Two years ago I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was a very difficult time for us. It was a ride from the peak of fun to the depth of sadness and dispair. From a high of doing a five day traverse in Garibaldi park with Naomi, announcing the plans to climb the seven summits with her, through the death of Dave Treadway in a crevasse, to having the bomb dropped that I did indeed have cancer. The tumour was almost completely blocking my colon, I needed surgery quickly. The cancer had spread to my liver in three locations, many lymph nodes involved and two tumours in my messentry. The Dr said I had weeks or months to live. Yeah that was har to hear. For sure.
After crying on the floor with Heather for some time we called my friend Andy to drive us home from Lions Gate Hospital as we were too unstable to drive ourselves we prayed and told the kids the news. The saddest day of my life.
I’d encourage you to look up the report, if you’re short on time you are probably not reading this far. But to save a bit of time here is a snippet from the study.
Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes
This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25–30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30–35% are linked to diet, about 15–20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we present evidence that inflammation is the link between the agents/factors that cause cancer and the agents that prevent it. In addition, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes.
As confusing as this seems it gave me the courage to keep looking for a solution to my problem.
In a nutshell I felt empowered to make healing my goal and not to give over my treatment to the doctor. We are not a victim or spectator. Life is an action. Do it well!
God only knows why I am doing so well, it may be by his healing hand alone or any or all the things I’ve done, but this I do not know, I will cherish each and every day I have.
I spoke with the internist a few days ago. She changed her recommendation of the anticoagulant. When in Lions gate hospital she said I should be on them for at least three months before hernia surgery, but now she wishes I be on them for six months. Very disappointing news, I am hoping to convince whichever doctor is in charge to allow the surgery to happen sooner. In the meanwhile I started “maintenance” chemo yesterday. I get only one drug via IV, Bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody, which is a type of protein designed to target and interfere with the growth of cancer cells and not a cytotoxin. Then instead of the to-go bottle that I previously had for 48 hours I now have pills of Capecitabine works by interfering with dividing cells and preventing an increase in the number of cancer cells, and it is a toxin. I take pills twice a day for two weeks then a week off. So a three week cycle this time. As far as the oncologist is concerned I will be on this treatment until the disease either goes away completely or it progresses. I will be speaking to the naturopathic Dr on Tuesday to hear what he recommends as complementary treatment. In the meanwhile I plan on keeping up with eating whole plant foods, juicing 1.5 litres of veggies, some supplements, sleeping 9 hours a day, mistletoe injection, IV Vitimin C, stationery bike 30 min with a good sweat, time restricted eating (fasting 14 hr per day), accepting help both tangible and intangible from others, meditation, choosing to be positive, being grateful, trust that God has me under his wing and prayer.
Peace Joy Love
Heather out for early morning walk in the snow.An extra stop for a hug in Porteau Cove.From four IV drugs to one.Home sweet home.
Tuesday Feb 2. Started out so well, I had a phone call from the hernia surgeons office, they told me they could book me in for a March appointment, I chose the 10th. That was pretty exciting yes it was. I had caused it by lifting a heavy suitcase returning home from a holiday 2019 visit with my in-laws. The situation came about after the previous 9 months, of surgeries, chemo, nausea and eating only whole plant foods, which caused me to loose 30 pounds. This meant not only fat but a whole lotta muscle loss as well. I was hoping to have the hernia repair at the same time as my colostomy reversal which happened in July 2020. The procedure was started late and the reversal took a bit too long so the hernia repair was cancelled. I enjoyed my summer and began climbing once I had recovered from the surgery. I was climbing strong and loved every minute my had on rock. Climbing with the hernia was a bit hit and miss, some days were fine and others I had to ‘adjust” my intestines and let them slither back through the abdominal muscles and into my abdomen, where sometime between seconds and minutes the bulge would reappear and remind me that I cannot step up high with my left leg. Around the house and shop I limit my lifting to around 40 pounds, which may sound like a lot but its not if you live outside, most things are heavy, rocks, trees, wheelbarrows of dirt, and steel is almost 500 pounds per square foot. Did I tell you I prefer to be outside?
That was the history of how the hernia appeared. Now, back to last week. I was excited about the future, we had a date for surgery, it also meant chemo was done for now and I could become stronger and build immunity and look at chemo again in a few months. As I prepared for bed I was reminded of how I had a bit of chest pain the previous night which kept me up a bit. But I remembered it was more comfortable if I laid on my left side, so that I did. Woke up with a sore left shoulder thats for sure but was able to sleep ok. The pain which was kinda behind the lower couple of ribs, the junction of lungs, diaphragm, and intestines kept with me as I did my morning routine. Heather became concerned and called the covid hotline, talking to them we ruled that out and they suggested we call my oncologist nurse who deals with chemo side-effects. She said it did not sound like a drug thing, so Heather drove me to emergency at around 11. My pain then was about a 3, the doctor quizzed, poked prodded and measured many things, he did bloodwork, an x-ray and even a CT scan. The bloodwork was ok, meaning a DVT was not detected, the x-ray showed some shadowing which looked like pre-pnemonia. The CT confirmation got sent to the dr office and not emergency which means I missed the scan that afternoon. But we organized a ct for Friday. I was happy with that and went to bed. I had gone to sleep on my good side but woke up a half hour later in serious respiratory destress. It did not alleviate when standing, sitting or anything else. After ten minutes of attempts to slow my breathing I was getting worried and we said goodbye the kids and Heather sped me toward town.
In the Ambulance
To get to Pemberton from our house requires one to drive for 16 km with out cellular service, no contact to the outside world for 10 minutes, normally its a nice quiet drive with no urge to check your phone, but now we were on our own with no way to call an ambulance, we could have stayed home and called one but how long would that take? I just knew I need to keep breathing. When we arrived in cell service heather called the clinic to make sure someone would be there, the time was about 10:30 pm and our clinic is not open during the night. The nurse arrived the same minute as we did and the Dr came in less then 5. First thing they did was vitals, and my blood pressure was high, my pulse was also high but the interesting thing here was my O2 saturation level, it was at 97 which is normal and that made me feel so much better mentally. I still was panting and couldn’t string together more than a couple of words at a time. Then they inserted an IV and gave me morphine another minute later I was breathing better and starting to relax. The x-ray tech was called in and she bounced in incredibly quickly and re-did my chest x-ray which showed the same slight shadowing. Mostly due to my difficulty breathing they called for an ambulance to transfer me to Lions Gate Hospital, just before 2am the ambulance arrived and scooted me down the (bumpy) road.
Lions Gate Hospital
My vitals, pain and my comfort remained stable for the trip and for the visit in the hospital. The Dr. there ordered a CT scan and did an ultrasound which mostly showed the two gallstones I have. The CT that happened at 6am showed what we were looking for, bilateral segmented pulmonary emboli, AKA PE. They figure the clot came from my calf which was very slightly sore. As I’ve researched now, having cancer with metastases raises the likelihood have having a blood clot. Certain types of chemo drugs like (Avastin) I’m on also raise the potential of a clot. The treatment for a PE is for me to be on blood thinners, in the doctors words I should be on them forever, or at least as long as I’m on Chemo. Doctors tend to be pessimistic. (but not the ones I love) Those ones at least humor my optimism. By 5 PM the pain was managed by oral narcotics and I was sent home. It seemed like boot out to the word that I was not ready for. We decided to stay in a hotel that night incase something went wrong, which nothing did. We continued home on Friday. Lots of sleep, the container of opiates and now on Monday afternoon I am able to breath about 70% of my lung capacity and feel almost no pain.
Waiting to hear from the oncolocigst, hospital dr and hernia surgeon about what to do next. For now, I’m not going to chemo this week and hope to keep healing and be back to “normal” in a week. After that I will be better than normal and working toward the “new normal” All the quotes because normal is so twisted for me now with this double punch of pandemic and cancer. I pray you have only one of these things to deal with, and soon, both be gone. Please!
Since learning I have some cancer in my body I have met people who do not want others to know. There are lots of reasons they want to keep the information private. Shame, guilt, fear of losing their job/friends/social status and perhaps the fact that if they share or speak it out it makes it real. These are all valid reasons for choosing to keep it secret, on the other hand I have found that I do like to share. It is something that I did from the get-go. And I’m glad I did. Last spring, before the virus SARS-CoV-2 when hugging and visiting were common I embraced every one I met, at times I had to practically book visiting times here on the hill to allow me the time to cook, juice and nap, I became a voracious hugger. And I was extremely grateful for everyone who came. Visiting and hugging are things that I believe contributed to my survival. For me, by giving words and a voice to my healing I believe it also makes it real.
Where does that leave me now? In these times when we are being encouraged to isolate and avoid visiting altogether I, like most people are complying with the recommendation to stay home surrounded by immediate family. Im not overdoing the distancing but I am really coming up short on visits and hugging. I do get regular hugs from family and the occasional close friend but its way below what I would love to give and take.
This brings me to the reason for this post. As part of my ongoing healing I want to share with everyone who takes the time to view my updates my ups and downs. I’d like to be public and share not only the day to day events, but also the medical terminology, oncological terms and treatments, naturopathic options, diet and lifestyle options and the invisible things which we are surrounded by such as prayer, meditation and basic hope. With all that said the data and graph here are my cancer antigen numbers from April 2019 to Nov 2020. If you don’t know anything about these blood tests, they are not useful for diagnosis for most cancers as other things can affect them but they are useful once diagnosed for the tracking of tumour growth and remission of cancerous cells. These tests can show change in microscopic tumours too small for a CT or PET scan. Even a 1mm tumour (too small to see on a scan) will have 100 000 cells. Another reason I am sharing this data is that Id like to see other peoples numbers, I know there are plenty of people who have overcome Stage 4 disease, but I don’t know how long it took, were there sporadic periods of disease surge, are 300 and 64 large numbers? If you or someone you know would be willing to share this kind of information please let me know, either publicly or privately.
Although nothing like real contact, I hope that by sharing I can keep you updated with my own journey during my cancer and covid struggles and successes. Pray for those you miss and love the ones you’re with.
Mid March Noticed a swollen lymph node in armpit when showering.
Stopped drinking alcohol.
March 28 2019 1st doctors appointment. Had blood taken, stool sample and he booked an ultrasound.
2019 March 30-April 3 Did a 5 day ski traverse and lost 8-10 pounds
2019 April 4 Met with Dr Cham, naturopathic doctor and explained my symptoms. Dr. did allergy test and suggested eating a more plain diet.
2019 April 7 Prayed with the elders and received a laying on of hands.
2019 April 15 Ultrasound around left armpit/shoulder.
2019April 16 Got results from ultrasound, two abnormal masses one with marked blood flow. He suggested a biopsy and a CT scan.
2019 April 18 Ct scan.
2019April 21 Although a Sunday, went to the emergency to get the results from the CT.
Findings: Several enlarged left axillary lymph nodes, a “few” prominent infraclavicular lymph nodes. “Several” enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. “At least” three hypo enhancing masses in segment 8 liver. “Two additional” hypo enhancing masses in segment 6. Suspected bowel wall thickening involving a short segment of the sigmoid colon.
2019 April 24 Met surgeon #1, he suspected lymphoma and wanted to do a biopsy of a lymph node and he ordered a colonoscopy.
2019 April 26 Met with Nicolette Richer who introduced us to the Gerson Therapy.
Had the colonoscopy.
2019 April 27 Began Gerson full therapy, used incomplete supplements that were gifted by a friend. Enemas were weak as I couldn’t get much volume in due to the near blocked colon.
2019April 30 lymph node biopsy. Afterwards we got the results from the lab the lymph biopsy and from the colon biopsy. Dr announced that it was very bad colon cancer that had metastasized a that I was a “very sick man” and that I had “weeks to months to live”
2019 May 1 Went to the Healing Room for prayer.
2019 May 9 Met with the oncologist, explained his treatment plan, surgery then chemo. He gave me 1-3 years
2019 May 14 Met with Dr Parmar, naturopathic Dr. He told me a plan involving a plant based diet(including some meat), supplements, injection of mistletoe, Vitamin C IV and Loco-regional hyperthermia. And said he would offer to triple my expectancy to 10 years, and said I should also do surgery and chemo.
2019 May 15 Met surgeon #1 again to sign and organize for colon surgery. Met via video chat, Dr Alexander a Gerson practitioner who eventually gave me a Gerson plan which roughly is 100% organic plant based (including some meat). She had me stop the enemas immediately and go down to 7 juices per day.
2019 May 16 Stopped eating and did the bowel prep.
2019 May 17 Checked into Lions Gate hospital to wait for an opening in the operating room.
2019 May 18,19 No food, no surgery. Surgeon said sorry about the delay, “why don’t you go out for a burger and a beer” I did not, but I did have some juice and potatoes.
2019 May 20 Met Surgeon #2 and had the colon surgery. Ended up with a colostomy, he removed 20cm of the sigmoid colon. The colon was not perforated.
2019 May 21-25 Recovered from surgery. I ate no hospital food. Heather prepared my meals at a friends.
2019 May 26-Feb 6 Began a regular schedule or supplements. See Below for list
2019 June 1 Low weight of 146 pounds
2019 June 2 Started experimenting with cannabis. Oil mostly, started with CBD only. Ended up using 50/50 THC/CBD which I found useful with nausea associated with Chemo.
2019 June 3 Video chat with a nutritionist. Recommended plant based diet including some meat.
2019 June 5 Port Instalation.
2019 June 12 Began Chemo, every two weeks. GIFFIRB. Fluoruacil, Folinic Acid (leucovorin), Irinotecan, Bevacizumab.
Cancer markers. CEA 59 CA 19-9 310
Began Local Regional Hyperthermia, 2x per chemo treatment.
Began Miseltoe injection, 2x per chemo treatment.
Beginning of regular Vit-C IV 50g, 2x per week.
2019 Aug 19 CT scan. Showed that some lesions remained the same and some decreased by 50%, no new ones.
2019Aug 28 New weight low, 144 pounds.
2019 Oct 30 Still at 144 pounds
2019 Nov 3 Flew to Hawaii, began to eat legumes (slowly increasing) began to eat all veggies and also began to eat nuts, including avocados which were in season. Stopped eating all animal products.
2019Nov 12 Went to a small church in Kona who had a Faith Healer, David Yanez was speaking and he prayed for my healing.
2019 Nov 14 Last chemotherapy dose.
Last Local Regional Hyperthermia.
Last Miseltoe injection.
2019 Nov 24-27 Bowel obstruction, hospitalized for 3 days. It cleared up once NG tube was inserted.
2019 Nov 27 Meeting with oncologist. He suggested I go onto maintenance chemo “until the cancer becomes more agressive” I told him I would not be having anymore chemo until some later date.
2019 Nov 29 CT scan, most leisions shrunk, some stable.
2019 Dec 18-30 Rash on arms and legs. Healing reaction?
2019 Dec 31 Got a hernia lifting a suitcase.
2020 Jan 7 PET scan partly for information to determine if I can have a liver resection.
2020 Jan 10 Received report from Pet scan. No Evidence of Disease! Tumours on liver gone! Mild uptake of FDG in two lymph nodes, possible due to inflammation.
2020 Jan 13 Talked to liver surgeon. His words said that I didn’t need surgery because the lesions were no longer present. But his report said “With regards to him having extrahepatic disease, I have let him know it would not be a good idea to have a liver resection.”
2020 Jan 20 Meeting with oncologist, when we pressed him for a new diagnosis he said “you have No Evidence of Disease, but it is not eradicated.” He again told me that I should go on to maintenance chemo. I said not now thanks.
2020 Feb 2 Still having ongoing Vit-c Bi-monthly, supplements, plant based whole foods and no animal protein. Extremely limited processed foods. (flax oil, rye and a small amount of whole wheat.)
2020 Feb 6 Full body Hyperthermia
2020 Feb 13 Full body Hyperthermia
2020 March 9 Colonoscopy
2020 April 2 CT scan Whistler nothing significant
2020 April 21 Tumour markers start rising
2020 June 24 Colostomy reversal
2020 July tumour markers rising
2020 Aug 10 tumour markers still rising
2020 Aug 28 CT Scan nothing really there
2020 Sept talk to oncologist and naturopathic dr and decided to start chemo again. Full strength
2020 Sept 24 Start chemo and mirror with LRHT (Local Regional Hyper Thermia), Miseltoe and IV Vit-c
2020 Nov 27 CT scan
Recommended treatment from Naturopathic Dr.
Supplement Chart
Books Ive read
Anti Cancer. Dr. Servan-Schreiber
The China Study. T. Colin Campbell
Chis Beat Cancer. Chris Wark
Eat Real To Heal. Nicolette Richer
Fighting Cancer. Gorter and Pepper
Healing the Gerson Way. Charlotte Gerson
How Not to Die Micheal Gregor
Radical Remission. Kelly Turner
The Rain Barrel Effect. Stephen Cabral
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. Timothy Keller
