More about kidney health, cancer recovery, and nutrition

I did mention earlier that the anaesthetic during the December 6 operation did a number on my short term memory. I am happy to say that those memory absence effects are now gone. My memory seems to have completely returned to normal now. Some people that I have read about have been less fortunate, some suffering serious mental disorders after a serious operation. 

Last week I spent a few days in Yellowknife where there was an opportunity for some consulting work related to new standards for building infrastructure in the North, with special emphasis on climate change impacts and melting permafrost. The North also is experiencing greater snow precipitation in winter, creating greater snow loads on roofs of buildings.

On Friday April 1 I had a scheduled appointment with Dr Redvers at the Gaia Clinic to begin my injection protocol for istador, a natural substance that comes from mistletoe, and that targets cancer cells. I have to inject myself three times a week with various doses at various times. This is not difficult, considering that I was faced with injecting myself with blood thinner twice a day for six weeks after the kidney cancer operation on December 6.

I now have a second consultation scheduled with Dr North from the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. He is coming to Yellowknife next Monday, one week from today, and I will have another CT scan followed by consultation to see if the cancer is still shrinking, or whether it has been getting more aggressive. I feel so good, so physically well these days, that I believe that the cancer is receding further. And I am taking the steps in nutrition to help murder those cancer cells.

It is interesting trying to set up an appointment from a remote location up here in the Arctic. When Cross Cancer (Edmonton) calls Stanton Hospital (Yellowknife), which then calls Inuvik Regional Hospital, and Special Clinics in Inuvik then calls me there is plenty of room for error. I now have two given times for the consultation appointment, not sure which one is right, but both for Monday April 11 at Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife. I hastened to point out that surely a CT scan would have to be done, but Inuvik Special Clinics knew nothing about that. But I was right. I am now waiting for a specific timetable for both CT scan and consultation appointment on the 11th.

I now have a lot of recommendations from Dr Redvers on things to avoid for kidney health and cancer recovery. The istador is the main thing impacting cancer recovery in a positive way. And the nutritionist, Lorie Crawford, has provided many interesting things regarding what to eat and what not to eat. I will follow this blog with specific information from the naturopathic and nutrition recommendation in a couple of days.

I will finish off this blog by going back to the renal ultrasound that was done on March 10 here in Inuvik. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday March 22nd to discuss the ultrasound. Although my one kidney is not performing up to spec, it is very stable, according to the three blood tests done between January and March. So the doctor doesn't consider me to be in any immediate danger there. And the ultrasound showed that the kidney looked very normal. I have an enlarged prostate, something that has come and gone over the years, depending upon my caffeine intake. So no surprises there. My PSA level rises with lotsa coffee and drops as I reduce coffee intake. This is something that the great science of medicine is apparently unaware of, and doctors look at me with that expression that says: "I refuse to roll my eyes because it's not polite!"

I also had a skin test for tuberculosis, since there is an off chance that I could be a TB carrier, or that some of the abnormal things in my lungs could be TB related. I have spen many years doing volunteer work with inmates in the North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife, several of whom have suffered from TB, so there is an off chance that I could be a TB carrier. The test came out negative, so its all good.

I have ordered the pathology reports of my renal carcinoma that were prepared as a result of my Dec 6 operation as well as the CT scan of Feb 3 before the last Cross Cancer consultation. The specific cell types will help both naturopath and nutritionist advise on how to best eradicate the cancer cells.

All for now. In a couple of days I will follow up with my adventures in nutrition, and specific recommendations from both naturopath and nutritionist. And I will be preparing for my next scary trip to Yellowknife over next weekend for a new CT scan and cancer status update.