Continuing Recovery at home in Inuvik

At last I have new dates for a cancer status appointment. As mentioned in my last post, April 11 didn't turn out in Yellowknife. It turns out that the CT Scan equipment in Yk was not working during that week when Dr North of Cross Cancer was in town. So the next dates are May 16 and 17 in Edmonton at Cross Cancer Institute. CT scan on 16th and consultation with Dr North on 17th. Again, because of my hearing disability, Sandra will accompany me on the journey. I am hopeful for the best because I am feeling very good, energy has returned, the old irritating cough has subsided. It is likely the cough was indicating all not well in my lungs.

One concern I have is a week bit of anger against people who profit from cancer anxiety in recovery. There is one particular CD-selling business that has had several "free" online video episodes that has particularly attracted my ire. Here is some text from an email I sent that explains the thing:

"Some of you may be watching videos from something called The Truth about Cancer. AVOID THIS ONLINE PROGRAM. It is all about selling videos. Except for some sincere cancer survivor stories it is all about sensationalism and health-related conspiracy theories. One of the so-called experts Mike Adams - Health Ranger is under investigation for promoting murder of scientists (see for example: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/…/shining-light-mike-ad…/…). In my watching of this series I have seen nothing new in true things about cancer growth or treatment that I didn't already know, and I have seen a lot of misleading junk."

I know that not all people have agreed with me on this, but featuring a quack like Mike Adams is the rotten apple that spoils the barrel! Also I have been getting an average of 6 emailsl a day from this Truth about Cancer outfit. And the last couple of days of the "free" episodes the used car salesman running the show has been virtually pleading: please buy my CDs. And oh yes, you can get the Silver collection or better yet the Gold collection, etc etc ad nauseam.

And I am comforted that my naturopath considers this Truth about Cancer programming as garbage that should be illegal! My nutritionist also was NOT impressed. So there you have a professional consensus.

I thought I would not give a list of books that I have found useful and compelling regarding cancer recovery:

1) Cancer Fighting Kitchen - Rebecca Katz, Ten Speed Press (2009) - a great cookbook!

2) Mind over Medicine - Lissa Rankin, MD, Hay House, Inc., distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books (2013) - a quite general book but includes reference to cancer recovery

3) The Definitive Guide to Thriving after Cancer - Lise N Alschuler and Karolyn A Gazella, Ten Speed Press (2013) - this is a second more readable edition to the 2011 publication Five to Thrive, Active Interest Media, Inc. (2011)

4) Wondering who you are - Sonya Lea, Tin House Books (2015) - a well-written memoir by Sonya Lea focusing on the near death and brain injury of her husband, and the long road to partial recovery.

5) The Adventures of a Cancer Maverick - Nina Joy, The Solopreneur Publishing Company Ltd, 9 High Farm Meadow, Badsworth, West Yorkshire WF9 1PB (2014) - www.thesolopreneur.co.uk - a great book about a personal cancer recovery journey, emphasizing joy and attitude!

6) Beating Cancer with Nutrition - Patrick Quillin with Noreen Quillin, Bookworld (1994) - out of print but you may find a second hand copy on Abe Books

7) Adjuvant Nutrition in Cancer Treatment - Patrick Quillin and R Michael Williams, editors, Cancer Treatment Research Foundation (1993) - believed out of print but you may find a used copy on Abe Books. This book presents research current only to 1993

Well, that is all until next time. I am struggling against fear again, because of the extra month delay before I find out the status of my recovery, so joy and attitude are all important. Anxiety will only hasten cancer not defeat it.