I am super-excited you are here to read this post! Sit down, put the phone on mute, order a venti-grande-jumbo whatever and let's do this thing...
Still with me? Cool. If for whatever reason, it's your first time to this blog and you have little to no idea why you are here, click here to read a general overview of the journey that brought me to this post. If you hate the internet, I have decided to copy>paste this post into a PDF that you can download and read at your leisure. Download Metabolic Medicine 101
This explanation of how I am choosing to fight my brain cancer is a collection of reading books, research articles and personal cancer blogs. I have also critically considered a variety of documentaries (pros and cons) covering this issue. I am taking into account discussions with neurologists, oncologists, radiation specialists, cancer patients, cancer survivors and the remaining family members of those whose lives cancer has taken.
But know this most of all, the explanation of why I am choosing this path of treatment is that an number of people have joined me in praying that the Living God would give me wisdom in how to address and treat my cancer. I believe in a God who has individually created me, knows the number of days I have left on this earth and has mysteriously allowed / designed this cancer specifically for me. I can firmly say that this cancer, a circumstance that no one (including me) ever hopes for, has become a gift. I am not angry at God. This experience has become an entirely new way to view and understand Him.
Honestly, despite the fiery trials and doubt that continually press into me, I still consider it a joy to face this struggle because above all else, it teaches me to rejoice in the physical and social sufferings that were endured by Jesus Christ. And as the 1 Peter 4:13 says, one day His glory will be revealed and at that time those who suffered alongside Him will rejoice and be glad, because during those fiery trials, they were not concerned about wealth, comfort, social status or even personal survival, but glorifying God with their lives.
If you're about to quit reading because you think I'm crazy, finish this paragraph and then I bid you adieu. Please know there is a God who, even though it's hard if not impossible to understand, is bigger than the illness, natural disasters, injustice and suffering that any human encounters and somehow throughout these experiences... no, maybe even because of these experience, we somehow begin to understand and even experience peace, forgiveness, love, faith and hope. Personally, given the opportunity to return to my old life with my old understanding of God, I would not choose it. If that makes me crazy, so be it.
So my wife and I press forward in faith to live the lives that we would never have imagined (mainly because we never would have chosen this), but lives that God has specifically set us apart to live. Should my decisions end in life or death, I am not concerned. However, like the great stories of faith in the Bible, God says in the book of Hebrews that those who live and die lives of faith, that they desire and ache for a better place, a heavenly place and God says that He is preparing that place for them. And when they arrive God says 'He will not be ashamed to be called their God'. So we press forward in faith knowing that no matter the results of our time spent here, there is a better place for us with a God who says that He will be proud to welcome us home. That is what living this life is all about, even when it doesn't make sense.
Do you see what I'm getting at? Let's be honest... I've been given the opportunity to share my story by writing this post and briefly holding your attention because I have cancer and it's natural for humans to gather around other humans enduring suffering. But the real story is so much bigger than me or my story or suffering.
Please don't miss THAT story! If you miss that story, you've missed the point altogether and you'd be better off reading The Hardy Boys right now.
(Exit Soapbox)
God gives wisdom to those who ask for it. We have prayed for wisdom on how to approach this cancer treatment and feel that the Holy Spirit is guiding us to choose this path. We're cool with the fact that maybe you disagree with us or think there is a better option available. Your personal story may have started or ended very different than this so we can only speak for ourselves.
Diagnosis: Malignant Cancer of the Brain; Grade II - Oligoastrocytoma
Conventional Treatment Recommendation: Since the tumor is inoperable and resection is not possible, reduce the size of the symptomatic tumor through an ongoing combination of radiation and chemotherapy.
Chosen Alternative Treatment Recommendation: Considering the symptomatic tumor is the result of cancer causing activities happening throughout the body and overcoming the immune system, focus on returning the body to health by restoring it's natural self-regulating capabilities. (Kinda like training wheels until I get enough speed to continue on my own momentum...)
Treatment Length: Up to 18 months
Basic Treatment Steps of Metabolic Medicine:
- Diet - Similar to my current diet. No canned or processed foods. Everything organic. Cooking with all stainless steel, no microwaves, all filtered water for drinking, cooking, showering, etc...
- Detox - Coffee Enemas and Infrared Saunas. (Yes, you heard correctly. Coffee Enemas! That'll keep you reading!)
- Supplementation - Bolstering body's natural pancreatic proteolytic enzymes through oral supplements. These enzymes focused on entering the bloodstream, locating the tumor and digesting the specific protein of the tumor mass without harming the body's healthy tissues.
If you are interested in reading more about this alternative treatment, please continue reading or return to the top to download and read later because I'm only gettin' warmed up...
Now, before we get started and before you start to type passionate and lengthy emails, let's get to the disclaimers!
- Despite spending one semester in Pre-Med, I am not a doctor. However, I am an Eagle Scout and I spent 3 summers as a lifeguard. I don't know if that means anything to you so I'll let that speak for itself...
- If you suffer from cancer and are looking for treatment options, please know that I am not telling you that this is the only way that cancer can be treated, reversed or healed. However, in my personal opinion and the wisdom I've been given, this approach resonates with my understanding of my specific type of cancer more than any other treatment I have discovered to this point.
- If you suffer from cancer or another chronic illness and blindly trust whatever you're doctor tells you, I strongly suggest that you grow a pair, start thinking, reading and researching for yourself. Make your OWN decisions. Even if you eventually come to agree with your doctors, it will be your decision, not theirs and your response to their treatment will be better.
- If any of my anatomical, medical or nutritional explanations in this post are lacking complete inerrancy, please accept my apology and refer back to Disclaimer #1.
Here we go. Yes, I know. You've been reading for about 45 minutes and we are only now getting to the good stuff. Maybe you should check your voicemail, double-check your kids aren't bleeding and grab a healthy, non-processed snack such as celery or some almonds. Deep breath. Ready?
CHAPTER 2
Remember that time when I went to the emergency room for the second time? Micah the Magician had been doing quite a bit of work on me including some CranioSacral therapy. He was working on this the day before I starting having major pre-seizure symptoms. Crap, we jointly thought, somehow by screwing with my craniosacral fluid, Micah has screwed me up and now I'm in the ER. (For the record, later we discovered that his therapy had absolutely nothing to do with my pre-seizure symptoms.) But there was a moment where Micah was so concerned that he started calling other local practitioners in order to find a legitimate Chiropractor who was familiar with Craniosacral therapy. After talking with a few, he found the guy he was looking for.
(Side-note: From this moment on, this Chiropractic doctor will be known as "Dr. Y". Why? Namely because Dr. X is overused with underworld villains and sounds slightly ominous. "Dr. Y" is underused and sounds more meaningful, you know? Kinda like a name that is part answer and part question. Still mysterious, yet also hopeful.)
Later I discovered why Micah choose Dr. Y. He is Chinese and his wife runs the front office. Micah, my conspiracy theorist naturopath with a distaste for corporations, has a great deal of respect for Chinese practitioners and family-run small businesses. So, I go to see Dr. Y, a random local chiropractor.
The first thing Dr. Y tells me is that my spine is whacked. I figured this was obvious considered this is what every chiropractic doctor tells a client the first time they meet. "You're broke = you need me. Keep coming back and paying me money." Nevertheless, after showing me that my right shoulder was dipping about and inch and a half lower than my left and my right leg was considerably shorter than my left, I didn't argue.
After making the adjustments, he bluntly let me know that God shows him things with his patients and he felt that my cancer was mainly due a parasite infection and heavy metal poisoning. WHAT? This guy knows nothing about me and he's already telling me, via divination, why I have cancer which is very different reasoning than Micah's thought about where my cancer came from.
Not to mention, parasites? heavy metals? Gross.
He told me that on top of his chiropractic work, He is also trained in a metabolic medicine program that reverses cancer. If I was interested in undergoing this therapy, he would serve as a guide and take me through the program. He gave me a book called, One Answer to Cancer written by Dr. William Donald Kelley that was last published in 1969.
I read the book. I re-read the book. This book, which is only 36 pages long, essentially recaps EVERYTHING I had been reading in all of the other current-day cancer books. It was so clear, concise, medically justified without forgetting elements of emotional health and stress management. This was the book I had been looking for! It actually made sense while talking about the symptoms of cancer vs. the cause of cancer and about how the immune system is the ONLY way to truly fight cancer without body detriment, and about how the cancer industry is corrupt and despite well-natured physicians, wasn't really fighting to reverse cancer but only prolonging life. He had managed to put into words (in only 36 pages which will probably be shorter than this post) all these nebulous thoughts I had been dealing with.
While it took me months to think about this and start practicing some of the general recommendations, I felt more and more convicted that this was the treatment I wanted to pursue. How did I know? I am still a very logical person so I wanted to see if there was any truth in what Dr. Y or Dr. Kelley had to offer...
Apparently, my body does have a parasite infestation. Part 2 of the treatment is detoxification and part of detoxification is cleaning the toxins out of the bowels. We're about to get really personal here so I thought that I just wanted to remind you that this blog has always been full-disclosure. Also, you should know that the 'V' in my full name stands for my middle-name 'Vaughan', which is my dad's name and a family name. Just sayin', if we're going to get more personal we should also know the basics too.
So by Dr. Y's recommendation, I began doing coffee enemas. I really wasn't surprised he wanted me to do this because nearly every type of natural / alternative treatment calls for enemas because bowel detoxification is pretty-much standard-treatment. So I get an enema bucket and some coffee. While this isn't a Starbucks Medium-roast coffee or anything, it is actually coffee, but I hear if you drink it your mouth turns green. The basic premise is that the coffee, when inserted anally, floods the digestive system and the caffeine is absorbed into the hemorrhoidal or portal veins and stimulates or dilates the bile ducts. When this stimulation happens, it cleans you out and creates an uninhabitable environment for little friends... namely parasites, worms and all sorts of other toxins.
Why the bowels? By focusing on the health of the bowels your body can absorb vitamins and nutrients you're eating (assuming you are actually eating them). With bowels full of toxins your body doesn't get the things it needs to produce the right enzymes to distribute throughout your body. There is a general theory that the pancreas is the key organ to fighting cancer. Since your pancreas is what generates and releases the enzymes that digest the proteins that form tumors, if your pancreas is not working at 100%, your body's immune system and overall health starts to deteriorate. What are the things that can cause your pancreas to start failing? Toxins! These can be found in impure water, heavy metals, parasites, exhaust, cigarette smoke, processed foods, bacteria, etc... So essentially, by using the coffee enemas to stimulate your liver, colon and pancreas to dump (no pun intended) all of the toxins in your bowels, you are allowing for your pancreas to start doing it's job properly which includes producing the enzymes to break down protein-based tumors... something my body wasn't doing very well.
Random Question: What is the worst kind of cancer to have?
Not so random answer: Pancreatic Cancer
Starting to make sense?
So, yes... I have been cleaning a variety of parasites out of my bowels. The funny thing is that whenever I tell this to people, the common response is shock that I have parasites. However, what I've come to find out is that we all pretty much have parasites to varying degrees. The real question is, do you keep feeding what they need to live happy in your tummy and continually undermine your immune system? Or are you going to flush them out of your system and restore your pancreas back to it's A-game? Yes, that same A-game that keeps cancer from accumulating in your body...
Next. I made a infrared sauna. It sits in our guest bedroom and if you ever spend the night at our house, you get to sleep next to it. Another toxin issue (outside of the bowels) is sweat. Your body naturally releases toxins through sweat so the thought behind the sauna is to given your sweat glands a kick in the butt and get them working overtime. I spend about 40 minutes a day in my little ghetto guest-room sauna. There are 3 infrared bulbs producing serious amount of heat than cause you to work up quite a bit of sweat! Then you hop in a cold shower and rinse all that sweat off of you. It seriously feels fantastic and has become one of the better parts of my day. I get to spend 40 minutes each day, uninterrupted, thinking and praying... doctors' orders.
Quick Thought: Many people who die of cancer don't actually die from cancer, but from toxemia, a collection of toxins within the body that after time pile up and shut down the bodys' systems. Why does toxemia happen? Because no one ever took the time to focus on getting these toxins out of the body. They just kept piling up until they overtook the body.
In addition to parasites, I am waiting on the results for my heavy metal test which is another type of toxin. If Dr. Y is right, I'll probably have a build-up of heavy metal in my body which will need to be removed. But that's more for later...
None of my doctors have been concerned about heavy metals or toxins. No one was interested in what my bowels were up to because according to my doctors (yes, the same doctors who don't think what we eat is related to cancer) aren't interested in the causes behind my cancer, only the obvious symptoms of the cancer = tumors. They are interested in prolonging my life by creating a life-long need for them to continually shrink my tumors whenever they start to grow, instead of training my body to do the fighting itself. This is why we all hear story-after-story of how tumors shrink but then grow back a few years later! Why? Because conventional doctors are treating symptoms, NOT the causes that underly the symptoms!!!
So do I have any personal medical evidence behind this? Well, part of this was to get a blood/urine test done through a Cancer Profile Marker Test. These are the numbers by which we can measure the cancer's activity in my body (again, something my conventional doctors weren't interested in doing... or if they did test this stuff, they never told me). I will continue to routinely do these tests to measure the levels of certain things in my blood / urine to figure out if the cancer is growing or receding.
These urine tests are pretty much prohibited by the FDA. Why? Great question. Why would a urine test that is about 99% effective for determining malignancy within the body be outlawed by the FDA? Because you don't need a doctor, a cancer hospital, an ER, nurses or fancy buildings. Yes, for a small fee, you can perform malignancy tests through urine that only requires simple lab-work! But instead of testing urine for preliminary cancer tests, we make sure any any woman past 30 or 40 starts getting mammograms every year to determine preliminary risks for cancer. Seriously? You figure out if someone has cancer by routinely giving them heavy doses of radiation? Just recently if finally came out from one of the major medial clinics like MD Anderson or whatever is starting to realize that the ACTUAL mammograms used to test for breast cancer are the ACTUAL reason the cancer develops in the first place.
Seriously! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
It turns out that from a simple urine test that could have been taken at any point in time, I learned, with 100% accuracy, that I have malignancy in my body. And it also would have shown up if I'd taken this test 5 or more years ago when this cancer was growing in my body. The other interesting thing? My insurance won't cover this urine test. I can easily easily get my insurance to pay around $80,000 for brain radiation, but I can't get them to pay $100 for simple lab-work... which a logical person could surmise would essentially keep them from having the pay the $80,000 down the road.
In addition, with the blood work we learned that my parasympathetic nervous system is compromised. In fact, the tests show that I produce the same amount of DHEA-S (an adrenal hormone that is anti-stress, pro-immunity and increases longevity) as, and I kid you not... a 75 year old. But what does this mean and does it have to do with anything else related to what is wrong with my body?
According to Wikipedia...
"Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions typically function in opposition to each other. But this opposition is better understood as complementary in nature rather than antagonistic. For an analogy, one may think of the sympathetic division as the accelerator and the parasympathetic division as the brake. The sympathetic division typically functions in actions requiring quick responses. The parasympathetic division functions with actions that do not require immediate reaction. A useful acronym to summarize the functions of the parasympathetic nervous system is SLUDD (salivation, lacrimation, urination, digestion and defecation)"
Anyone notice anything interesting about the end of that description? A poor parasympathetic system harms the digestion and defecation systems in the body, thus enhancing the effects of other indirectly related issues such as parasites and/or heavy metals. Everything that is going wrong in my body is loosely related to decreasing the efficiency of my liver and my pancreas. I don't mean to make all of this complex stuff too over simplified but could if be that if we can fix the pancreas, can we reverse the cancer?
Looks like this is turning out to be closer to a Hardy Boys case after all...
This is where Micah's analysis comes back into play. He recognized that my body is always stressed out and that the main emotional concern I always face is worry and anxiety. From this blood work we can confirm there is actual scientific medical facts that support this issue emotional issues that I'm having by always being too stressed out, not being able to focus, etc...I will continue to work with Micah to make sure that my diet is right for my body and blood type. I will also continue to work through the emotional issues surrounding the increased levels of stress and worry which are proven to cause progression in tumor growth.
I know this is so much information and I could just go on for days and days. But let me try to sum all this up.
I am choosing Alternative treatments because conventional treatments aren't concerned with any of the urine / blood work that shows serious issues with other parts of my body. Conventional doctors want to shrink tumors while it appears that if I fix the causes such as parasympathetic issues, toxicity, pancreatic enzyme deficiencies, etc... my pancreas will begin to heal itself and produce the enzyme needed for my body to self-regulate and break down cancer any time it rises up in the future.
So, to recap my treatment plans...
1. Diet - Seriously, people... We should all be doing this. This isn't a cancer treatment. It should be a life treatment. Watch Food, Inc. and get over your selfish need for hyper-convenience and start protecting yourself and your family.
2. Detox - Since my body is already overcome with toxins, I need to start getting rid of the heavy metal, parasites and other dead-cells that my body hasn't been efficiently disposing. Hence the need for the coffee enemas and the ghetto guest-room sauna. But so far, so good!
3. Pancreatic Enzyme Supplements - Since my body isn't producing enough enzymes to break down the tumors, we are going to help it out for awhile. These supplements are completely natural (thus not patentable, thus not profitable for big-business pharma companies who have turned a blind eye towards them despite their efficiency). I will be taking about 120-150 pills a day which will kick my pancreas into high-gear. After about 18 months, when my pancreas is toxin-free and back to working order, it should be able to take over the job and start producing these same pancreatic enzymes itself = self-regulating the body and the immune system to handle whatever problems (including new cancers) that may arise.
Yes, it is going to cost a substantial amount of money and no my insurance company won't cover any of it. Why? Great question! It's a fraction of the cost of conventional treatment and this treatment has been shown over and over for terminally ill stage IV cancer patients including Dr. William Donald Kelley who was given 2 weeks to live with Pancreatic Cancer. Yup, after performing this treatment on himself, he overcame the most dangerous type of cancer to live over 40+ years and essentially die of old age.
So... basic questions you may have:
1. Where do I get this coffee for enemas?
I don't know right now. I'll see if there is a website you can order from and let you know.
2. Can I take this Cancer Profile test?
Technically yes, but the labs are super-picky about accepting labwork because they are always being hunted down by the AMA, NCS, etc... In other words, the powers that be don't want people to know that preliminary malignancy tests with an extremely high efficiency rating and zero risk can be done with a vile of urine and a FedEx envelope.
3. Where can I get this 'One Answer to Cancer' book?
I actually don't know. Dr. Y has them in his office but I can't find them online. I'll see if there is a source. If not, I'll just buy a bunch and start sending them to whoever wants them. However, I think Dr. Gonzalez has pretty similar information that is more readily available.
4. Is this similar to Dr. Gonzalez's treatment?
Very similar. Dr. Gonzalez was a student of Dr. Kelley's. He was also recently featured on Larry King Live Debate with Dr. Burzynski and Suzane Sommers (I know, I know... Suzanne doesn't help the credibility factor). He created his own version of Kelley's treatment and began creating his own pancreatic enzymes. He technically carries on Dr. Kelley's tradition, however, Dr. Y was trained by one of Dr. Kelley's own students so I will be actually going through the original treatment.
5. Can these enzymes get into your brain past the blood-brain tumor to break down the tumor?
Yes. All enzymes will be IN the blood so they'll perfectly slide through the blood-brain barrier to reach the tumor and break it down as opposed to other types of silver-bullet treatments that have trouble passing through the BBB.
6. What did your parasites look like?
Come on... Now that's just too far. Just kidding, I'll explain it later on.
7. Who is Dr. Y?
At this point in time, I don't want to publicly share his name. He is already being watched from the conventional treatment centers in our area and I want to protect him. However, I will discuss with him if there is a way that I can pass along his info to you if you are interested in treatment.
So, that's enough for today. I'm sure this will stir up a variety of questions, but that should give an overview of what I'm about to undergo. I also plan on getting much more detailed about my actual food, my detox details, etc...
If you are one of the few, the proud, who have made it this far in post, I sincerely salute you. I have to go pass-out now from exhaustion...
