About my 9th chemo and doctor visit
So I wrote this in a forum with a few friends from Taylor... I thought I would toss this over here for the rest of you.
****
I went to HCMC for chemo today. Good times. So I found out a few things.
#1 The pulmonary function tests show that my lungs as of late seem to be about the same. (the bleomycin doesn't seem to be destroying them). That said my breathing capacity could be improved (pray for that if you remember to). My breathing capacity is at 65% of what would be considered normal for someone my height. Anything from 80% up is considered normal (I have to stay above 60% to keep getting one of the four chemo drugs I am taking, bleomycin).
#2 The doctor is shocked that I have basically no side effects (they don't count not being as alert, sleeping a couple extra hours more, glossy eyes, looking more pale, being more forgetful -all those on the days after chemo and then going away after a few days) as being real side-effects. They are looking more for nausea, vomiting, hair loss, neuropathy, bad head aches, etc. (the more serious ones) as being side-effects.
#3 According to her, she would have no sign that I am even doing chemo except that my white blood cell count took a hit two different times. She is very surprised that I am not taking the vast majority of my anti-nausea medicine and not hurling everywhere as a result.
#4 However, the conventional medical field doesn't believe that diet, supplements, and prayer effect cancer prognosis. They don't realize how hard and what extreme things I do to feel good. Example: I take roughly $700 dollars worth of supplements in a month and quite a bit of that we get at below wholesale prices (thank God we don't pay for it all). I juice raw organic (or nearly organic) veggies many times a day. I sleep with my window wide open for days after chemo so that I get the fresh air into my body (I haven't had headaches since doing this). I go in the tub and sweat buckets for an hour or so for days on end after chemo. I eat a fiber rich diet so I poop multiple times a day, getting the toxins out of my body quicker - I feel better after every time I go for the first couple of days. I drink tons of healthy fluids, not pop, alcohol, and fruit juices (spikes blood sugar levels... cancer gorges on sugar) so that I can get the bad stuff out of my urine quicker. I do not eat anything remotely unhealthy, and live on organic dark green leafy veggies and other veggies after chemo (roughly two-thirds of my diet for the first few days after chemo). I get massages from my family and go to the chiropractor, often. I avoid flouride in my toothpaste, sodium lauryl sulfate in my shampoo, avoid anti-persperants (clogs the lymph nodes in the armpits from eliminating toxins), drink purified water, avoid tension, responsibility, etc. To sum it up, I do everything I know to do during these chemo months (although some of these things are not practical to do for a life time... obviously I will have responsibities, etc.).
#5 I would like to think that - only by God's grace - I am not dealing with the stuff that got me into this mess. In Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Patrick Quillan says that in his experience of working with cancer patients, roughly 90% have had a major devestating, life-altering event within two years of being diagnosed. I think I figured I had about 6 of them. A patient would be wise to heal up any psychological issues at the same time. After dealing with those things awhile ago I am grateful to hopefully, by God's grace, be done with all of that. At the same time most people diagnosed with cancer go through all of the different emotional phases, like denial, etc. Again I would like to think that God has brought me through all of that in the previous years. I would like to think I have become one of the most positive people I know. This is not to brag as if I can somehow do this on my own. However, I have found God to be faithful that when I go to Him with all of the negative toxic emotions, He guts them out and replaces them with His joy. It is a wonderful exchange... I can't imagine the stress of going through this as a non-Christian. Even when things seemed hugely problematic, I have had tremendous peace due to the prayers of the people around me. If everyone really understood how prayer works, they would do it a lot more often and be a lot more serious about it. Prayer does more then just remove toxic emotions. I have seen God answer SO many prayers in the last chunk of time. For example, when I came home from chemo, I told people about what was going on with me, my mother and I could feel the power of God coming on so strong that we were both literally in tears. She stopped cooking right in the middle and just started weeping... the presence of God was that strong. From that moment on, I had basically nothing for side effects from my 7th chemo. My God is faithful, and that is one thing I have found from going through this. I don't know what the future lays ahead (I am believing for big things...), but I know my God will be with me whereever and whatever I face... and there is something truly wonderful in really, really, deep, deep, down knowing that. I am thankful. One more example of really cool answering of prayers is that after having some major problems with itching for more than a year and 3/4 the last bit seems to basically be gone and has been that way ever since I sent out that mass email asking for prayer about an autologous bone marrow transplant. Before that I still was scratching my ankles and a couple other random places a bit.
#6 I continue to gain weight. I am at 185 pounds, 5 more than Taylor... I think that is two pounds more than before. This is especially shocking as I am not and have not been taking steroids or anything to keep my weight up.
#7 The doctor explained to me what the autologous bone marrow transplant would look like if I were to have to do it (not cancer-free on the next pet scan... which could be as soon as next week). Since it would be autologous it doesn't sound half as bad as what I was reading about online (when you get the bone marrow from another person). Generally it is done with a hospital stay of a couple of weeks (for young people), and it has sometimes even been done on an outpatient basis (There isn't as much concerns of people dying from normally easily treatable infections because they are not taking tremendous amounts of immune suppressing drugs that those who get bone marrow from another person take). Most of the time they are able to collect enough of your bone marrow from your blood that they don't need to start drilling into bones... which would be much better than taking massive dossages of drugs to keep me from going nuts from the extreme (for me) pain of the bone marrow biopsies. It doesn't guarantee that a person goes sterile, but it does up the chances of it. It also increases the chances of getting cancer later on in life. Another concern is that it sounds like I would have to avoid eating most of the raw veggies and fruit and possibly supplements while doing it... But I am believing for big things from my God and that I won't have to go down that route. I am accepting all prayers for death of any remaining cancer cells (if there are any)... I am sure ya'll know that.
#8 She was getting slightly concerned that I am feeling too good. She's slightly wondering if the chemo is doing things in me since I have had so few side effects. In Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Quillan says that loading your body up with nutrients is like putting bulletproof vests on your healthy cells and making chemo far more toxic to cancer cells. I would like to think that is happening in my body.
So there it is... the vast majority of things I am doing for my health. I would think anyone could go through chemo this easily if they keep their attitude focused on Christ, get the prayers that I am getting, spend a lot of time with the Lord, and do the things I read about... I have only been studying for my life for a couple of years now... it would be pretty pathetic if I hadn't learned anything. Hopefully, I can get a chance to show people Who helps and some things that have helped me...
****
I went to HCMC for chemo today. Good times. So I found out a few things.
#1 The pulmonary function tests show that my lungs as of late seem to be about the same. (the bleomycin doesn't seem to be destroying them). That said my breathing capacity could be improved (pray for that if you remember to). My breathing capacity is at 65% of what would be considered normal for someone my height. Anything from 80% up is considered normal (I have to stay above 60% to keep getting one of the four chemo drugs I am taking, bleomycin).
#2 The doctor is shocked that I have basically no side effects (they don't count not being as alert, sleeping a couple extra hours more, glossy eyes, looking more pale, being more forgetful -all those on the days after chemo and then going away after a few days) as being real side-effects. They are looking more for nausea, vomiting, hair loss, neuropathy, bad head aches, etc. (the more serious ones) as being side-effects.
#3 According to her, she would have no sign that I am even doing chemo except that my white blood cell count took a hit two different times. She is very surprised that I am not taking the vast majority of my anti-nausea medicine and not hurling everywhere as a result.
#4 However, the conventional medical field doesn't believe that diet, supplements, and prayer effect cancer prognosis. They don't realize how hard and what extreme things I do to feel good. Example: I take roughly $700 dollars worth of supplements in a month and quite a bit of that we get at below wholesale prices (thank God we don't pay for it all). I juice raw organic (or nearly organic) veggies many times a day. I sleep with my window wide open for days after chemo so that I get the fresh air into my body (I haven't had headaches since doing this). I go in the tub and sweat buckets for an hour or so for days on end after chemo. I eat a fiber rich diet so I poop multiple times a day, getting the toxins out of my body quicker - I feel better after every time I go for the first couple of days. I drink tons of healthy fluids, not pop, alcohol, and fruit juices (spikes blood sugar levels... cancer gorges on sugar) so that I can get the bad stuff out of my urine quicker. I do not eat anything remotely unhealthy, and live on organic dark green leafy veggies and other veggies after chemo (roughly two-thirds of my diet for the first few days after chemo). I get massages from my family and go to the chiropractor, often. I avoid flouride in my toothpaste, sodium lauryl sulfate in my shampoo, avoid anti-persperants (clogs the lymph nodes in the armpits from eliminating toxins), drink purified water, avoid tension, responsibility, etc. To sum it up, I do everything I know to do during these chemo months (although some of these things are not practical to do for a life time... obviously I will have responsibities, etc.).
#5 I would like to think that - only by God's grace - I am not dealing with the stuff that got me into this mess. In Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Patrick Quillan says that in his experience of working with cancer patients, roughly 90% have had a major devestating, life-altering event within two years of being diagnosed. I think I figured I had about 6 of them. A patient would be wise to heal up any psychological issues at the same time. After dealing with those things awhile ago I am grateful to hopefully, by God's grace, be done with all of that. At the same time most people diagnosed with cancer go through all of the different emotional phases, like denial, etc. Again I would like to think that God has brought me through all of that in the previous years. I would like to think I have become one of the most positive people I know. This is not to brag as if I can somehow do this on my own. However, I have found God to be faithful that when I go to Him with all of the negative toxic emotions, He guts them out and replaces them with His joy. It is a wonderful exchange... I can't imagine the stress of going through this as a non-Christian. Even when things seemed hugely problematic, I have had tremendous peace due to the prayers of the people around me. If everyone really understood how prayer works, they would do it a lot more often and be a lot more serious about it. Prayer does more then just remove toxic emotions. I have seen God answer SO many prayers in the last chunk of time. For example, when I came home from chemo, I told people about what was going on with me, my mother and I could feel the power of God coming on so strong that we were both literally in tears. She stopped cooking right in the middle and just started weeping... the presence of God was that strong. From that moment on, I had basically nothing for side effects from my 7th chemo. My God is faithful, and that is one thing I have found from going through this. I don't know what the future lays ahead (I am believing for big things...), but I know my God will be with me whereever and whatever I face... and there is something truly wonderful in really, really, deep, deep, down knowing that. I am thankful. One more example of really cool answering of prayers is that after having some major problems with itching for more than a year and 3/4 the last bit seems to basically be gone and has been that way ever since I sent out that mass email asking for prayer about an autologous bone marrow transplant. Before that I still was scratching my ankles and a couple other random places a bit.
#6 I continue to gain weight. I am at 185 pounds, 5 more than Taylor... I think that is two pounds more than before. This is especially shocking as I am not and have not been taking steroids or anything to keep my weight up.
#7 The doctor explained to me what the autologous bone marrow transplant would look like if I were to have to do it (not cancer-free on the next pet scan... which could be as soon as next week). Since it would be autologous it doesn't sound half as bad as what I was reading about online (when you get the bone marrow from another person). Generally it is done with a hospital stay of a couple of weeks (for young people), and it has sometimes even been done on an outpatient basis (There isn't as much concerns of people dying from normally easily treatable infections because they are not taking tremendous amounts of immune suppressing drugs that those who get bone marrow from another person take). Most of the time they are able to collect enough of your bone marrow from your blood that they don't need to start drilling into bones... which would be much better than taking massive dossages of drugs to keep me from going nuts from the extreme (for me) pain of the bone marrow biopsies. It doesn't guarantee that a person goes sterile, but it does up the chances of it. It also increases the chances of getting cancer later on in life. Another concern is that it sounds like I would have to avoid eating most of the raw veggies and fruit and possibly supplements while doing it... But I am believing for big things from my God and that I won't have to go down that route. I am accepting all prayers for death of any remaining cancer cells (if there are any)... I am sure ya'll know that.
#8 She was getting slightly concerned that I am feeling too good. She's slightly wondering if the chemo is doing things in me since I have had so few side effects. In Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Quillan says that loading your body up with nutrients is like putting bulletproof vests on your healthy cells and making chemo far more toxic to cancer cells. I would like to think that is happening in my body.
So there it is... the vast majority of things I am doing for my health. I would think anyone could go through chemo this easily if they keep their attitude focused on Christ, get the prayers that I am getting, spend a lot of time with the Lord, and do the things I read about... I have only been studying for my life for a couple of years now... it would be pretty pathetic if I hadn't learned anything. Hopefully, I can get a chance to show people Who helps and some things that have helped me...
posted by Seltzer at 9:50 PM
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