About Cancer

OK, you have just been diagnosed with cancer...

You have cancer is a phrase which one in five people in the United States will hear this year alone in one form or another. Too many people have cancer! Cancer rips through your life tearing its own pathway. Unfortunately, a lifetime of ignoring certain aspects of your body and you life has resulted in dis-ease.

Hearing you have cancer is earth shattering! Cancer is perhaps the most dreaded disease because we know so little about it and for many it is a death sentence.

All you can do is ask yourself... "how did I get cancer? What did I do to get this in my body? Am I going to die? What am I going to do? Where do I turn? What? What? Where? Where? Why? Why?" Confusion and fear sets in. You are a wreck!

What are you going to do? You need a plan. Prayer helps, but you also need a plan. You need a support system of friends and you need to depend on God to help you.

You question... Am I going to die? Depending on what type of cancer you have and where it is in your body, you have different questions. On the other hand, a few questions are very much the same for everyone. Will I ever get better? Will I look the same? What about insurance? Will it cover everything? What about my family? What about my job? What about business? Who will help me? What shall I do? How much is all this going to cost?

Do these words sound familiar? These words and emotions are all very normal. You are being challenged with the biggest test of your strength in your lifetime. My thoughts probably sound familiar to your thoughts. Your journey has just begun.

As a two-time cancer survivor I have written this book to show you that cancer does not have to be a death sentence. You will have to change many things in your life. As you read on in the book, it is written to make you stop and think. All I can do is to share my experiences and hope that because of my pain and suffering, you will find comfort and cure for your cancer.

Healing yourself, even with the help of modern medicine is a task that only you can do for yourself. Many people will try to help you and guide you, but you need to make the decision that you are going to be well and that certain changes must be made in the way you live your life. In order for you to get well and go on living many more years, you will need to make the decision to be well. Think wellness thoughts. Your mind needs to know that you are already well so that the rest of your body can catch up to such thinking. This concept might be a bit difficult to grasp at first; please read on. Cancer is perhaps the greatest challenge you have ever had to face, and it takes tremendous courage to get well. You must be strong!

Your body, designed by God, has its own self-healing power. Your body got sick by you not listening to it. When you listen to your body and your inner self, you will get well. So many people term cancer as a journey because it is a life changing event. Today, many people are facing cancer and healing themselves. Be hopeful and learn from my journey as well as the journeys and research of many others.

was diagnosed with throat cancer. The doctors were perplexed as to how I got cancer, as I was not the typical profile of the person who contracts throat cancer. I did not smoke, and did not drink to excess. When I walked into the Chemotherapy Infusion Room with a doctor for scheduling, the woman at the help desk asked "who is the patient?" The doctor said, pointing to me and replied, "It is for her." On the outside I looked healthy, or so I thought at the time. To search the reason why I got cancer was my personal journey. Looking back, I have a different perspective.

My journey was not easy. No cancer healing is simple, however; curing yourself of cancer is not as mysterious as you might assume. Decisions must be made quickly and seriously. You will need a support system.

1. If you smoke, you need to stop immediately.

2. If you are in a home where everyone else smokes, you need to get yourself to a clean environment where you are not exposed to second-hand smoke.

3. If you are a heavy alcohol drinker, you need to stop immediately. Did you know that alcohol consumption can cause cancer? Most of us do not. Where is the "surgeon general" warning on alcohol consumption? Drinking alcohol can cause cancer.

4. If you drink soft drinks with aspartame you need to stop immediately. In fact, soft drinks are nothing but sugar and chemicals. You need to drink juices and water instead.

5. You need to decide that you want to live and that you are going to go about changing your life in order to do so.

6. Get plenty of rest. You need at least 8-10 hours of sleep each day. Naps also are recommended. While at rest, your body can do its own healing process.

7. You need to forget about FEAR. You need to get to work on healing the body that you have badly neglected for many years. Right now, you have no time for fear.

8. Have a positive attitude towards your healing. You are going to become healthy again.

9. Let go and let God!

10. Expect a miracle!

You have read that I am a two-time cancer survivor. When I first was diagnosed with cancer, I took the American Medical Association approach to the disease. I went to the University of Virginia Medical Center which has state-of-the-art cancer treatment. First, I had chemotherapy treatments for several weeks. Chemotherapy gives poison to all cells, killing both cancer cells, and at the same time, healthy cells. I also received seven weeks, five days a week, of radiation therapy. Tomotherapy Radiation equipment takes a scan of the cancer tumor daily and as the treatment progresses, the tumor size and positions change. This equipment targets the tumor and lasers it with radiation, killing the cancer cells. I almost died during the combination of these lengthy treatments. However, after the grueling treatment was over, my cancer went into remission. Recovery from the treatments took a very long time because my body was quite frail and weak. All cancer patients have anemia, and I was no exception. Cancer causes anemia and chemotherapy makes anemia even worse.

My weight went down to 80 pounds. I lost all my hair. I was depressed beyond anything I could ever imagine. I did not eat for five weeks. I had to have a stomach tube inserted so that my body could get the nutrition it needed. Everything tasted like cardboard, so why eat? It was a horrible experience. However, the cancer went into remission and I was cured, or so I thought.

I began to gain weight and come alive again. I had hair stubble. With my immune system being challenged by the chemotherapy, I attracted a very rare amoeba in my right eye. The amoeba ate my cornea and eye blood vessels before the problem was diagnosed correctly. The pain was excruciating and for almost nine months, I was blind in my right eye.

When the amoeba was gone, and my eye began to heal, I began to see again. At the eye doctor's visit for the first time in almost a year, I finally saw and recognized the "BIG E." That was a happy day! However, since my body was malnutritioned and weak, the following day I had a heart attack. On the operating room table during heart surgery, I could hear the nurses talking about me. "She is so tiny." I weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet.

After recovering from the heart attack and gaining weight I gradually got back to my old self and went back to work. I had a new heart, I was thin and fashionable, and I was designing and traveling all over the world again. Modern medicine had cured me of the dreaded disease and surrounding complications. Happy days were here again!

I slipped back into my old bad habits. I worked hard, did not rest enough, stressed over things, and did not eat correctly. Basically I did not love myself any more after this entire ordeal than I did before the cancer. The reason being, I did not know any better. You are sitting there saying "what?" I am here to tell you that cancer is the symptom of something much deeper than just the disease of the cells. The body and the mind are much more complex than what we treat with medicine and medical treatments. In case you have forgotten, your mind is attached to your body and the mind and the brain are very much in charge of everything that goes on in your body either on a conscious or subconscious level.

Within two years, the same cancer returned. I was diagnosed with cancer a second time. This time the treatment was more complicated and severe.

After a biopsy verifying cancer, the doctors wanted to do surgery. They felt that chemotherapy and radiation had not worked. This time they would do salvage surgery which would have left me maimed for the rest of my life.

I refused salvage surgery and everything else that went along with it. The doctors had suggested I at least take another flight of chemotherapy. I went to the appointment with the Chemotherapy Physician. During the course of our conversation (I was taking notes) we discussed my previous chemotherapy treatments and how the cancer had disappeared very quickly. At that point, the doctor turned to me and said "everyone knows chemotherapy does not cure cancer." I asked him, "then why did you put me through all of that horrendous experience nearly killing me if it could not cure me?" I did not wait for an answer.

My mind was made up that instant. Something was really wrong with this picture! After seeing several of my friends go through cancer treatment with a fatal end, I chose quality of life.

I got three different professional opinions on the second cancer diagnosis.

1. University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia where I had been treated for the first cancer treatment.

2. Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California to their Top Oncology Center.

3. Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona to check out Trans Oral Micro Laser Surgery for Throat Cancer. This is a fairly new procedure done by only two renowned doctors in the world; one of them is at Mayo Clinic.

I saw the most highly regarded Throat Cancer Oncologist in each of the above three places. I did my diligence with world-class surgeons.

All the doctors reviewed my medical history. They assessed my CT Scans, and all gave the same diagnosis. Both University of Virginia and Loma Linda would do the salvage surgery, the only difference being that Loma Linda would remove the artery from my right leg, not my right arm to replace the artery in my neck. At the Mayo Clinic, the surgeon would do a new procedure, Trans Oral Micro Laser Surgery which would involve inserting a laser down my throat surgically and using a laser as the primary cutting tool. This procedure would eliminate cutting my jaw, and removing my artery. However, I was advised the procedure "isn't magic" and was "not minimalistic." I would have a sizable wound, maybe some difficulty with speech, a stomach tube inserted through my nose, a very long recovery, problems swallowing, and a speech hindrance for several years, possibly forever.

I tell you this story because you will hear something similar and you have to weigh your odds. How do you want to live the rest of your life?

At that point in time, I my body weight was 112 lbs. How much more weight could I possibly lose? I also did not want to look in the mirror and see a part of my face removed. In my mind, I had no choice but to take an alternative route. Remember...Be Determined and Beat Cancer. That mantra was always in my mind. I kept beating that drum again and again.

I turned to alternative medicine, and I began what people call the journey to wellness. I went to a Naturopathic doctor in California and changed my diet drastically to include herbs and vitamins, coupled with fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and fish. This diet changed my life. When you have cancer, your body has been depleted of the nutrients it needs, you must give your body and your brain the nutrition it needs to get you well again.

All during my first cancer treatment, I was never given a diet or any information about how a diet can actually cure cancer. However, the truth of the matter is; I probably was not in the frame of mind to listen to anything, even if they had given me a nutritional diet. I had not passed over what my intuitive healer calls the crossroads to wellness. My old habits of living and eating were still a part of my regime. My attitude was such that "I would just take the medicine prescribed for me, do what the doctors tell me to do, and get healed through the wonders of modern medicine." I would find the best doctor money could buy, the most famous in all the world, and beat cancer! Just take a pill and make it all go away...that was my thinking before I was challenged with cancer the second time.

It was only until I passed over the crossroads, what I call the point of no return when both my conscious and my subconscious mind were working in tandem to get me well forever. I had refused salvage surgery, and knew if I were going to be healed I had to do something major for myself; quickly. I began to study and to do research. I began investigating alternative medicine and other options for healing. I became a voracious reader and searched the Internet for information about cancer cures and healing. I needed to find an answer and heal my self.

I was given a book titled Love, Medicine and Miracles by Dr. Bernie Siegel. Dr. Siegel states that the body has an incredible power to heal itself. This is where my journey began.

Your journey will be different than mine, and only you know where to find the answers buried in your body and mind. Your body has an extremely powerful recuperative ability. You and your mind have the control to heal yourself. In this book, I will show you the tools to institute your own healing process. You must do the work and come to terms with your body.

Copyright 2010 Carol Patterson. All Rights Reserved.