Just My Opinion

I attended the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance Summit yesterday in Denver. The morning was filled with presentations related to conventional medicine, molecular profiling, clinical trials, screening. They all focused on statistics and collecting data. Most were placing their faith in the future, close or distant, that their research would bring about something that would be of benefit to ovarian cancer patients. The survival statistics and the absence of improvement in treatment over the last decades was depressing to me. I'm not saying that the work they are doing is not important, because it is, but it all felt so futile. Hearing the stories of the women in attendance and their continued recurrances and various drug choices brought no more light to the situation.
In the afternoon, my naturopath presented. Her talk was entirely based on hard science; how the body works (or does not, in the case of cancer); the nature of cancer and what allows it go grow; and treating each patient acccording to her specific needs. There was no talk of statistics, but only of case studies, showing that each patient comes with her specific imbalances that compromise her body. Her focus was on treatment of the individual. And the results she reported were amazing. Some patients' oncologist are retesting the women's CA-125s because they aren't accustomed to having them drop so quickly.
It has been frustrating to me from the start that doctors don't look at the whole body and figure out what is going wrong. I realize this is not how they are trained, but it appears to me to be so misguided and counterintuitive. Unfortunately, the medical industry, in its current state, is huge, and it has no reason to change its way of thinking. It is up to us, as patients, to insist on receiving treatment that will not only get rid of the cancer temporarily, but will get us through treatment with as little damage as possible and keep us NED and healthy.
There are resources out there and I learned yesterday that my naturopath is teaching other naturopaths how she addresses cancer. I've learned so much through this journey. At the time I was in treatment, I just did what I felt I had to do, despite my doctors' warnings. But now I know that there are some doctors, who are willing to work with a practitioner who can make a patient healthy. If I found myself working with a doctor now, who would not give me his or her blessing in this regard, I would find someone else, who was willing to work hand-in-hand with my naturopath. We are consumers, even when it comes to finding someone to treat this disease. That means we should find a product with which we are satisfied.