Alternative Therapy in a "Protocol" Society

OneDaughter
OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
In short...My mom had a small cancerous lump a couple of years ago. She had a lumpectomy and 2 levels of lymph nodes removed (which came out clean). Since then she's opted to go completely alternative ie: no chemo, no mams, no CATs, etc. She now has another lump. She thinks it may be a scar from the last incision. There are many other things she can do, but the Dr's all want her do to all the "protocol" tests, which, in and of themselves can cause cancer. My mom has completely changed her lifestyle. She doesn't eat any sugars or white starches, she oxygenates her body, she eats completely organic foods (including meat). She doesn't put any hormones or chemicals into or on her body. Because of this, she kinda feels alone. It's very frustrating and exhausting when you have to responsible for your own healthcare. She has to do all the research, all the footwork, meet with different doctors, explain herself over and over again. She has to listen to all the "protocol" treatment recommendations. There are sooo many other treatments and tests she can do and is more than willing to do ie:AMAS tests, Ultrasound, MRI, Thermography, etc. Is there anybody out there that can identify with this????
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Comments

  • mono5
    mono5 Member Posts: 94
    Those of us...
    That have had cancer and are in remission and understand the "why" of cancer, have to change our diet & life style to avoid a reoccurance. But everything within reason. I do a partial raw food diet, but especially avoid processed and fast foods. Eating mostly organic i think is necessary. Detox daily with a simple herbal formula and a couple of other formulas that support killer cell activity. The Amazon herbs, especially formulas with graviola, una de gato and Pau de arco, cut to the chase to avoid cancer. rain-tree.com is a good website to explore for information...
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    mono5 said:

    Those of us...
    That have had cancer and are in remission and understand the "why" of cancer, have to change our diet & life style to avoid a reoccurance. But everything within reason. I do a partial raw food diet, but especially avoid processed and fast foods. Eating mostly organic i think is necessary. Detox daily with a simple herbal formula and a couple of other formulas that support killer cell activity. The Amazon herbs, especially formulas with graviola, una de gato and Pau de arco, cut to the chase to avoid cancer. rain-tree.com is a good website to explore for information...

    Thank you, Mono5, for your
    Thank you, Mono5, for your input. It's greatly appreciated. How do you feel about alternative testing/screening options as opposed to "protocol" testing/screening methods?
  • mono5
    mono5 Member Posts: 94

    Thank you, Mono5, for your
    Thank you, Mono5, for your input. It's greatly appreciated. How do you feel about alternative testing/screening options as opposed to "protocol" testing/screening methods?

    Thats a good question...
    I think your refering to geting screened by a naturopathic or homopathic doc rather then conventional testing/screening?? I just do the regular conventional physical once a year thats covered by Secure Horizon. Once you alkalinize your body against cancer and other degenerative diseases you have no need to worry about the potholes in the road ahead. I have no need for doctors or pharmaceitals.. It's takes time to build up immunity but it's worth it to have the freedom of not having to worry when going for that yearly physical.
  • mmontero38
    mmontero38 Member Posts: 1,510
    Hi One: I've also changed
    Hi One: I've also changed my lifestyle. I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of fish, hardly any meat and I exercise vigoursly every other day. I go to the gym and do cardio and strength training for 2 hours. Though I can understand your mom's feelings about alternative medicine and such, I would go for the screening, just for my peace of mind. Hugs, Lili
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11

    Hi One: I've also changed
    Hi One: I've also changed my lifestyle. I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of fish, hardly any meat and I exercise vigoursly every other day. I go to the gym and do cardio and strength training for 2 hours. Though I can understand your mom's feelings about alternative medicine and such, I would go for the screening, just for my peace of mind. Hugs, Lili

    Wow
    Thanx, Mono5, those are interesting points.
    And Thank YOU, MMontero38, for your input. I guess it's a really personal choice that each person has to feel at peace with. My mom doesn't want to do a biopsy bc if it IS cancer, then a biopsy drags the cancer cells through everything with the needle and that's not a good thing. Mammography uses radiation. She works really hard, has learned a lot, and spends a good deal of money on maintaining her health. It's seems a bit backwards to her to do screenings that have been shown to either cause cancer, or to spread it. She's doing an AMAS test on Monday, seeing a renown cancer specialist as well as her naturopath this month. Since she's discovered this lump a little over a year ago, she's already had two AMAS tests and they were both normal. Her lifestylem, routine, the normal AMAS tests, the shady spot on the ultrasound, the fact that the lump has not grown at all in this last year, but magically apeared the year before in the size of about a cm...It's unlikely that this IS cancer, but....
  • mono5
    mono5 Member Posts: 94

    Wow
    Thanx, Mono5, those are interesting points.
    And Thank YOU, MMontero38, for your input. I guess it's a really personal choice that each person has to feel at peace with. My mom doesn't want to do a biopsy bc if it IS cancer, then a biopsy drags the cancer cells through everything with the needle and that's not a good thing. Mammography uses radiation. She works really hard, has learned a lot, and spends a good deal of money on maintaining her health. It's seems a bit backwards to her to do screenings that have been shown to either cause cancer, or to spread it. She's doing an AMAS test on Monday, seeing a renown cancer specialist as well as her naturopath this month. Since she's discovered this lump a little over a year ago, she's already had two AMAS tests and they were both normal. Her lifestylem, routine, the normal AMAS tests, the shady spot on the ultrasound, the fact that the lump has not grown at all in this last year, but magically apeared the year before in the size of about a cm...It's unlikely that this IS cancer, but....

    Hi Again One
    I can understand why you mom doesen't want to do mammography based on the information i've found. This article i read today goes on, quote un quote, you may think mammograms are the ideal screening tool to give you a warning stage before the cancer becomes far more difficult to treat. Unfortunately... Mammograms Can Actually INCREASE your risk of breast cancer despite what you may have heard from other sources.

    They expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray -- this makes you vulnerable unnecessarily to further risks of radiation-induced cancer.
    Additionally, mammography compresses the breasts tightly (and often painfully), which could lead to a lethal spread of any existing malignant cells.

    And there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives. In fact, research demonstrates that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone.
    The Newest Safe Cancer Screening Tool is called thermal imaging, or thermography. Have you heard of thermography? It measures inflammation. It's called thermal imaging, or thermography. In a nutshell, this tool creates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns -- patterns that may detect some condition or abnormality. It uses a scanning-type infrared camera that measures your body surface temperature, presenting the information as a digitized image. I'ts said that inflammation is the precurser for cancer and other diseases. That why i take Zyflamend daily.. it's not only the most popular natural anti-inflammatory in the world, but it also contains turmeric and green tea besides the 7 other whole plant herbs, that are documented effective against cancer. You can buy it over the counter in most health food stores or on the net. Google Zyflamend, to bring up the original article on it from Natural Newes. It works amazingly well. I take it especially after a workout. The same company called, New Chapter also markets a formula, Host Defense, it's called, and it's been shown to increase human Natural Killer (NK) Cell activity by up to 300%. In Japan they use a medicinal mushrooms complex along with chemotherapy. And it actually increases the effectiveness of chemo i've read in an article. Google medicinal mushrooms with AHCC for ths info.
    The article on mammography/thermography can be found at: http://naturalhealthcenter.mercola.com/services/thermography.aspx

    Cheers, Ron
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    mono5 said:

    Hi Again One
    I can understand why you mom doesen't want to do mammography based on the information i've found. This article i read today goes on, quote un quote, you may think mammograms are the ideal screening tool to give you a warning stage before the cancer becomes far more difficult to treat. Unfortunately... Mammograms Can Actually INCREASE your risk of breast cancer despite what you may have heard from other sources.

    They expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray -- this makes you vulnerable unnecessarily to further risks of radiation-induced cancer.
    Additionally, mammography compresses the breasts tightly (and often painfully), which could lead to a lethal spread of any existing malignant cells.

    And there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives. In fact, research demonstrates that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone.
    The Newest Safe Cancer Screening Tool is called thermal imaging, or thermography. Have you heard of thermography? It measures inflammation. It's called thermal imaging, or thermography. In a nutshell, this tool creates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns -- patterns that may detect some condition or abnormality. It uses a scanning-type infrared camera that measures your body surface temperature, presenting the information as a digitized image. I'ts said that inflammation is the precurser for cancer and other diseases. That why i take Zyflamend daily.. it's not only the most popular natural anti-inflammatory in the world, but it also contains turmeric and green tea besides the 7 other whole plant herbs, that are documented effective against cancer. You can buy it over the counter in most health food stores or on the net. Google Zyflamend, to bring up the original article on it from Natural Newes. It works amazingly well. I take it especially after a workout. The same company called, New Chapter also markets a formula, Host Defense, it's called, and it's been shown to increase human Natural Killer (NK) Cell activity by up to 300%. In Japan they use a medicinal mushrooms complex along with chemotherapy. And it actually increases the effectiveness of chemo i've read in an article. Google medicinal mushrooms with AHCC for ths info.
    The article on mammography/thermography can be found at: http://naturalhealthcenter.mercola.com/services/thermography.aspx

    Cheers, Ron

    Hello Ron
    Wow, ok, so this was an awesome read. Thank you very much. Yes, my mom is very familiar with thermograghy. And we seem to be on the same page with mammography. I've never heard of Zyflamend or the others, but maybe my mom has. I'll let her know. Thank you.
  • mono5 said:

    Hi Again One
    I can understand why you mom doesen't want to do mammography based on the information i've found. This article i read today goes on, quote un quote, you may think mammograms are the ideal screening tool to give you a warning stage before the cancer becomes far more difficult to treat. Unfortunately... Mammograms Can Actually INCREASE your risk of breast cancer despite what you may have heard from other sources.

    They expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray -- this makes you vulnerable unnecessarily to further risks of radiation-induced cancer.
    Additionally, mammography compresses the breasts tightly (and often painfully), which could lead to a lethal spread of any existing malignant cells.

    And there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives. In fact, research demonstrates that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone.
    The Newest Safe Cancer Screening Tool is called thermal imaging, or thermography. Have you heard of thermography? It measures inflammation. It's called thermal imaging, or thermography. In a nutshell, this tool creates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns -- patterns that may detect some condition or abnormality. It uses a scanning-type infrared camera that measures your body surface temperature, presenting the information as a digitized image. I'ts said that inflammation is the precurser for cancer and other diseases. That why i take Zyflamend daily.. it's not only the most popular natural anti-inflammatory in the world, but it also contains turmeric and green tea besides the 7 other whole plant herbs, that are documented effective against cancer. You can buy it over the counter in most health food stores or on the net. Google Zyflamend, to bring up the original article on it from Natural Newes. It works amazingly well. I take it especially after a workout. The same company called, New Chapter also markets a formula, Host Defense, it's called, and it's been shown to increase human Natural Killer (NK) Cell activity by up to 300%. In Japan they use a medicinal mushrooms complex along with chemotherapy. And it actually increases the effectiveness of chemo i've read in an article. Google medicinal mushrooms with AHCC for ths info.
    The article on mammography/thermography can be found at: http://naturalhealthcenter.mercola.com/services/thermography.aspx

    Cheers, Ron

    American Cancer Society
    Hello All,

    For up to date information on mammography and breast cancer screenings, we encourage you to contact the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center. Cancer Information Specialists are available 24 hours a day at 1-800-227-2345.

    Kind regards,

    Your CSN Staff
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    mono5 said:

    Those of us...
    That have had cancer and are in remission and understand the "why" of cancer, have to change our diet & life style to avoid a reoccurance. But everything within reason. I do a partial raw food diet, but especially avoid processed and fast foods. Eating mostly organic i think is necessary. Detox daily with a simple herbal formula and a couple of other formulas that support killer cell activity. The Amazon herbs, especially formulas with graviola, una de gato and Pau de arco, cut to the chase to avoid cancer. rain-tree.com is a good website to explore for information...

    mono5 or liteman1
    You were over on the canger.org message board and followed my advice to someone over there to come here for support. Are you a salesman? Your email address is at amazonherb.net.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    mono5 said:

    Hi Again One
    I can understand why you mom doesen't want to do mammography based on the information i've found. This article i read today goes on, quote un quote, you may think mammograms are the ideal screening tool to give you a warning stage before the cancer becomes far more difficult to treat. Unfortunately... Mammograms Can Actually INCREASE your risk of breast cancer despite what you may have heard from other sources.

    They expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray -- this makes you vulnerable unnecessarily to further risks of radiation-induced cancer.
    Additionally, mammography compresses the breasts tightly (and often painfully), which could lead to a lethal spread of any existing malignant cells.

    And there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives. In fact, research demonstrates that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone.
    The Newest Safe Cancer Screening Tool is called thermal imaging, or thermography. Have you heard of thermography? It measures inflammation. It's called thermal imaging, or thermography. In a nutshell, this tool creates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns -- patterns that may detect some condition or abnormality. It uses a scanning-type infrared camera that measures your body surface temperature, presenting the information as a digitized image. I'ts said that inflammation is the precurser for cancer and other diseases. That why i take Zyflamend daily.. it's not only the most popular natural anti-inflammatory in the world, but it also contains turmeric and green tea besides the 7 other whole plant herbs, that are documented effective against cancer. You can buy it over the counter in most health food stores or on the net. Google Zyflamend, to bring up the original article on it from Natural Newes. It works amazingly well. I take it especially after a workout. The same company called, New Chapter also markets a formula, Host Defense, it's called, and it's been shown to increase human Natural Killer (NK) Cell activity by up to 300%. In Japan they use a medicinal mushrooms complex along with chemotherapy. And it actually increases the effectiveness of chemo i've read in an article. Google medicinal mushrooms with AHCC for ths info.
    The article on mammography/thermography can be found at: http://naturalhealthcenter.mercola.com/services/thermography.aspx

    Cheers, Ron

    mercola site
    Don't give out your email address to the mercola site or you will get his 'newsletter' ads sent to your inbox and its a nuisance. He sends all the time! I was on his list and very difficult to get off.
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    Marcia527 said:

    mercola site
    Don't give out your email address to the mercola site or you will get his 'newsletter' ads sent to your inbox and its a nuisance. He sends all the time! I was on his list and very difficult to get off.

    This is all new to me
    Thank you, CSN or ACS, for your well thought out and uplifting comment. It's pretty clear to to me that everyone here has all the latest information on mammography, as well as other "PROTOCOL" cancer screening methods. THAT'S THE WHOLE PROBLEM!!!

    ANYWAYYY, Marcia527, I've read both of your comments. Thank you for the heads up. It's really disgusting, to me, to think that you have to be that careful, even in a place like this. Please, keep up the good work.

    People, I'm doing this for my mom. This is MY topic, so this is MY place. If you have another agenda, PLEASE take it elswhere! I'm here to find likeminded people who might be able to share in HER experiences.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729

    This is all new to me
    Thank you, CSN or ACS, for your well thought out and uplifting comment. It's pretty clear to to me that everyone here has all the latest information on mammography, as well as other "PROTOCOL" cancer screening methods. THAT'S THE WHOLE PROBLEM!!!

    ANYWAYYY, Marcia527, I've read both of your comments. Thank you for the heads up. It's really disgusting, to me, to think that you have to be that careful, even in a place like this. Please, keep up the good work.

    People, I'm doing this for my mom. This is MY topic, so this is MY place. If you have another agenda, PLEASE take it elswhere! I'm here to find likeminded people who might be able to share in HER experiences.

    I'm sorry
    I'm sorry for intruding into your topic but was concerned. I have family members who believe in alternative health also.
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    Marcia527 said:

    I'm sorry
    I'm sorry for intruding into your topic but was concerned. I have family members who believe in alternative health also.

    It's Not You
    Hey Marcia, that blast wasn't meant for you. I really do appreciate your concern and the heads up. Anything more you have to add would be welcomed. I know you're concerned. Your heart and mind is the right place, friend.
  • phoenixrising
    phoenixrising Member Posts: 1,508
    mono5 said:

    Those of us...
    That have had cancer and are in remission and understand the "why" of cancer, have to change our diet & life style to avoid a reoccurance. But everything within reason. I do a partial raw food diet, but especially avoid processed and fast foods. Eating mostly organic i think is necessary. Detox daily with a simple herbal formula and a couple of other formulas that support killer cell activity. The Amazon herbs, especially formulas with graviola, una de gato and Pau de arco, cut to the chase to avoid cancer. rain-tree.com is a good website to explore for information...

    I and I'm sure a lot of
    I and I'm sure a lot of other people would love for you to tell us the "why" of cancer. Is that colon cancer, stomach cancer or breast cancer? Many different cancers with many different reasons. Some are known or suspected and others are not. 80% of breast cancer patients have no known risk factors. They don't know why. And many of them were lean, ate organics, took all the supplements and vitamins and still got it. I don't think it's as simple as many people would like it to be. Women can become more susceptible to breast cancer if their mother took DES during pregnancy to prevent morning sickness for instance.
    The past 40 yrs have been an era of great nutritional knowledge. Strangely enough that was the time of an increase in hormone based cancers. I knew and practiced far more than any of my ancestors and I'm the only one to get any type of cancer. So while a lot of rainforest herbs were used at one time by indigenous people to fight cancer and tumours, it doesn't mention what type of cancer and what type of tumours. I'm sure sometimes it worked and other times it didn't.
    Sounds like a crap shoot. To be more specific una de gato (cat's claw) was once used as a contraceptive and therefore has hormone modulating capabilities which no one in there right mind would suggest to give to a breast cancer patient unless they knew exactly how it affected breast tissue. And while pau de arco has been used for cancer and tumours, (that wasn't it's general use 10 yrs ago) it is a general statement and shouldn't be assumed it's good for breast cancer. Using it for something and having it be a success can be two different things.

    Immune boosting herbs are great if you're fighting a cold, for general good health or even for AIDs, but that's assuming your breast cancer was caused by a deficient immune system. How does that wake up a sleeping tumour suppressor gene? All the organics and antioxidants aren't going to wake it up. But overall you'll be healthier. I think the issue is more complicated than some of us would like to think.

    I was one who never believed in mammograms, (Cause I was doing everything and knew I wasn't going to get BC, after all, there's no cancer in my family). The mammogram showed the microcalcification that the MRI doesn't pick up. The MRI said I was clean.
  • mimivac
    mimivac Member Posts: 2,143 Member
    Marcia527 said:

    mercola site
    Don't give out your email address to the mercola site or you will get his 'newsletter' ads sent to your inbox and its a nuisance. He sends all the time! I was on his list and very difficult to get off.

    Mercola
    I agree. I get his incessant emails in my junk mail box all the time. I don't even remember signing up for anything. I just delete them immediately, but they are a nuisance.
  • mimivac
    mimivac Member Posts: 2,143 Member
    mimivac said:

    Mercola
    I agree. I get his incessant emails in my junk mail box all the time. I don't even remember signing up for anything. I just delete them immediately, but they are a nuisance.

    Sorry
    I didn't mean to crash either. Just replying to Marcia.
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    It's OK
    Hey Mimi, that blast was meant for people here on there own agendas, not for people like you and Marcia who are looking out for others. I would like to know if there's anyone out there who can identify with what my mom is going through.

    Hey Marcia, you still out there?

    Also, I'm over at breastcancer.org as well and I can't get through bc this survey is blocking it. It gives you options like, "no thanks" and "already took it", but I can't get past it. Has anyone else been there? I don't know where else to go.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729

    It's OK
    Hey Mimi, that blast was meant for people here on there own agendas, not for people like you and Marcia who are looking out for others. I would like to know if there's anyone out there who can identify with what my mom is going through.

    Hey Marcia, you still out there?

    Also, I'm over at breastcancer.org as well and I can't get through bc this survey is blocking it. It gives you options like, "no thanks" and "already took it", but I can't get past it. Has anyone else been there? I don't know where else to go.

    I'm here
    Trying to decide how to respond. This board is mainly about traditional care and a little about holistic. It sounds like your mom already knows a lot. I did find a message board for alternate care but it didn't have a lot about breast cancer. It was at webMd.com, I think. I have a couple family members into alternative care but I feel I shouldn't talk about them here. It's like talking behind their backs.

    I've never been to breastcancer.org. But I hate it when they have pop ups like that. I hate surveys. Did you try Ctrl/Alt/Delete? Hold down Ctrl and Alt and hit Delete. You should get a thingy showing whats running and you can stop the program running that you don't want by clicking on 'end task'. I use 'thingy' everytime I can't think of the word. Comes in handy. I think if you hit it twice it shuts down the computer. If you get the thingy and decide you don't want to 'end task' just click on the red X in the upper right.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729

    It's OK
    Hey Mimi, that blast was meant for people here on there own agendas, not for people like you and Marcia who are looking out for others. I would like to know if there's anyone out there who can identify with what my mom is going through.

    Hey Marcia, you still out there?

    Also, I'm over at breastcancer.org as well and I can't get through bc this survey is blocking it. It gives you options like, "no thanks" and "already took it", but I can't get past it. Has anyone else been there? I don't know where else to go.

    Opps
    WEll, my husband just told me I shouldn't give computer advice because I don't know enough. He said ctrl/alt/delete will end internet explorer not the pop up. Well shut my mouth! Don't listen to me.
  • OneDaughter
    OneDaughter Member Posts: 11
    Marcia527 said:

    I'm here
    Trying to decide how to respond. This board is mainly about traditional care and a little about holistic. It sounds like your mom already knows a lot. I did find a message board for alternate care but it didn't have a lot about breast cancer. It was at webMd.com, I think. I have a couple family members into alternative care but I feel I shouldn't talk about them here. It's like talking behind their backs.

    I've never been to breastcancer.org. But I hate it when they have pop ups like that. I hate surveys. Did you try Ctrl/Alt/Delete? Hold down Ctrl and Alt and hit Delete. You should get a thingy showing whats running and you can stop the program running that you don't want by clicking on 'end task'. I use 'thingy' everytime I can't think of the word. Comes in handy. I think if you hit it twice it shuts down the computer. If you get the thingy and decide you don't want to 'end task' just click on the red X in the upper right.

    YAY!!!
    Hey Marcia, I'm glad you're still here. This might sound a little off to you, but, you seem to be amazingly like me in your thought processes. I completely agree with you about how this board is turning out. I'm gonna check out the webmd site you suggested. As soon as I find one that's worth my mom's valuable time, I'll bring her in. Until then I'll continue to screen sites on her behalf. I'm honored to be accepted even though I, myself, don't have/haven't had cancer.

    As for the other site I mentioned, it's not exactly a pop. I think it's more of a redirect and it seems to only be attached to the discussion board portion of the site. It's "powered by Zoomerang" (whoever that is), and when your done with the survey, they what you to send out a survey of your own. So the discussion boards, at this time, aren't even accessable. I wrote a message to their technical support team, but we'll see...

    This is turning out to be a bit harder than I thought it would be. No wonder my mom gets discouraged. Actually my mom managed to find a bit of encouragement the other day. I don't think the timing or the source could have been better. She's seeing someone for her TMJ. This someone has an MD, but is more than that (I actually forgot-OD, or something like that). Anyhow, she's got a degree in and is practicing conventional medicine, but also believes wholeheartedly in holistic healthcare. She was able to come across to my mom from one world and connect her to the other world, so to speak. It really made her feel so much better and validated. You know, you tend to question whether or not you're actually doing the right things when you've got one side telling you one thing and the other side telling you something else. You question whether it really is a matter of fact or opinion what your choices have become. But when someone from the medical field, a well respected professional in that community, can tell you that's there's great truths on the other side of the spectrum, and tells you that she would be exploring all the same avenues that my mom is exploring, that's a HUGE encouragement. That's really all I'm looking for, for my mom.

    Anybody that's got that kind of message, that kind of encouragement, that kind of reassurance, is welcome on my board!