( " Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference " ) Robert Frost
The battlefield of life, for most of us is often very complicated. It can have many twists and turns. Many of us, unfortunately, are someday going to meet an enemy that we ourselves have no answer for. When any of us are given a diagnosis of cancer , our normal response is:
* How am I going to survive?
* Where do I start?
* Who do I go to for help?
* Where are the " EXPERTS " who treat my type of cancer ?
We talk to friends, colleaques, even acqaintances. Hours, days, and weeks are spent searching the internet, journals and the media. Often we find a clinician or medical center that can lead us to safety and remission. There are many other circumstances where this is not the case. We find that the chemotherapy may not be working or there may be life-threatening side effects. Moreover, there are continuing road blocks and other challenges that seem insurmoutable. The decisions that we must make are not for the faint of heart. Discernment is imperative. When one is facing a grave diagnosis, such as an advanced sarcoma or carcinoma, multiple opinions are of the utmost importance. The answers are available to us...therefore, we must search diligently untill we find them. Seeking a myriad of opinions ( Western and Holistic Experts ) helps us to see things differently and empowers us with hope.
There Are Answers Out There For You.
* Keep praying for guidance.
* Keep seeking.
* Keep looking.
* There is a way through this.
If things aren't going well for you, don't be afraid to seek out as many opinions as possible.
Im Europe currently, physicians are performing chemoembolization on patients with advanced gastro-intestinal cancers with liver metastasis. They inject chemotherapy into the liver lessions followed by the patients own stem cells and watch them clinically. Often in this study, many of the patients show shrinkage of the tumor so that the surgeons can remove them. Dr Gunther Furst out of Germany is publishing very positive results.
Early into my diagnosis, in between chemo's, I journeyed to southern California to a holistic medical center where they taught me more advanced teachings about natural medicine than I had learned in my formal training. I received intravenous glutithione and ginseng which helped slow down and stabilize my liver tumor growth. I also learned practicle methods on how to alkalinize my body.
I feel that deep discernment is imperative as each choice we make can result in positive or negative outcomes. The one huge mistake many patients with advanced cancers make is putting all of ther hope and faith into one physician or medical center without looking at multiple options. Cancer is a very complicated disease that can outsmart the most brilliant medical minds in the country. Often patients stay at the first physician or center they find and do not look for multiple options.
Month after month I get calls from families, husbands, relatives who ask my help when it is too late. I have warned many of them in the early stages to call out for help from around the world and get multiple integrative opinions. Many of the decisions and choices patients and their families make are out of naivete' or fear. Out of the gate when our backs are against the wall..that is the time to call out for help. It is imperative to come up with three survival/ backup strategies when we are diagnosed. I was taught that lesson early on and it was essential in my survival.
I recall having visited a number of East Coast hospitals during my fight for survival. My condition had declined and my tumors were encroaching upon the major vessels in my liver. As I looked down at my feet each day I saw more and more fluid buildup in my ankles. My liver was failing. Two very prominent experts in two prestigious medical centers on the East Coast tried talking me into receiving a cutting edge proceedure that had recently been developed. They were trying to stave off my tumor and minimize potential complications. As they were speaking, I recalled that two of my own patients recently had gone through this proceedure over the past year. Both of them got very sick after this and died shortly thereafter. I declined.
Another specialist in the midwest discussed performing a major debulking proceedure on my liver to keep me alive. Upon leaving his office I sought out council from my teams on the East Coast regarding his plan. Each of these specialists shared with me that this plan would certainly end in a fatal outcome if I chose it. My guidance told me to stay on my current chemotherapy regimen ( Sutent ) and look for more successful options. Dr. Robert Taub and his team at Columbia ( NYC ) gave me wise counsel during these critical periods. I know that I would not have survived had it not been for him and his wise guidance.
When given a diagnosis of catastrophic illness, one's condition can change at any moment. Situations are fequently evolving and transitioning. Sometimes it's best to wait and do nothing. Later you might have to add more aggressive therapies. If things look bad....having multiple face to face or phone consults can pay off.They could tilt the balance between life and death.
Cancer is a test. The defining moment in your life.
* You can do it.
* There is an answer out there for you.
* God is waiting for your call.
* He will answer.
* Never give up.
