As many of you know my father passed away in March from Pancreatic Cancer. He was diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer in July 2014. His oncologist recommended chemotherapy right away. My father took a month to explore other options. He wanted to try a natural approach, and he and my mother read many stories of survivors of stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer that battled it naturally, but the pressure from friends and family, and the inherent deep seated belief to go with mainstream medicine prevailed. In August 2015, my father started aggressive chemotherapy, and ultimately completed 10 rounds of chemotherapy. In February of this year, he was taken to the emergency room due to a fungus that grew in his throat and was constricting his breathing.
I am not a person that believes in regrets. We all make choices in our life, some smart and some not so smart. I have definitely made many mistakes in my life and continue to make mistakes. Instead of shaming myself with regret for the choices I have made, I instead look to the future and how it might help me improve my life today and in the future.
However… if I had a time machine and could go back in time before my father was diagnosed, I wish I would have done more research on cancer treatments. Mainly because when you are diagnosed, you have so many other things on your mind that researching the best route for treatment becomes rushed and many times overwhelming. There is a lot of information out there. If I would have had more information, then by the time my father was diagnosed, I would have been able to provide him a clear picture of different options available to him. I would have had more of the conviction to convince my father to try non-mainstream treatments.
What is the lesson in all of this? Know your belief system for treatment BEFORE you are diagnosed. Specifically when it comes to late stage terminal cancer. One thing that is most interesting, is that toward the later stage of my father’s chemo treatments, he asked his Oncologist, if he was ever diagnosed with a late stage cancer, would he choose to undergo chemotherapy? His honest answer, “No, I would not choose chemotherapy, I would try to live out the rest of my life as well as I could and die peacefully at home.” His sentiments are shared by many other doctors, read the NPR story here. Maybe is it because they see firsthand the havoc that is caused when someone undergoes chemotherapy and radiation. Their answers definitely make you think.
Every day we make decisions in our lives that either fuel us or deplete us. Many times we engage in self-sabotaging behavior because we are too tired, stressed out or maxed out to have the band width to make good choices for our lives. Hence, we eat fast food, processed foods, or sometimes we don’t eat at all. Many times we just don’t have all of the information to make wise choices about our health.
Enjoy your life today, take time for yourself, and do everything you can to keep your health and well-being in good condition, at the end that is the most important thing we have.
To your health and happiness,
PS: Some great educational resources on different approaches to treating cancer
“A Cancer Therapy” by Max Gerson, M.D.
Suzanne Somers book: “Knockout, Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer”
www.FMTV.com – Food Matters TV.com is an amazing website the hosts hundreds of documentaries on natural health, spirituality, personal growth, nutrition and more. They also have some great documentaries on cancer… search cancer.
http://www.cancertutor.com/
https://go.thetruthaboutcancer.com/
