Choose - Hope - Survive

The three words in the title of this post sketch out the three stages of my journey to survival and cancer remission. First I had to choose - to make a decision to take responsibility for my own health. For me this meant that I would combine oncology cancer treatment (now immunotherapy) with natural healing. Then I needed to believe - use the power of belief - to recover, and this brought hope. And that led to survival.

I am writing a book on my recovery journey. The working title is now one word, a command: Survive. I hope to complete the first draft by the end of this month, December 2018.

I am using poetry to help keep my spirits up in the cancer recovery journey. The side effects of the original chemotherapy linger, bringing tiredness, depression, shingles neurological pain on one side, and sometimes just feeling as sick as if I had the flu. Here are three poems leading from despair to belief and hope (please excuse the wonky copy and paste formatting from Word). For me they bring much comfort and food for thought:

  Cancer

Cancer

Sinister

Hide-and-seek now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t

Monster

Evil incarnate

Cold grey iron

Lurking – hiding

Your face is darkness and dismay

Cold grey eyes – pale bloodless skin of death

With hair the colour of cremation’s fire

Wearing a long black cloak

To smother each victim

Neither male nor female

 

Outside time and space in this universe

 

 

Cancer in Seventeen Syllables
 

Cancer - sinister

 

Now-you-see-it-now-you-don't

 

Evil incarnate  
 

Balm of Poetry

 

Joy replaces fear

Debilitating cancer

But pen keeps writing

 

Balm of poetry

I need it now – darkness comes

Let joy win the day

 

I am still alive

Against all odds – keep writing

Poems bringing life

There you have it. I keep writing, because it keeps me working toward the goal of continued remission. Being in remission is not "home free". When a deadly cancer like Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma is at stake, it can recur at any time so I must keep vigilant. Remission is simply some breathing space to prepare for a next onslaught.

Life goes on - both after diagnosis and after remission

In my last post I mentioned the book Surviv(her) featuring the cancer experience of young women. I would like to echo the words of Kristin who was diagnosed at age 21. She says: "The whole point of getting cancer is to wake up and do something different. What would you change? What parts of my life aren't I happy with right now? Everything is just broken and now I can start from scratch."

After I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma, every new morning seemed somehow to be a special day. I realized that time in the sunlight of this life was precious, and that I needed to consider each day as very valuable, and that I needed to change my priorities. What could I do to help another person in my life? What did I hang on to that was just frivolous and of no value and should be got rid of?

After remission in October 2018 I still keep up my natural healing regimen of supplements that are considered to prevent or reduce cancer, as well as injections three times a week of Iscador (a derivative of mistletoe developed to battle cancer in Germany). And I keep discovering new things.

I have mentioned that getting shingles was one side effect of my chemo experience. Although the nasty shingles pain still persists it is somewhat reduced from what it was a few months ago. Then I read that turmeric (with the active ingredient being curcumin) is a pain reliever. Now I have been taking curcumin in the morning for months. But at nights I have some joint pain problems (shoulder, hip) and sometimes the shingles pain wakes me up. So I decided to take my high potency curcumin at night just before I go to bed. Voila! Joint pain and neurological pain from shingles no longer wake me up. I can now get a good night's sleep.

Also I have just received what I consider to be an honour. There is to be a living with chronic disease (prevention, self-management and care) workshop in Yellowknife on December 5 (two weeks away) and I have been asked by the territorial Cancer Care Specialist for the NWT Health Authority to be there as a patient contributor to the workshop from my experience as a chronic cancer sufferer living in a remote community of the NWT. I will decide by tomorrow if I will attend and make a 10 - 15 minute presentation from my cancer treatment and recovery perspective.

The Cancer Sharing Circle, CBC News, and community support

I was interviewed by Mackenzie Scott for CBC North as a participant in our local Cancer Sharing Circle that has met a couple of times this fall here in Inuvik. It aired on radio this afternoon and will available in digital form on the weekend.

Taking part in the Sharing Circle enables me to share parts of my story that give other cancer sufferers hope. Hope is a big thing in cancer recovery. As I have mentioned before, belief in recovery brings hope.

Our Sharing Circle here in Inuvik is for cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, relatives of cancer patients/survivors and anyone interested in cancer recovery. Participation certainly takes away the common feeling of loneliness and isolation for a person with cancer. And I suppose it is easier to make a Sharing Circle successful in a small community where it is a common thing for people to come together to help one another.

Fear is another common emotion as well as feelings of loneliness. And fear, being a negative emotion, can encourage cancer growth instead of combat it. So it is important to change fear into faith for cancer acceptance and recovery.

I have discovered an advantage of living in a small isolated community. And that is that people truly care about you. The news travels fast when a person is ill. I have been approached by many elders in the community, expressing how happy they are when they heard I was in remission from my kidney cancer. And I am on a first name basis with everyone in the local pharmacy and drug store, including the pharmacist and all the pharmacist helpers.

Speaking of support for cancer patients and survivors, young women face special problems. They are just entering the age of marriage and parenthood. See www.survivher.ca for information on the Surviv(her) movement. I have bought the book entitled Surviv(her) and the stories of young survivors is truly inspiring. All of the sales $ for books and other items go directly to women't cancer research. The author of the book and the website is Dr Amy Morris, a cancer pharmacist in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. If you google her name you will see many news stories about this inspiring young cancer survivor.

More on belief and recovery

I have mentioned Stephen Hawking's struggle with his ALS disease and his determination to make discoveries as one of the world's most brilliant scientists in spite of his incredible handicap. A conventionally wise ALS expert has insisted in an interview that Hawking's determination to survive would have had nothing to do with extending his life! When will western medicine get the hint that maybe, just maybe, there are links (well proven in many books and research reports on cancer recovery) between physical disease and the power of the mind.

Another ALS sufferer is Steven Wells of Canada who is in his mid fifties, having been diagnosed at 21. I wonder how much his positive belief has influenced his life. Here is a quotation from UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill during WW2 on Steven Wells' wall:

“Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”

I have been studying and comparing how the very similar kidney cancer scenarios of my cousin Karen, two decades younger, and I came to the very same impasse at the point where we both independently though 18 months apart came to realize and were told that chemotherapy would not work against Renal Cell Carcinoma. Karen could not afford to be put on the recommended immunotherapy Opdivo (Nivolumab) because it was not covered by her medical insurance in the US. She was forced to continue on Sutent chemo for another year. By the time she was able to get on immunotherapy it was too late and she died in mid September 2017. At the same point in my prognosis I could not tolerate chemo so was put on Opdivo which was paid for by our helpful Canadian health system.

I also am saddened again by the realization that Karen would not consider special naturopathic treatment as a possibility for her. She would only follow what the oncologist recommended for treatment. I on the other hand have made several special dietary changes, and inject Iscador (mistletoe treatment developed against cancer in Germany) three times a week. I continue the dietary regimen and Iscador but have had not immunotherapy now since mid July 2018 and my cancer is in remission.


It is true that naturopathic doctors are not (yet) regulated to there are good ones and there are bad ones. You must ask around to find a good one. We are fortunate to have a very good Naturopathic Doctor in Yellowknife, NT, Dr Nicole Redvers, who has literally saved our lives through her suggested interventions for different medical issues.

We have dear friends down in Illinois and Wisconsin who are facing the same situation and, like Karen's predicament, they refuse to consider anything other than whatever chemo treatment the oncologist in Wisconsin in has recommended.

I am sure that many cancer sufferers are confused and may wish for alternatives to chemo but don't know how to approach it with their doctor or oncologist. Here are some questions to ask:
1)  Does your cancer clinic have a specially trained nutritionist, or a special nutrition program, for cancer patients? (Many clinics do, including the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton Alberta, and the clinic at the University of Wisconsin as examples)
2)  Do you support natural healing protocols to work with chemotherapy and immunotherapy to reduce tumor growth?
3)  Do you support using mistletoe (Iscador) as developed in Germany to treat various cancers?
4)  Can you put me on immunotherapy as soon as possible? (medical systems across North America insist that a person be put on chemotherapy first even when it is known that chemo will be ineffective.

That's all for now. Keep happy and healthy.

A Summary of My Recovery Journey

I would like to include a summary of my recovery journey from the time of my operation
for Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma, which followed a hectic air ambulance trip from Inuvik 2200 miles south to Edmonton on November 27 2015 to attend to a suspected heart attack! So here it is. And I apologize for the formatting errors. That's what happens when you copy and paste into blogspot from Word!

I began my cancer recovery journey at the time of the nephrectomy on the morning of November 29 2015, the drastic six-hour operation by Dr Adrian Fairey, one of Canada’s foremost urologic surgeons at the University of Alberta Hospital, that in part removed my left cancerous kidney as a first step in an operation for Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC). The cancer had metastasized to my lungs and in my abdomen through the renal vein up near my heart. The operation removed the cancer in the vein and anywhere else in my abdomen, but did not attempt to remove the small cancerous nodules in my lungs. If a piece of tumour had travelled further up the renal vein to my heart, it would have been game over – the discussion for my demise in that case would have been that I simply suffered a heart attack! I replaced fear with excitement, wondering how this drastic operation would change the rest of my life. That positive excitement was to be the first step of healing.

And it was the first step in harnessing the power of belief to heal. Henry Ford is often quoted about the power of the mind: “If you believe you can or if you believe you can’t … you’re right.” If you have cancer and the oncologist tells you that you only have six months to live, you have a choice. You can believe this expert, in which case he will be right, you will very likely die within six months. However, if you say: “No, I’m not going to believe that – I’m going to beat this thing, I am going to heal,” there is a strong chance that you will join countless individuals who have beat cancer.

I have mentioned Stephen Hawking before. His life has become a great inspiration for me. In a recent New York Times article, author Dennis Overbye remarks: “Dr. Hawking was the manifestation of perseverance; stricken by Lou Gehrig’s disease, he managed to conquer the universe from a wheelchair.” I am convinced that Hawking lived so long with the deadly disease in large part because he refused to give up, he refused to surrender to the physical decimation of the disease. Similarly, I am convinced that I am alive today partially because I decided to believe in recovery through the mind-emotion-body-spirit continuum of healing.

Belief is extraordinarily powerful. Henry Ford couldn’t have said it better! The power of my own belief was confirmed a few months ago when I discovered an old published paper: “The role of belief in healing,” Ellen Warner, Can Med Assoc J Vol 128, 1107-1109 (1983). And just recently I have been inspired by many books on cancer recovery through the power of natural healing as a result of encouraging the immune system to do its thing. I especially value a book by Bruce H Lipton, The Biology of Belief, Hay House (2008) where it becomes obvious that our thoughts and beliefs actually influence changes in our DNA and the responses of our immune systems to the onslaught of many diseases, especially cancer.

I continue to encourage my immune system by the power of belief – I am committed to cancer recovery – and by employing several natural therapies, but especially by revising my nutrition – minimizing sugar intake and minimizing simple carbs in my diet, while reducing animal protein, including milk casein, and while increasing raw and steamed vegetables.

Immediately after my nephrectomy operation, I sought the advice of a trusted naturopathic doctor in Yellowknife, Dr Nicole Redvers, who had been instrumental in discovering the potentially deadly food allergies plaguing my spouse Sandra. She advised me on changes of diet, and advised me to continue injections of mistletoe extract which has known cancer-fighting properties.

The first CT Scan after my surgery took place about two months after my operation in February 2016. The results were surprising. The deadly RCC had not in any way become more aggressive, there were no new tumours, things seemed to be looking better ink my lungs, so no treatment was necessary. The months passed. The inevitable happened – I became complacent – I cheated (only a bit mind you) and started eating some sugar-based treats once in a while (the whiles became shorter). Then in November 2017 I had a scan that showed much to my horror that I had three new tumours, one at the base of my skull, one at the L1 lumbar vertebra and one at the base of my spine in the sacral region.

To combat this new cancer invasion I started chemotherapy in pill form in early January 2018, first spending a few days on Sutent and five weeks on Votrient (Pazopanib) which was all I could tolerate, at which point I was done – I was so ill I told my spouse that I would rather die than continue the treatment. My oncologist then switched me to an immunotherapy treatment, Opdivo (Nivolumab), administered intravenously for six sessions every two to three weeks at The Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. The Nivolumab had minimum side effects, whereas the chemo side effects of nausea, loss of appetite, 55 pounds of weight loss down to 150 lb at the lowest point, muscle weakness (requiring a walker to move around my own home at its worst), and extreme tiredness, and exhaustion for minimal exertion very gradually dissipated during the immunotherapy.

It is usually expected that chemotherapy is ineffective against RCC, yet the health system required me to take this deadly stuff before allowing my to take immunotherapy. There was proof of this in my case. In early April 2018 at the end of the chemotherapy the tumour at L1 on the spine had expanded by 1.0 cm and the one in the sacral region at the base of the spine had expanded by 0.7 cm. In contrast to this the Nivolumab immunotherapy arrested the growth of the three locations on my spine so that the most recent CT Scan in October 2018, taken 2 ½ months after the completion of the immunotherapy, shows complete stability of the spinal tumours, no new growth anywhere, and only one small possibly benign nodule in the lower left lobe of my lung. On Wednesday, October 24 2018 I received a call from my oncologist informing me that my Stage 4 kidney cancer was now in REMISSION, ahh, the “R” word, wonderful indeed.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Tasuku Honjo, one of the two Nobel laureates in Medicine 
for 2018, for his research that led to the development of a class of drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, of which Nivolumab is a shining example that works against RCC. So my life has been saved by the work of a 2018 Nobel Laureate – I find that fascinating. And I am even more excited today than that day on Saturday November 28 2015 when the surgeon informed me that the intensive six-hour nephrectomy and metastatic cancer operation was necessary immediately.

Kidney cancer in remission!

Well at last I have somewhat to report!  I have been off all treatment for three whole months, the last immunotherapy being during the third week of July.

I was to have a checkup CT Scan in Yellowknife on Tuesday October 2, but to no avail, because there were no hotel rooms available in Yellowknife the first week of April! That is strong evidence that Yk has become a tourist town, with planeloads of oriental and southeast Asian tourists arriving daily. Hotel expansions cannot keep up with the demand. It seems that the Arctic has become a "hot" destination for orientals, for viewing Northern Lights, dogsledding (all ho-hum!! for us who live here), etc.

And so I didn't get a follow-up CT Scan until Monday October 15. It was based on a bloodtest Sept 24, which was good news with creatinine back in the normal range for my one remaining right kidney and an eGFR reading of 48. As long as the eGFR is above 40, the lab is prepared to give me intravenous contrast for the best CT Scan procedure.

Then I waited, and I waited, and I waited for a call from Dr John W at Cross Cancer with the results. The days dragged on. Finally got a call from him early this morning and he was pleased with the CT results. Everything is stable - no new tumours, no new nodules in the lungs. All existing evidence of cancer is stable or shrinking. The lymph nodes in my chest are still shrinking - all very good news. And Dr W finally used the magic word "remission". My cancer is now considered to be in remission, and no checkups necessary for three months or so, in January or February 2019.

Sandra is very happy. This has been a very worrisome time for her. Cancer is worst for the caregiver than it is for the patient.

I am feeling better and better, slight improvements every day to the old side effects of chemo. The shingles neurological pain is slowly subsiding. The only new thing is something precancerous re skin cancer on my forehead. They took a biopsy this morning at the Inuvik Hospital. That is not particularly worrisome because the likely type of skin cancer is relatively benign and can be burned off by freezing, or at the worst by skin grafting.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I won't have to wait so long till the next update.

A Treatment Respite

The five weeks away were great. The drive back from Edmonton was very difficult though. For the first time ever it took us four full days to drive from Edmonton to Inuvik, leaving Edmonton the afternoon of August 14. The Dempster Highway was the worst we have every seen it in the past 20 years with almost all of the bad stuff on the Yukon side of the border. It was raining continuously, and at times the holes were so bad that we crept along at 10 to 15 km/hr. The holes stretched from one shoulder to the other so could not be avoided.

Our traveling roles were reversed throughout our summer, with Sandra doing most of the driving and me reading maps and using Google Maps on my phone. Back then the chemo side effects were still so bad for me that driving was very tiring.

Now back to Inuvik, with the first snow today, September 01, and temperatures hovering around 0C.

The blood tests on the morning of August 20, just before leaving for Yellowknife and a CT Scan on the 21st, showed that my one remaining kidney has regained most of its healthy function. The blood work looks good.

My CT scan on August 21 showed that the entire treatment scenario has been effective. It was done with intravenous contrast, so that everything could be observed in detail. There are no new tumours. One small nodule in the lower part of my left lung is stable as are the tumours on my spine. No tumour growth evident at all. And the enlarged cancerous lymph nodes in my upper chest have all shrunk dramatically for the first time since my cancer operation away back at the end of 2015.

So Dr Walker my oncologist is very pleased with the results and is leaving my off any more treatments until after the next CT Scan in early to mid October, about six weeks time. If that CT Scan still shows stability there will be no more treatment for the time being.

Most chemo side effects have dissipated, except for "chemo-brain", which means that my memory still has lapses that didn't used to happen. Fortunately I can drive again very effectively. I am still tired a lot of the time and need more sleep than usual, and my muscles are not as strong as they were.

I am in far better shape than a couple of months ago, when I had to be in a wheelchair just to get from an air terminal to the aircraft and vice versa.

I must get writing again, which will help my brain function return to normal. I am finding that very difficult, because my old creative urges have not returned.

Radical Remission

Sorry for the long silence. The side effects of chemo and treatment continue. I think the immunotherapy does have one side effect of making me very tired most of the time. I have now had 6 treatments, every two to three weeks, and with the oncologist's permission, taking a break until August 20 when I will have a CT scan to determine if the three tumours on my spine have receded, and whether continued immunotherapy treatments are necessary.

Most of the time since my last entry I have felt nausea, and no appetite. I have been eating enough purposely to keep my weight constant, but do have problems feeling flu symptoms from time to time. So when I consider the mind-body-emotion-spirit continuum of healing I haven't been able to do much on the mind-emotion-spirit side of things.

I am reading a wonderful book on cancer survivors who have chosen alternative medicine over traditional western medical treatment (radiation, chemo, immunotherapy). I can see my own experience echoed here over and over. Here is the reference: Radical Remission: surviving cancer against all odds, Turner, Kelly A., HarperCollins (2015).

Kelly emphasises the following "9 key factors that can make a real difference:"

• Radically changing your diet
• Taking control of your health
• Following your intuition
• Using herbs and supplements
• Releasing suppressed emotions
• Increasing positive emotions
• Embracing social support
• Deepening your spiritual connection
• Having strong reasons for living

The only one of these that I have not utilised is "using herbs and supplements." I believe that I can get excellent nutrition from real ordinary food as the first bullet stipulates.

The two factors following emotions are the ones that I need to work hardest on, but I haven't got to those chapters in the book yet. By the time of my next entry I will have finished the book.

Sandra and I are travelling, starting off on Cortes Island, BC, where Sandra is taking a week of training, in this quiet paradise known as Hollyhock. Then next week we will spend with Bob and Sharon Cook in Warren, Illinois. Then on to Seneca, IL for our annual Christian convention, four days of peace and rest.

So goodbye until next time. All for now.

Poetry keeps me going!

That second targeted chemo, also called Votrient, seemed benign while I was on it but after I stopped, the side effects became the most horrendous chemo hangover imaginable. I did reach the frame of mind that I wanted to die. Now I am on immunotherapy, a third really benign IV-administered drug every 2 to 3 weeks that truly has minimum side effects called Nivolumab.

I am in Vancouver today, just vegging while Sandra goes to her last day of narrative therapy. Tomorrow we fly to LA, rent a car and wend our way to Buttonwillow, CA for one of our Christian conventions. We were there in 2013 and enjoyed it so much we wanted to go back.

Now, I wanted to say how important writing poetry is to me. I often write short poems to improve my outlook on life, and help with my cancer recovery. For me poetry is a big part of the mind-emotion-body-spirit continuum of healing. It feeds the mind, emotion, and spirit quadrants, counteracting any negative body aspects as a result of chemo cancer treatment. 

You know about my 2014 poetry book Pine Cones and Small Stones. And I have written dozens of poems since then. What you may not know is that 20 years ago I was given an Indian name by a Cree medicine woman White Elk Woman. She dreamt that a man named Warrior Poet would help her record her childhood dreams. So here is my poem with the same title:

Warrior Poet
Have you seen him come?Quiet shadow formed through river mist


His white steed treading softly on the mossy bank
Have you felt his presence?
In the stillness and cool breath of morning
His palms held out to you in friendship
Then, did you see him go?
Fading into the forest glade ---
A sense of joy and serenity
Lingers there

White Elk Woman was an artist then too and gave me a painting, a self portrait. And I will close this blog update by posting a photo of that self portrait. Here it is:

 

So there you have it. I really hope that my cancer recovery continues in the right direction. My oncologist says that the new immunotherapy should put my cancer into remission after a few IV treatments. My next one is on May 23.

My little caretaker!

Well, I am started on the new Pazopanib chemo. It disturbs my sleep at night but anyway I love napping during the day, so problem solved. I just looked up the medication in OncoLink which is a good thing because I found I should not take the pills within an hour before food or within two hours after a meal.

We now have a companion for me a little shihtzu pooch by the name of Hagar. He is probably 3 years old or thereabouts, and a rescue dog from Sachs Harbour, afraid of everything and everybody. He arrived skin and bones but is now thriving on dog food for small dogs with a bit of olive oil to tickle his tastebuds.

Hagar you say? Yes, when he came to us he really looked quite horrible like Hagar the Horrible - he was so shaggy and hair coming out in clumps. But he now has a haircut and Here is his debut photo.

A few years ago in Yellowknife we had a shihtzu  by the name of Fluffy that we co-owned. She never left my side when I was getting my new titanium hips in 2012 and 2013. So the idea now is that wee Hagar can fill that companionship spot. I should have named him Shadow because he follows me everywhere. But he is the first dog ever we've had that hates car rides. He is now "nearly" house-trained, and is leash trained. So as I cope with the chemo on a daily basis Hagar will interrupt any tendency toward depression. I look forward to longer walks with this little friend when the weather turns to spring.

Still getting over a chest condition before the new chemo

Unfortunately, the Sutent knocked me out so badly, along with the nasty nausea drugs, that I ended up in Emergency one night with a full-blown panic attack. Also, my immune system was compromised, so the first contact I had with someone else's flu, down I went! I am not going to start the new chemo for a day or two yet.

I felt so sick I could understand Job's feelings in the Bible where he was so ill that he wished he had never been born. Also like Elijah when he was fleeing for his life, fed by ravens, just wanted to die, for God to take his life away. I have to admit I went through such thoughts that night on the way to the ER at Inuvik hospital.

However, sick as I was, something kind of miraculous happened in that my one kidney began to work almost normally, with my creatinine dropping into the normal range for 10 days.

I do want to start the new chemo asap though so that the tumours continue to shrink and hopefully the cancer goes into remission once again. Now that I am returning to normal, the depression has lifted again. I am taking more interest in things around me, writing poetry, practicing my harmonica, etc. I just finished a bit of engineering work for an engineering company doing a feasibility study of a wind energy project in Norman Wells. "The Wells" is in oil country but the supply is dwindling so new electricity sources are hoped for.

All for now folks. I have a new experience with an oncology doctor on the 19th of March. I go to the tele-health room at the hospital here in Inuvik and talk to a Cross Cancer oncologist by video-conferencing. So I need to prepare for that with new blood tests etc. Then I go to Yellowknife again for a CT and another consult with Dr John Walker April 9.

Can the chemotherapy cure be worse than the disease?

From my last post you would think that the Sunitinib treatment was going ok. That turned out to be misleading. After the pill on the 28th day I expected my 14 days off to be a time of rejuvenation, a time of returning to normal. Instead the side effects of nausea and physical weakness and loss of appetite intensified during that time! That was very disappointing.

I travelled to Yellowknife for my next appointment with a Dr John Walker on Thursday February 15. During the same week Sandra had a colonoscopy procedure so it was quite a week. Walker told me that is was not uncommon for the time off from the Sutent to experience worse side effects!! But do the medical specialists tell you this in advance? No way. No indication at all. However, when I told Walker about how serious the side effects of nausea and no appetite had become he decided to put me on another chemotherapy drug called Pazopanib, which is more expensive (which is why they don't prescribe it at the beginning) but targets the tumours in the same way. It takes a minimum of an extra week to get the new prescription at our pharmacy in Inuvik, and I hope to start it on Monday the 26th.

Well -- here goes my rant. No doctor or nurse ever told me that the nausea medication that is recommended for chemotherapy drugs, referred to as Ondansetron, works by knocking out melatonin, which in my case started to contribute to quite severe depression. Which then snowballed to more nausea, weight loss, and loss of appetite. So today I am going completely off this crazy thing especially because the nausea is not bad today. This morning my weight had fallen to 165lb (which I haven't see since high school) and my blood pressure had fallen to 95/63 which was leaving me quite faint. But with a return of appetite this morning, I have been able to get some strength back.

So there you have it. And oh yes, it is misrepresentation to call Sutent or Pazopanib immunotherapy. Immunotherapy drugs actually train your own immune system to target the cancer. That is not the case with Sutent, which is a targeted chemotherapy. If the Pazopanib stops working to tackle the tumour growth, immunotherapy could be the next avenue of treatment.

But what I hope is that my next CT scan, which won't take place until April now I am told, shows that the tumours have shrunk. Apparently some people have to stay on the chemotherapy drugs like Sutent or Pazopanib for months. I am not sure I can survive that. I am hopeful that the next scan will show improvement and that I can have a rest from drugs to concentrate on the other mind-emotion-spirit modes of healing.

Another nasty side effect of the Sutent was to make me so weak and to make my brain feel toxic and unresponsive so it is very hard to even have a positive healing attitude in the midst of all that. My next oncology appointment is scheduled for March 19 by teleconference. Sandra will have to take time off to be in on the call, because with my deafness I will miss some of the important information.

I want to say to all of you readers that I am humbled and I truly appreciate all the prayers that you have said go up to God on my behalf, both for me and for Sandra too. It is very difficult to go through all this stuff on human strength alone. I continue to desire more joy in my journey, because joy is essential for any lasting spiritual healing. I always go back to the prophet Joel, where in verse 12 of chapter 1 he says that all the fruit trees of the field were withered because joy had withered away from the sons of men. And I am convinced that joy can only come when I am spiritually sound, so that alone keeps me busy. I need to do more sincere praying and meditating to help me along.

Immunotherapy grinds on - making alternative therapies difficult

I am in Fort McPherson this week, keeping Sandra company as she and another trainer give a three day course in mental health first aid. I am also working on some low stress consulting work while I am here.

Immunotherapy grinds on. But I shouldn't complain. I don't have many side effects of the Sunitinib other than some easily-controlled flue symptoms and a general feeling of malaise. I am approaching 20 days of the first 28 day cycle at 50mg/da, which will be followed by a rest period of 14 days then another 28 day stint. In mid February I am to get another CT scan to see the progress the radiation and immunotherapy has made.

Back to the Aklavik experience last week. On Saturday last we, my project buddy Katie and I, tried to drive out of Aklavik on the Mackenzie River Ice Road right after lunch before the plows were out. In places the snow was drifted hard and 2ft deep and we nearly got the 4-wheel drive GMC truck stuck. So we had to  turn around and return to Aklavik. The photo below

shows the wide Mackenzie facing west where there was less snow and an opportunity to turn around. You can see the Mackenzie Mountains away on the horizon. Later on that day, at night when visibility in the vehicle lights is better, with the help of the plows we were able to cover the 120 km in just under 2 ½ hours. Then for 8 of the last 15 km we were following the plow at 16km/hr! In case you are wondering, the ice is likely about one metre thick by this time in the winter.

Another thing you may notice in the photo is the rather eerie light. That is because the photo was taken only about two weeks after the sun came up above the horizon again in early January. If the clouds were not there you would see a magnificent coloured glow in the sky from the sun so close to the horizon away in the southwest.

Thanks to my buddy Ray in Edmonton, who is making great strides in his healing from Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, I was referred to a wonderful book, Radical Remission: surviving cancer against all odds, by  Kelly A Turner, PhD, HarperCollins 2014. I contains so much of the help that I thought I was going to write about in my own book in preparation about my cancer recovery journey. It emphasizes the importance of working with all aspects of mind-body-spirit continuum. So now my book will concentrate on my own journey, with reference to the excellent references in Kelly Turner's book.

In my view we should consider the mind-emotion-body-spirit continuum perspective, because emotions arise from complex often subconscious sources that are distinct from just "mind". Our human experience is a complex interaction between these four factors. All that western medicine, such as the oncologists at Cross Cancer Institute professional as they are, can do is work with the body. When you consider that the body is only 1/4 of our complex continuum, you can begin to see that there are must be other healing factors for the 3/4 that conventional medicine does not address. 

First and foremost in Kelly Turner's book is attention to nutrition, and the foods that trigger cancer cell growth, sugar and milk casein being the biggest culprits. I will talk more about all this in future blog entries. The mind-emotion-body-spirit connections are well known in psychology by the way. For example, see: http://firstnationshealing.com/resources/McCabe.pdf

The delay tactics of radiation and immunotherapy

Radiation is very debilitating, complete with nausea and total loss of appetite. However the good news is that as the 2 1/2 weeks of radiation took place pain got less and less. However, according to the oncologists, radiation doesn't in any way cure cancer - it simply slows its growth.

Following the radiation immunotherapy was prescribed, through a drug called Sutent (Sunitinib) which prevents blood vessels from forming to nourish tumours. However, that too just delays the inevitable. Sometimes the metastasized kidney cancer simply takes off and grows with renewed vigour after being held back.

Another strange thing is that the renal cell carcinoma preferentially attacks bone when it metastasizes. So that is why the three tumours that I am fighting are attacking the base of my skull, and the vertebrae in the lumbar and sacrum areas. Fortunately the cancer doesn't prefer to attack the spinal cord, so I don't need to worry about being wheelchair-bound.

The conclusion is that through the natural healing processes I have talked about in previous posts must be brought forward immediately with renewed vigour. I did meet with our naturopathic doctor in Yellowknife during the first week of January, and she is waiting to see what the next CT scan at the end of my first 28 day Sutent regime shows regarding where the tumours are at. The Sutent immunotherapy treatment is 50mg per day for 28 days, then 14 days off, then 28 days again, with a CT scan at the end of the first cycle.

I have had an interesting time working on a small project in Aklavik this week. But I will be stopping that work to reduce stress when I return to Inuvik at the end of the week. I must now concentrate on exercising all of the natural healing protocols that kept me alive for the first two years.

After all, folks who have a cancer-ridden kidney removed when the cancer has already spread to Stage 4 (as mine was) usually only have a few months to live, whereas I have survived more than two years to this date. So I must have been doing something right, and I intend to beat this thing with all the tools at my disposal. Of course I must depend upon the guidance of my loving Creator as I move forward.