Find Medical Doctors who support Alternative Medicine

Just found this site and it allowed me to locate a doctor within 15 minutes of my home who is an MD but also uses alternative therapies and integrative treatment.

ACAM

You put in your zip code to find doctors near you. This is WAY easier than trial and error method I have been using..

A Must Read Web Site

A friend sent this link to me and I would consider it a MUST read for anyone fighting cancer.

http://www.czlonkamediagroup.com

The author battled his own brain cancer and discovered for himself what worked and what he discovered while on the path to terminal cancer. I share his beliefs that the whole medical-pharma complex is hiding real cures and real solutions from us so that they can continue to "treat" us with the drugs they profit from. I believe the cell phone industry does not want us to know how harmful cell phones can be for our health.. and you better believe I will be switching to a hands free set for my cell phone today (if that is even good enough protection)

Quotes from the above web site:

Shortly after being diagnosed, I lost what little faith I had in conventional medicine. I no longer wanted to hear from doctors spewing dismal statistics and doomsday prophecies; I wanted to hear from people whosurvived cancer first hand. This is the work I thought our medical community should have been doing in the first place; find out what was working and what did not. What I found was that no physicians were doing research into my background or anyone else's; how can we understand the cause and effect palette of the disease if we do not accumulate this information? If we do not ask the questions? It should be painfully obvious that what we are doing is not working. Worst yet our physician do not seem to understand the mechanism of cancer any better than you or I.

My belief is that people are tired of hearing from doctors; I know I was. They all have degrees but cannot seem to agree on anything; in the mean time the person dying from cancer hangs in the balance, waiting for help and waiting for hope. We watch in amazement as the best health care services in the world fail by greater margins each and every year. It is up to each of us to demand better of ourselves and our country. We must all realise that even if our local doctors had the answers, they are professionally and financially bound to adhere to the present system of treatment, not because they are bad people, but because the medical and pharmaceutical industries are formidable adversaries. Many a physician has been ground into the gears of these great machines. It is up to you and I to initiate the change we seek in the world. I have asked the tough questions and done the research; now you can decide what to believe in.


If this all sounds too weird (like the Tachyon energy section on the web site) here is another link explaining Tachyon Energy in health

More quotes from the Rod Czlonka web site :

"To the cancer establishment, a cancer patient is a profit center. The actual clinical and scientific evidence does not support the claims of the cancer industry. Conventional cancer treatments are in place as the law of the land because they pay, not heal, the best. Decades of the politics-of-cancer-as-usual have kept you from knowing this, and will continue to do so unless you wake up to their reality."
John Diamond, M.D. & Lee Cowden, M.D.

"The thing that bugs me is that the people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t.What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day."—Dr Ley former Commissioner of the FDA

"As a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good."---Alan Nixon, Ph.D., Past President, American Chemical Society.

"Chemotherapy is an incredibly lucrative business for doctors, hos-pitals, and pharmaceutical companies…The medical establishment wants everyone to follow the same exact protocol. They don’t want to see the chemotherapy industry go under, and that’s the number one obstacle to any progress in oncology."—Dr Warner, M.D.


"I look upon cancer in the same way that I look upon heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, or even obesity, for that matter, in that by dramatically strengthening the body's immune system through diet, nutritional supplements, and exercise, the body can rid itself of the cancer, just as it does in other degenerative diseases. Consequently, I wouldn't have chemotherapy and radiation because I'm not interested in therapies that cripple the immune system, and, in my opinion, virtually ensure failure for the majority of cancer patients."-Dr Julian Whitaker, M.D.

And one of the best quotes I found from Rod - from his book:

Please consider this; if you treat your cancer conventionally and it goes into remission, there is always fear that it may return. However when cancer is beaten with diet, supplements and a belief in healing, then the disease is defeated forever. Because you now understand it’s mechanics, and we do not fear what we understand. The knowledge of which is worth more than gold.

The Artemisinin Experiment

After reading much about this and getting recent reports on promising studies from the University of Washington researchers I decided to try taking this.

The current bedtime regimen is as follows :

Artemisinin ( from Nutricology) 100mg
Ferrous Sulfate (65mg)
Flax Oil capsule
Probiotic ( intestinal good bacteria like acidophilus)

I take no antioxidants at the same time or within an hour of bedtime since antioxidants may neutralize the Artemisinin. The Ferrous Sulfate (Iron) helps load the cancer cells with the iron that Artemisinin seeks and when it finds cells which are hoarding it, it oxidizes those cells. Cancer cells and malaria cells do that and are targeted by Artemisinin.

I have ordered a better Artemisinin (Artemix) and should be getting that soon. I have also ordered sodium butyrate supplements which the researchers found is a completely harmless gut protective substance that acts synergistically with Artemisinin.

In the morning when I get up, I immediately take some Vitamin C - 1000mg and that is continued throughout the day. I also will start taking *more* of the Cell Forte with IP6 as I understand it, that supplement actually binds to iron and keeps cancer cells from getting it and in that way it hampers their ability to multiply as quickly.

This week the dimple or skin retraction is barely visible so it continues to disappear slowly.
Hooray! I hope that is the good sign I think it is...

The AMAS Blood Test process

I received my AMAS blood test kit on Monday from Oncolab. The processing of the blood is fairly complicated, with a requirement to cool the sample to 4 degrees Celsius for an hour and then centrifuge it for 15 minutes, and then pack it in 3lbs of dry ice and ship overnight to Oncolab.

I found that hospitals are best equipped to handle this kind of requirement vs outpatient labs such as Quest. Quest was willing to draw the blood for an outside lab (where LabCorp was not - shame on them) but when they saw the processing requirments they felt a hospital would better handle it.

So I got my signature on the requisition form for Oncolab and a script from my gyn for a separate blood test I want (CBC) and was all ready to visit Paoli Hospital for the blood drawing today when I realized before I headed there that I might need a prescription for the AMAS blood test for the hospital's "registration process" and one phone call to the hospital lab confirmed this. Doh. Could have gotten that yesterday from gynecologist but forgot about all the red tape that Pennsylvania imposes.

What is really irritating about this is - no doctor has ordered this test. I want this test ON MY OWN. I should NOT need a doctor's permission to get it. What is wrong with this state? It's a freaking BLOOD test. It's not surgery for crying out loud.

So since my surgeon's office is next to the hospital where I am going I thought, I'll just call them and see if I can pick up a script for it from them. I got a cool response from the nurses with a curt "we can't order tests like that - the doctor will have to call you about it" - grrrr Hello?? You AREN'T ordering the test. Come on and give me a break here. You, as nurses, have to know what a pain in the ass this state is about it. Just stamp the damn script. It's not for controlled substance drugs or something. Really now.

So I found in the mean time, I can call my gyn when they open shortly and they can fax the script to a number at Paoli for registration so it will be there already when I arrive. And my gyn is very cooperative about all this and have no problem issuing these senseless scripts for me, which is more than I can say about the snobby surgeon's office. One demerit for surgeon's office.

I have to consider the fact that the surgeon's office is only interested in things that involve cutting things out of your body. They could care less about whether you have cancer in your blood and in fact, they really don't want to have you find this out with a blood test when they could use their preferred method of RIPPING out some lymph nodes just to TEST. How barbaric and it is not even 100% accurate. They rip out those sentinel lymph nodes and if they test clear of cancer it STILL does not mean that cancer has not circulated elsewhere so what a wasted procedure.

And here's a thought. If they find cancer cells in your lymph nodes - isn't that what they are supposed to be doing? Filtering bad stuff? Isn't that where you would also find bacteria if you have an infection? Seems to me that sentinel lymph node test is sort of unnecessary and since they can't put the lymph nodes BACK I am then down a few lymph nodes for fighting infections.

The AMAS blood test will see if I have the Anti-Malignin Antigen in my blood which is a very good cancer marker test and does not involve removing a part of my body I don't wish to part with to check.

Encouraging quote regarding the MRI test

This is from an article entitled

MRI successfully gauges breast cancer treatment response

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Chemotherapy is designed to diminish tumor size and reduce the number of blood vessels feeding the tumor. The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, Mass., found that contrast-enhanced MR imaging is a reliable, non-invasive way to measure blood flow to the tumor, thus gauging the success of chemotherapy.

"The more vessels a tumor has, the more likely it is to take up the MR contrast agent. The more vascular a tumor is, the more likely it will be to light up on the scan," said study co-author Priscilla J. Slanetz, M.D., M.P.H., director of breast imaging at Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. "MR's high temporal resolution (ability to assess how rapidly a tumor takes up the contrast agent) is important in determining therapeutic response rather than relying solely on tumor shape and margins," she said.

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And so - there you have it. When I look at the MRI from July 5th I see a very bright tumor. When I look at the August 25th MRI I see a faint tumor - decidedly NOT bright or less bright than in July. And now I know that the second MRI is actually indicative of a postive response to my nutritionist's treatment as well as my own diet and lifestyle changes. Looks like I may still get another MRI - probably a month from now - to see an even FAINTER tumor than before - hopefully!

What every woman should know about breast cancer

Here are some quotes from an article on NewsTarget - an interview with Dr Christine Homer about her book on breast cancer:

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Not surprisingly, the American diet and lifestyle is a recipe for breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer and heart disease. We know that because it's so prevalent. When the typical American is interviewed, what do they normally eat? They normally eat fast food. If you look at the burger, the white bun, the French fries, the milkshake, and pop, each one of those things is something that contributes to the initiation and progression of breast cancer. Women who eat red meat, particularly grilled and well-done, have a 400 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

Then we consume trans fats -- those horrible hydrogenated fats they cook things like french fries in. Studies found that's again something that will speed up the cell division that happens in the breast tissue in particular and causes inflammation. We know that inflammation is something that plays an essential role in all sorts of chronic disorders and definitely speeds up the growth of breast cancer.

Sugar and refined carbohydrates are the preferred food for cancer. The more sugar you eat, the faster it grows, plus it's pro-inflammatory and knocks out your immune system right after you eat it. It also causes our insulin levels to go up and, again, insulin acts as a growth factor for cancer.

What they've found is only about 5 percent of breast cancers are genetic. The rest of them are brought about by diet and lifestyle, which is good news because that means we can have tremendous impact on whether we get this disease or not. Women can do many things to influence the risk of getting the disease.

If you go through medical literature like I have and read literally hundreds of studies, you'd find the vast majority of the studies show that people who take antioxidants actually get an enhanced effect from the chemotherapy while receiving protection against the organ damage. Our understanding of how chemotherapy works is too primitive.

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Why don't you hear this from you doctor? Because they are really too busy to do research and it is also human habit to do things the way you're used to doing them... habits die hard and doctors are suspicious of new and unproven treatments because they are so afraid of being sued. So it is the sue-happy society that is creating doctors who are afraid to think outside the box and in fact they are *forced* to go along with the AMA doctrine or risk losing their license to practice medicine.

The Health Shake

As promised I wanted to put up some information on the health shake that I take each morning using my super duper VitaMix blender (wayyy expensive but then again so is surgery/chemo and radiation treatment)

The general daily ingredients are (and you have to experiment with amounts of each till you get the taste/consistency that you like) :

1. unsweetened soy milk
2. Stevia natural sweetener
3. Flax Oil
4. blueberries (or any berries)
5. banana (sometimes not every day)
6. Alive Whole Food Energizer Ultra Powder
   
7. Bee Pollen
8. Raw wheat germ
9. Fresh leftover veggies such as tomatoes/cucumber or carrots
10. Spirulina/chorella powder (sometimes)
    
11. Ice

This makes a nice bluish green milkshake - more buish if you add more blue fruits. It's very tasty and actually filling as well. Here is a review of the Alive Whole Food Energizer in tablet form by Mike Adams.

Note: Mike Adams does not like the Ultra Powder as much as the tablets because the Ultra Powder contains fructose sweetener. I will probably switch to a non sweetened soy protein powder for the shake and get some of the Alive tablets instead.

Next steps in the plan

I have several items on the to-do list in my detoxification and monitoring plan and they are:

1. Colon Hydrotherapy - this afternoon will be my first one!
2. New CBC Blood Test
3. AMAS Blood Test (when I FINALLY receive the KIT!)
4. Diagnostic Ultrasound (to more accurately measure the tumor size)
5. PET Scan
6. Chelation Therapy (found a place in Narberth but can't go till Sept 19th!)
7. Change dental fillings to safer non-mercury amalgam
8. Find a new family/general doctor (same place as Chelation Therapy hopefully!)

For the blood tests I will need a doctor prescription which ANNOYS me since I shouldn't need a doctor to "permit" me to get a blood test but that is the way it is in Pennsylvania. Very annoying level of unnecessary control.

I have been reading about the two University of Washington researchers (Narendra Singh and Henry Lai) who are doing the research on Artemisinin and its application in killing cancer cells. They made the connection between the action of Artemisinin against malaria and were able to apply the same action to cancer cells because normal cells are able to store anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and E, but cancer cells cannot. So cancer cells are not protected from the oxidizing effects of Artemisinin, which seeks out iron in cells. Cancer cells also have a higher than normal concentration of iron because of the high amount of cell division and growth.

I have found a source for the Artemisinin at Wellcare Pharamaceuticals and it is called Artemix. All of this is experimental, not approved by the FDA, yadda yadda yadda. So nobody can say - take this to cure cancer. I am on my own here but I have researched the compound enough to know the safe dose and that is has practically no known adverse side effects so it is worth a try.

Just ordered two bottles of the Artemix. Here is the description on the web site for Artemisinin compounds:

Hepalin (Artemisinin) capsules have been tested for bioactivity and found to have an 100% effective rate against cells with high iron content which was verified. 100% of the extract is absorbed through G-I tracts, acting directly on cells with high iron content via enhanced effect with administered Iron (FeSO4).

Hepalin (Artemisinin) capsules have the highest content of Artemisinin on the market.

Through much research and discussion with our distinguished associates, we have determined that in order to obtain the highest active ingredients from the herbs, an extracting and purifying facility located next to our own herbal farm would yield the best results. With the strategic placing of our facilities, we are able to harvest the fresh herbs and transfer them to our extracting equipment immediately.

My regimen will involve taking Artemix at night since that is the time of highest cell activity.

MRI as a monitoring tool

Found this quote relative to the MRI and routine breast cancer screening:

"MRI isn't recommended for routine screening because it has a high rate of false-positive results, leading to unnecessary anxiety and biopsies. It's also expensive, not readily available and requires radiology experts who can interpret the images and findings appropriately."

This makes me question even more the apparent inaccuracies between the two MRI's I have received. Different equipment, different interpreters of the results and that yielded two completely different measurements of the tumor which then morphed into a panic stricken review that implied the tumor had practically doubled in size. This is nonsense and anyone with half a brain who actually LOOKS at the MRI pictures from July and August can see it has most definitely NOT doubled in size or even grown larger AT ALL.

Links and Resources

Here are some links to useful information that I have found in my hours of research:

1. News Target - Favorite place for up to the minute alternative health info
   
2. WorstPills.org - This is a great site to search for known drug dangers and side effects (requires subscription)
3. Burton Goldberg - self-described Alternative Health advocate - good current info
4. Cancer Prevention Coalition - Current Cancer Treatment information - focus on alternatives and very critical of the medical-pharma machine.
5. CancerGuide Biopsy Information - very good resource on how to understand your pathology reports etc
6. Karl Loren's site - he's a little left of center but none the less very interesting information especially when it comes to considering whether or not to get a biopsy (and knowing what I know now I would not choose that again)
7. New technique to target radiation in cancer treatment being developed
8. Two teenagers who have battled the state to refuse chemo - Katie Wernecke and Abraham Cherrix
9. Wormwood can target cancer cells and kill them - ancient Chinese remedy also used for malaria works on cancer cells
10. More on Wormwood/Artemisinin from NewsTarget
11. Great site on various kinds of cancer tests available
12. Amazing site created by a guy who cured his own brain cancer.. a must read!
    

The second MRI

The second MRI was done on August 25th and I received the report later that day that the lump was LARGER. I had given them my prior MRI cd as well as my various lab reports so they knew the first MRI sized the lump at 16mm or 1.6cm. They were now saying it was 27mm or 2.7cm.

At first I was quite depressed to hear this. They provided me with the MRI pictures on cd so I began to view them myself on my computer.

What I found however, was not in line with what they were saying. To go from 16mm to 27mm would have been almost double in size.

I measured the distance between the edge of my breast to the nipple and it is about 3 inches or 76.2 mm. A lump that is 27mm is about 1/3 of the distance that is between nipple and chest on my breast. When I look at the images I see the reverse situation - that the lump appears to be larger on the July MRI and closer to 1/3 of the "real estate" between beginning of breast curve and nipple.

I am inserting the MRI pics of note here.

The first one is the first MRI of the lump from July 5th of 2006:



The next several are from the most recent MRI on August 25th - 6 weeks after the first MRI:










What I notice here are several things. The contrast is lighter on the second MRI for the lump. Is that because of a different contrast medium OR is it because there is less of a blood supply in the tumor? Hmmm?

And I notice it seems to be retreating from the surface of the skin which is why the skin retraction is softening. I sure wish I could find out more about skin retraction - why it happens and why it stops happening. But to me, the second MRI is actually encouraging.

Positive Changes Noticed

So a week before the surgery on August 21st, I started to notice something different about the skin retraction or dimple. It was harder to see and seemed to be softer. I waited for a few days and each day it seemed to be less pronounced. I would look at it in various types of light and unbelievably, I could no longer really see it when standing in front of a mirror at 3 feet away. Ever since November, when I first discovered it, there had been no change except for perhaps a sharpening of the dimple over the months.

Finally, I decided that the softening skin retraction might be a positive sign that the tumor was reversing and perhaps shrinking. I moved the lumpectomy up to September 18th. I started to seek opinions on this change in the skin retraction but found no comfort in medical opinions and in fact one of my doctors (family doctor) acted like I was being delusional to think that it meant anything. I refused to be swayed and decided I would monitor it with tests such as another MRI, and any other tests that I could use to see what was going on in there.

I scheduled a second MRI with a different facility, one that has a very good reputation for their Imaging Center so I was hopeful they would be able to accurately gauge my progress.

As a side note, I'd like to describe the Breast MRI experience for anyone who is considering this kind of test. Overall I think a Breast MRI is much better than a Mammogram, which only really detects calcifications. A Breast MRI really sees the lump, it's shape and location and other characteristics. It is not as risky as a Mammogram since there is no radiation. The contrast dye however is injected and there is some information out there about the dye being somewhat chemically toxic so you don't want to get an MRI too often I would think.

A Breast MRI involves lying face down on a table with your breasts sort of dangling into two cups in the table. You are provided a pillow for your head and usually headphones with music and also a way for the radiologist to talk to you and give you an idea of how long each part will be. You are not supposed to move during the scan. The scan lasts about 25 minutes or so. You are moved inside a round tube and the better MRI places roll you in feet first rather than head first since the tube is fairly claustrophobic. I pretty much closed my eyes for the whole time rather than look at the tube wall right in front of my face.

When the test starts, the tube makes some clicking noises and then a very loud machine gun type of vibration. In some cases you can't really hear the music during the test but it makes them feel better that they gave you music to listen to I guess. Each part of the test might last 2-5 minutes with some being longer. The radiologist usually warns you before each step how long the test will be and she tells you when you are close to the end.

When the magnet is on and doing the scan, I felt some strange sensations in my skin as if I could feel my protons being magnetized or something. It wasn't unpleasant or painful.. just weird.. and the sensation was sort of similar to feeling a breeze against your skin. I felt a weird twitching sensation in what felt like my left kidney as well which stopped when the loud noise stopped and started again when the magnet was scanning. None of this was more than just a mild sensation but nonetheless it was real.

I'd like to mention that my first MRI did not produce these sensations so it might have to do with the strength of the magnet. All Breast MRI is using High Field MRI. I was told by a radiologist if a place wants to do a an Open Breast MRI that I should run.

The Third Medical Opinion

I hope you aren't on the edge of your seat thinking.. ok now she will finally get a medical opinion that is thinking outside the box... because you will be disappointed I'm afraid.

I decided to take my case to one more surgeon and this surgeon was recommended by my Aunt. She had gone to the first surgeon and found him to be a callous and egotistical cad and I tended to agree with her on that so I felt I would also like this third surgeon. I met with him on August 11th.

I did indeed like him a lot. He is very humble and respectful and he entertained my many questions that had formed about all this for way over the typical amount of time allocated for a patient. I felt he understood my objections and he expressed his own doubts and questions about some of the treatments and why they are used. He supported my desire to just get a lumpectomy only and did not try to make me feel I was making a poor choice. I scheduled a lumpectomy with him for August 21st.

In my hours of research, I had discovered an article on timing of surgery for women and that article recommended surgery for women in the first part of their menstrual cycle, pre-ovulation. So any surgery I schedule, I did so with that in mind. The article stated that women who had surgery in pre-ovulation part of their cycle had quicker recovery time and better surgical outcome.

The lumpectomy was to be an outpatient procedure using "twilight" sedation vs general anesthesia. I would be semi-conscious but I wouldn't care that he was cutting a piece of flesh out of my breast. I called to find out my choices for sedation and researched them as well.

Having an aversion to most drugs, I still didn't like the thought of being anesthesized and I certainly did not relish the idea of being exposed to potential infection from the surgery. However, part of me was relieved to be finally getting rid of the lump and finally being able to see what it was.

The Second Medical Opinion

The following Friday (July 21) I had my appointment with the surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center. This was exactly one week after receiving the disturbing first diagnosis from the first surgeon. I was hopeful and harbored the belief that maybe, just maybe, the UPenn doctors would read the cytology slide and come up with a different answer.

The second breast surgeon was young and female and had a PhD next to her name. I was confident she would be more compassionate than the male surgeon. She delivered the same exact diagnosis as the first surgeon and recommended the exact same "treatment". Now I was beginning to see the pattern. "This is how we treat this kind of thing". It seems eveyrone in the medical world is on the same page here but somehow that did not make me feel any better.

I told her my objections to radiation and chemo and said I only would allow a lumpectomy for this. She got a very stern look on her face when I said that and told me with great zeal that the standard treatment works and will treat this cancer with a very high success rate. She said it is very curable and she decided that is was Stage 2 DCIS. I told her of my nutrition plan and she supported it but not as a sole therapy. She acted like if nutrition therapy made me feel better than I should do it. She gave no credence to building the immune system as perhaps a viable therapy for cancer.

I left starting to feel very disappointed in the medical world. On my own I discovered lots of wonderful information on how nutrition can support a body fighting cancer and this was not being echoed in the doctor's offices I was visiting. Truly a dichotomy.

My Battle Plan Takes Shape

I started on the supplements prescribed (and purchased in her shop) that evening. I also began an exhaustive search on nutrition to support cancer healing and found many good books on the subject. The first one I acquired was Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Patrick Quillin

With what I learned from this first book, I devised a diet strategy and this is the basic plan:

• Eliminate sugar from my diet, except from fruit in moderation
• Eliminate all artificial ingredients (nitrates, aspartame,MSG, hydrogenated fats etc)
• Eat mostly raw and steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, chicken, eggs (all organic)
• Only whole grains such as brown rice and whole wheat
• No more convenience foods of any kind - no desserts, junk food, pizza
• Drink more water (filtered only)
• Health shakes made in my new Vitamix Blender each day (details later)
• No red meat, lunch meats, hotdogs, sausage
• Replace sugar for sweetener with Stevia
• Little to no dairy products - some organic lowfat yogurt and a very little organic cheese
• Replace milk with soy, rice or almond milk
• Choose rice cheese over dairy cheese when possible

I had learned that cancer thrives on sugar so that was my motivation to remove sugar as much as possible. In my life prior to cancer, I would consume a good amount of sugar in soft drinks, maple syrup added to several cups of coffee a day, some sweets either in the form of cookies, candy or "energy bars" for volleyball. I was pretty average in weight although I have wanted to drop about 10 pounds for years and never could. I also used to eat a lot of cheese. I was a confessed cheese-a-holic. My favorite cheese was Gruyere. If I didn't have cheese, maple syrup, coffee and creamer, and crackers in my home, I felt there was nothing to eat. I relished my morning coffee with maple syrup and fat free creamer (artificial CRAP). I would often snack on cheese with crackers or just alone and while preparing a meal I would take the edge of my hunger by eating some cheese.

When I started this new diet, I wasn't sure I could survive without cheese and my other "necessities" but I found that once I got going with the mega-nutrition, I no longer craved sweets, cheese etc. I even have cheese in my refrigerator that goes untouched for days. When I do bring it out, I only grate a very little over a salad perhaps and I don't snack on big chunks of it alone as I used to.

On practically a daily basis, I consumed regular and diet Mountain Dew, and ready made Diet Green Tea by Turkey Hill. I felt that I needed the Mountain Dew or Green Tea to perform well in volleyball, which I played at least 3 times a week.

All of these habits - eliminated. And guess what, I play volleyball just fine without the support of "stimulants" that I thought I needed.

In addition to the huge diet changes I made, I also learned of other compounds that had anti-cancer activity and started to add them to my daily regimen. The nutritionist cautioned me and might I say actually chastised me for adding too many other supplements to my routine so I have tried to be conservative and use what I think is the least likely to interfere. I didn't want to not take some of these additional supplements as they each have something to offer.

Here is the list of what I take each day, above and beyond the nutritionist's recommendation:

Selenium
CoQ10
Conjugated Lineolic Acid
DHA/EFA fish oils
Evening Primrose Oil
Turmeric
Melatonin
Kyolic Garlic Detox mix
Panax Ginseng
Vitamin D3
Juice Plus

Occasionally (since I'm not sure if they might interfere)

Cell Forte Max with IP6
MityQondria (Jarrow)

I started to do all of the above around the third week of July, 2006.

The Nutritionist

After receiving this disheartening and frightening news on a Friday I might add, so that I could ruminate over it all weekend, I decided by Sunday night that I would not accept this initial diagnosis. I would get more opinions and I would contact the nutritionist whose number I had written down a couple of years before on the recommendation of a family friend.

This family friend knows my parents and she was my tax preparer for many years. She told me about a story with her husband's failing health in the prior year (maybe 2004?) and that their visit to this nutritionist had saved his life and recovered his health. I made a note of her name and number and stuck it on my bulletin board for future need although I fully intended to visit her even without illness for her to cure.

I decided now was the time to call in her help. I was able to visit with her that next Monday, after having received the bad news from the surgeon. I desperately needed to hear about other options.

At the same time, on that same Monday, I went to the surgeon's office and collected up my MRI report, cytology report and slide from the biopsy and my mammogram and delivered them in person to the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center so that I might get another opinion from another breast surgeon who I would see that Friday.

My visit with the nutritionist was everything I needed at that time. She is 70 years old but looks 50 and is very energetic, optimistic and confident. She listened to my story and proclaimed that she did not think I had cancer at all and that I needed liver detoxification and support for it so that it could better detoxify on its own. She asked if I had a recent blood test and I said that yes I could probably get my doctor to fax it to her right now since they were in the office. The blood test was the standard CBC blood test and I got one every couple of years to monitor cholesterol and such.

I might add that I am not on any prescription drugs of any kind. No cholesterol meds, no blood pressure meds, allergy meds, you name it. I just take vitamins and Juice Plus on a daily basis. In medical terms I am sort of an anomaly - especially for my age. Most people my age are on some kind of daily meds by now, which is sad.

The doctor faxed over the blood test right away, which I really appreciated. Wouldn't you know that the two "elevated" levels noted on the blood test were cholesterol and bilirubin which both indicate a liver in need of some help. She had made this diagnosis without having seen the blood test.

Some background on this nutritionist. She was diagnosed with lymphoma 40 years ago and that launched her into research on nutrition as a cure and it resulted in her never having a single day of conventional treatment and her healthy appearance some 40 years later can attest to the soundness of her approach. I did not want to publish her name here because she lives a sort of idyllic life in the country in suburban Philadelphia. If you are interested in knowing her name for your own treatment email me via the blog profile.

Her prescription for me was as follows:

• Vitamin C 1000mg - 10 times a day
• Thymus PMG 1 tablet - 10 times a day
• Livaplex 1 tablet - 3 times a day
• B6 2 tablets - 3 times a day
• Multiple Vitamin 1 tablet - once a day

I left the nutritionists office with a much more hopeful and uplifting attitude than I had when I left the surgeon's office, feeling that I might have to prepare my will.

I started to research nutritional aspects of treating cancer so that I could support in every way my body's attempt to get rid of this tumor.

The day when I picked up my reports from the first surgeon was also quite enlightening, since I got to see with my own eyes, the cytology report. Here is what it said. Probable Ductal Carcinoma of right breast - Recommend Excisional Biopsy TO CONFIRM.

So now we have some doubt that had not been communicated to me. Instead I got a surgeon who was certain it was malignant Ductal Carcinoma but when I read the cytology report I saw an imprecise diagnosis. So where was he getting off being so certain? He didn't tell me that cutting the lump out was the only way to be sure whether the cancer was malignant. The cells on the cytology slide were "abnormal" so they sort of looked bunched up more than regular cells. I was still not convinced that the lump could be confirmed as something malignant.

The Beginning

My journey on this path began with the observation, in November 2005, of a strange indentation or dimple in my right breast. I saw it and ignored it at first. Then finally I investigated it and felt around the area and found a lump. Obviously this concerned me a great deal since all women are told to look for lumps in their breasts.

Up to this time I had never gone for a mammogram although my doctors would urge me to do so with every regular visit. So now that I had this lump I felt I better check it out. My gynecologist wrote me the prescription to get my first mammogram, along with an MRI and Ultrasound.

I first got the mammogram and it came back as nothing of particular alarm. My gynecologist said she didn't think it was much to worry about, but that I should get the MRI and Ultrasound anyway. She felt it might be breast tissue hardening, especially since I was approaching the age of 50 and lots of hormonal changes start happening around then (sigh)

So I went with that notion for several months.. probably nothing.. but I kept an eye on the dimple to see if it changed in any way and I would occasionally check the lump for changes.

The lump feels to me like a very small marble, when I press firmly I can feel a sort of rounded bead and also can feel some softer tissue around it, sort of underneath. Under my fingertip the total size feels like feels marble sized with a smaller hardened round part near the surface.

In July 2006, I decided I should look into it with an MRI since nothing had changed in all that time. Dimple was still there and visible to anyone standing 3 feet in front of me or more even. It had been a quite obvious dent since I first discovered it and every day when I undressed I would note it's continuing presence. So I became quite familiar with it's appearance.

I got my first alarming news after the MRI from my general doctor who advised I make an appointment right away with a particular breast surgeon. The MRI had confirmed a mass of irregular shape that often indicates a cancerous mass.

I made my appointment with the breast surgeon right away and was able to see him within a week. The breast surgeon viewed the MRI report and the mammogram and decided to do a Fine Needle Biopsy right there in the office. He explained because the lump was easily palpable, he felt confident he could find it with the FNA needle and extract some cells from it for examination.

The results of the biopsy were delivered to me in his office 3 days later. The delivery was worthy of an Emmy award, with the appropriate downward sad glances and worrisome looks. I think he thought he was dealing with your average weak-kneed female who may cry at any moment over the distressing news he was delivering. It felt sort of surreal, as if I was in some scripted play and someone forgot to tell me. I felt he had delivered this speech many times.

He told me that he recommended a lumpectomy and a sentinel lymph node biopsy right away followed by 5-6 weeks of radiation to the breast which would involve a 10 minute treatment 5 days a week for those 5-6 weeks. I started to ask questions about all these things. He informed me that the sentinel lymph node biopsy would check to see if there was any metastases of the cancer to the lymph nodes. I asked him if the biopsy proved malignant cancer vs benign tumor and he said that "the cells looked angry" and it was his belief that I had a malignant cancer.

He also explained the potential side effects of the sentinel lymph node biopsy in that I would have to be more careful with my right arm afterwards and watch for lymphedema and increased chance of infection in that arm. I told him I was not very careful and that would be difficult since I am quite active. Right from the beginning, I did not like the choices I was given which seemed to offer some "cure" in exchange for some risks that may affect the rest of my life.

My Breast Cancer Story

I have created this blog to chronicle my arduous journey through the path to healing this breast cancer. I have done many hours of research and feel that my own personal journey may help others who are faced with similar health issues.

All information I provide here is a result of my own research and in no way is intended as medical advice. I am simply providing the results of my own conclusions and with the information I hope to provide, perhaps your own research can be made easier.

My Philosophy on Cancer Treatment

My approach to reversing cancer is embodied by the basic tenets of the Hippocratic Oath and that is no longer how modern medicine practices. This quote from the translated version of the Hippocratic Oath shows how far off the path modern medicine has gone "To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug". Sadly, I believe that most doctors are brainwashed today into prescribing deadly drugs because the big pharmaceutical companies have complete control over the AMA. The pharmaceutical companies have positioned themselves as THE solution to all of our medical problems and doctors are unable to vary from the doctrine that is mandated by the AMA or risk losing their license to practice.

I believe that a large number of people who receive conventional cancer treatments are walking the very edge of risk. Some people can take the barbaric wasting of their immune systems and recover and those are the patients that are trumpeted in studies as "successfully cured" of cancer. The ones who perish from the treatment are swept under the rug and usually the cancer itself is blamed for their demise. I don't believe this for a second.

What is missing from conventional cancer treatments is the understanding of the conditions which caused it. Modern medicine takes a napalm approach to "curing" cancer and to quote from Patrick Quillin, author of "Beating Cancer with Nutrtion" they take the approach of throwing a stick of dynamite in the garage to get rid of some mice. You get rid of the mice but you also lose your garage.

I believe there are times when drastic measures may be needed.. if you have ignored your health and the signs of problems for so long that the cancer is way ahead of your immune system. In all cases however, the immune system needs to be supported and improved to turn the tide against cancer and ESPECIALLY if you tear it down with chemicals and radiation.

Sadly this is lacking in today's conventional cancer treatments. They seem to be willing to ignore the body's innate ability to heal and instead want us to turn our bodies over to science to "cure" our ills.

And so, my approach to my own situation will involve FIRST boosting the immune system, monitoring the lump with non-invasive tests such as PET scans and Ultrasound, monitoring my system with cutting edge blood tests like the AMAS blood test (which no doctors seem to be aware of sadly) and only if it seems my immune system is not able to reverse it will I seek out the conventional medical treatments which must be very restrained - meaning they cause as little harm to my body in the process.

My first choice in conventional treatment will be to debulk the tumor if necessary with lumpectomy. I would not automatically choose to irradiate the surgical area because I believe the remaining cancer cells (which there ALWAYS are by they way- they can never say they got it all) can be handled by my boosted immune system.

The only way I would ever choose any radiation or chemo would be if they were able to deliver those toxic agents *only* to the cancer cells. Science is getting closer all the time to achieving this and to me it seems rather simple. Cancer cells suck up sugar so greedily that they use sugar to detect cancer in a PET scan. So, why don't we bind the toxic chemicals and radiation to sugar??

So now that you know my philosophy on cancer treatment, you will understand some of my choices as my story unfolds.

Let me just say this one more thing when it comes to medical doctors. I have learned that if you ask a surgeon if you should have surgery, they will probably say yes because that is what they do and that is all they know. So if you are faced with a health issue, don't rely on a single doctor for advice because they will advise you in the context of what they do. And the best thing you can do for YOU is to ask questions of everyone and gain as much knowledge about your health problem as you can because ultimately you are the only one who has a vested interest in a positive outcome.