Love, Medicine and Miracles

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