New Old Wisdom

Rebecca's oncologist can be praised for many things. He is a great oncologist, every second and third opinion we have ever had has agreed with his primary recommendations. He has been attentive to Rebecca's needs, even when those 'needs' have been driven by irrational fear (that happens when you have cancer.... like "I MUST have a brain scan RIGHT NOW.... I have a headache and I'm SURE it's a brain metastasis".... OK, Rebecca's actually very even keeled I'm the one that calls him and says... "she MUST....". But the long and the short of it is he's great and has taken very good care of Rebecca and I.

The one thing we have always be wary of is talking about the alternative medicine that Rebecca has engaged with. At best his attitude has been.."well, I guess it can't do any harm", but even that he qualifies with "unless you do something that does".

So imagine our pleasant surprise when at his recent visit he said... "you are doing SO well, it's way better than can be explained by my treatment, I guess some of that other stuff you are doing must be helping too"... nice :-)

Nursery Rhymes

Richard, Julia, Kayla, Gideon, Merav, Rebecca and myself were all hanging out in Sonoma on Saturday. We were walking down the street and Rebecca recited a nursery rhyme to Julia. Merav said she'd never heard it before and Rebecca told Julia; "We never told the kids nursery rhymes because we think they are stupid"....

Merav looked at Rebecca in amazement and said... "What do you mean you think we're stupid?"

Rebecca Health Update

I do not know if anyone out there is still reading this, but I, Rebecca thought I would give everybody a good news heads up. I am getting CT scans every 6 months. I just got one mid Sept. and it showed signifigant shrinkage. I have 8 spots that they are keeping an eye on. One of them is a lymph node that has gone back to regular size and they cannot trace anything on it. A couple other ones were so small that they could not tell if there was anything there too! One shrunk from 20mm x 20 mm to 8mm x 12mm!
I am still going to Dr. Isaac Eliaz up in Sebastopol. I have been given the go ahead to get my IV therapy once every other week instead of once a week! I am doing alot of supplements at home still and I feel really great. Very grounded.
I want to thank all of you out there for your love and prayers and happy thoughts.
Love Rebecca

What does Andy do....

For those of you still trying to work out what I do... Like I am... Here's another press release from ooTao that might help....

GEFFEN RECORDS OFFERS SIMPLE SIGN ON FOR MUSIC LOVERS

ooTao, a Leader in Open Identity Management, Partners with Record Label

June 12, 2007 (Berkeley/Los Angeles) – Geffen Records, has partnered with ooTao, a leader in Open Identity (Open ID) management, to make it easier for music lovers to log on and connect with all their favorite artists, such as Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, the Cure, Nelly Furtado, Trevor Hall, and Ashlee Simpson. The new “Single Sign-On” launches June 18 and will be expanded to include other Geffen artists as well as new services for fans.

Lee Hammond, Director of New Media for Geffon Records, has been working with ooTao President Andy Dale for almost a year to make it easier and more secure for fans to log on with a single user identification, or i-name. Says Hammond, “We love the promise of OpenID to reduce registration barriers for newcomers to our properties as well as make it easier for current audiences to crossover to new artists’ content.”

Artists love the new feature, too, said ooTao’s Dale, because music lovers no longer have to sign off and sign in again every time they want to see what’s happening with an artist. Using the same i-name, says Dale, fans can sign into the Geffen site and read about and listen to the music for their favorite artists without leaving the site.

More is in the works, adds Dale. “After this initial phase goes live on June 18, we expect to continue working with Geffen to leverage these identity standards and bring music lovers truly innovative services that allow them to get closer to the music and the artists.

ooTao (ooTao.com) is an engineering development company specializing in distributed data sharing and identity management infrastructures. Its founding partners are leaders in developing standards for Open Identity management.

#####

Ravi blows my mind...

Change of focus

Apparently just writing about Rebecca's health gets old... so I'm converting this blog to general Dale news.

You can watch this space for pictures, movies and general Dale doings... (yes including updates on Rebecca's health)

Love you all !!

Scan Update

Last week Rebecca had her 3 month scan and this week we saw her oncologist to get the update...

The doctors are very happy about the fact that nothing has grown in the last 3 months. I guess this is good news although I'm a little disapointed because also nothing has shrunk. Meanwhile, her tumor markers, are down even more, down to 50 (from 154 to 110 to 62 to 50) this is great news.

Meanwhile we have started to see a new doctor up in Sebastepole (about an hour and a half north). He is an MD and a Tibetan doctor, and a really nice guy despite being Israeli (I can say that because I am too). I really like this guy, he seems to be very smart I have great hopes for him being able to help Rebecca a lot.

The long story (from Rebecca)

The long story:
I am back in my life with all of my amazing people, near and far. I have angels in my life who offered me the opportunity to go to South Africa and work with Leo who does auric healing. I took this opportunity and invited my cousin, on my mom’s side, Deana to join me. She is a healer who has also worked on me. It was amazing I realize that it has been a long time since we have updated the blog. Andy and I have both been facing inward and taking care of ourselves first, something that does not come natural to either of us. The only reason that I actually have the time to do this writing is that both of the kids are on sleepovers on this holiday week day. I don’t have to cook. In two hours I am going to be fried.

The long story of my travels.
I left the day after Thanksgiving and returned the day before New Years.
It was painful to get to the airplane. The airlines messed up our tickets by printing it on the wrong card stock. Luckily they ‘fessed up and fixed it for us. But not before I squirmed a bit. Deana and I were waiting in different places in the airport and could not find each other. I had her ticket. Those first few unplanned moments without cell phones are hard.

The special moments started on the plane when we chatted with this young man who opened the conversation with, “do you believe in god?” We stayed in a very nice guest house just down the street from the Shaolin martial arts center that Leo has. He does his healing from his office there. It was summer there and perfectly hot. We were not planning on renting a car, but Johannesburg has a lot in common with Texas. Lots of malls and no where to walk. I would even go as far as saying that Texas is nicer. (those who live in Austin know it is not included in these comments, Austin rocks). So we rented a little tin can of a VW. I even drove on the other side of the road. It went well. I pictured in my mind how to turn before I started the journey.

On the up side of Jo’burg and all of South Africa… THE FOOD is amazing. Those people know how to make a salad. Not just one, but a zillion different kinds. The food rocked. It was such a pleasant surprise. As Brenda, the guest house owner, said the only thing to do there is eat, so they do food well.

Our days consisted of waking up, going to Leo’s for a few hours, then having lunch at our amazing cottage. We were fortunate to receive a free upgrade from a room to the cottage. We called it the metamorphosis cottage. When we arrived I saw a caterpillar on the window. It actually made its crysalis there. As the week progressed we noticed the whole front façade of the building was covered with crysaliss. The day before we left, they started coming out. Beautiful butterflies with half yellow/ half clear wings. It was very symbolic of my experience. It was my experience.

After Lunch some days we went back to Leo for a few hours, other days we went to the mall, which was literally the only place to go, (there were at least a few of them) to run errands. Then we would go out for dinner. We only went back to one place twice. It was a culinary treat.

There was knitting and talking and sleeping and meditating….
We had three days off. Fri through Sun. We took the opportunity to go to Gwala Gwala on safari. Check it out at http://www.gwala.co.za/index.html. We went on safari! It was a beautiful place. The tents were perched on teak platforms. The bathrooms were next to the screened portion of the tents and were open air. Beautiful tile, bamboo and teak. It was very very classy. Gwala Gwala was empty while we were there except us and one couple. It was nice and quiet. The food also rocked there too.

The trip took about 8 hours each way. We were told it was five, but we were in a very very small car that rattled as we went and going the average 140km/hr was too fast. (I think that is close to 90mph) It was amazing because we really did not feel that we were in ‘Africa’ until we were about 5-6 hours out of Jo’burg. Before that point, the architecture had no context. It was just miles of suburbish, or not very exciting landscape that felt like Texas. THEN… It got absolutely beautiful. Stunning combination of Scotish countryside with plants that were definitly Africa!! The architecture also started to make sense. The bizzare castles, or modern architecture stopped and we saw buildings made out of natural materials with thatch roofs and, ironically, lots of concrete block.

The way the bush camps work is you go on a walk in the morning, come back for breakfast. Chill (or try to stay somewhat cool) during the day and in late afternoon/evening go on a drive through the bush. The first day, I was pooped from Leo’s work and slept in. I laid in bed all day, taking cold showers as needed to keep cool. On the night drive, we saw all big 5. It is pretty rare. The big five are: Lions (we saw a pride of 3 lions being very playful), cheetahs ( a mom and baby in a tree above us, very cute), Elephants (we saw a family of about 15, all of different ages, walking, drinking and playing in the water. Oh we also saw a young male in must show off and push a tree over for us), Water buffalo (not very exciting to look at, but supposedly the most dangerous because they give you no warning before they charge), Rhino’s (with birds on their backs). I think that is right. We also saw Giraffes , Zebra’s, tons of birds, monkeys and we heard baboons. Ya don’t want to see them, cause they aint nice.

The second week we went back for more of the same with Leo. I was nervous to go back because I did not know what to expect. I thought that it would get harder every day, kinda like chemo, I guess. I figured the second week would be much worse than the first. It wasn’t. Sometimes he made me feel nauseous like from the chemo. Sometimes I was so tired I could barely walk. Another time, he tried to get me to sit up in my chair, but my head would not get off of my knees. Most days I was just wiped out and a little nauseous & dizzy while he worked on me. One time I walked outside and could not stop laughing. I haven’t had that kind of laugh in years. It was fun. Sometimes while he worked on me, we talked about issues in my life and the wisdom that I need to get where I want to get. Sometimes we were silent for hours. Deana was permitted to sit in on the treatments, I found out later that it is very unusual for Leo to allow that. It was so amazingly special to have her there with me to be a part of it and witness it with me. It has created a bond that we will always have. Some people ask me why Andy did not go with me. The answer is really simple. He needed to be at home. Not just for the children, but for himself. Next year he will go with me and we will be leaving the children.

Then, very suddenly, it was over. We went from Leo’s healing, to lunch and an airplane home. Both flights were very very easy. We used homeopathic jet lag pills, some special scented oil deana had and melatonin. Anyone who travels with kids knows the joy of sitting on an airplane, even if it is for 18 hours, without having to entertain anyone! Both ways, we had extra room to stretch and lay down. I sleep well on planes after I take a dramamine.

I came home and the next day went to work. I followed up on one client who had some time sensitive work. The second day I was back, my car was stolen from our driveway. Yep, my crazy hand painted by the kids car, someone stole. I confess. One must be careful what they ask for in this life, because that is what you get. One day with Leo I was talking about what type of life I wanted. I talked about wanting to bike and bus everywhere and be less dependant on the car culture. It is something that I have wanted for a long time. I thought I would ease into it. But nope. Cold turkey. Luckily all of my clients except one are in walking distance. The furthest one is only a bike and a bus away. The busses here have bike racks on the front. Coooool.
(Later note: the car was found with only damage to the ignition and the need for a new battery. It was about 6 blocks from our house parked behind some apartments. It is still at the shop, but I am going to strive to use it as little as possible.

So anyway, three days after I returned the whole family left for a 3 week trip to Baja, Mexico. It was our first driving vacation, we still have the minivan that Andy drives daily. It went great. We went to the library and got some books on cd to listen to in the car. It worked great. I would say it is the best family vacation we have ever had. I really fell in love with Baja but think that the main reason that it was so great is that we were all in a good frame of mind to enjoy it. I feel like my trip to SA has touched everyone that I think of. I have the opportunity to invite peace into peoples lives now. I love it. My whole family has benefited from my trip to SA, each person in their own way.

We visited Andy’s sister Julia and her family in LA both ways. We took 5 or 6 days in total to drive to Mulege (moo-le-HAY). It is two thirds of the way down the peninsula. It was so beautiful. Andy and I really enjoyed ooing and ahhing at the deserts and boulder fields down the middle of the country. The shore on both sides was much cooler than the center. We went to beaches. The water was warm, but the constant wind made the air too cool to want to get into the water. Laying on the beach, one could warm up. We saw lots of amazing creatures in the tide pools including spitting clams and inch wide holes that had shrimp in them.

We met lots of good people on our journey and hope to see them as we and they pass eachother in life. We got back to Berkeley in time for new years. We spent the night as a family watching Harry Potter 1. The first few days back we implemented some projects in the house that we have meaning to get to in forever. I have not been calling many people because I am moving a bit slower now and can only do so much before 9:00 before we crash.

I also got poison oak on my way back through LA on a hike with the kids. The good news to this is it is the first time my body has contained the poison oak. In the past when I got poison oak it would go systemic no matter how quickly I treated it. Now I only have a little spot on my arm and a smaller spot on my leg. I have lived in fear of poison oak for a long long time. I am no longer scared of it. That feels really good.

I just got my tumor marker checked with a blood test. Before I went away it was 156, now it is 110. This represents the amount of cancer in my body. So that means that my cancer has physically shrunk! I will be getting a CT scan in mid March and meeting with the oncologist at the end of March. +The part of me who wanted a measurable miracle is a little disappointed, but I do know in my heart that I am on the right path and going to be fine.

So Now. I am looking forward to a slower life. I am going to be working a bit more. Andy is going to be working a bit less and more involved in daily chores. We went on our first joint grocery shop today and managed to spend MUCH less than I usually do. So far so good. I know that my health resides in my hands and my ability to maintain a low stress level. I am looking forward to decluttering my house and making it a more peacful place to be. Andy and I have realized that what we want out of life is to be together more. To be in a place, that is a physical place, where we can make things and be able to welcome people into our place. Right now it is going to have to be our house in Berkeley, so now we are setting that up. Sometimes, We dream of having a place, maybe where people vacation… a hotel? A retreat center? Where we can build and make and weld and sew and throw pottery and do stained glass and cook and invite others into our peaceful world to find their own peace.

I still have an appointment in March for the alternative doctor in Sebastapol. For those of you who do not know his story, Isaac Eliaz is a MD, Chinese doctor and does some Tibetan medicine. When I first went to Leo, I was sure that I would keep this appointment. When I left South Africa, I was not sure whether or not I needed it anymore. Today, I think this bloodwork tells me that I should go. I have not made a definite decision yet. I have a couple of months to decide. In the mean time, I am on an aromatase inhibitor from Kaiser. I am taking chinese herbs, some vitamins, and some mushroom powder that Isaac Eliaz recommended to me. Three powders and 6 pills a day. Not bad. Not tasty, but not bad.

For those out there who have been tracking my diet issues. I am now eating most foods and just doing my best to listen to what my body wants at any given time. This may change at any time, which makes me oh-so-fun to have over for dinner, but right now the main thing that I am rejecting is eggs. I am not eating red meat more for political issues at this point. I think I could eat it if I wanted to, but I am proud of not supporting the cattle industry.

Leo has a gift. After 30+ hours of auric work in 9 days, I have returned a new person. I really feel like I have been the beneficiary of a miracle. I am grounded and happy. Both my spirit and body are responding differently to the world around me. I want to thank everyone out there who has been supporting and praying and being there for me in my life. I hope to offer you the support and love that I feel from you. I have become the best me that I can. It feels great. Life still can be frustrating, but most if not all of my anger has been wiped away. I wish that for all of you too. Yes, I guess I went to SA so that I could come back and sound even more like a Californian than ever before.

My new life includes waking up and walking the dog in the mornings and then meditating before the day begins. Some days are easier than others, but the resistance, that I have felt my whole life, around doing things that I want to do and are good for me, is just gone. That is part of the magic.

Now for the new years’ update. The kids are great. Merav is really becoming a tweenager. Very independent and proud one moment and wanting to be taken care of like a six year old the next moment. I need a book on teenage girls! She has a very strong sense of fashion that seems to have skipped a generation. Her social life has shrunk to a few very close friends and one best friend, Emily. They both take violin from the same teacher and are in school together. Because I didn’t have a best friend at that age, I watch them with wonder. During homework time, if Gideon has any questions, she just aches to help him with anything she knows. The other day, I told them to do homework and was getting frustrated with the chatting. I asked them what they were doing and Merav said that she was teaching Gideon the difference between multiplication and division. It was a cute moment.

Gideon has finally lost his front teeth. As I watch them come in, I watch him look like my brother Abe and me before him. I worry about orthodontic bills... I remember not being able to close my mouth too… Luckily, we often see those teeth through Gideon’s smile. He is still always doing something goofy and trying to make people laugh. He has become a real climber. I have dubbed him Senior Apprentice Climber. Yesterday, he asked if he was the master paper aiplane maker in the house. I told him that because he works at it so hard, of course he is. We go through a lot of scrap paper!! He just got some heelies for his birthday, shoes with wheels on the heels, and has been wheeling around. At school, Gideon is socially comfortable. It is really sweet to see. He has a bunch of friends that he gets along with really well. Some of them are even girls still. He seems more comfortable socially than ever before. Lately he has begun transferring his goofy sense of humor into spanish puns. The other night dinner there was one about ‘piglet’ in spanish sounding like a town near here called El Cerrito. I didn’t get it, but the kids both laughed.


Andy... He has just fired all of his employees in an attempt to change how his business is run. They are temporarily out of money for payroll. Of course, they all love and trust him so much that they are off getting temporary work until they can come back to work with him. He describes the process as a snake that has gotten too big has to take off its skin so that it can continue to grow. I think he was a shaman/wise man in another life. I love his analogies. This change is allowing him to be around more and not only a work-aholic. I think he is very brave for taking this directional change with something he has been working toward for so long. His goal is two fold, 1, to find the part of the work that makes him happy and only do that instead of all of the drudgery that he could let others deal with and 2, to do it at a rate that allows other aspects of his life and being through.
Since we have been home he has used his new woodworking tools to build some much awaited part of our kitchen. Some shelf dividers and spice holders for a drawer. He is very good at it too. Next is the stained glass. He is looking and sounding great. We are having a lot of fun together too.
I look forward to talking to all of you soon, but it may take a while in as much that I am finally enjoying my own company, so I am keeping it more than I used to. Don’t be too shy to ca

The short story: (From Rebecca)

Just got my tumor marker info back. It is 110. down from 154. It is GREAT news!!! I went to the Oncologist and he was all smiles. He feels the change is because I have stopped taking Tamoxafin and started taking an ‘aromatase inhibitor’. He is very glad that I do not have to have chemotherapy!! My cancer seems to be estrogen receptor positive. The other cause of this good news is my trip to South Africa.

(The Long Story coming soon)

She's Back... We're Off

Hi everyone, Life is very different now. Andy, the kids & I are in Los Angeles with Andy’s Sister Julia and her family, Michael & cousins Kayla & Emma. It’s great to be here.

I was home from South Africa on Thursday, and we left for our December Mexico Vacation on Saturday night. We will be back home at the beginning of January. Ironically, it has been a very relaxing slow time

South Africa.

I went to see a healer who has an amazing gift. Leo is online but does not discuss his work on his website. He is a Shaolin marshal arts master. You can see him if you go to www.shaolin.co.za. But you may be disappointed. There is not much to see unless you are interested in the marshal arts. He worked with my aura and has made a huge difference. I feel great and many people have separately described me as ‘radiant.’ Not bad eh? I am going to have an oncology appointment during the second week of January. Before that, I will have some blood tests to see how I am doing.

I went with my cousin Deana on my mom’s side of the family. We had a wonderful peaceful time together. We were very fortunate to get an amazing guest house in Johannesburg, walking distance from the healer. Because Jo’burg has so much in common with a Texas suburb, we ended up having to rent a car. I drove on the other side of the road!! And returned the rental car unscathed!!

I was worked on between 4 & 7 hours per day. That left a lot of time for resting and finding food. That was about it. Friday – Sunday I did not have a treatment, so we went north on what everyone said was a 5 hour drive that took us 8 hours each way, to a private game park. That is a place that has wild animals wandering around. We went on safari!! We saw the ‘big 5’- Water buffalo, Rhinocerous, Elephant, Lion & Cheetah as well as a bunch of other animals including zebras and giraffes. It was beautiful.

The biggest surprise of the trip was the quality of food in South Africa is STUPENDOUS! Which made the trip that much more enjoyable. It was very similar to California food with huge salads and very fresh, mostly organic food.

Right now we are headed to Baja California, which is in Mexico. We have no reservations anywhere, just a general direction to head. We have our cell phones, but no computer. Don’t know if the cells are going to work down there or not. I am aware that so many people have so many questions to ask me about my experience. I don’t think I have many answers though. It was simply fabulous and I am grounded and happy. One of the main differences in my life is that I am slowing down. So I look forward to seeing and speaking to all of you out there, but it might take a while.

Love to you all and thank you for your love and prayers.

Rebecca

And She's Off...

Rebecca has been given an amazing opportunity to go and visit with an aurik healer who has healed people with much worst conditions than hers. He is in South Africa, she is gone. Rebecca has spoken with this guy several times on the phone and has talked with a friend of the family who had brain and lung cancer and was cured by this healer. Rebecca was given the opportunity to go and work with this guy, so she went. After several hours of back and forth we came to the conclusions that; It would be really hard on the kids if we both disappeared for 2 weeks, it’s really hard for me to leave work at the drop of a hat and I might not be the best support for Rebecca while she’s at healing. We did know that Rebecca should have someone go with her. With another stroke of serendipity Rebecca’s cousin Dina was willing and able to go with Rebecca. Dina is a healer herself and someone who Rebecca has a deep, trusting and loving relationship with. She is the perfect companion for this trip.

It is now Saturday afternoon. Yesterday Rebecca and Dina flew to DC and now, as I write this, they are getting on a plane to South Africa. They’ll be gone for 2 weeks… I pray that this helps!!

I’ll let you know what I hear.

Been a while

Hi All,

It's been a while, which is a good thing. Like I said at the beginning of this whole thing... no news is good news. If there's stuff happening I will post about it. If life is just 'going on' then I'm happy not to think about this.

Meanwhile... Rebecca has been on the hormone treatment for a couple of weeks and so far the side effects haven't been too bad. She has been a little more tired than usual but that's about it. She is eating really well and learning how to balance her PH. It seems to be a constant battle but when she needs to; she brings out the big guns, kale and chard. She’s doing a great job of resisting the sweet stuff and as a result is loosing weight in the process.

We had an interaction the other day that you had to laugh at… talk about bursting someone’s bubble… We met a guy who decided that he a had to wax poetic on the fact that Rebecca looked SOOOO healthy; she’s obviously SOOO healthy… Well we had to tell him. It took the wind out of his sails. But the funny thing is, she really does look great, I’m guessing it’s because she’s eating so well. It makes you wonder what’s going on inside.

Meanwhile the next big milestone will be in the new year when they test Rebecca again and see how her tumor markers are doing. If things are good then she should be able to stay on the current treatment plan as long as she seems to be stable. Meanwhile she can keep working on the alternative treatments that hold the promise of a cure. We will be meeting with a Doctor (MD, acupuncturist and homeopath) on the 29th who is meant to routinely cure cancer. We’ll see what he has to say.

In the interim we have both my dad and Rebecca’s dad coming for flying visits. Rebecca’s dad flies in a couple of hours after mine leaves. Then we head of for a 3 week driving trip through Baja, Mexico. We haven’t booked anything; we’re planning on just driving south and going where the whim takes us…. Viva la… Viva.

Two things

As you know, one of the goals or Rebecca’s change of diet has been to change the acidity of her body. She has been eating foods that promote a less acid, more balanced, PH. When she started 2 weeks ago her PH was 5 she has now got a PH of 7. 7 is a neutral… now she has to maintain.

A moment about me, for those of you who wonder what I do; here’s a press release that doesn’t help you understand… But apparently I do it well.

From Rebecca

Hi everyone out there. Thank you for keeping track of what is going on with me. So far it really is not a lot. I have done a ton of research on alternative healing options for cancer. It seems that there is a lot out there. If you want to know what I have found, get the book ‘Outsmart your Cancer.’ I have also looked into Ayervedic medicine, Tibetan medicine and Chinese medicine. I am starting with a combination. There is a doctor in Sebastopol (yes it is a 3 hour round trip!) who is an MD, Chinese doctor and Homeopath who does his own combination of treatments specifically for cancer patients. Isaac Aliaz. It is funny because my last Chinese doctor who got me through my first round of cancer was Isaac Cohen. Two Israeli, Isaac, Acupuncturists for cancer. The first Isaac has stopped seeing patients and has gone into research around getting key compounds out of herbs and into little pills approved by the FDA for things like menopause. It has worked for my hot flashes and emotional roller coaster, so I hope that he can help others.

I found Isaac through personal connections and have met some of his patients who are cancer free and doing very well.

SO FAR…. I have gone to Amitabha Clinic one time to do the intake and meet the nutritionalist on staff. I have drastically altered my eating. I am doing 3 things:

1. Alkalizing my body. We all have a ph in our chemistry. Cancer seems to like a highly acid body. You can look on line to see a list of acid/alkaline foods. Needless to say, sugars and fatty foods are at the top of the acid column. I went through Halloween without eating one piece of candy!! I almost fell off the wagon last night, but I kept it down to eating almond butter and homemade blueberry jelly on rice crackers. That is about as sweet as I get.

2. Why almond butter, well I am also trying to ‘Insulin Balance.’ When one eats sugar, ones body produces and insulin spike. One gets addicted to these spikes. Boy howdy, they are my drug of choice. So then when ones blood sugar drops the body eats more sugar to get the insulin. So….another reason to not eat sugar. If one does want sugar if it arrives in the body with fats and oils, then at least it gets processed slowly and there is less insulin. Therefore, almond butter. Why not peanut butter? Well..

3. I am also doing an ‘Elimination diet.’ I have taken all possible allergens out of my diet for a week and I am reentering them into my diet one every two days. I will see if my body goes haywire each time. So far I reentered wheat last night. Boy did I miss wheat!! So far no reaction. I did not expect one. Most people know that I had to take milk out of my diet 17 years ago (ok that makes me feel old) but not everyone knows that about 10 months ago, I put it back into my diet. It has been yummy, but this time I had to take both milk and soy out of my diet. I am guessing that I will be able to eat small amounts of milk products, but not the quantities of cheese that were happening, and very little soy. That is my guess. Let’s wait and see what my body says.

So the Alkalizing is working, I have reduced my insulin, I and I am going to my first Isaac visit on Nov 26ish. I can’t remember the date off the top of my head.

I am also meditating almost daily and slowing my life way down. I have reduced my clients. I only have 3 clients that I see weekly and two that I see monthly. I am spending less time with other people and more time alone. I am actually enjoying my own company more than I used to. I think that is due to the meditation. I am also not being so hard on my self. Something that people have been trying to get me to do since I was just a little little kid.

So once again, I am planning on beating this thing once and for all, by getting rid of it this time and changing my life so that I am not creating an environment in my body that is conducive to cancer.

One less thing

So we managed to avoid the biopsy… After long debate we understood that the biopsy is really unnecessary. Dr Gordon has agreed that we are just as well off simply trying the alternate hormone therapy and seeing how it goes as we would be if Rebecca had the biopsy… so why have the biopsy.

IF the hormone therapy doesn’t help, and Rebecca has to do chemo, then it might be worth doing the biopsy to check the efficacy of adding herceptin to the mix… but, as George W. like to say… we’ll blow up that bridge when we get to it.

next update

The interventional radiologists decided that they would not perform a biopsy. However, the pulmonary surgeons have said they can do a biopsy easily. They say that by going in down the throat with a camera they can get what is needed in a procedure that is no more risky than having a wisdom tooth pulled. They say that they do 3 of these procedures a day.

Rebecca will probably be scheduled for the biopsy later this week or early next. I’ll let you know when I know.

Meanwhile, Rebecca has started the journey into alternate ways of addressing the cancer. She has started by radically evaluating her diet. She is currently on an exclusion diet where she has cut out a lot of food from her diet. Next week she will start reintroducing these foods and monitoring how she feels with the addition of each.

We have also been getting lots of information about alternate cures for cancer. The volume of testimonials of people being cured from cancers that doctors say can’t be treated is overwhelming and can’t be ignored. Given that Rebecca’s doctor has said ‘this isn’t curable’ it seems that relying on conventional medicine alone at this point would be pretty dumb. Now we are researching to which options we should try first. Rebecca is confidant that she WILL beat this.

Oncolgy Update

So I will start with the facts as I have understood them so far. I will try to fight the opposing urges to either paint too rosy a picture or, on the other hand, to sink into morose exclamations of gloom.

Dr Gordon showed us Rebecca’s CT scan on his computer. There were several small ‘lumps’ in her lung that are still very small, although apparently larger than last time. Dr Gordon said that these are not what worry him. He then showed us some lymph nodes in the area in front of, and between, the lungs that are inflamed that either were not on the last scan or have grown since the last scan; these, he said, worry him. Coupled with the fact that blood work done last week showed highly elevated ‘tumor markers’ leads him to be ‘sure’ that this is a reoccurrence of the breast cancer. The bone scan came back clear.

The doctor made it clear that ‘recurrent breast cancer is not a curable disease’ BUT that you can live a long time, with good quality of life, while undergoing treatment.

The next step is the hope that the interventional radiologist will say that he can biopsy one of the lymph nodes. The reason that the doctor wants the biopsy is not to check if this is breast cancer or not but rather to tell some characteristics of it. Rebecca’s original cancer was HER2 negative and Estrogen Receptor Positive. A recurrence after such a long time may or may not have the same characteristics. If Rebecca’s cancer is still hormone receptor positive then Dr Gordon feels we can try a course of hormone therapy to treat it. If it is not hormone receptor positive then there is no point going down that path and he would recommend going to a chemo therapy. If the cancer is now HER2 positive then they could add something to the chemo that would ‘help’.

All of this depends on whether a biopsy is possible. Because of where the involved nodes are they are hard to get to; one is nestled up against her heart and another is up against an actuary leading from the heart. The third involved node ‘may’ be far enough out in the open that they think they can get to it safely.

If they decide that they can’t biopsy then Dr Gordon recommends starting a course of hormone treatment and then monitoring the tumor markers and the size of the nodes to see if it effective. Because we have caught this very early he is comfortable ‘trying’ this less aggressive treatment first to see if it works.

If the hormone treatment is effective, and Rebecca tends to be very receptive to treatment, he said this treatment could be effective in keeping this in check for years. This is great as these drugs are not meant to have large side effects. Rebecca did try one of these in the past it didn’t go that well but we aren’t sure if those ‘side effects’ weren’t actually just a flue that was going around at the time.

If the hormone treatment proves ineffective then it’s time to consider chemo.

Rebecca is upbeat as always; she acknowledges that western medicine says that they can’t cure this. She is going to use the western medicine to buy her time she needs to find the healing tradition that can cure it. In the last week we have spent a day with a Tibetan Lama, gone to synagogue and spent an evening with some shamanic spirit channelers (one of whom brought forward the spirit of Hiawatha). It might cure her, it might not, but it looks like it’s going to be an entertaining journey… I’ll keep posting here.

Scan

Rebecca had a bone scan today... First she had to go be injected with some nasty stuff, then she left for a few hours and went back for the scan. I joined her for the second half. The radiology tech is a strange guy! He tries to be friendly but has NO social skills, it's kind of painful. One thing about this whole cancer thing... It sure brings into focus how much I love being with, and around, Rebecca; even if we are just hanging out in a doctors waiting room.

The scan results should be ready for our meeting with Gordon on Monday.

Nothing to report

There’s not really much to say at this point. Rebecca will be having a bone scan on Thursday and the results should be available for her appointment with Gordon on Monday. I’ll let you know what Gordon has to say on Monday night.

Here we go again

Well, we talked with Kelly and she pretty much said that we are talking about a metastasis on the right lung. The interventional radiologist said he may be able to attempt a biopsy. It sounds though like they are sure enough about what this is that they might just say, start Chemo and then watch for it to shrink on the ct scans. This is probably all premature though as Dr. Gordon, Rebecca’s oncologist, is on vacation and will not be able to weigh in until the week after next. It’s him that is going to be able to lay out the options for us the best.

I feel like I’ve been preparing for this for the last 5 years so I’m not as rocked as I could be. I might also just be in shock and not letting the impact really hit me yet. I can’t really get my head around what this all means.