Calling all researchers. I have to make a very hard decision in the next week or so.....
Every three weeks, I take 3 drugs. Herceptin, Perjeta, and Taxol. Taxol is a chemo and the other two are inhibitors. They act as shields to keep estrogen (which fuels my type of cancer) away from my cells.
I did Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year my first time. I was also on Tamoxifen which does the same thing for a year and a half before my rediagnosis. The obvious conclusion is that they didn't work for me.
But that is if we are assuming that at one point I was cancer free. I no longer believe that. My gut tells me that the cancer was in me the whole time. Recall, they took out the tumor found in my breast, tested my lymph nodes, and when they came back clear, deemed me cancer free. They assumed it hadn't spread anywhere else. They never did a scan. The doctor at MD Anderson agreed with me that it had been in me the whole time.
So we have 2 scenarios:
1) I was cancer free after my surgery and the cancer came back. With this scenario we can DEFINITELY say that the inhibitors did not work for me.
2) I always had cancer in me. I haven't done my research, but it seems that the inhibitors should have blocked the estrogen and my cancer wouldn't have grown.
On Feb. 28, we got the wonderful news that I was cancer free. I was in such a surreal place. When she said she would still like to do 3 more months of chemo to make sure we got everything, I said sure. But by the next day, it wasn't sitting right with me. My gut was telling me that I didn't need it. I whole heartedly feel that all the cancer is gone. We got results that we were not supposed to get. And certainly not that soon! The cancer is gone.
But while I pondered this, I did 2 more rounds. The first round after the news was a bad week. My rash was back. I was nauseous. I had some twinges of nausea the very first week, but nothing like this. And all I keep thinking was, "The chemo has nothing to attack so it is attacking me." My gut was telling me that doing more chemo was now going to do damage to my body. (Chemo can cause leukemia.) So I have decided that yesterday's taxol was the last dose I was going to do. I am very comfortable with that decision.
What I am trying to decide is whether to go with my doctor's suggestion of doing the inhibitors (perjeta and herceptin) every three weeks FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
I have met a wonderful lady who has been kicking cancer's a*^ since her first diagnosis in 1993. She has had 3 reoccurrences. We are on the same three drugs. She was on herceptin for 8 years before cancer reared its ugly head again. I have asked her if she truly believes the herceptin kept it away. She says yes. But my thinking is so different now. My first thought was, "But the cancer came back so how can you say it worked?" I just feel like if it was doing its job, it would continue to do it. I feel that these drugs are also doing damage to our bodies. Beating them down. So we can't fight off the cancer ourselves. And that is where the diet comes in again...
If we believe that my diet and Eastern medicine practices played a major part in me kicking cancer's ass (which I do!), then we have to believe that my diet can be my inhibitors. I have been praying about it. I have been journaling about it. I have been talking to my body about it. I have been talking to anyone I feel might have an opinion on the subject.
I am 95% there. 95% sure that is the road I should take. 95% sure that continuing to eat my strict diet, doing wheat grass shots, breathing, resting, journaling, drinking lots of Kangen water, taking my supplements, exercising, laughing, visualizing, acupuncture, yoga, praying, and all the other crazy stuff I am doing, will continue to create an environment where cancer cannot grow.
For almost 43 years, I have been "brainwashed" to believe that doctor's know everything. That doctor's are out for my best interest. That the standard food pyramid is how you stay healthy. That drugs are the only way to cure sickness and diseases. Etc. Etc. It is a hard leap of faith. And we are talking about a life and death decision here.
And that is where you, my friends, come in. You have amazed me with your knowledge and research skills. I need stories about people who have taken the path I want to take. Used diet as their drugs. Aren't on maintenance drugs. And are years out from being cancer free.
Let's share this information. I would love to think that there are others out there who will benefit from what we have done and are continuing to do. Respond in the comments section so everyone can learn with us.
I am due to start doing the inhibitors on March 24. That gives me a little under 2 weeks to decide. Ugh. This might be the hardest decision I have had to make thus far in my life.
I will leave you with one website I found. http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/she-healed-breast-cancer-with-nutrition-then-won-iron-man/ The website is www.chrisbeatcancer.com, but the link is an interview with an amazing lady who beat stage IV cancer purely with diet. If I have done the math right, she is 32 years out! That's what I am talking about!!! And what I am looking for more of, please.
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