Over the holidays, I was contacted by one of SHAPE Magazine's associate editors about an article she was writing about the language we should use when we talk about cancer. If interested, you can read the article below. The hard part in being interviewed is that things always come up later, things you forgot. When I talked to Dan about it we discussed how in the past I used a lot of "war" terminology. I always used to feel like I was in battle, that my body was waging a war against cancer. I have since changed my view. It was too exhausting to think that I may be "fighting" for the rest of my life. I knew that I didn't have the stamina. Fighting is exhausting. Now I see cancer as unhealthy cells that may be in my body. I see them as damaged, bruised, weak. But I also believe that my body can heal the residual cancer cells in my body, or perhaps turn their activity "off", with my immune system's help. I don't completely know if that's a scientific fact, that cancer cells can differentiate into healthy cells, but I like to think it's possible.
Regardless of how I look at it, we all have different perspectives and they're all right. It's hard
enough as it is to imagine us all having to feel the same way. I think that whatever terminology that's comfortable to you is how you should describe the experiences on your journey.
I was shocked to be contacted, and it was an honor to be interviewed. Happy New Year you guys. I love you all.
Showing posts with label cancer cells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancer cells. Show all posts
12.31.2014
5.17.2012
Poor Little Hermie
Jules and I walked the lake last night. I'm so lucky to have all these girls (Erin, Meagan, Meghan & Jules) that take different shifts to help keep me in the game :)
Today, I'm headed to a new internist appointment, trying to find a better go-to doctor for all over health. Then, this afternoon, I'm headed for my first high dose IV of vitamin C! Lets hope they can find my vein easily!!! I'm excited and nervous. I'm seriously traversing the metro today...can't wait for my new adventures.
As for the vitamin C, if you try and ingest it, your body excretes most of it, to get the massive levels, you have to get it injected. By injecting it, you bypass the stomach, the lower intestine, and liver, and the vitamin goes directly into your blood stream allowing it to travel all throughout your body. So, the IV helps bioavailability. This whole treatment is amazing. It's a great addition to any radiation, or chemotherapy. Vitamin C is a molecule off of glucose, which is what cancer and tumors live off. So, the tumors suck up the vitamin C, thinking it's delicious sugar, but in truth it's an antioxidant. In the high doses, vitamin C generates large amounts of hydrogen peroxide which is a potent free radical. A normal cell has catalase to neutralize the free radicals and protect them, but cancers DON'T. So, the high levels of vitamin C weaken the cancer cells. Also, the hydrogen peroxide aids in the artemisinin. That's why I'm supposed to walk for two hours before I take my pills every night, exercise and deep breathing help oxygenate my brain generating more hydrogen peroxide. So, literally, today with my IV, and my walking, and then the artemisinin, poor little Hermie is going to get quite a beating. It's exciting, and yet somehow I feel a little bad for him. He's done so much for me, allowed me to learn so much, but I guess I can just remember him fondly and take his lessons with me wherever I go. I guess, that's a nice compromise.
Hope all that vitamin C stuff makes sense, I'm in a bit of a hurry. If it's confusing, I can explain more later!
3.12.2012
Not Mutually Exclusive
Good morning world. I'm feeling wonderful after two consecutive days of napping. Yesterday I even napped twice. Today, apparently, I was still pretty pooped, I slept in until 10:00 am. That is a straight up miracle since I had been waking up in the six o'clock hour all week.
Danny and I have been hitting the weights pretty hard, keeping up with the running, and it's causing a delicious exhaustion of my body. It's a great feeling. It makes me feel so alive! Last Wednesday I did 90 squats with the weight bar bearing 5 lbs on each side. I don't know exactly how heavy that is, but it felt punishing. I probably sound weird, but it's thrilling to push my body. While exercising, I often flash back to the days in the ICU, and then the weeks, and months when I couldn't run or lift weights.
At the time when you're unable to push yourself for fears of seizures, or just flat out pressure on your brain, you feel like you may never get better, that you might not recover. Each time I get to push myself, each time I sprint in the final strides around Green Lake, I end up panting with deep breaths, elated, almost giddy at my abilities. I tell myself, as I wind down into a slow walk, "You just kicked ass!" There's something about really pushing your limits, and I think it's okay to fluff you own feathers. When you get off your butt and challenge your body, you should be proud! There's no shame in that.
It's Monday, so I'm back on my high doses of pills. Today, I thought I'd share exactly the brands that I use, and exactly the what the doses look like. It's 4 pills from each bottle, taken with a cup of whole organic milk. It's important to take the pills with whole milk because the pills are fat soluble.
I am writing this blog to share my experiences throughout my brain cancer journey, including my various treatments. My hope is to have step by step information to share with others who may find themselves in a similar position. I hope my new friend won't mind, but I'm very excited to share that I was contacted by the brother of a gentleman fighting a glioblastoma. He found my blog while trying to exhaust alternative treatments as he has already endured a brain surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, a second brain surgery and the placement of chemo wafers in the tumor cavity. His brother is a total badass cancer fighter. I shared with him more information about the past several months and what I've been doing. I realize that my blog isn't exactly easy to navigate, so I was ecstatic that he emailed with questions! I am so hopeful that my information might be helpful. This is my dream, to be contacted and help share what I've learned. It's FANTASTIC. I truly believe that we can beat these cancers, it's just a matter of varying the doses as we find what works best, and each body is different.
This treatment directly targets cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact and unharmed. It's amazing! It's everything we've ever looked for, it's everything we've been dreaming of. To anyone out there, please, never hesitate to contact me with questions. I want to help. I want to share everything that I know. Yes, diet is very important, as is with exercise, and reducing stress. But, diet and life changes alone will not cure you of brain cancer. That's what I believe anyway, and statistics seem to concur. We have to be proactive in our treatment. I mean, think about it, if this treatment of mine doesn't cause any damage to healthy cells, why not try it? What do you have to lose? We've already shown that it worked from Oct - Jan between my MRI scans. No. New. Growth. None. Zero. On slides from the two MRI scans, comparing the exact slices, little Hermie appears to maybe even have shrunk just a tid. He definitely lessened in intensity. It's scary to go outside the bounds of our doctor's advice, but it's already been stated by the same doctors that they can't cure brain cancer. So, essentially, they don't have a solution for me. I'm on my own, except for my teammates in the artemisinin cancer fighting world. Thank God for them. I've always been a sucker for answers, and I have never been good at following statements like, "Because I said so." That just doesn't work for me. Sorry, doctors, you'll have to give me a better reason not to try other options.
I realize the doctors are just trying to be cautious and they don't want me to have any other complications, but when there are so few (effectively none) treatments that cure brain cancer, I would be a fool to follow their advice and avoid alternative options. Just because there isn't a clinical trial proving the validity of artemisinin, doesn't mean it isn't effective. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Danny and I have been hitting the weights pretty hard, keeping up with the running, and it's causing a delicious exhaustion of my body. It's a great feeling. It makes me feel so alive! Last Wednesday I did 90 squats with the weight bar bearing 5 lbs on each side. I don't know exactly how heavy that is, but it felt punishing. I probably sound weird, but it's thrilling to push my body. While exercising, I often flash back to the days in the ICU, and then the weeks, and months when I couldn't run or lift weights.
At the time when you're unable to push yourself for fears of seizures, or just flat out pressure on your brain, you feel like you may never get better, that you might not recover. Each time I get to push myself, each time I sprint in the final strides around Green Lake, I end up panting with deep breaths, elated, almost giddy at my abilities. I tell myself, as I wind down into a slow walk, "You just kicked ass!" There's something about really pushing your limits, and I think it's okay to fluff you own feathers. When you get off your butt and challenge your body, you should be proud! There's no shame in that.
It's Monday, so I'm back on my high doses of pills. Today, I thought I'd share exactly the brands that I use, and exactly the what the doses look like. It's 4 pills from each bottle, taken with a cup of whole organic milk. It's important to take the pills with whole milk because the pills are fat soluble.
I am writing this blog to share my experiences throughout my brain cancer journey, including my various treatments. My hope is to have step by step information to share with others who may find themselves in a similar position. I hope my new friend won't mind, but I'm very excited to share that I was contacted by the brother of a gentleman fighting a glioblastoma. He found my blog while trying to exhaust alternative treatments as he has already endured a brain surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, a second brain surgery and the placement of chemo wafers in the tumor cavity. His brother is a total badass cancer fighter. I shared with him more information about the past several months and what I've been doing. I realize that my blog isn't exactly easy to navigate, so I was ecstatic that he emailed with questions! I am so hopeful that my information might be helpful. This is my dream, to be contacted and help share what I've learned. It's FANTASTIC. I truly believe that we can beat these cancers, it's just a matter of varying the doses as we find what works best, and each body is different.
This treatment directly targets cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact and unharmed. It's amazing! It's everything we've ever looked for, it's everything we've been dreaming of. To anyone out there, please, never hesitate to contact me with questions. I want to help. I want to share everything that I know. Yes, diet is very important, as is with exercise, and reducing stress. But, diet and life changes alone will not cure you of brain cancer. That's what I believe anyway, and statistics seem to concur. We have to be proactive in our treatment. I mean, think about it, if this treatment of mine doesn't cause any damage to healthy cells, why not try it? What do you have to lose? We've already shown that it worked from Oct - Jan between my MRI scans. No. New. Growth. None. Zero. On slides from the two MRI scans, comparing the exact slices, little Hermie appears to maybe even have shrunk just a tid. He definitely lessened in intensity. It's scary to go outside the bounds of our doctor's advice, but it's already been stated by the same doctors that they can't cure brain cancer. So, essentially, they don't have a solution for me. I'm on my own, except for my teammates in the artemisinin cancer fighting world. Thank God for them. I've always been a sucker for answers, and I have never been good at following statements like, "Because I said so." That just doesn't work for me. Sorry, doctors, you'll have to give me a better reason not to try other options.
I realize the doctors are just trying to be cautious and they don't want me to have any other complications, but when there are so few (effectively none) treatments that cure brain cancer, I would be a fool to follow their advice and avoid alternative options. Just because there isn't a clinical trial proving the validity of artemisinin, doesn't mean it isn't effective. The two are not mutually exclusive.
12.19.2011
Pursue New Understandings
This weekend, Danny and I first stopped at my parent's house for a slumber party (when leaving, my mom loaded us with two of every vegetable available in the organic section from her supermarket - gotta love moms!), then headed to an Elves getaway over in Chelan at a friend's lake house. It was so much fun goofing around, listening to music, relaxing in the hot tub, and laughing with friends. Since I was off the artemix, I even enjoyed a couple of martinis. Friends and family truly are the best medicine.
Now, I'm back at home and I've just finished the first dosing of my artemether (9:15am). Calculating it by weight (thanks Dad & friend), I am starting with two pills of the following: artemether (40mg ea), butyrate, and piperine. I take it on an empty stomach. Then, I refrain from eating for a few hours (two or three, as long as I can manage). During the day I eat normally, but I need to stop by 4:30pm so that I can take my second dose (same quantities) on an empty stomach at 9:15pm.
I'm excited and nervous to see what happens. Today I'm starting with the 2-2-2 twice a day, and tomorrow I'll do nothing, making sure that there aren't any odd side effects. Assuming everything's okay, on Wednesday I'll start 4-4-4 twice a day.
When I first started taking the artemix, back a few months ago, I remember getting very tired and periodically dizzy. I'm already feeling the dizziness. It's probably a good time to go lay down and see if I can read or just rest my eyes. I think this week is going to be pretty subdued while I do this extra dosing. I'm only going to do this protocol for one week, then, after that I'm going to work on building my immune system. I need to clean up any cancer cell die-off that is occurring so that it doesn't skew the results of the MRI.
On another note, I've been thinking a bunch about what it means to be happy, and I read this:
"Genuinely happy people do not just sit around being content. They make things happen. They pursue new understandings, seek new achievements, and control their thoughts and feelings. They also learn from others." What a great quote.
 |
| Coming Up Over Navarre Coulee |
Now, I'm back at home and I've just finished the first dosing of my artemether (9:15am). Calculating it by weight (thanks Dad & friend), I am starting with two pills of the following: artemether (40mg ea), butyrate, and piperine. I take it on an empty stomach. Then, I refrain from eating for a few hours (two or three, as long as I can manage). During the day I eat normally, but I need to stop by 4:30pm so that I can take my second dose (same quantities) on an empty stomach at 9:15pm.
I'm excited and nervous to see what happens. Today I'm starting with the 2-2-2 twice a day, and tomorrow I'll do nothing, making sure that there aren't any odd side effects. Assuming everything's okay, on Wednesday I'll start 4-4-4 twice a day.
When I first started taking the artemix, back a few months ago, I remember getting very tired and periodically dizzy. I'm already feeling the dizziness. It's probably a good time to go lay down and see if I can read or just rest my eyes. I think this week is going to be pretty subdued while I do this extra dosing. I'm only going to do this protocol for one week, then, after that I'm going to work on building my immune system. I need to clean up any cancer cell die-off that is occurring so that it doesn't skew the results of the MRI.
On another note, I've been thinking a bunch about what it means to be happy, and I read this:
"Genuinely happy people do not just sit around being content. They make things happen. They pursue new understandings, seek new achievements, and control their thoughts and feelings. They also learn from others." What a great quote.
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