Update

I think the controversy between 'traditional' cancer treatment and 'alternative' cancer treatment will always be around.

It is also potentially one of the most frustrating and frightening parts of being told you have cancer.

I think there is validity on both sides of the 'aisle'. I think both camps also feed on the fears of patients who don't know what to do, whose lives literally hang in the balance, and who are so scared of making the 'wrong' choice that they make choices out of fear for their lives rather than clear-minded education.

I had a friend who underwent alternative therapy for lyme disease treatment and lectured me regularly about how I was a victim of a conspiracy between the AMA, the FDA, and the American Cancer Society who are basically in effect killing cancer patients by refusing to recognize alternative forms of treatment for cancer.

Yeah, that's really what any cancer patient needs to hear, you know, right in the throes of treatment - that you are a fool who is basically letting the medical establishment (in the case of traditional treatment) or a bunch of hippie freaks (in the case of alternative therapies) manipulate you into doing what they want, rather than what you want.



Kathryn, you mentioned this in your post:

I'm appalled that the oncologist dismissed entirely treating the cause rather than just the symptom (the cancer).

This statement makes no sense to me.

If anyone here can figure out what the cause of cancer is - please, get right on it because you will get the Nobel peace prize! That's the million dollar question, isn't it? What causes cancer? Me and ten-kabillion other survivors will kiss your feet if we can stop living in the shadow that recurrence casts over our lives...

None of my oncologists ever dismissed treating the cause of cancer, scientists simply don't know what it is.



Cancer treatment is changing and progressing all the time. Things they did just ten short years ago are outdated. Medicines are improving all the time. My hope is one day I can just take a daily supplement that travels through my body like a 'smart bomb' seeking out cancer cells and destroying them.




Carola, you ROCK!!! I am so happy you found a treatment plan that suits you. I have no doubt you will beat this cancer sh!t and live to tell the tale for years to come!

BTW, I dropped a pound this week. ;-)

-Susan L.G.
 
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Susan, very valid points you make. Obviously this subject is a very sensitive one and you my friend, and Carola are impressive women in my book ;)
 
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Dear Carola,

Thanks for the update! I'd been wondering how you've been doing and how the appointment with the N.D. went. You are such an inspiration!!
 
fit_fairy said:
Susan, very valid points you make. Obviously this subject is a very sensitive one and you my friend, and Carola are impressive women in my book ;)
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I couldn't agree more!

When my mother went through chemo for lung cancer, we didn't know what questions to ask. For us, alternative medicine would have been so confusing to what was an extremely frightening time in my mother's life. All we had at that time was faith in her care provider. She beat the cancer and died a year later from an aortic aneurysm they found during a cancer screening.
 
Carola,

Thanks so much for allowing us into your personal life. Because you have done so, you are an inspiration to the rest of us.
 
Thanks for the update Carola. It is great to hear you are doing so well. I was interested to read about your experience with naturopathic methods. Like many other posters, yours is my first experience "knowing" someone who chose this route. It is nice to see there are physicians out there willing to look at "alternative" treatments.

Carrie
 
HI Beautiful Lady,

Surgery in of itself my likely be curative......adjunctive naturopathy, I found (in moonlighting in homecare, and seeing folks in my yoga classes) - can make the recovery so much easier...At NIH, and the cancer center my friends' work out of, no one in treatment is allowed animal products....not peer reviewed,long standing research to prove the value- but the suggestion is there, the evidence is there of the toxins in our food supply (we removed undo burden of regulation from the food industry 7 years ago,because the corporate people put health over profit, right and there has been a startling increase in blood cancers in some areas.)...........anyway........being a critical care nurse,and a yoga teacher, and active on palliative care, and natural cures....I will share with you this....
The education of your naturopath is impressive....I've taken care of 2 women under the care of graduates from that institution in fact! This doc was in NYC though......both women refused ANY traditional medical treatment and spent tens of thousands with this practice in Manhatten....one was breast cancer, one was melanoma.
Both came to me in the ICU eaten, and I mean EATEN with cancer....not to inflict fear...you had surgery, neither of these women did.
The naturopath of the skin cancer lady called the unit, and was beside himself with grief and -being young as I was, I snarked back to him that I hoped he'd be homeless with the lawsuit we were pressing the family to pursue ...he assured me that he NEVER told them to forego traditional (and may I add,traditional therapy yields more 90percent successful remission over 5 years)treatment, he was ADJUNCTIVE..yeah,well, whatever, both ladies signed away all rights in their consent, acknowledging that it was non proven and the families were left broke and the women dead......
Sooooo, You're ahead of the game, you had surgery, the anti inflammatory response is thought nowadays to be the genesis of all mischief from colds to cancer...and Vitamin C is potent reducer of it...it also is ROUGH on the kidneys in large doses....yup, seen THAT go awry in overzealous folks in the late 80's overdoing Linus Pauling's program....
There's no conspiracy, I know scientists who would give anything to have the same legacy as a Jonas Salk or Michael DeBakey, and every day we meld naturopathy with traditional medicine where I work...but its held to the same standard - peer reviewed, trialed studies...things like fish oil, pro biotics etc are part of daily meds now....
But to let you know, by the Grace of God, we have an enlightened administration that wants to invest in science and education, and hopefully the advances with stem cells and cloning will make so many of these horrid diseases a memory.

We are all thinking and praying for you, and as always, you are honest, warm and please keep us posted on your progress!
 
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icumom said:
The education of your naturopath is impressive....I've taken care of 2 women under the care of graduates from that institution in fact! This doc was in NYC though......both women refused ANY traditional medical treatment and spend tens of thousands with this practice in Manhatten....one was breast cancer, one was melanoma.
Both came to me in the ICU eaten, and I mean EATEN with cancer....not to inflict fear...you had surgery, neither of these women did.
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Thanks for sharing! I guess there are horror stories on both ends. There are numerous patients who have died from side effects of chemotherapy, there are people like a friend who is on her 4th different chemotherapy drug, none of which have worked so far, but I won't go into details about her quality of life. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees, neither in conventional nor alternative medicine.

Vitamin C is water-soluable and any excess will normally be peed out. The only people who may experience problems are people with a family history of kidney and gall bladder stones. One of the blood tests that was run was to check if I was effected by that before the vitamin C is administered in a higher dose.

I am not refusing all conventional therapies, I agreed to very invasive surgery and I am glad I did. I would make the same choice again. Just the facts that were presented to me and that I got in weeks of research that pertained to my stage of cancer ONLY made me conclude that chemo and radiation was not for me. In my case, the 5-year survival rate on people doing only surgery was 60/70 %, doing chemo therapy would have only increased that to 75 %, considering the side effects to me the benefit did not outweigh the risk.
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I wonder how reliable those studies are anyway, aside from the fact that money for research is scarce and most of the clinical trials are sponsored by drug companies, how can we tell that the people in the clinical trial who received a certain chemotherapy drug or regimen survived because of the chemo or despite of it?

That being said, I really don't care about the 5-year survival statistics because I am not a statistic and the plan is to live until I die from natural causes when I am a really old fart.

Now I will agree that research data can be read in many ways, different people looking at the same data may come to different conclusions. Risk/benefit analysis for two people looking at the same may end up in two totally different decisions. In the end everyone effected by this disease has to make a decision as to what they think is right for them. I don't believe that there is a one size-fits-all. I think the most important part is to make a decision that makes sense to THEM. If people use therapies they don't believe in they probably get anxious and conflicted every time they receive chemo or every time they pop the handful of Chinese herbs.

I am convinced that hope and belief can move mountains, so what good is it going to do if you chose a treatment that you don't believe in? In fact, research has shown that the common denominator of those who experience spontaneous remissions or remarkable recoveries it is not the technique or therapy they receive, it is the strength of their belief and the compatability of which approach they choose and who they are.

I think I have chosen the right path for me, no matter what happens, I am at peace with it because it is MY decision, no one elses. Just because I was diagnosed with cancer does not change who I am and what I believe in.

My decision may not be the right one for another person. The only thing I am advocating is for people to not only get access to the information to be able to make an educated decision but also to have the possibility to chose the right treatment for them without their health insurance denying the claim.

Of all the books I have read, these three I would highly recommend for anyone interested in that subject:
Comprehensive Cancer Care, Integrating alternative, complementary and conventional therapies by James Gordon, M.D
Questioning Chemotherapy by Ralph Moss
The Cancer Industry by Ralph Moss

Susan, I think you made the right decision for yourself and I am in total awe as to how you handled this difficult issue. I hope I didn't offend you with my comments. And YAY for losing that one pound, I know how frustrated you were!!!
 
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So glad to hear you are doing well! I think it is wildly exciting that you have chosen the naturopathic route. Please keep us updated!
 
Thanks for the update! As others have said, you are a true inspiration. Best wishes during your recover!

anne
 
Carola, thanks for the update and for sharing your treatment plan and all the thought that went into it. It's wonderful and fascinating to me that there are more choices available today, and like you I think we should be empowered to do LOTS of research and make the right choice for our individual selves. My very best wishes for happiness and health are with you.

Amy
 
Carola, thanks for the update! I am so glad you doing well with your treatment. I will keep you in my prayers. Best wishes,
 
Carola- I applaud you for gathering as much information as you can before making a treatment decision. I wish you all the best and keep us posted.

(((hugs)))

BTW running or run/walking 10 miles so soon after surgery is just amazing!
 
Carola

It's great to hear from you. I'm glad things are working out for you and that you're making the decisions that you're comfortable with.

Keep taking the pills! :p
 
Ronne said:
Keep taking the pills! :p
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LOL, I am Ronne. I keep a schedule of when to take what so I don't miss any or take them several times. Don't want any additional limbs growning or something stupid :p

Thanks everybody! I truly appreciate your support, well wishes, prayers and good vibes. It is great to be part of such a wonderful community!
 
Carola, it's so great to hear that you're doing so well. I've been wondering about you so and praying for your recovery so I appreciate the update. Your decisions were clearly well researched and thought out. How fortunate that you have options available to you.
Will continue to send good vibes your way and hope that you continue feeling well. You're such an inspiration!!!
 
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