Detoxification was also a pressing issue because the chemo needed to leave the body as quickly as possible and take the dead cancer cells with it. I recommended that my partner take detox baths and coffee enemas, based on ideas put forth by highly respected natural healers who were using them with cancer patients.
Added to all this was an “exercise program”—a daily walk that began as a tentative stroll around the block and progressed to, in a couple of weeks, a nature hike of nearly two miles. Oddly, perhaps, I did not have to push this exercise on my partner. He did it on his own, at a time of the day when he had the energy, because, with the rich nutrients he was taking in, he felt up to walking and felt really good afterwards.
Several weeks went by, with some good days and some bad days—all bravely borne by my partner with anticipation of a bright light at the end of the dark tunnel of treatments. Meanwhile, I continued my investigation into how a person can stay healthy throughout conventional cancer therapy, using the power of nature and the body's own healing capabilities as allies.
During all this time, my partner suffered no nausea or vomiting, and rarely had diarrhea or constipation. There was no indigestion, no heartburn, no dehydration. These and other common side effects of chemo relating to food and drink seemed to be taken care of by a proper diet, one that allowed for optimum digestion and assimilation.
Sometimes, if he was up to it, we listened to informational tapes and watched videos together, comparing notes afterwards. In time, I had compiled several file folders bulging with data on the role of nutrition and supplementation in the treatment of cancer from the latest and most trustworthy sources. Study after study repeated the same encouraging message: keep a positive attitude, detox, eat right, supplement the diet, exercise.
A PET/CT scan after the third chemo treatment showed that no cancer was visible in my partner's body. Naturally, this was cause for optimism. But, as the oncologist kept reminding us, a scan only shows what is visible. To get at what was happening at the microscopic level, we would need more blood work, more probing, more examinations—and more chemotherapy.
But after the fifth round of chemo (of the prescribed six), the lab results were thought to be so good that a final round of the chemicals was deemed unnecessary. Choosing to stop chemo varied from the oncologist's original conservative prescription, but the chemo seemed to be doing more damage at this point than the cancer had done; although there were few physical side effects present, my partner's mental abilities seemed to be increasingly compromised. The oncologist agreed with us to shorten the chemotherapy treatment, or at least he did not insist on one more blast of chemo.
The nightmare that had begun in August was over and done with by Christmas. So far, the happy ending of this story is holding. The cancer, after almost a year, has not returned. And my partner has resumed his life fully, with mounting energy and enthusiasm to meet the bright future he had imagined during those dark days.
From a cancer patient, he has become a cancer survivor.
Every year in the United States alone, more than one and a half million people are handed the shocking cancer diagnosis that was given to my partner—that's the population of Phoenix or Philadelphia.
Imagine all those hundreds of thousands of people lined up to receive treatment for their cancers, hoping that they will receive the best treatment possible, that they will able to afford it, that the process of healing will be easy and not wrenching, and that they will come out the other side in good health and ready to pick up their lives where they left off before cancer.
Some eventually will call themselves cancer survivors, joining the twelve million in the U.S. Others will not.
Statistics on how many cancer patients will opt for conventional allopathic treatment, including chemotherapy, are hard to come by; numbers are difficult, maybe even impossible, to ascertain. Most sources that monitor the traffic in and out of hospitals and cancer clinics say that probably 90% of diagnosed patients will choose conventional treatment—surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
My experience with cancer—including chemotherapy and the other conventional treatments medical science has to combat it—left me with a burning desire to share the information I gathered with people who have been diagnosed with cancer.
Early on in my partner's life-or-death cancer journey, I realized I wanted to write a book that would outline a practical way to augment the healing process begun by the oncologist and other specialists. Their job is to eradicate cancer cells using highly toxic chemicals. The job of the cancer patient and the caregiver is to pick up the process where that leaves off by using sensible eating plans with supplements, natural herbal powders, juices, and teas, combined with detoxifications and exercise—all designed to build up the immune system, help lessen the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy, keep the cancer patient healthy and more energetic during treatment, and speed up the healing process.
I am writing this book to tell cancer patients they can heal faster and better during their time in conventional treatment. This can be done by turning to the body's own self-correcting, self-healing capability for assistance.
The program I am setting out here starts with the idea that our bodies are potent healing machines and that well-being is our normal, natural state. Even under the assault of the toxic chemicals that make up chemotherapy—the more toxic the better, to destroy cancer cells—there is a great deal that can be done to help mitigate their side effects and to promote healing by activating and fueling the body's immune system, allowing it to operate as a powerful healing engine. Remember that even at the time of diagnosis, we have more healthy cells than cancer cells in our body.
Let me say here that what follows comes from my personal experience as a doctor of naturopathy and a caregiver to my partner and from the evidence of clients who come to me for help. It is not a scientific study or a laboratory tested procedure. I designed this program from my knowledge of natural medicine, learned over more than a decade of treating clients with various body imbalances.
This book admittedly presents a one-size-fits-all approach, even though it is important to acknowledge that every person and every cancer is different. Women with cancer are different from men with cancer; children with cancer are different from adults with cancer; people with lung cancer are different from people with stomach cancer. As humans, however, we share a common chemistry and that has been my guide in assembling a support plan that will benefit anyone seeking to stay healthy during chemotherapy and those returning to normal life...cancer-free.
If you are a cancer patient or a caregiver, I send you personal wishes for health, well-being, and a future filled with passion and joy. There is hope!
Please note that the information here is not meant to replace any therapy for cancer set out by a primary health provider. Before undertaking any of the suggestions I put forth in this book, a cancer patient and caregiver should check with the oncologist or other medical professional who is mainly responsible for treatment.
A Note about Our Website
All the information I assembled about staying healthy while undergoing chemotherapy could not fit in this book, so my team and I expanded the essential material you will find here into a website.
On the site you will see more recipes, charts that can be printed out for posting around the kitchen, sources for the highest quality supplements, educational articles, free downloads, and more.
The new field of staying healthy during cancer treatment is changing rapidly, with new research appearing virtually every day. I encourage you to visit our website frequently for up-to-the-minute information and inspiration.
PART ONE