The Truth I Discovered While Looking the Other Way

After my mom's diagnosis, there was no time for a lesson in breast cancer.  Most patients go through one day of learning.  They attend an all day meeting with other cancer patients and doctors.  They are educated on what is happening, how breast cancer works, etc.  Then, everyone breaks for lunch and the doctors come up with a plan.  Upon return, the doctors share the plan of attack.   By the time my mom met with her oncologist, June 20, we were down by 100 points and in the 4th quarter.  There was even less time than her oncologist thought.  He originally told us, "This is not curable but we will attack and try to keep the cancer quiet for as long as we can.  We have to move fast.  Three chemo meds...starting on Monday.  We have to be aggressive."

After my mom's blood was drawn and she was sent home, she received a phone call telling her to come back to the hospital.  She was in liver failure.  Chemo would start the next day after a port was placed.

Needless to say, this was all terrifying.  Everything I learned, I learned on my own through questions, the internet and the materials we were given.   I grew up in a split family home.  Visits to dad were every other weekend and I was with mom most of the time.  At my dad's, if someone didn't know the answer to something, we looked it up.  I hated that.  "Let me get the almanac," my dad was always saying.  Or the dictionary or he made a phone call.  The point was that the answer had to be found.  Now, I operate the same way.

My mom lost her appetite and had incredible nausea.  Several people coyly offered weed.  I immediately refused.  Yes, marijuana was something I experienced in college but since becoming a Christian in 2003, I was the furthest from it.  This was not something I wanted for my mom.  In fact, I didn't think anyone should have access to it.  It was just another reason to get high.  Another excuse.  Another abuse.  I remember voting against medical marijuana.  I remember feeling so disgusted when all the dispenseries opened.  I remember feeling victorious when most closed back down.

Marijuana was NOT an option.

I started researching to find out more about triple negative breast cancer.  What I found was ugly.  It is the most aggressive of the breast cancers.  It reacts well to the chemo at first and then becomes immune.  There was nothing that could really stop it.

I sent an e-mail around the time of my mom's initial diagnosis to my crunchy friends asking for direction.  They suggested Young Living Essential Oils.  All of the stories they sent me, validating the effectiveness of the oils to kill cancer or help jump start the immune system sounded great!  But where was the actual research?  I couldn't find any.  There is a woman on the net that did research on all of the essential oils on the market and more questions were raised then laid to rest.  What is the concentration of the oils?  How pure were they?  Where were the ingredients coming from?  How exactly do the oils kill cancer?  Where is the clinical research?  I mean, personal accounts are great but can I contact the people who are making these claims?  Is there any medical support?

I found essential oils to be a dead end.

Here is a simplified trail of where my research led:
Foods that fight cancer
Changing your diet
The Gerson Diet
Essential Oils
Orange Oil
Candida
Side effects of Chemo
How to help side effects of chemo
White Blood Count
Mucositis/Thrush

cancer cure

HIV is being used as a possible cure for cancer

Triple Negative Research search

July 13th searches:

triple negative breast cancer clinical trials - Google Search

Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®) - National Cancer Institute

Chemotherapy breakthrough could dramatically reduce side-effects | Science | The Guardian

elevated bilirubin - Google Search

FDA approves 'smart bomb' against breast cancer | The Advisory Board Daily Briefing

Metastatic Lung Cancer Fatal Adventure with Chemo & Smart Bombs - YouTube

July 14 searches:

elevated bilirubin - Google Search

FDA approves 'smart bomb' against breast cancer | The Advisory Board Daily Briefing

Metastatic Lung Cancer Fatal Adventure with Chemo & Smart Bombs - YouTube

Cory Monteith Dead: Glee Star Dies at 31 - Yahoo! TV

The Triple Negative Paradox: Primary Tumor Chemosensitivity of Breast Cancer Subtypes

Israelis give a double punch to triple-negative breast cancer | ISRAEL21c

Meet Denise Wolf: Fighting A Triple Negative Threat - The Independent: Community

Civilians trapped in Syria mosque | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

Futurity.org – How to tame ‘triple negative’ breast cancer

What are the Side Effects of Tamoxifen?

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Slow Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation

AACR Annual Meeting 2013 - Google Search

July 16 searches:

how close cure for cancer - Google Search

Scientists find treatment to kill every kind of cancer tumor | Fox News

Cancer Dream Teams: Road to a Cure? | TIME.com

Do you see how I was all over the map with this research?  And I wasn't finding much of anything.  Promises, promises.  But now, it was July 17 and my search brought me to something different.  Something I wasn't expecting.  Take a look at my searches from July 17...almost an exact month after my mother was officially diagnosed to die.


July 17 searches:

Potions from Poison? | Treatments from Toxins: New Drugs May Come from Some Dangerous Places | TIME.com

http://healthland.time.com/2013/07/15/treatments-from-toxins-new-drugs-may-come-from-some-dangerous-places/slide/waxy-monkey-frog/

THC cures Cancer - Google Search

Spain Study Confirms Cannabis Oil Cures Cancer (Reloaded) | Zen-Haven - Love Hope Courage

Marijuana cuts lung cancer tumor growth in half, a 2007 Harvard Medical School - Google Search

A 2007 Harvard Medical School study shows Marijuana cuts lung cancer tumor growth in half. | “Hang together or hang separately” (Ben Franklin)

FB Home Grown Hydroponix

Federally Sponsored Marijuana Study Backfires: Scientists Conclude DEA Should Reclassify Cannabis | Marijuana.com  

Did you see it in there?  "THC cures cancer" was one of my google searches.  But why?  I'm still trying to figure out how I got to THC.  I think I either read something about THC in the comments of a different article or when I pinned the Potions from Poison article to Pinterest, an article about THC was suggested.  What matters is that I read the article.  And I grew curious.  And I started to dig and dig and dig.  

I was blown away by what I found.  Research.  Actual research by medical researchers!  And names.  Lots of names of real people who could be contacted.  I was excited by what I was reading but also skeptical.  This whole experience reminded me of how I came to follow Christ.  It was a slow process with lots of research on the Bible.  But in the end, faith.  Not blind faith.  Reasoned faith.

I started sharing what I was learning with my husband, sister, step-dad but not really my mom.  I wasn't sure how she would react to what I was telling her.  I wasn't even sure WHAT to tell her.  I still had so much to learn.