observational wrote:
From observing people over 80 years old, I'd say a popular option would be to sit in recliner and watch FOX NEWS 18 hours a day. The other 6 hours would be spent watching the Weather Channel.
I'm surprised someone would sit and watch their parents for 24 hrs straight as you do.
Given that you are open to alternative treatments, I suggest you order the book Knockout: Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It in the First Place. You can order it express delivery on Amazon and have it in a couple of days. The author interviews about a dozen doctors, at least four of whom have a track record of healing people who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
If I were you, after reading the book, I'd contact the doctors who seemed most promising and see if they think an appointment might be worthwhile. It might cost a bit, but if I was your son or daughter, I'd really want you to spend my college savings on trying to heal yourself. Any kid would.
I'm not a particularly religious guy, but I said a prayer for you. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery,
sitting in the hospital wrote:
Taking the lead from the richest person in the world thread...I am starting this guy. I have been diagnosed with a form of cancer that generally kills people within 1-3 years. There are cases where it goes into remission, but, it's very rare. So, excluding that possibility, what would do with the remaining time you have left? I can't just stop working and live out the next three months until it's all over. But, I can't pretend like this is a knee injury that will get better with time. How would you handle it?
What disease do you have?
lol lol lol lol wrote:
sitting in the hospital wrote:Taking the lead from the richest person in the world thread...I am starting this guy. I have been diagnosed with a form of cancer that generally kills people within 1-3 years. There are cases where it goes into remission, but, it's very rare. So, excluding that possibility, what would do with the remaining time you have left? I can't just stop working and live out the next three months until it's all over. But, I can't pretend like this is a knee injury that will get better with time. How would you handle it?
What disease do you have?
It's a rare form of cancer. If I said what it is it would take all of about 5 minutes of Googling to break my super-secret identity.
My father died when I was 12. It was unbearably sad. Gut wrenching.
Yet, he was a beautiful man, with a grace that allowed him to smile and be fun to be around within days of his death. He's part of me, just as you will be part of your children - forever.
Exhibit your spirit to them, which is entirely separate to the body. Be kind, loving, and brave: they will always remember you that way.
If you are religious, pray to God. If you are not religious, pray even more, 'cause you're behind the curve...
I went to college with a guy named Mark Kennedy who has become Sudama Mark Kennedy. I recently got in touch with him after losing touch for many years. (Princeton '79). The late 70s were an interesting period of time. Many of our classmates ended up becoming investment bankers and getting pulled into the yuppie life. But ours years on campus had us intermingling with a lot of folks who had dropped out of Princeton in the late 60s and early 70s to do wild journeying things. They were the leavening. And Mark caught that wind.
His website, when I googled it, revealed him to have become a remarkable healer. A serious heavyweight--a guy who has won an award that Mother Teresa has also won. Spiritual traveler.
I mention all this because his specialty is healing. If you're allergic to New Age language, then you'll want to stay away, obviously. But if you're truly open to somebody who has spent his life learning this stuff, a real explorer, then you might just want to give him a call:
He and I used to sit around and strum guitars. He's a true journeyer. If I was in your position--and I hope not to be, but of course all of us are; we don't get out of this thing alive--the first resolution I'd make is to stop laughing at the "freaky sh-t" and open myself to the possibility that healing can come from precisely the directions we might have been inclined to mock when we were sitting on top of the world, masters of the universe, etc. People who have battled the ego in themselves and come out the back side are good people to know. Call the guy.
"Sitting in the hospital",
I can relate partly to your situation because initial proteins in my blood indicated a high probability I had a terminal cancer with a prognosis of about 1-3 years. Once the results of more complete tests and a biopsy came back I was told I had a different cancer from that, still terminal, but with a prognosis of 5-7 years.
I don't know your exact situation but, for what it is worth, I found it was not at all difficult to get referred to the guy I considered to be the world expert in my disease - and my insurance covered the cost, too. I hesitated at first because I didn't want to insult my local oncologist but then I decided this was too important to stay polite.
There is a cure for cancer, but you won't get it in the hospital.
sitting in the hospital wrote:
Re food: I was on a super-strict diet before I started chemo. Was spending a ton of money in supplements and seem to slow it down a lot. I was not sure how much the alternative stuff would help. But, it proved to slow down progression. Once I get past the surgery I am going back to it. Figuring all the alternative stuff takes a lot to absorb and sort out. I am looking at using the Block Institute in Chicago to help get that part in line. Probably the 80/20 diet and a lot of antioxidants.
I'd say if you're going to do the 80/20, you might as well go the whole 100. Who knows, it could save your life. I would recommend the Detox Miracle Sourcebook, I think it was called, although my memory is a little fuzzy. Anyway, the guy had a very strict routine that involved lots of fruits and fruit juices and nothing but raw veggies, nuts, and seeds. He claimed that many people he has treated with his detox plan have overcome cancer. I know a lot of people don't believe in this, but what have you got to lose? If this is the right book I'm looking at, his name is Robert Morse, N.D. Give it a try and perhaps let us know what happens.
kudzurunner wrote:
I went to college with a guy named Mark Kennedy who has become Sudama Mark Kennedy. I recently got in touch with him after losing touch for many years. (Princeton '79). The late 70s were an interesting period of time. Many of our classmates ended up becoming investment bankers and getting pulled into the yuppie life. But ours years on campus had us intermingling with a lot of folks who had dropped out of Princeton in the late 60s and early 70s to do wild journeying things. They were the leavening. And Mark caught that wind.
His website, when I googled it, revealed him to have become a remarkable healer. A serious heavyweight--a guy who has won an award that Mother Teresa has also won. Spiritual traveler.
I mention all this because his specialty is healing. If you're allergic to New Age language, then you'll want to stay away, obviously. But if you're truly open to somebody who has spent his life learning this stuff, a real explorer, then you might just want to give him a call:
http://www.sudama.com/He and I used to sit around and strum guitars. He's a true journeyer. If I was in your position--and I hope not to be, but of course all of us are; we don't get out of this thing alive--the first resolution I'd make is to stop laughing at the "freaky sh-t" and open myself to the possibility that healing can come from precisely the directions we might have been inclined to mock when we were sitting on top of the world, masters of the universe, etc. People who have battled the ego in themselves and come out the back side are good people to know. Call the guy.
I'm not laughing at anything. I wholly hope that I will have some miraculous healing. It's the only thing I can hope since science really doesn't give me a chance. I'll check out the website. Thanks.
fisky wrote:
Given that you are open to alternative treatments, I suggest you order the book Knockout: Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It in the First Place. You can order it express delivery on Amazon and have it in a couple of days. The author interviews about a dozen doctors, at least four of whom have a track record of healing people who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
If I were you, after reading the book, I'd contact the doctors who seemed most promising and see if they think an appointment might be worthwhile. It might cost a bit, but if I was your son or daughter, I'd really want you to spend my college savings on trying to heal yourself. Any kid would.
I'm not a particularly religious guy, but I said a prayer for you. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery,
I've got that on my shelf. Some of those seem to be good theories. Some of them are a little questionable. At this point, I'm going to do the known things that work. After I get back on my feet and they "run out of options" I have other things to consider. The hard part with these types of books is that, while one alternative cure may work great for one type of cancer, it does not always do well with another. Unfortunately, the other twp subtypes similar to mine have not been figured out yet either. Best bets with these guys are to catch it early. Didn't happen in my case.
I am thinking about writing a book to my kids writing down little things, a sentence or two of things I think are important. I am hoping to record all the things I would teach them if I could, but, won't be able to. Anyone else ever done anything like that? It's hard to tell what's just trite and what is worth saying. It's really easy to self-publish stuff these days. I figure get 10 copies made. Give each of my kids one, my wife, my parents. Just a good little thing to really capture a bit of who you are for when you're gone.
I really think you should read that book I suggested. I think there are answers out there, but I didn't tell you that. Good luck.
someone else wrote:
I really think you should read that book I suggested. I think there are answers out there, but I didn't tell you that. Good luck.
I've got to get out from underneath the doctor's care before I can have full reign over my diet again. I will read it as soon as I get a chance. Thanks again.
I am very sorry to hear about your diagosis. My mother's mother (my grandmother) died at 32 of a brian tumor when my Mom was eight. My mom is now 72 and still seems starved for any information about her mother since her father passed when she was 13. Any photo, notebook, shared memory, any scrap of information is going to be more precious than gold to your family and epsecially your children. She has gone on about it for her whole life and it's extremely sad for my sister and I. If I could do anything for my Mom it would have been to give her the opportunity to spend more time with her parents. So I guess the point is for you to spend as much time with your family, giving as much of yourself as you can, instilling as mch as you can into their lives. This will really help them later.
Lastly but not least, I truy hope you beat this awful disease. I am not particularly religious but I will say a prayer for you now. Best regards and if you are up for it, please do keep us posted. Some of us do care about fellow human beings on this God-forsaken site.
Wow. I am less than a week out for surgery to repair a running injury, and I have been absolutely freaking out about the distant-but-theoretical prospect of never being able to run again. Thanks for helping me reframe my priorities.
My father lost both of his parents by the time he was five. He treasures pictures of them, books that belonged to them as children, contact with other relatives who remember them and can tell stories about them. Whenever he's learned about something they were interested in, he's pursued it; he took up model railroading after learning that his father loved trains. And he has a very few pictures of them with him that he probably values more than anything else. When you are doing both the big things and the small things with your wife and kids, make sure there's someone with a camera around. Those pictures will mean everything to your kids, whether you beat this thing or not.
One summer, while visiting a relative, we found a stash of love letters my father's parents had written to each other before their marriage. The whole family devoured them, reading them aloud. If there are things that reveal what kind of person you are--old letters, running journals, even threads on letsrun.com--make sure your kids know where to find that stuff. They'll want to know everything they can about what you were like, not just as a dad, but as a person.
I wish you well.
thanks for the perspective wrote:
Wow. I am less than a week out for surgery to repair a running injury, and I have been absolutely freaking out about the distant-but-theoretical prospect of never being able to run again. Thanks for helping me reframe my priorities.
My father lost both of his parents by the time he was five. He treasures pictures of them, books that belonged to them as children, contact with other relatives who remember them and can tell stories about them. Whenever he's learned about something they were interested in, he's pursued it; he took up model railroading after learning that his father loved trains. And he has a very few pictures of them with him that he probably values more than anything else. When you are doing both the big things and the small things with your wife and kids, make sure there's someone with a camera around. Those pictures will mean everything to your kids, whether you beat this thing or not.
One summer, while visiting a relative, we found a stash of love letters my father's parents had written to each other before their marriage. The whole family devoured them, reading them aloud. If there are things that reveal what kind of person you are--old letters, running journals, even threads on letsrun.com--make sure your kids know where to find that stuff. They'll want to know everything they can about what you were like, not just as a dad, but as a person.
I wish you well.
Great ideas. We have a few blogs...I wrote a lot, so, that should be easy to get to. My posts on letsrun.com, let's just call those my dark, hidden spot. I think my four hundred and ninety seven pseudonyms must remain a mystery. :) I want my kids to actually like me after reading what I wrote, not, the nonsense I write just messing with people that I'd never say in real life.
IllinoisMaster wrote:
1) Start watching some comedy on a regular basis - like, several hours per day. The laughter can be quite therapeutic.
2) Focus on your body 'rooting out and killing' the cells you don't want.
3) Reduce your intake of foods containing glutamic acid - starve the bastards.
I would add that you need to do everything possible to defeat the threat of depression. Attitude goes a very long way in how long you are able to beat death.
Also, you need to find God. I would hate to leave this world with no hope in Christ.
Watch 'Joe vs the Volcano.'
Man I feel for you and prayers sent! As to what I would do, I would move in with my mother in law. It would be the longest 1-3 years of my life.