It’s not just anybody who will head out to a cancer clinic across the border for treatment, especially if they already have insurance. So how did it come to be? How did I know it was right? Have I continued to feel good about the decision to “go alternative?”
When I battled breast cancer in 2009-2010 with chemotherapy
and radiation I swore to myself I would not do that again. Even then, I had begun my research for
alternative therapies. But at that
time I felt like I had to act so quickly, so I was reluctant to waste any time,
not wanting cancer to spread to any organs. So I succumbed to the Big 3 for cancer: surgery, chemo, and radiation. If I had it to do over, I would not have let them take my
lymph nodes, and maybe not even remove the tumor or the breast. I’ve learned a lot since then, and met
some women who have not been cut up, have only used alternative therapies, and
are doing very well. They never had
to suffer the sickness that accompanies chemo and radiation; they have not had six+ weeks of recovery to deal with the after effects of surgery, and the six months - three years of recovering from chemo poisoning.
Another reason would I not do the chemo again? I hate nausea. I also do not ever want the
stomach flu again. I want to die
when I’m nauseous. I don’t like being in that frame of mind. Nausea erases truth from my being – I
forget that I want to glorify God, and be around for Dave, the kids, family and
friends. I also hate the idea of
poison flooding through my blood vessels destroying cells, doing damage. Yes, it is good they destroy cancer
cells, but really, so much collateral damage? I feel similarly about radiation. While it does destroy cancer cells, it also mucks with the
healthy ones, predisposing them to cancer. So, while I’m getting help with one kind of cancer, I’m
setting myself up for another.
So there’s my rant of why I wanted to try something
different. There are an awful lot
of “cures” out there. There’s a lot of anecdotal proofs of success. How does one choose? Oasis of Hope was a name that kept
getting referred to me because of friends who personally knew someone who went
there with cancer, and came back well.
I read the owner’s book, I
talked to them on the phone, and I had decided that would be the place to check
into, if cancer ever returned.
Even my Kaiser oncologist said he’d bless my efforts if
cancer returned. He discouraged me
from going when I was fighting stage 3 breast cancer. But he said that the medical community cannot do much for
stage 4 cancer… so what would it hurt to try?
The one thing I’d always said about having cancer the first
two times, is had there not been tests, or lumps, I would not have known I had
cancer growing, because I felt great.
(This third time there has been bone pain and tiredness, but not
excessively.) Using alternative therapies allows me to continue to feel good even while fighting off cancer.
Just before my diagnosis, my friend Rivi, was diagnosed with
stage 4 bile duct cancer; it had gone to her liver. I immediately gave her the information I had gathered on
Oasis of Hope. She researched that
place and several others, traveled to Tijuana to visit these places for herself, and
learn what treatment plan they had to offer. She returned, thoroughly convinced that Hope For Cancer
(H4C), not Oasis of Hope was the place to go. Her daughter immediately began a fund drive to get the
$30,000 needed for the treatments. The reason she, and
ultimately, we chose H4C, is that they had everything Oasis had (including
their previous medical director), plus much more. The director, Dr. Tony Jimenez, stays on the cutting edge of
cancer treatments, and jumps in to implement what is working… hence the reason
we stay so busy while at the clinic.
God used Rivi to help me believe that the impossible amount
of money could be raised. She has
not received a regular salary for years, depending on donations for her
speaking ministry, Hope of Israel Ministry (H.I.M.) http://thehopeofisrael.org. Her network of supporters and friends
span the world. Within a
couple of weeks, they had received the full amount needed. (Though the prescriptions continue to
cost about $1000 a month… feel free to bless her through her website.) Still, I could not fathom how we would
raise so much. Rivi insisted that
we try. She was confident God would
supply for me as He had for her. Seth and Dave took on the
challenge, and soon money started coming in. After a few weeks we had received $10,000. I was reduced to tears of
unbelief and a sense of deep gratitude and love with each gift. It seemed the gifts themselves were
healing salve.
Yet, $10,000 was not $30,000, and I began to wonder if I we
should really spend so much.
Perhaps I should give it a go at home, and begin putting into practice
everything I was learning from my research on alternative treatments. Yet, we made the trip to Mexico to meet
with Dr. Tony, and just let him know we were waiting on the funds. I wanted to start in earnest with
whatever treatment plan I decided, as soon as Ariana’s graduation took place. That was two weeks away. I was confused, and unable to make a
decision on which route to take.
Dr. Phil Millman was my Whittier doctor who was providing me with
Vitamin C infusions. They were
helping me to feel better. He was
working on a plan for me. Yet I
longed for even more direction. So
I finally put it out there in prayer to God: If you want me to go to H4C, I need a sign. Though we could come up with the
$20,000 on our own (I learned that several of the patients borrowed money for
the treatment), I wanted to see God answer me with more donations; and I wanted
to see physically that I needed it.
As I said, I was feeling pretty good – why spend money if was already
healed?
I got my answers.
Inexplicably, after a few dry weeks, more money came in - $10,000 plus,
within about a week. I also got my
tumor marker test back – the number had jumped up quite high in the past
month. I actually felt grateful
for such a clear answer to my prayer.
I called Mexico and scheduled my arrival time. I knew, beyond a doubt, that I was supposed to go.
(I must add that it is scary to leave the comfortable, traditional medical field and launch out into the experimental. Who else is doing this? Who is it working for? Though I read many books and articles, I really wished I could meet someone, who had walked this path. It made all the difference for me to go to Mexico, stay at the clinic for a day, and meet the patients that were doing what I wanted to do. Also, the fact that my friend Rivi went just a month before me was a huge encouragement. Frankly, it is a little scary to try something unconventional. Once at the clinic, surrounded by other cancer patients, and watching them get better was a huge confirmation as well.)
(I must add that it is scary to leave the comfortable, traditional medical field and launch out into the experimental. Who else is doing this? Who is it working for? Though I read many books and articles, I really wished I could meet someone, who had walked this path. It made all the difference for me to go to Mexico, stay at the clinic for a day, and meet the patients that were doing what I wanted to do. Also, the fact that my friend Rivi went just a month before me was a huge encouragement. Frankly, it is a little scary to try something unconventional. Once at the clinic, surrounded by other cancer patients, and watching them get better was a huge confirmation as well.)
Ariana graduated on a Saturday. We had her party the same day, and on Tuesday, Dave drove
Davita and I to the border to be picked up by the H4C medical van. Treatments began that day. A week
later, Ariana replaced Davita, and she stayed with me the last two weeks.
I am glad I went for treatments. It was an awful big check to write out. As I mentioned earlier, I think part of my cure was in receiving so many gifts, so much display of love, such an outpouring of care - how could my disease not respond to that. Love conquers all!
My next blog will be about the very interesting Recall
Healing derived from the studies of Dr. Hamer, a German oncologist. http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/hamer.html
I’m not entirely sure I agree with
it all – but I must say, it is intriguing.
