14 Years NED
It's been 15 years since my diagnosis of stage 3c papillary, serous adenocarcinoma of the ovary. 15 years since my suboptimal debulking (tumors left in lymph nodes, on my bowel and on my liver that could not be removed). 15 years since I developed ascites so chronically and severely that I had to have it drained every 3 days for two months. 15 years since I ended up on 24/7 IV nutrition because I lost so much albumin protein from the the repeated draining of the ascites that my normal tissues could no longer hold fluids.
I am grateful to the conventional doctors, some who stepped over the line for me, who pitched in and did what they could do and felt was right. But I credit my ultimate survival and continued good health to the alternative doctors who helped me recognize what had gone so terribly wrong in my body to make it a cancer-growing machine.
My gyn/onc concluded, after my surgery, that I had less than a year to live and the chemo was not going to be effective on the tumor (based on an assay). But I got help from alternative oncologists in Mexico and oncology naturopaths in the U.S. and we chipped away at the tumors with things that made the chemo I was receiving more effective, while also reducing the side effects of conventional treatment. Surprisingly, after my last chemo treatment 14 years ago, I was NED, and although it is common for a patient to have success with first line treatment for ovarian cancer (Carbo/Taxol is 80% effective) more often than not, the patient is sooner or later given the bad news that they recurred.
Once I received the miraculous news that I was NED, my naturopath worked with me to address the root causes of why cancer grew inside of me in the first place. This is where conventional medicine fails its patients. It never addresses what caused the cancer. In fact, it acts as if there is no explanation and that the patient was healthy and vibrant one day, and diagnosed with a horrific disease the next. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and what I've learned from the practitioners I've seen and the books I've read on the subject is that your body has to be really messed up for tumors to grow in it.
In fact, cancer cells are really just your normal cells that have been exposed to such a toxic environment that they start behaving differently in order to make a last ditch effort to survive. They are impacted at a genetic level through epigenetics and they frantically try to multiply and avoid dying when they should in order to continue their lineage. Isn't that just what a tumor is? Cells that multiply exponentially and won't die willingly. Due to other imbalances in the body, the tumor is then able to have blood vessels built to bring it a blood supply and through its behavior is able to hijack the liver to produce food for it.
I can lose a lot of people when I try to describe the physiology of tumors, but what is more important is to understand that you can alter the imbalances in your body so that tumors can no longer grow. My naturopath did extensive testing and we identified that some of the things contributing to my tumor-friendly body included: hormone imbalance, high cortisol, high growth factors, chronic inflammation, sticky blood, too much copper, too much stress, lack of exercise,'.. We addressed each, mostly with with diet and supplements, and one by one, these imbalances rectified. In order to prevent these imbalances from coming back, I changed my diet and lifestyle to one that is anti-cancer and I continue to follow this way of life even today. For those of you who will say your cancer was caused by your BRCA mutation, you should also know you can use diet and lifestyle to minimize the effects of the BRCA mutation and thus reduce your risk of recurrence.
I only share this information because I understand your pain, ladies. I want you to know you don't have a death sentence. Knowledge is power and the more you know, the more you can advocate for yourself.
Blessings.
Comments
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Thank you so much for your post! I am going to go back through all your previous posts! It looks like I could learn a lot from you. I tried to get into a Naturopathic Oncologist but haven't been able to find one accepting new patients yet!
I have been working on my diet but I think I need to hone in more on the root causes as you did.
Thanks again and I wish you all the best!
Ingrid
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Thank you, for sharing. I’ve been NED for 7-1/2 years.
However, last week I got a call that I tested positive for Barrett’s Disease and/or Adenocarcinoma esophagus cancer.
So, I’m back in that unknown place, until further examination and a biopsy is performed. And, unfortunately, all doctors are booked out until July.
I did find one GI doctor who can see me Monday. But, who knows how long he’s booked out to perform an upper-GI?
And sadly, my alternative doctor has retired and I moved to a new state - Oregon. So, back to the drawing board.
Because of my previous cancer being adenocarcinoma of the uterus, I’m now thinking it may be wise for me to go to the emergency to get answers sooner than later. 🤷♀️
If I learned anything, from my first cancer, it is to advocate for yourself. And, don’t always have a lackadaisical attitude like most doctors do. The earlier cancer is caught and treated, the better your chances of bearing it.
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SO GLAD you proved the doctors wrong. Congratulations!
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My name is Jill and I quite literally just joined this group after finding out I have stage 4 uterine this week. I’m still in shock but I’m starting my journey of acceptance. My husband and I met with my GYN oncologist on Thursday and received the news. She said it’s non operable at the moment because it is disseminated throughout my omentum and peritoneum so de-bulking would be sub-optimal and could make my outcome even worse. She sent the biopsy info to Caris but for now she recommends 6 cycles of chemo and immunotherapy. My husband is a dietitian who specializes in cellular metabolism and has taught me a great deal about the role of nutrition in the setting of illness. In general, we prefer alternatives to mainstream medical care. We found a naturopathic oncologist about 90 min away and plan to call Monday but finding the cancer so late in the game makes me feel like I don’t have time to try holistic only. So at this point I think I’m going to do it all - chemo, immunotherapy AND naturopathic medicine. I’m very very encouraged to hear about your story. If you don’t mind I’d like to stay in touch to hear about what you learned from your naturopath and what worked well for you. Thanks in advance and congratulations on your strength and perseverance!
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I's so sorry about your diagnosis. It's never easy to hear something like this. Of course, Jill. I'm happy to stay in touch. I think cancer is so tricky, knowing when it is appropriate to go 100% holistic vs integrative. There is so much information available now than was accessible when I went through this. You are so fortunate that your husband is so knowledgeable and he's part or your team.
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Yes, I'm near Portland. I found a GI doctor to do my endoscopy on Friday. He did not see any masses or growths, but some shallow scarring of my esophagus, which he biopsied. This may be the Barrett's disease.
He did find that my stomach has herniated into my esophagus, which in turn secretes the acid in my esophagus, resulting in the soft tissue cellular structure changing. If the acid doesn't get under control, then the next phase is cancer.
This part confuses me (the hernia)...they're saying there is NOTHING you can do about hiatal hernias...just live with it. This doesn't seem right, as it is very uncomfortable, can become painful, and again is causing acid to live in my esophagus.
I'm trying to remain optimistic that it's just early stages of Barrett's and not cancer. I'll know more, next week, when the biopsy results come back.
In the meantime, I need to research how to treat the findings (hiatal hernia). The doctor put me on Nexium 40 mg, one time a day before breakfast. I'm also reading tons of books on how to alter my eating, for it to be more of a low acid-diet and if possible, heal the scaring that has begun in my esophagus.
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Charissa, this sounds like great news. A hiatal hernia is easier to deal with than cancer. Unfortunately, conventional doctors don't have all the answers. If there's one thing I learned from seeing naturopaths, it's that almost anything is fixable. I would suggest still consulting with one. I know that the answer to GERD is not to lower the stomach acid, but to actually increase it. But I don't know enough about hiatal hernia's to give advice on that. I just know there is probably a simple way to address it.
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