Hello, Kelly fans. It’s Steve again. When someone has a cancer blog and they don’t post for a while it’s easy to assume the worst: So let’s address that first: Nope, not the worst. Another reason for a long post interval is that healing cancer, whether or not one subscribes to an holistic, integrative approach, is a near full-time job. 

People often ask me, “How is Kelly doing?” A simple question with a complex answer, but I think I’ve figured it out. I see that at many moments of her day–sometimes for prolonged stretches, Kelly has joy, contentment, mindfulness. On infrequent occasions, like when well-meaning doctors ask well-meaning radiology techs to squeeze her breast in a torture machine (mammocram) that also produces informative images of breast tissue, tumors and various metal clips, she experiences excruciating pain. Kelly believes that there should be a similar squeezing device for testicles. That would surely hasten the development of more humane imaging technologies.

Kelly’s joy comes from simple things: sunshine, dipping her feet in Boulder Lake, walking in the forest, singing lullabies to a grandchild, time with elephant sisters, six-second kisses. She says kisses should be six seconds long to stimulate the release of oxytocin–what we call “Oxy”. We are both convinced that joy is therapeutic. 

You probably want an update on the mechanics of her cancer therapy, so here it is:

 

• • Very favorable MRI in late July showing substantial reduction in tumor and lymph node size.

• • Surgery in early September: “lumpectomy” or “partial mastectomy”. Same thing.  

• • All lymph nodes were negative for cancer. This is very encouraging.   

• • One of the margins (edges) of the main tumor removed showed cancer. The assumption is that there is some left, but we don’t imagine there is much. 

• • Follow-up mammocram Tuesday

• • Surgery to remove more tissue sometime after that.

• • Ongoing targeted immunotherapy. 

• • Ongoing integrative homeopathic therapies: sunlight, meditation, joy, laughter, quality sleep, acupuncture, a vegetable-centric low sugar diet, medicinal mushrooms, flax seed, electrolytes, supplements, exercise.

We have learned a lot since January. For example, there is so much to learn. We have learned that conventional cancer treatment is very narrow in its perspective. Poison it. Burn it. Cut it. And we have learned there is half a world and at least a millennium of complementary practices that could be as important or more important than the mechano-radio-chemical approach to cancer treatment. 

I no longer embrace the theory of “getting it all” but I understand our need to promote that concept. I don’t dispute that it works or appears to work sometimes, but don’t you wonder why so many people have recurrences after they “got it all”?  I am more concerned that not even lip service is paid to the whole Kelly–her mind, her body, what it does when it’s not getting medicine or surgery, except by a handful of wonderful healers who live outside the kingdom of so-called experts. 

We have not encountered a single soul in the tower of intellect, who believes what we eat has an effect on cancer occurence, remission or progression. To me this is both astounding and understandable. Like anyone else, professionals who treat disease find comfort in routines and application of that which (they believe) is proven. Like most everyone else, they do and teach what they are taught. They and we are taught that mystery is scary. Someday I hope to be able to help them understand that mystery–and perhaps I mean the frequent questioning of the status quo–may lead to better care.  

I am intrigued by the idea that there are mind-body conditions–the concept of psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology–that create environments supportive of cancer’s (really, most disease processes) growth and spread. Some–me included–would be quick to add gastroenterology to the mix, refusing to ignore the critical impact of the gut microbiome. If such conditions prove important, it would mean we can create environments in which cancer (and most diseases) will not thrive. 

If you are curious, read these books: When the Body Says No, by Gabor Maté, and the two books by Kelly Turner, Radical Remission and Radical Hope. If you need more, read Why We Get Sick, by Benjamin Bickman. I could be wrong, but believe that those who are stewards of conventional cancer treatment could benefit greatly by forcing the scope of their curiosity beyond the boundaries of what they were taught by people who were certain of their certainties.

Thank you for so many powerful acts of kindness and support.