Cancer Survivor
Hope, Inspiration, and New Life
Seeing the scans showing no bladder tumors in dad’s kidneys and lungs is a pretty big deal. I’m not sure how often this is accomplished in just 4 months, but for this result, we are thankful.
The day dad called me to tell me he had stage 4 cancer felt devastating. I had already been very sick due to Covid for over a year, and I was just beginning to recover. This unexpected news felt like a sucker punch, but dad said that we were going to stay positive which is not the superpower of some of the hope filled pessimists in our family, me included, and I decided to follow his lead. Oddly enough, what I had just been through had actually prepared me for this cancer thing.
There are no specific healthcare protocols for long-covid. I had seen my primary care doctor to make sure that the virus had not caused any serious damage to my major organs, and other than that, she wasn’t of more help to me. I did have a run in with another virus about 20 years ago when I was much younger. That experience taught me a lot about what the healthcare system could and could not do for my healing, so instead of visiting the offices of many different specialists who were most likely not going to be able to do much for me and creating an unnecessary financial burden for myself and my husband; I had friends pray for me, I had a phone consultation with a functional medicine practitioner’s team member, I joined a long-covid group (being careful to not get caught up in the tendency of sick people to commiserate, but to encourage and support and share what was working for each of us), I learned as much as I possibly could about what this particular virus was doing to my body, and I began healing each particular cluster of symptoms I was experiencing, little by little. In other words, I took control of my health with the help of others, and I developed my own healing, health care protocol. This is what survivors do- we take an active role in our own health and do what needs to be done in order to heal.
Staying positive is not unicorn rainbow fart wishful thinking. Staying positive is remaining hopeful in a grim situation and appropriately managing your negative emotions as they occur while still pursuing your healing goals. Dad’s decision to stay positive set the tone for all of us, and he didn’t need an extensive medical education or psychology degree to know what he already intuitively knew from the beginning of his cancer diagnosis - negative emotions are linked to lowered immunity and lowered immunity is one of the many things that can contribute to the growth of cancer. Therefore, feeling helpless and hopeless can contribute to the weakening of your immune system and potentially decrease survival time for cancer patients.
Hearing about how Guy Tenenbaum beat a terminal cancer death sentence the morning after we received dad’s cancer diagnosis gave me Hope. As mom began looking at the information in Guy’s cancer survivor protocol, she felt pretty overwhelmed. When she realized that dad was not going to be able to do everything that Guy had done for himself, she became a bit disheartened. She was caught up in understanding the details and implementing them, but I reminded her that the main point was that there was HOPE FOR DAD, BECAUSE WE KNEW THAT SURVIVING THIS STAGE 4 CANCER DIAGNOSIS WAS A POSSIBILITY. Guy’s story was ENCOURAGING! Hearing the survivor stories of all kinds of people healing themselves from advanced stage cancer without using chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, demonstrates the incredible healing abilities of the human body and should give us all Hope.
The things that dad was able to do during the 6 weeks before he even received a treatment plan from his oncologist made a difference for him. He started an anti-inflammatory diet that emphasized cutting out sugar and he drank lemon water with bicarbonate* which improved his breathing (dad’s cancer had metastasized to his kidney and lungs). These things helped him feel much better while we waited for biopsy results and treatment decisions to be made. Once dad’s chemo started, we had to learn more and adjust things for him again. Every supplement and medication that dad was taking had to be shared with the oncologist and anything that interfered with the chemo drug he was put on had to be omitted. We also learned more about things that can help while on chemo, and with a little more effort we will keep learning as we go through everything that comes next in this cancer journey.
* 21 Questions About Sodium Bicarbonate by Dr. Mark Sircus (drsircus.com)
Survivors have wrestled with mortality and understand its eventual certainty. No one, not even our doctors can really tell us when we are going to die with certainty. Surviving is not about looking for a death escape clause, it’s about understanding all of the uncertainties and finding reasons to live. It’s about understanding the meaning of life and maybe it’s even about getting back in touch with our desires, passions, and purposes. Going through a serious illness can help us realize what excites us about living and what needs to be done in order for us to enjoy living life for as long as possible and focusing on what we would like to do while we are still alive.
We’ve danced with death and wrestled with mortality, but in the mix is new life. This is my son’s baby who I am calling peanut, for now and until we know who she is. She is dad’s first great grand, and something to look forward to. Peanut’s mom and I think she is a girl, but we will not know for sure until she is born which is expected to happen in the fall. Peanut is a reason to live. If she turns out to be a boy instead, it will still be a super fun surprise and a big reason to keep on living and hoping.
Healing our spiritual and emotional lives is just as important as healing our physical bodies.
Hope is the beginning of healing and Leaving Death in the Dust was created to help beautiful human beings, who are sick, tired, and metabolically bankrupt, become more actively involved in their own health care.
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. It is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice.