Love, Medicine and Miracles
CherylHutch
Member Posts: 1,375 Member
Hey gang... I am reading this incredibly inspiring book by Dr. Bernie Siegel. I know we had mentioned him earlier in a different topic and a lot of you have probably heard of him before. He has written a number of books... but this particular book I'm reading -- Love, Medicine and Miracles (published in 1986) -- is a must read for anyone who is battling the cancer monster! I am thrilled to read his ideas that are so in tune with how I think, yet have not had my thoughts/ideas confirmed in writing. It's not that I've made them up or that they are anything new, but it is inspiring to see that there are many others out there who think the same way and research has been done to find there actually is scientific data to prove that theories around attitude, love and the will to live actually play a huge part in complete healing. Dr. Siegel talks about the "exceptional patient"... which is a patient who has the positive attitude, the will to live and does not just lay down and let what will be, will be.
Here is an excerpt from the book right at the beginning, in the introduction that made me realize I'm heading in the right direction...
"Other doctors' scientific research and my own day-to-day clinical experience have convinced me that the state of the mind chnages the state of the body by working through the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. Peace of mind sends the body a "live" message, while depression, fear, and unresolved conflict give it a "die" message. Thus, all healing is scientific, even if science can't yet explain exactly how the unexpected "miracles" occur.
Exceptional patients manifest the will to live in its most potent form. They take charge of their lives even if they were never able to before, and they work hard to achieve health and peace of mind. They do not rely on doctors to take the initiative but rather use them as members of a team, demanding the utmost in technique, resourcefulness, concern, and open-mindedness. If they're not satisfied, they change doctors.
However, exceptional patients also are loving, and thus understand the difficulties a physician faces. In most cases, my advice to a dissatisfied patient is to give the doctor a hug. Usually, this makes the doctor more willing to respond to the patient's needs, because you become an individual to your physician and are treated as an individual, not a disease."
and...
"We must remove the word "impossible" from our vocabulary. As David Ben-Gurion once observed in another context, "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist." Moreover, when we see how terms like "spontaneous remission" or "miracle" mislead and confuse us, then we will learn. Such terms imply that the patient must be lucky to be cured, but these healings occur through hard work. They are not acts of God. Remember that one generation's miracle may be another's scientific fact. Do not close your eyes to acts or events that are not always measurable. They happen by means of an inner energy available to all of us. That's why I prefer terms like "creative" or "self-induced" healing, which emphasize the patient's active role."
and...
"One problem with cancer statistics is that most self-induced cures don't get into the medical literature. A survey of the reports on solorectal cancer found only seven such cases described between 1900 and 1966, although there have certainly been many more than that. A person who gets well when he isn't supposed to doesn't go back to his doctor. If he does, many doctors automatically assume his cas was an error in daignosis. In addition, most physicians consider such cases too "mystical" to submit to a journal, or think they don't apply to the rest of their patients, the "hopeless" ones.
Since I've changed my approach to focus on these rarities, however, I hear about "miraculous" healings everywhere I go. Once people realize that I know such things happen, they feel it's safe to tell me about them. After a talk at a local church, for example, a man handed me a card and whispered, "Read it later," and walked away. The handwritten note said:
Approximately 10 years ago your partner operated on my dad and removed a section of his stomach. At this time you found his entire lymph gland system to be cancerous. You advised me, the oldest son, to inform the other members of my family of my father's condition. I chose not to. Last Sunday my dad was surprised with a wonderful birthday party. He was 85 years old and my 80 year old mom was smiling at his side!
I looked up the file, and sure enough, we had considered this man's illness terminal over ten years before. He'd had cancer of the pancreas with lymph-node metastases. I reviewed the pathology slides, and there was no error in diagnosis. One physician's response to this case was "a slow-growing tumour." Today, this gentleman is 90. The tumor must be very slow-growing, indeed. In such cases physicians must learn to rush to the patient's home and ask why he didn't die when he was supposed to. Otherwise, such self-cures will not appear in the medical literature, and we will never learn from them that these are not instances of good luck, diagnostic errors, slow growing tumors, or well-behaved cancers."
If any one of us on this board is feeling down, frustrated, angry, or asking ourselves, "WHY??"... I say run to your local bookstore or go to somewhere like Amazon.com and get yourself a copy of this book!! Get a highlighter and highlight the sections that make you say, "Aha!! I can relate to that!" or "Aha! That is me!" You will be glad you did and I'm sure you will be inspired throughout the whole read.
Huggggs,
Cheryl
Here is an excerpt from the book right at the beginning, in the introduction that made me realize I'm heading in the right direction...
"Other doctors' scientific research and my own day-to-day clinical experience have convinced me that the state of the mind chnages the state of the body by working through the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. Peace of mind sends the body a "live" message, while depression, fear, and unresolved conflict give it a "die" message. Thus, all healing is scientific, even if science can't yet explain exactly how the unexpected "miracles" occur.
Exceptional patients manifest the will to live in its most potent form. They take charge of their lives even if they were never able to before, and they work hard to achieve health and peace of mind. They do not rely on doctors to take the initiative but rather use them as members of a team, demanding the utmost in technique, resourcefulness, concern, and open-mindedness. If they're not satisfied, they change doctors.
However, exceptional patients also are loving, and thus understand the difficulties a physician faces. In most cases, my advice to a dissatisfied patient is to give the doctor a hug. Usually, this makes the doctor more willing to respond to the patient's needs, because you become an individual to your physician and are treated as an individual, not a disease."
and...
"We must remove the word "impossible" from our vocabulary. As David Ben-Gurion once observed in another context, "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist." Moreover, when we see how terms like "spontaneous remission" or "miracle" mislead and confuse us, then we will learn. Such terms imply that the patient must be lucky to be cured, but these healings occur through hard work. They are not acts of God. Remember that one generation's miracle may be another's scientific fact. Do not close your eyes to acts or events that are not always measurable. They happen by means of an inner energy available to all of us. That's why I prefer terms like "creative" or "self-induced" healing, which emphasize the patient's active role."
and...
"One problem with cancer statistics is that most self-induced cures don't get into the medical literature. A survey of the reports on solorectal cancer found only seven such cases described between 1900 and 1966, although there have certainly been many more than that. A person who gets well when he isn't supposed to doesn't go back to his doctor. If he does, many doctors automatically assume his cas was an error in daignosis. In addition, most physicians consider such cases too "mystical" to submit to a journal, or think they don't apply to the rest of their patients, the "hopeless" ones.
Since I've changed my approach to focus on these rarities, however, I hear about "miraculous" healings everywhere I go. Once people realize that I know such things happen, they feel it's safe to tell me about them. After a talk at a local church, for example, a man handed me a card and whispered, "Read it later," and walked away. The handwritten note said:
Approximately 10 years ago your partner operated on my dad and removed a section of his stomach. At this time you found his entire lymph gland system to be cancerous. You advised me, the oldest son, to inform the other members of my family of my father's condition. I chose not to. Last Sunday my dad was surprised with a wonderful birthday party. He was 85 years old and my 80 year old mom was smiling at his side!
I looked up the file, and sure enough, we had considered this man's illness terminal over ten years before. He'd had cancer of the pancreas with lymph-node metastases. I reviewed the pathology slides, and there was no error in diagnosis. One physician's response to this case was "a slow-growing tumour." Today, this gentleman is 90. The tumor must be very slow-growing, indeed. In such cases physicians must learn to rush to the patient's home and ask why he didn't die when he was supposed to. Otherwise, such self-cures will not appear in the medical literature, and we will never learn from them that these are not instances of good luck, diagnostic errors, slow growing tumors, or well-behaved cancers."
If any one of us on this board is feeling down, frustrated, angry, or asking ourselves, "WHY??"... I say run to your local bookstore or go to somewhere like Amazon.com and get yourself a copy of this book!! Get a highlighter and highlight the sections that make you say, "Aha!! I can relate to that!" or "Aha! That is me!" You will be glad you did and I'm sure you will be inspired throughout the whole read.
Huggggs,
Cheryl
1
Comments
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Echo your thoughts
I love bernie siegel and bought that book. In fact, I loaned it to a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years after my initial diagnosis and haven't seen it back! I guess I better go out and get another copy of it! This book is why I hug my onc whenever I see him!
mary1 -
yes
I have his series of books as well. He also has medication and healing videos etc...HIs info is so inspirational and interesting. i find all of his books very helpful. Dr OZ from oprah has some good books too, they are not about cancer specifically ,but his books have chapters about cancer and the rest of the books are about how to keep your body in tip top shape and keep your immune system strong etc.. He talks about how laughing has wonderful effects on the immune system and can kill cancer cells. So he says find stuff that makes you laugh everyday. I have one of the Friends tv show year videos and the episodes on there are so funny i laugh so hard.. i try to watch those often.. He also talks about yoga, or medication or Tae Chi or whatever he calls it also have major effects on the immune system being able to kill of cancer cells, and he says that every single american has had cancer, it is just a matter of who's immune system can fight it off.
It's certainly all very interesting....1 -
Attitude and Faith is Everything
My mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer back in 1973, she had a radiom inplant followed by radiation. We did not know how advanced it was ..we were not told until her passing 14 years later. They called her their "miracle patient". She had a great 14 years...the cancer came back almost every 4 years but they took care of it and she went back to living. She had such an amazing attitude and such a strong faith in God. Finally in May of 1987 she was admitted to the hospital for a tumor near her neck. They removed it but it came back. She finally went into a coma state...the doctor even tried sitting her up in a chair thinking she would come out of it because she had overcome so much. She passed away on July 24 1987 after a 14 year battle with the monster. We are so thankful that she never gave up because we have 14 more years of wonderful memories of her. You have to keep a positive attitude and a strong faith in God. We all just have today and we need to make the most of this day. Thanks for the book title. I will go get it. My husband has been fighting cancer for over two years and just when the oncologist gave up on him, we saw a specialist at Vanderbilt and they are sending him to a surgeon on the 13th. They think the cancer that came up in the liver can be removed. Praise God. Good luck and keep that great attitude and faith. You will be in our prayers.
Anna1 -
Attitudeamcp said:Attitude and Faith is Everything
My mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer back in 1973, she had a radiom inplant followed by radiation. We did not know how advanced it was ..we were not told until her passing 14 years later. They called her their "miracle patient". She had a great 14 years...the cancer came back almost every 4 years but they took care of it and she went back to living. She had such an amazing attitude and such a strong faith in God. Finally in May of 1987 she was admitted to the hospital for a tumor near her neck. They removed it but it came back. She finally went into a coma state...the doctor even tried sitting her up in a chair thinking she would come out of it because she had overcome so much. She passed away on July 24 1987 after a 14 year battle with the monster. We are so thankful that she never gave up because we have 14 more years of wonderful memories of her. You have to keep a positive attitude and a strong faith in God. We all just have today and we need to make the most of this day. Thanks for the book title. I will go get it. My husband has been fighting cancer for over two years and just when the oncologist gave up on him, we saw a specialist at Vanderbilt and they are sending him to a surgeon on the 13th. They think the cancer that came up in the liver can be removed. Praise God. Good luck and keep that great attitude and faith. You will be in our prayers.
Anna
I agree... I've always said, even before I knew I had cancer... attitude is the key and faith in whatever your belief system. I don't belong to any of the traditional religions, so having faith in a religion/God I don't believe in doesn't mean anything to me, whereas it does to someone who believes in the Christian or whatever God/religion they follow. It's very misleading to say that you have to have a strong faith in God when you have to realize that not everyone belongs to the same faith/religion. That is why you will never hear me refer to a God when talking to a group of people. If I'm talking one-on-one and I happen to know the person I'm talking to is very religious and has a strong faith in God, then fine... I will refer to the strength they can get from their beliefs and faith in their God. But I would never assume that everyone who reads a message I've put on a public forum has the same religious points of views.
But, everyone, no matter what your beliefs are, has an attitude... whether it is a positive, negative, or "sits on the fence"... and it's attitude that I feel comfortable talking to everyone about. I'm a firm believer that attitude is at least 50% of the battle, if not more. Anything that is labelled "incurable" just means that the doctors/technicians don't have a medical cure for it, but it can be CUREd from withIN, hence the word IN-CURE-ABLE...the ability to cure from within.
For me, I believe that everyone has an internal energy source... some call it a soul, others call it the life source energy. It is this energy that I feel is used to sustain life, but it takes work... a lot of work, and the desire to live. It doesn't mean sitting back and letting someone else do all the work for you... you have to get out there and work to cure your physical ailments and use your life energy to live. Negative energy, or anger, only gets in the way and doesn't let your life energy do the job it's good at doing.
I'm not finished reading the book, and I'm sure our ideas differ greatly in some areas, but I'm always inspired to read authors that have similar ideas and how they came across them
I also love any books that give people inspiration to carry on... that it's all worth it
Hugggggs,
Cheryl1 -
Your right
Cheryl, You are so right. I find attitude has gotten me through so much and I also read Ekhart Tolle's "power of now". Its great too. One thing I remember in there is the lament "Why me" and actually the truth is Why not me? Im not special, some of us will get cancer and I am one of them. I however am strong in my desire to survive and fulfill long term plans. I as you, will choose to live, even if we have to fight a few battles along the way. Wishing or thinking it should have happened to someone else is wasted energy.
Your quite a inspiration to me and others, and I always appreciate your involvement in this board. Thanks and I believe in miracles and cures too.0 -
Ekhart TolleMike49 said:Your right
Cheryl, You are so right. I find attitude has gotten me through so much and I also read Ekhart Tolle's "power of now". Its great too. One thing I remember in there is the lament "Why me" and actually the truth is Why not me? Im not special, some of us will get cancer and I am one of them. I however am strong in my desire to survive and fulfill long term plans. I as you, will choose to live, even if we have to fight a few battles along the way. Wishing or thinking it should have happened to someone else is wasted energy.
Your quite a inspiration to me and others, and I always appreciate your involvement in this board. Thanks and I believe in miracles and cures too.
Oooh, Ekhart Tolle's books are very inspirational too. He has a more recent one "A New Earth" which is pretty darn interesting, although sometimes I find with my easily distracted brain, he gets a little wordy and I have to re-read what he's just said for it to sink in. But both Power of Now and A New Earth are excellent books on taking control back of our lives... and just how much power we have that most of us don't realize. Again... the power of thought and the Laws of Attraction... pretty wonderful things. Of course, talk to anyone who is steeped in science, studies and statistics... they probably think we all are looney tunes
Thanks for the kind words, Mike ... and that makes me very happy if some of my babbling makes others think, "Well, why not?? I can do that!!"
Hugggggs,
Cheryl0 -
This book was influential in my breast cancer journey as well. I was at a low point in my life before diagnosis, and was actively learning to love myself. Seeing the importance of love in self-healing was a powerful confirmation to me, and the concept of an exceptional patient inspired me to take charge of my life through the healing journey.
0
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