Medical Details so far this year

Here's the treatments I have been working with so far this year:

ongoing: American standard
Lupron shot (every 3 months to zero out testosterone, which is the building block for prostate cancer)
Zometa IV drip (every month to whack metastases)

January - February: pancreatic enzyme treatment
This well-regarded alternative treatment is based on 1) good vegetarian and raw diet, 2) wide range of supplements, 3) big doses of pancreatic enzymes, and 4) detox. See Dr. Gonzalez's site at http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/ . this looks great on paper but -- I couldn't handle the pancreatic enzymes! They created so much toxic sludge in my system that it overwhelmed my liver and other detox organs, and I got mind-numbingly depressed. It didn't improve even with some uber-detox ideas I got from a practitioner in Idaho, and with a second try in May.

March - June
In January I saw Dr. Michael Schacter (http://www.mbschachter.com/) speak at an alternative medicine conference, and was quite impressed with his approach. I visited his offices in March and he prescribed a great and well-researched mix of supplements, vitamin C infusions, diet and exercise. (I have the spreadsheet of all the supplements I was taking, let me know if you would like it). the combination of this regimen plus daily coffee enemas (to de-toxify my system) worked fairly well. Downside -- it would have cost $3000 per month to do everything that Dr. Schacter had recommended! I also didn't want to be dependent on taking so many supplments long-term.

July - present
In July I discovered the Mt. Diablo Wellness Institute and their ayurvedic regimens. They start with a set of cleansing rituals -- "panchakarma" -- to bring your system to a baseline, and then develop an individualized regimen based on your body constitution. This regimen includes meditation, yoga, and a number of herbal supplements. I'm starting the panchakarma cleansing in a couple of weeks, which will supplement any other treatment regimen that I decide I might need.

I already feel a lot stronger on this therapy, and I am daily thankful for the change in orientation from both standard and alternative medical practices: the emphasis is on creating your health, and knowing that the body naturally wants to regain its balance. In such an environment, the cancer is unwelcome (both physically, mentally and spiritually) and decreases in course.

Because of this change in orientation, the treatment is necessarily more oriented toward the mid- to long-term than the others that I've been doing. If I need to do a short-term intervention, I'll do it but will return to ayurveda for my long-term approach.

Links to the programs at the Mt. Diablo Wellness Institute:

http://www.mdiwellness.com/panchkarma.shtml
http://www.mdiwellness.com/preshka.shtml

New Treatment Regimen

It took a while, but I've sifted out the new information I got at the Schacter Center, and combined it with what I want to keep from the previous enzyme therapy and other supplements.

What I'm doing: I'm still on a diet, detox and supplement therapy. My goal is to heal myself while I'm maintaining as normal a life as possible, and within our current financial constraints.

diet: a low-glycemic diet, alkalizing  with no sugar, white flour, white rice, dairy or soy.  No meat except for salmon a couple of times a week.  No coffee or alcohol.  No fruits except for berries.  Lots of vegetables in salads and  juices and wherever else I can get them.  A 14-grain raw mush (soaked in apple juice) every morning, and as much raw food as I can get.  Organic everything to avoid toxic chemicals.

detox: coffee enemas and saunas at least once each day.  Skin brushing and lots of (reverse-osmosis-filtered) water. Avoid aluminum and teflon cookware, filter on shower head, exercise and meditation every day. Monthly liver or intestinal cleanses.

supplements: a core of general vitamins and minerals, with a number of specific prostate cancer-fighting compounds (details in a separate post):

○ pancreas enzymes (as much as system will tolerate)

○ Pao V FM

○ Myomin

○ PeakImmune 4

○ ProstaSol

○ Curcumin

○ Five Mushroom extract

○ Avemar

○ modified citrus pectin

The hardest part of moving to this regimen wasn't researching and choosing the specifics (that's the fun part!)  It was finding the courage to leave behind the complete therapy package that Pamela had prescribed for me.  This was just as hard as it was to leave behind Herr Dr. Thaller's treatment regimen a few months ago.  I battle feelings that I'm doing the wrong thing, that I'm risking my life based on my layperson's knowledge, etc. etc. -- but in the final analysis, the lesson from this process has been consistent: I have to be the director of my own treatment.  I have to trust my own body, my own intuition, my own judgment -- no one else can do it for me.

Whew, Wow, Whoa!!

I've been on the enzyme therapy for a month now. (details in the previous post and another post, probably for tomorrow, on the day-to-day specifics.)

It certainly has meant taking a lot more responsibility for my care: instead of going for treatments once every six weeks or so, I spend several hours each day poking and dosing and feeding myself the right thing so that the therapy lopes along.

All of the research reports on the results of this therapy are excellent, and my nutrition coach, Pamela, has been fabulous in supporting me. She and I have spent a lot of time on the phone together, and she patiently answers every one of my questions about dosage and timing and procedure.

(You can feel a "But" coming, can't you??)

But holy cow -- these supplements are intense!!!

Every time I take one of the larger doses, I get completely spaced out and a little bit queasy for the next couple of hours -- I can tell that my body is spending a lot of energy to process what I'm putting into it.

That's nothing, though, compared to the depression that I've been feeling. Several times a week I am seriously hammered by intense sadness. Several times a week I find myself in tears at inconvenient moments for no particular reason. (or for some normal here's-what-life-throws-us-all reason, but I let it completely get to me and incapacitate me.) I'm a zillion miles behind on just about everything in my life, and in contacting just about everyone I should be getting in touch with. (so to all of my friends out there, hello, I haven't forgotten about you, I still love you!)

It's not the supplements in and of themselves. I've been taking over 120 supplements per day since last August, and the enzyme therapy has me on about the same amount now -- and there's a lot of overlap in the substances that I'm taking.

I've hesitated to write about the depression, because I wasn't quite sure what was happening. My dad died a couple of months ago, so of course I initially thought that I was sad about his passing. And every individual incident seems to have a perfectly reasonable proximate cause that I can pin it on. ("I can't believe that *X* did *Y*!!" etc. etc. etc.)

But what's happening is much more than that, or that, or any other one particular explanation. Something is going on here that is *intensely* depressing me, and I need to figure it out.

My initial suspicion is focused on the humongous dose of pancreatic enzymes that I'm taking every day. I asked Pamela about it and she said the depression is "normal" for patients on enzyme therapy; the body is going through an intense detoxification process, and great gobs of toxins are being thrown into my bloodstream.

OK, I suppose I find that to be a sensible explanation…but I also find it really tough to keep subjecting myself to this level of (perceived) emotional duress. I am going to keep investigating this, and try some tweaks to bring myself back into some kind of equilibrium. Any suggestions are most welcome!

A Day in the Life -- Part 1

Here's a quick outline of the procedure I go through every morning to keep things rolling for my enzyme treatment.

6:30am -- Turn on near-infrared sauna so it can warm up to 110 degrees.

Meditate for (at least) 20 minutes.

6:50am -- Take 5 chlorella tablets. Enter sauna for 20 minutes. (It's like a rotisserie -- I bake each side for 5 minutes, then rotate 90 degrees!)

7:15am -- take 2 tablespoons of post-sauna electrolytes.

Take AM supplements (20 tablets total, plus tinctures):

• aloe vera extract
• blue-green algae
• Cytozyme-THY (thymus gland extract)
• Immune System Activator (beta-glucan)
• Coriolus PSP
• 5 Mushroom Extract tincture
• Bach Flower remedy (Gentian, Rescue Remedy, Chestnut Bud, Scleranthus)
• Caprobiotics (probiotics)
• PanAlone (pancreatic enzymes)
• ProstaSol (herbal hormones -- see http://www.clearfeed.com/pfeifer/prostate-cancer.html )
• Prostabel (pao pereira + rauwolfia vomitoria extracts -- see http://www.beljanski.com/eng/beljanski.html)

7:25am -- start coffee enema (prepared the night before)

8:35am -- eat 14-grain raw cereal + fruit (prepared the night before)

9:15am -- take post-breakfast supplements (29 tablets total)

• Perque2 Life Guard (multivitamin + mineral)
• Perque Bone Guard (calcium + other minerals for bone supplementation)
• Strontium (for bones)
• gingko biloba
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin C
• alpha lipoic acid
• Master Amino Acid Pattern
• Omega-3
• Montiff Liver Protec (silymarin + d-alpha tocopheryl succinate + quercitin)
• PanAlone (pancreatic enzymes)

…and that's it for the morning! I'm ready to head off to work for a few hours.

(procedure to be continued!)

On the Right Track!

Good news from the oncologist today. My bone scan from a couple of weeks ago came back, and most of the bone metastases have retreated considerably! My normally reserved oncologist broke into a rare use of positive phrases: "it's remarkable -- we almost never see the metastases diminish."

Also, at the end of December my PSA had declined again, to 1.6 (*almost* normal!)

Apparently most of the time, the "standard" treatment I'm on (the hormone blockage therapy that zeroes out my testosterone) merely slows the metastases down. (Or in the best case, brings it to a halt). The bone scan instead shows that the spots have almost disappeared -- the doctor says that some of what's left is evidence of arthritis rather than cancer (I'll take that choice any day!)

This confirms what the technician said a couple of weeks ago when she printed out the film of my scan and exclaimed -- 'wow, we never see that happen!"

Apparently all the effort (and expense) that we went to to get to Germany for the treatments by Dr. Thaller have paid off handsomely -- what he did had an amazing effect! Thanks to all of you who contributed for making this possible!

Now comes the hard part, which is keeping these gains intact, and continuing to work on the cancer that remains. Today is the start of my enzyme therapy treatment, which is a *lot* more labor-intensive, but reportedly very effective! (More on that in a later post.)

The Power of Poop

OK, I am already a *complete* believer!!

I'm on my second day of doing coffee enemas, in preparation for my enzyme therapy program that starts next month. The theory is the same as that behind the do-it-yourself supplement program that I've been on for the past 4 months: the various herbal remedies, enzymes and vitamins that I'm taking are great, each in their own way, for getting the cancer and various other toxins out of my system. But someone has to move whatever's been stirred up on out of the system!

For the past few months, I've relied on my general regularity, along with an occasional colonic from Charlotte Layne. The coffee enemas really move the detoxification to another level. It's recommended by many different alternative cancer groups, including the enzyme therapy treatment ("Dr. Kelley's program") -- see http://www.sawilsons.com/ .

I can testify from my own experience that my innards have been really vile ever since I amped up my supplement use last month -- there are some seriously toxic substances being stirred up down there! I'm glad to have a procedure that will get rid of them much more efficiently.

The added bonus of the coffee enemas is one that I've read about but didn't appreciate fully until I started them yesterday. I feel *great*! This isn't just "drink your morning cup of coffee" great, and it isn't like any other caffeine experience that I've ever had. I am feeling so good overall, and I am experiencing astounding mental clarity for three or four hours after the procedure -- and all without any kind of caffeine buzz! (caveat: we'll see if it lasts!!)

Here's a link that gives you probably more information than you wanted to know about coffee enema benefits, and the actual procedure-- http://www.sawilsons.com/basicenema.htm