I started feeling complacent. I don't want to always be a cancer "victim" but a recurrence would devastate me. And I realized after a weekend of Diet Coke bingeing that I wasn't doing everything I could possibly do to prevent a recurrence. It's been weighing heavily on me that I seem to be slipping back into my old bad habits, i.e. not drinking enough water, drinking WAY too much diet coke, putting Splenda in everything... I could go on and on. Haven't I learned anything?! More than anything else, I felt like I possibly had some emotional issues that could have helped to create the perfect storm, allowing cancer to grow in my body. After a lot of thought and careful consideration, I decided to try alternative medicine to help me find some balance.
Now, I'm still a fan of Dr. Mc Namara, my oncologist. He's my number one doctor for sure and I will continue to be treated by him and I will religiously follow every doctor's order he gives. But I feel I'd be remiss if I foolishly believed that I made it though the last year and, now that I'm in remission, my work is done. No way. I still have a road to travel. So I did my research and I went to an alternative medicine guy. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to call him. He's an actual M.D. so I don't really feel comfortable calling him "alternative medicine guy." I guess I could also call him a homeopath or a naturopath. But in any case, I went to see him. I'll just call him Dr. Kaslow.
During my first visit, Dr. Kaslow's nurses conducted all sorts of interesting and funky tests, biorhythym tests, saliva and urine tests, electrodes attached to my forehead for some sort of reading, measurements of my arms and legs, and lot of other things. But the most interesting part of the appointment was actually meeting the doctor. He was tall and thin and reserved but reassuring, friendly in a quiet way, yet he talked a lot about different components of alternative medicine. He knew a lot about cancer and specifically colon cancer. The alternative treatments he mentioned for cancer patients were exactly what I'd been uncovering in my own research. There were lot of interesting things he said but one of the things that really stuck with me was that people who beat cancer are well because they believed they would survive. He also said that in his experience, the cancer patients who don't do well also don't work on the emotional component. My wheels have been turning ever since. While I still have a healthy amount of skepticism, I'm taking the supplements he prescribed. In the meantime, Dr. Kaslow is devising a whole body treatment plan to include the supplements, energy work (in the form of acupuncture I think) nutrition (although he was in agreement with the vegan plan) and emotional support. I'm looking forward to my next appointment with Dr. Kaslow.
