It is a month and a day since my last entry and a lot has happened - all good by the way. I want to give a summary of the mystery of mystory! Because mystory indeed remains a mystery and a wonder and a miracle.
I will begin with the end. I flew to Edmonton from Inuvik on Canadian North as planned on Sunday afternoon May 15. A full chest-abdomen-pelvic area CT scan on the 16th followed by a consult with Dr North at Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) on the 17th. Then early on Tuesday this week, May 24 Dr North phoned from CCI to discuss the Radiologist Report of the 16th CT scan.
Here are the results. The abdominal cavity is clear of any cancer indication and the renal artery and renal vein are now clear as well. The only complications now are a slightly enlarged lymph node in the chest area, and 2 small 4mm (less than 1/4 inch) diameter nodules in the lungs which could be anything, not necessarily cancer. These seem pretty much the same as in the February 3 results that showed how greatly the cancer had shrunk and been reduced. They could be remnants of the blood clots, thrombi that were very evident in my lungs according to the CT scans just prior to Dec 6.
As far as the enlarged lymph node is concerned it is definitely not due to TB (tuberculosis) since I tested negative for TB in February. The lymph node might be swollen still as a remnant of the cancer invasion and part of the healing process.
The actual Radiologist Reports for May 16 and February 3 are in the mail and I will get them this next week. When I get them I will provide more detail. And I will also like to go through the detail of how my cancer episodes began. I now have a complete copy of my medical file that goes back in detail to 2014 when my health was just fine thank you very much. I will also talk about my kidney health. That is very important now that I only have one.
The fact that I am also cancer-free now really is a miracle. RCC (Renal Cell Carcinoma) is not known for quick cures, and in fact some reports say it resists both radiation and chemotherapy. It also may recur during the next 24 months from now. So over and out for now.
Saturday, 28 May 2016
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Recovery continued
There is one more book that is indeed worth reading about a cancer survivor. The book is:
Teva Harrison, In Between Days: a memoir about living with cancer, House of Anansi Press Inc, 2016. It is a very personal graphic novel, with short essays interspersed with graphic story. Order it from your favourite bookseller today.
I am still faced with the medical communication challenge where three hospitals are involved in the ongoing monitoring of my renal carcinoma. The Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton sometimes communicates with Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife, which sometimes communicates with the Inuvik Regional Hospital, which sometimes communicates with me. I used to say that tongue in cheek that cancer recovery is my full time job, but now I know it to be true. I am left as the one person who must make sure that communications actually take place, and that doctors and other staff actually follow through. This is complicated by the fact that Cross Cancer does not communicate AT ALL with my doctor here in Inuvik. If something needs to be in my medical file, it is up to me to find it and make sure a copy makes it to the file! Sometimes it gets exhausting.
Just today I have read of case studies about the role of humble asparagus in curing cancer. It is indeed a powerful natural healer as you will find in multiple sources on the Internet. So turmeric (or curcumin, the active ingredient) and asparagas seem to be the primary plant-based healers. With other antioxidants like blueberries and many vegetables providing nutritional support.
Monday, 25 April 2016
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.
Saturday, 9 April 2016
The Immune System - Attitude and Nutrition before Chemotherapy
Hello my friend - Hello! That's what Neil Diamond sang a while ago. I have read again and again that fear and stress and depression put us out of balance and does a number on the health of our Immune System and its ability to fight off disease (or in my case, kill cancer cells). So keeping a positive personal attitude is of great importance to me right now. As long as I keep writing, either on this blog or writing a poem or on my Young Adult novel or on community sustainability (10 days ago I had a paper entitled "Climate Change and Sustainable Living in Remote Communities" accepted for publication in an online engineering journal) I don't have trouble with depression. The Book Cellar in Yellowknife keeps a book in stock entitled Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery by L.E. Carlson et al which promotes meditation and some yoga practices to aid in stress reduction.
Well, attitude became even more important to me as I read the Surgical Pathology Report prepared after my December 6 operation and kidney removal and removal of other cancerous tumour segments in the renal vein and other nearby areas.. The funny thing is there is no mention of cancerous tumours being removed from my lungs although something was definitely going on in my lungs, blood clots or tumour growths or both. My first reaction upon reading the report was to get scared all over again. However, I kept telling myself to remember the results of the February 3 CT scan that showed the remaining cancer diminishing in size.
I was to have an appointment in Yellowknife with Dr North from Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) in Edmonton this Monday the 11th. However the health system could not get its act together to schedule a new CT scan, so the appointment has been cancelled. They will send me to Edmonton to CCI for a CT scan and consultation toward the end of April I am told. Hurry up and wait. I am feeling perfectly fine, no pain, no shortness of breath. I can walk for an hour at a time on snow trails through the bush now so my strength is definitely coming back.
On the nutrition side I won't bore you with details, but here are some highlights. To increase immune system health there are many recommendations, including minimizing sugar, removing all dairy products (except organic butter; butter is low in milk casein which causes inflammation in the body and even encourages tumour growth in laboratory animals (Cornell University research)) and all processed meats. Increase sea vegetable (seaweed, etc) and gluten free grains such as quinoa and oats. I am to avoid peanuts and peanut butter (grrrr!) because of the toxins on the surface of peanuts. Gradually over time I will reduce peanut butter and start eating other nut butters and sunflower butter. I am to increase all other nuts. I am supposed to eliminate coffee and that will be hard to do!
Both the nutritionist and naturopath have recommended turmeric as a cancer cell killer because, as I have said in a previous post, curcumin in turmeric actually seeks out malignant cancer cells and alters the regulation of DNA in order to kill them. There is some evidence pointing to also using black pepper to increase the effectiveness of turmeric. Both of these advisors also recommend washing all fresh vegetables before eating them.
I have had other interesting things recommended to me by very well meaning friends, including drinking colloidal silver in distilled water, which kills all manner of bacteria, and essiac tea, which has been claimed as a cancer fighting herbal tea. However both the colloidal silver source, the Silver Edge, and my naturopath recommend against colloidal silver as being damaging to my one kidney that is under stress as it is. And essiac tea is said to be supported by very conflicting research and also hard on the kidneys.
The most interesting natural medication prescribed by my naturopath is Iscador from mistletoe. Note in the last post that I mistakenly spelled it "istador." I find it interesting that something from a romantic plant like mistletoe, which in ancient times was even considered to have magic healng properties, can be used to produce a cancer-killing agent. Iscador comes from Europe and is injected through the skin in various strengths like insulin. It has been shown to work with the immune system to kill cancer cells. So I am presently injecting prescribed doses of Iscador three times a week, in a manner that is designed to determine the correct dose for my particular body and immune system.
Actually it is a good thing that I won't be having my next CT scan and cancer consultation until about the end of April. That will give the Iscador more time to work towards eliminating some cancer cells.
Well, attitude became even more important to me as I read the Surgical Pathology Report prepared after my December 6 operation and kidney removal and removal of other cancerous tumour segments in the renal vein and other nearby areas.. The funny thing is there is no mention of cancerous tumours being removed from my lungs although something was definitely going on in my lungs, blood clots or tumour growths or both. My first reaction upon reading the report was to get scared all over again. However, I kept telling myself to remember the results of the February 3 CT scan that showed the remaining cancer diminishing in size.
I was to have an appointment in Yellowknife with Dr North from Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) in Edmonton this Monday the 11th. However the health system could not get its act together to schedule a new CT scan, so the appointment has been cancelled. They will send me to Edmonton to CCI for a CT scan and consultation toward the end of April I am told. Hurry up and wait. I am feeling perfectly fine, no pain, no shortness of breath. I can walk for an hour at a time on snow trails through the bush now so my strength is definitely coming back.
On the nutrition side I won't bore you with details, but here are some highlights. To increase immune system health there are many recommendations, including minimizing sugar, removing all dairy products (except organic butter; butter is low in milk casein which causes inflammation in the body and even encourages tumour growth in laboratory animals (Cornell University research)) and all processed meats. Increase sea vegetable (seaweed, etc) and gluten free grains such as quinoa and oats. I am to avoid peanuts and peanut butter (grrrr!) because of the toxins on the surface of peanuts. Gradually over time I will reduce peanut butter and start eating other nut butters and sunflower butter. I am to increase all other nuts. I am supposed to eliminate coffee and that will be hard to do!
Both the nutritionist and naturopath have recommended turmeric as a cancer cell killer because, as I have said in a previous post, curcumin in turmeric actually seeks out malignant cancer cells and alters the regulation of DNA in order to kill them. There is some evidence pointing to also using black pepper to increase the effectiveness of turmeric. Both of these advisors also recommend washing all fresh vegetables before eating them.
I have had other interesting things recommended to me by very well meaning friends, including drinking colloidal silver in distilled water, which kills all manner of bacteria, and essiac tea, which has been claimed as a cancer fighting herbal tea. However both the colloidal silver source, the Silver Edge, and my naturopath recommend against colloidal silver as being damaging to my one kidney that is under stress as it is. And essiac tea is said to be supported by very conflicting research and also hard on the kidneys.
The most interesting natural medication prescribed by my naturopath is Iscador from mistletoe. Note in the last post that I mistakenly spelled it "istador." I find it interesting that something from a romantic plant like mistletoe, which in ancient times was even considered to have magic healng properties, can be used to produce a cancer-killing agent. Iscador comes from Europe and is injected through the skin in various strengths like insulin. It has been shown to work with the immune system to kill cancer cells. So I am presently injecting prescribed doses of Iscador three times a week, in a manner that is designed to determine the correct dose for my particular body and immune system.
Actually it is a good thing that I won't be having my next CT scan and cancer consultation until about the end of April. That will give the Iscador more time to work towards eliminating some cancer cells.
Monday, 4 April 2016
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.
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.
Thursday, 17 March 2016
Nutrition, renal carcinoma, and kidney health
I flew to Yellowknife last Friday March 11 and met with Dr Nicole Redvers at the Gaia Clinic. Nicole is an excellent naturopath. Nicole had saved Sandra's life in the past so it only made sense that she could advise me on what natural remedies and nutrition would tackle my renal carcinoma, as well as advising on how to make my one remaining kidney healthier. Details on that discussion will appear in the next blog.
Then on Saturday Lynn organized a kidney goodbye party brunch. Derrick was there too of course, and their friends David C and Candice. We toasted (well, baconed and pancaked actually) the demise of my cancer-ridden left kidney. Sunday followed with our weekly worship, lunch at the Red Apple, and Yvonne's usually scrumptious supper at the Pikes where we talked until nearly midnight.
On Monday I went to Vixen Hair Den for a long awaited haircut. There Aileen gave her opinion that all that was wrong with my one remaining kidney, which is doing so poorly that it now falls into the "chronic kidney disease" category, is that my poor kidney is missing its now long gone twin. It is moping and unhappy about its new lonely life.
On Tuesday, March 15 I met with Lorie Crawford, an experienced Holistic Nutritionist, for further advice on how to use proper nutrition to help my malfunctioning solitary kidney. I will be receiving considerable followup information from her by email, including recommended recipes. This interesting nutrition info will be in my next blog as well.
The definition of chronic kidney disease is when the ability of the kidney to filter blood decreases according to the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). It seems that the GFR does not depend upon whether I have a solitary kidney or two kidneys. Apparently my kidney function was normal back in September 2014. However, now the GFR is 38 whereas the normal value for a healthy kidney is >60. However, this level is not yet serious, but is of some concern.
When kidney function is abnormal nutrition becomes very important. For example, animal protein in the diet causes more problems regarding waste elimination capability than vegetable protein. And red meat is much more difficult than white meat such as chicken or turkey. Fish is the best meat choice.
On Wednesday, early in the morning of March 16 I visited my friend Anson who works as an air traffic controller at the Yellowknife airport. He gave me a tour of how all their systems work. That made me excited about flying again. I presently hold a VFR Private Pilot license with a Night Rating. But I haven't flown as pilot in command for several years. I have resolved to publish a New York Times bestseller so that I have the money to buy a Cessna Citation jet, or a high performance turboprop aircraft!! Now I have to get back to writing writing writing! At 10:30 I flew back home to Inuvik. One short hop in a Boeing 737 from Yellowknife to Norman Wells, then another shorter hop from Norman Wells to Inuvik, arriving at 13:00. Then a nice winter's nap in the afternoon.
Then on Saturday Lynn organized a kidney goodbye party brunch. Derrick was there too of course, and their friends David C and Candice. We toasted (well, baconed and pancaked actually) the demise of my cancer-ridden left kidney. Sunday followed with our weekly worship, lunch at the Red Apple, and Yvonne's usually scrumptious supper at the Pikes where we talked until nearly midnight.
On Monday I went to Vixen Hair Den for a long awaited haircut. There Aileen gave her opinion that all that was wrong with my one remaining kidney, which is doing so poorly that it now falls into the "chronic kidney disease" category, is that my poor kidney is missing its now long gone twin. It is moping and unhappy about its new lonely life.
On Tuesday, March 15 I met with Lorie Crawford, an experienced Holistic Nutritionist, for further advice on how to use proper nutrition to help my malfunctioning solitary kidney. I will be receiving considerable followup information from her by email, including recommended recipes. This interesting nutrition info will be in my next blog as well.
The definition of chronic kidney disease is when the ability of the kidney to filter blood decreases according to the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). It seems that the GFR does not depend upon whether I have a solitary kidney or two kidneys. Apparently my kidney function was normal back in September 2014. However, now the GFR is 38 whereas the normal value for a healthy kidney is >60. However, this level is not yet serious, but is of some concern.
When kidney function is abnormal nutrition becomes very important. For example, animal protein in the diet causes more problems regarding waste elimination capability than vegetable protein. And red meat is much more difficult than white meat such as chicken or turkey. Fish is the best meat choice.
On Wednesday, early in the morning of March 16 I visited my friend Anson who works as an air traffic controller at the Yellowknife airport. He gave me a tour of how all their systems work. That made me excited about flying again. I presently hold a VFR Private Pilot license with a Night Rating. But I haven't flown as pilot in command for several years. I have resolved to publish a New York Times bestseller so that I have the money to buy a Cessna Citation jet, or a high performance turboprop aircraft!! Now I have to get back to writing writing writing! At 10:30 I flew back home to Inuvik. One short hop in a Boeing 737 from Yellowknife to Norman Wells, then another shorter hop from Norman Wells to Inuvik, arriving at 13:00. Then a nice winter's nap in the afternoon.
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Cancer Healing - more on the nutrition connection
During the past two weeks I have been busy addressing anxiety and depression that comes along with a life threatening disease such as cancer. One very useful technique is known as Tapping EFT, where EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, and the physical tapping technique offers relief for various physical, emotional and personal performance issues (for example see http://www.thetappingsolution.com/). Since I have suffered from depression since early childhood I have to be very careful to address any symptoms that appear immediately (lethargy, anxiety, fatigue, fear). Even impatience, wanting to heal immediately, is a symptom that depression is on the way.
I accompanied Sandra to Tuk on the Mackenzie River ice road for the week of February 22. I had a relaxing time at a bed and breakfast, near the school in Tuk where Sandra was one of the trainers for a mental health first aid course. I did some writing and some learning about how to use the Tapping techniques to quell my anxiety and impatience with the healing process. I am still not three months into recovery from that kidney/lung/heart operation for cancer, but I expect to be back to normal strength and energy. However I remind myself that my friend Bill in Yellowknife, when 25 years younger than me now, had a cancerous kidney removed and it took six months for complete recovery.
This past Sunday afternoon, our friend Ron, Sandra and I went for a hike on the trails in the woods, lakes, and on the Mackenzie River near Inuvik. I managed 45 minutes and was very tired at that point. But that is a good start on getting my hiking strength back.
On the nutrition size I am reading the 1997 book by Dr. Patrick Quillin entitled Beating Cancer with Nutrition. Quillin is the author of the article I mentioned in my February 18 blog about the importance of minimizing glucose and sucrose sugars in my diet to slow cancer growth and/or eliminate cancer cells. In the 1997 book Quillin refers to a 1992 textbook written to record three international scientific symposia entitled Adjuvant Nutrition in Cancer Treatment. I have that book on order through Abe Books, my favourite second hand online bookstore.
Both Aleta Karstad, my cousin who was completely cured of leukemia many years ago, and a doctor friend who I will simply refer to as Dr R, referred me to the importance of the spice turmeric in cancer recovery. Dr R pointed out that turmeric was a superlative antioxidant and useful for nutrition to battle cancer. Aleta drew my attention to the key active constituent in turmeric called curcumin. This led me further to discover a discussion of research results in
I accompanied Sandra to Tuk on the Mackenzie River ice road for the week of February 22. I had a relaxing time at a bed and breakfast, near the school in Tuk where Sandra was one of the trainers for a mental health first aid course. I did some writing and some learning about how to use the Tapping techniques to quell my anxiety and impatience with the healing process. I am still not three months into recovery from that kidney/lung/heart operation for cancer, but I expect to be back to normal strength and energy. However I remind myself that my friend Bill in Yellowknife, when 25 years younger than me now, had a cancerous kidney removed and it took six months for complete recovery.
This past Sunday afternoon, our friend Ron, Sandra and I went for a hike on the trails in the woods, lakes, and on the Mackenzie River near Inuvik. I managed 45 minutes and was very tired at that point. But that is a good start on getting my hiking strength back.
On the nutrition size I am reading the 1997 book by Dr. Patrick Quillin entitled Beating Cancer with Nutrition. Quillin is the author of the article I mentioned in my February 18 blog about the importance of minimizing glucose and sucrose sugars in my diet to slow cancer growth and/or eliminate cancer cells. In the 1997 book Quillin refers to a 1992 textbook written to record three international scientific symposia entitled Adjuvant Nutrition in Cancer Treatment. I have that book on order through Abe Books, my favourite second hand online bookstore.
Both Aleta Karstad, my cousin who was completely cured of leukemia many years ago, and a doctor friend who I will simply refer to as Dr R, referred me to the importance of the spice turmeric in cancer recovery. Dr R pointed out that turmeric was a superlative antioxidant and useful for nutrition to battle cancer. Aleta drew my attention to the key active constituent in turmeric called curcumin. This led me further to discover a discussion of research results in
where I quote regarding 2011 research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: "curcumin actually seeks out malignant cancer cells and alters the regulation of DNA in order to kill them. And unlike synthetic anti-cancer drugs, curcumin leaves healthy cells and DNA alone so as not to cause harmful side effects."
Aleta pointed out the importance of using olive oil, black pepper and turmeric together for most potent cancer fighting results. So you can see my cooking is taking another turn, to maximize the use of turmeric at every turn!
My good friend Dr R also made this remark in an email today: "Maybe you have the
genes that degenerate cancer cells once the primary (tumour) is gone." This was an encouraging thought. I have wondered about that. Could the cancer be shrinking away partly because the source of the original cancer, the left kidney, has been removed? I will try to seek out more information about those genes he mentions.
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