaps I should have called this blog The Yellow Brick Road.
More later. Blessings to you this day on whatever Yellow Brick Road you happen to find yourself on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)