Hypotheses for Natural Cancer Remission

Today I am excited to share a guest blog by Kelly Turner. Kelly is a researcher, lecturer, and consultant in the field of integrative oncology. She assists cancer patients who are interested in integrating complementary medicine approaches with their Western oncology treatment. Her interest in complementary medicine began when she received her B.A. from Harvard University, and it later became the sole focus of her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kelly’s dissertation research included a year-long trip around the world, for which she and her husband, Aaron Teich, L.Ac., traveled to ten different countries to interview 50 holistic healers and 20 “spontaneous” remission cancer survivors about their healing practices and techniques. She is currently working on a book for cancer patients that summarizes her research findings. I hope you will find her research helpful.

Hypotheses for Natural Cancer Remission – Part 1
By Kelly A. Turner, Ph.D.

My name is Kelly Turner, PhD, and I’m a cancer consultant and researcher who studies people who heal from cancer without Western medicine, or after Western medicine has failed to remit their cancer. While personally I believe in combining the best of Western (allopathic) and Complementary medicine, as a researcher I study anomalous cases.

For my dissertation research at UC Berkeley, I traveled around the world for a year asking 50 non-allopathic healers from 12 different countries about how they treat cancer. Afterward, I asked 20 cancer survivors who had healed without Western medicine why they thought they healed. After scouring the 70, hour-long interview transcripts for common themes, what emerged were 3 underlying beliefs about cancer, and more than 75 cancer “treatments.”

In this guest blog, I will be discussing the three underlying beliefs about cancer. I will be describing the Top 6 cancer “treatments” used by my interviewees in another guest blog soon at http://www.tamiboehmer.com.
You may also read my full dissertation here: http://www.shuniyahealing.com/offer/research.html

(Note: This study was designed to collect hypotheses. Therefore, please remember that the following “findings” are opinions only).

Belief #1: Change the Conditions under which Cancer Thrives
The majority of my interviewees believed that cancer thrives under certain, sub-optimal conditions in the body. Therefore, to remove cancer, they recommended changing the underlying conditions in the body, at which point the cancer cells would theoretically die off naturally. This is quite different from the Western (allopathic) medicine view that sees cancer cells as “invaders” in an otherwise healthy body. An integrative oncologist from Japan describes his theory as follows:

HEALER (from Japan): Cancer substance is not made by cancer cells, but by human beings. And the cancer substance to change is not cancer cells, but human beings. Bad circulation and low [body] temperature – cancer cells never created [those] conditions. Human beings themselves created [those] bad circumstances.

KELLY: So it’s the bad circumstances that human beings create in their body that allow the cancer cells to grow?

HEALER (from Japan): Yes. So, my understanding is cancer cell is not malignant cell, but sacrificed/delinquent cell…adapted to the wrong circumstances…In our body, cancer cells never arise up in a heart or small intestine, because these heart and small intestine are warm and high [in] blood and high content of oxygen. Small intestine and heart is good circumstance, so [they have a] small percentage [of cancer] – [it is] very unusual for cancer [to appear in those organs].

Belief #2: Illness = Blockage/Slowness, Health = Movement
The majority of my 70 interviewees also believed that any illness – including cancer – represents a blockage or slowness in the system, while health is characterized by unhindered movement and flow. The theory is that when everything is flowing smoothly – your breath, blood, food, waste, emotions, and even your energy – then your body will be healthy and able to remove any bacteria, virus, etc. that enters your body. One woman who healed herself of metastatic pancreatic cancer said it this way:

“I think the etheric body – the energy body – organizes the physical body based on thoughts or emotions that are either flowing or blocked. So as long as emotions and thoughts are positive and flowing…then the physical body is holding a state of greater balance. As soon as the thoughts become low frequency thoughts, or our emotions become low frequency emotions, then the energy tends to jam up or get blocked in the auric field. And when it blocks up enough, it first creates discomfort…When nothing is done to release those emotions or thoughts, or to change them, eventually it moves into the etheric field and sometimes even into the physical body, and that’s what causes what I call ‘dis-ease.’ And again, it’s still just energy that’s stuck.”

Belief #3: A Body-Mind-Spirit Interaction Exists, and “Energy” Permeates All Three
The third and final underlying belief that the majority of my interviewees discussed was the idea that a body-mind-spirit interaction exists, and that energy (also called “chi” or “prana”) permeates all three of these levels. A chi-gong healer from New Zealand, who is also a colon cancer survivor, said it this way:

“They say a person is made up of your physical body and your ‘shen’ – which [in Traditional Chinese Medicine] is your consciousness or spirit – and then ‘chi’ is the thing that connects the ‘shen’ and your physical body. So those three will work together and are one, really, but the key thing to remember is that the ‘shen’ leads the ‘chi,’ so your consciousness, or where the mind is going, is where your chi is going, and that begets your physical body. So if your ‘shen’ is really busy and very emotional, you know going up and down, that really depletes your chi, and that leads to disease or breakdown.”

From the Author:
I am always looking for more cancer survivors to interview for my research. If you know of any that fit my research criteria, please invite them to email me at kellyturner@ShuniyaHealing.com. To learn more about the benefits of complementary therapies, please visit: http://www.ShuniyaHealing.com.

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com
elynjacobs.blogspot.com
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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

Tamoxifen, Friend or Foe?

I follow many, many blogs and cancer-related online chat forums. One I saw today really stung. A woman asked if anyone taking Tamoxifen had ever experienced debilitating bilateral posterior leg pain and the inability to walk or sit without intense pain. She mentioned that she had done all the tests, MRIs, x-rays, etc. with no resulting explanation for her pain. She added that her doctor took her off the Tam and her symptoms subsided significantly. Another woman mentioned that issue plus a host of others, including a persistent and unexplained cough.

Well, I have been on Tam for four years, and three years ago I started experiencing intense pain while sitting, then found it very painful to walk. I saw one doc, told me pelvic misalignment was the issue, and after a few of his treatments, I got worse, I could only walk if I dragged one leg. So much for him. Saw another Doc, said it was two torn hamstring muscles, the left side being severe. I explained that this was unlikely as surely I would have known when this happened (something like a sudden sharp pain would be memorable). However, I was desperate to walk so I agreed to try his “treatment”, a painful and useless platelet procedure. No change. Saw another Doc, he viewed the same MRI results and said that it wasn’t a hamstring issue, it was a disc issue. He offered another painful procedure. This time I was not gullible and refused. He then suggested physical therapy. No change. Next I consulted an integrative chiropractor; he suggested misalignment and stress being the culprit. I will never know if he was right, but after a year of his treatments and the massage therapy he suggested, I am fine. Was it the Tam? Who knows, but I am starting to think so.

And then there’s the cough…..

In December 2010, I started coughing. Still coughing a few months later, I went to my Internist and since I felt otherwise fine, he suspected lung cancer. Thankfully the tests were negative, and he suggested it could be asthma and allergies. Okay, so that makes sense. I started to believe maybe he was right, and that perhaps my mother’s chronic cough could have been that too, undiagnosed. Now, I am not so sure…..was it, is it the Tam? I will have to take this up with my oncologists, but so far, NONE of my doctors suggested this could be the culprit. It’s well known that bone and joint pain can be common, but not the type of pain at issue here. I’d like to think that they are simply not aware of the connection as I happen to have much respect for my doctors…..at the moment.

Perhaps it is all coincidence. Perhaps not. However, one thing I do know is that before an oncologist so quickly orders Tam, AI’s or Chemo for that matter, more needs to be learned and side effects/symptoms taken seriously. I would hate to think that I spent thousands and thousands of dollars and endured years in pain dealing with problems that could have been eliminated by stopping the Tam. Are my symptoms a small price to pay for avoiding recurrence? Maybe, but again….quality of life doesn’t seem to concern most doctors….maybe it’s time they started teaching this in med school. One last note….did I mention that inflammation increases the risk for recurrence….humm….wonder how much of it I’m hosting in my chest, legs, and derriere. Prevention should not be part of the problem.

To read more the possible side effects of Tamoxifen, please view:
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/tamoxifen-side-effects.html

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com
elynjacobs.blogspot.com


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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Today I am excited to share a guest post by Johnny Cathcart, a 2x childhood brain cancer survivor, award winning filmmaker and author. At 23 years old, he published his book “Hotpants….a memoir,” detailing his journey through cancer and beyond. He currently resides in New York City where he works as a freelance writer, videographer and editor, but his dream is to be a full-time author and filmmaker. I hope you get your dream Johnny, you’ve certainly earned it!

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please

“The year just flew by didn’t it?” “Has it been that long already?” “I climb the mountain, turn around, and I see my reflection in the snow covered hills…” So we’ve all heard some rendition of that statement, in all different contexts of life. Not just from the Dixie Chicks, but work, family… old high school friends, in our minds. Think back to elementary school. Time didn’t fly back then! I remember getting up, cartoons and cereal adventures in the morning, the looong day at school, all of the classes, recess, friends, walk home time, then riding bikes, and the hours of intense fun. Then there was family dinner, prayers, and a cartoon or two before bedtime. The year was nice and very slow. Remember? The swing set drama? Then there were all the high school stresses while working our way through the social mazes. Even college years seemed slower and more full than now. Though, since I popped out the long chute into the rock hard workforce world… the sun sets the minute it rises, morning coffee and evening cabernet become one, and the snow that falls melts to summer before it kisses my rapidly aging skin cells. What happened to that moment that is forever stuck in iPhoto now?

Well, ten years ago I had walked out of St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis for the last time as a full time cancer patient. I was 15. Every so often I had been visiting for checkups; less and less as the years progressed, and 6/25/2011 will be my last check up ever. Recently my mom reminded me over the phone that after the 25th, if everything is still fine, then I would be completely discharged from the hospital forever. I sniffled up these thick, spongy tears at that moment. My cancer battle had been a constant struggle for 3 straight years before I was 15, completely turning my life and my family’s life in a different direction. “It’s been 10 years already?”

I think of how it seems like last month when I was blasted with my last radiation treatment. It seems like last week I hugged my college friends for the last time. It really does seem like yesterday when I moved to New York and heard that famous phrase “Stand clear of the closing doors please” for the very first time on the train.

Time is crazy like that isn’t it? Memories collect and bunch together, it all just goes in an instant and all of the sudden you are where you are… and 10 years have gone by. Poof! - iPhoto… It’s not gone though. They’re not just “memories” to hang on a mental shelf. They are building blocks. Every little thing, that one recess, that one detention, that one kiss, that first fight you had with your dorm mate, that first job, etc… all formed who you are now. Every bit of what happened to me, every scraped knee and every moment has made every bit of my character up to this second that I sit here typing at my Bronx apartment. The years totally fly by, but think about it… Reflect on each little thing that happened that made up between 9:00 – 9:15 this morning. When you add that with the conversation at lunchtime, and the unwinding news program on the recliner in the evening, you can think how each of those events, melded together, have become your person and character as it is right now. In other words, though they seem to have flown by, each event of every moment of every day, week, and month is profound and meaningful. “Yeah, I think back on these happenings now, the memories stacked up, and though they seem to have flown by, when I reflect on how each event has built up to me today, it all seems more filled, a nice full life time.” Has it been 10 years already?


Johnny was the videographer for a You Tube interview I did for www.TalkAboutHealth.com , featuring Ann Fonfa, Founder of the Annie Appleseed Project. To view the most recent clip, please view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPrBlhdI_Pk&feature=channel_video_title

To read more of Johnny’s work, please visit: http://vimeo.com/johnnycathcart

To Read about Johnny's book, please visit: johnnyhp.com

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com
http://elynjacobs.blogspot.com

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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

Mastectomy? Know Your Options

A woman came to me for help last week; a small breasted woman with early stage breast cancer. She wanted to discuss her options with me. Her preference would be to have a mastectomy, but she was afraid of the cosmetic outcome. She was embarrassed to admit this concern as her doctor had commented that her cancer should be her first priority. I assured her that cancer treatment with a good cosmetic result is possible. I asked her if a nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) with the incision through an inframammary fold (IMF) was offered. She just stared at me.

I explained that in some circumstances NSM was possible and that although there are no long-term studies, the five year studies show no increased risk for NSM over skin-sparing mastectomies. It was possible that she would not have to endure additional surgery to reconstruct her nipples and that the outcome would be more natural looking. I also explained that with an IMF (under the bra-line) incision, the scar can be hidden in a natural crease. The relief on her face was amazing.

Why, I ask myself, do more doctors not offer these procedures. Are these procedures more time consuming, more difficult or are some doctors simply not current on new developments in breast cancer treatments and surgical options? Have they lost sight that there is life after cancer? After all, isn’t life-after cancer the main reason for treating cancer? Perhaps the surgery takes longer or is more difficult? I consulted an expert on NSM, IMF MX, Dr Alex Swistel, of the Weill Cornell Breast Center, and his response was that this approach is more difficult and it requires specialized training as it requires instruments that can reach as far as that in a conventional mastectomy. Many experts that have tried it abandoned it for that reason; however, this procedure is best for keeping blood supply to the nipple without cutting around it and really hides the scar very well. This procedure certainly is not for everyone, but reports are now showing virtually no recurrence in the nipple even after 10 years. (Studies done in Italy seem to have the longest follow-up.)

I recently attended a conference on new developments in the treatment of breast cancer: “2011 Meet the Experts: Breast Cancer Education.” I had the opportunity to hear what is new, and also to ask questions of the panelists. Dr Eleni Tousimis, of the Weill Cornell Breast Center (see new link added below for updated information), spoke at length on the latest technological advances in the treatment of breast disease and on minimally invasive techniques, including the latest on NSM. Dr Joshua Levine, of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, spoke about the benefits of using one’s own tissue for reconstruction (autologous breast augmentation). Microsurgery has come a long way since its invention by vascular surgeons in the 1960s. The term refers to any surgery involving a surgical microscope. And it has found one of its best applications in breast reconstruction. Through microsurgery, surgeons are able to harvest healthy tissue from one part of a woman’s body and reattach it to the breast area. Through the careful process of attaching blood vessels, microsurgery allows patients to have natural looking breasts made from their own, living tissue. Another benefit is the minimized impact and injury to muscles, allowing patients to enjoy a faster, fuller recovery than with earlier flap reconstruction. For more information, please view the following link.
http://www.naturalbreastreconstruction.com/procedures.aspx

Many women choose implants over flap reconstruction methods. While breast reconstruction with implants may not always yield as realistic-looking results as tissue-based reconstruction methods, the procedure is less risky and requires less surgery. Generally, implant-based reconstruction results in less scarring and poses fewer risks to the patient than tissue-based reconstruction, making it an attractive option for women who prefer less invasive procedures. I am grateful for my wonderful team, Drs Alex Swistel and Mia Talmor. I chose silicone implants, have my very own nipples and I must say I don’t look as if I have had a mastectomy.

Exciting times in the world of breast cancer surgery. However, one thing I heard at the aforementioned conference was quite disturbing: 30% of all women treated for breast cancer do not choose reconstruction. It is one thing to choose not to have reconstruction; it is quite another to decline it because no one has either offered it or explained that insurance companies are required to cover the costs. Are doctors not discussing this with their patients? Are patients not aware this is an option? Clearly not all options are for everyone, but an informed patient is an empowered one.

I had the opportunity to discuss NSM and other reconstruction issues with Dr Paul Baron, co-founder of the Charleston Breast Center and expert on NSM. He was incredibly informative and I asked him if I could borrow both his knowledge as well as a blog he wrote for The Reconstruction Network: “Who Can Have a Skin-Sparing and Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy and Why”. I have attached the link below as I think you will find it most informative.
http://breastreconstructionnetwork.com/who-can-have-a-skin-sparing-and-nipple-sparing-mastectomy-and-why/

While we are still waiting for the cure, much progress has been made in surgical and reconstructive procedures for breast cancer. Oncoplastic surgical techniques can be used to remove the cancer while achieving excellent cosmetic outcomes. NSM and IMF are not an option for all women, and certainly women will have preferences on reconstruction options. However, women need to know that they have options. Information is power and it has never been more important to be informed and knowledgeable about your medical care. My goal is to get this information to women and to empower them to make choices that fit their own individual needs.

For more information on NSM and reconstructive options, please visit:
http://diepflap.com/nipple_sparing_mastectomy.html
http://diepflap.com/br_treatmentoptions.html
http://aes.sagepub.com/content/31/3/310.abstract
http://talkabouthealth.com/of-the-choices-of-lymph-node-procedures-how-do-you-decide-which-to-employ-and-which-have-you-found-to-give-the-most-reliable-results (this link added 10/29/11)


To locate doctors who perform NAM, IMF, and DIEP reconstruction, email me and I will assist you.

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com
http://elynjacobs.blogspot.com



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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

A Cancer Spa?

You hear those dreaded words, “You have cancer.” Your life changes dramatically. You spend endless hours and days undergoing more tests, consulting surgeons, radiologists, and oncologists. Most clinical environments are truly depressing, and for some reason, many doctors, nurses and other medical staff do not realize that your time is precious. I remember taking a woman for a consultation. She commented to me that the office was cold (not temperature-wise, but the previous office we visited was freezing.) She told me this cold, barren office was scary and that she would not return, no matter how great the doctor was. Well, after she spoke with the doctor, she knew she wanted him to be her surgeon. But what if that office had been pleasant, or even spa-like? What if she were treated like a person instead of just a patient? Would that have been too much to ask? And wouldn’t it be wonderful if complementary therapies were given alongside conventional treatments? In the long-term, complementary therapies have the power to reduce chronic stress and depression, lessen the collateral damage done by chemotherapy, and may even improve the prognosis and extend the lives of cancer patients. In the short-term, complementary therapies can have a profound impact on the quality of life during treatment. Yet, too many conventional doctors do not support the use of complementary therapies, and of those who do, rarely are these treatments offered during treatment.

Well, thankfully that is all beginning to change. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Eva Dubin, founder of the Dubin Breast Center at Mt Sinai in New York City. Dr. Dubin created the DBC to provide women with exactly this type of care. The center resembles a spa more than it does a cancer center. One can look out over Central Park through the huge windows, and the wood planked walls, pleasant music and relaxing environment are serene. It is a comprehensive facility; consultations, mammograms (including state-of- the- art Tomosynthesis), sonograms, biopsies, radiology and chemotherapy are all in the same place, no schlepping all over town. Additionally, they make every effort to respect the time of their patients. But what is really exciting is the holistic approach the center takes towards the treatment of cancer. The staff incorporates such modalities such as massage, yoga, and hypnosis, and offers healthy snacks to patients in the waiting areas as well as in the chemo suite. Cancer treatments are grueling, but wouldn’t it be more pleasant if you could receive a massage, hypnosis or do yoga during treatments? Thank you Dr. Dubin, for giving me a tour of the facility, for introducing me to some amazing doctors, and for sharing your vision of cancer care in the future, and for making it part of the present.

To learn more about the Dr. Dubin and the Dubin Breast Center, please visit: http://www.dubinbreastcenter.org

To learn more about DBC as well as another fabulous facility, the Jordan Valley Breast Care Center, please view the following blog written by my friend Tami Boehmer:
http://www.tamiboehmer.com/2011/06/tale-of-two-breast-centers-holistic-approach-started-with-doctors-dreams/

To learn about free or low cost Integrative and Nutritional Approaches to Cancer Care in the New York Area, please visit:
http://youcanthrive.org/breast_cancer_health.html

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com

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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

Remission

The other day I was asked by a representative from a cancer organization how long have I been in remission. I didn’t know what to say; I am four years out and no one had ever asked me that. I did not answer the question but rather said that I had cancer in 2007. Remission is a bad word. One needs to believe that cancer has been beaten. Remission implies that it is only a matter of time before the cancer returns. By definition, remission is the period of time during which symptoms of a disease are reduced (partial) or undetectable (complete). In the case of breast cancer, remission means that tests and imaging do not show evidence of the cancer, and that a doctor cannot see signs of the cancer during a clinical exam. It does not mean the same thing as cure. Doctors almost never use the term cure; rather, they usually talk about remission. Mine never spoke of either, just said I would be fine and that I should not worry about recurrence. It’s not that he was guaranteeing me my cancer would not return, he simply stated that I need not worry. He is right; can my cancer come back? Sure, but I choose to believe that it will not, and worrying about it is not going to prevent recurrence, but could likely encourage one. Microscopic collections of cancer cells often go undetected in all humans, not just in those of us who have had cancer. Therefore, while we are all at risk for cancer, you don’t see others saying, “Ah, but my cancer cells are in remission”, do Ya? No, and often these cells will be eliminated before they can cause trouble.

I am not living in denial; I am not ignorant of the nature of cancer. I know that for many, remission is a wonderful word. However, it’s time to change the attitude. The mind-body connection to cancer is strong, but so is the beast itself. Cancer remission is like roach control. As long as you put out the traps, no roaches….but that does not mean you have solved the roach problem. Eventually the roaches will win. We need to find a cure so that we can put the word remission in the circular file. We as humans can only do so much. We can eat better, reduce our stress, and live better. However, we need to find a cure for those who are in the battle of their lives; we need to stop racing and start curing. Clear-mission is what we need, not remission.

Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com

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Elyn Jacobs is President of Elyn Jacobs Consulting, Inc. and a breast cancer survivor. She empowers women diagnosed with cancer to navigate the process of treatment and care, and she educates about how to prevent recurrence and new cancers. She is passionate about helping others get past their cancer and into a cancer-free life.

From Cancer Patient to “Respant” (Responsible Participant) by Bernie Siegel, MD

This blog is posted with permission of cancer pioneer, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles (and many other books and CDs), and Emerald Heart Advisor Dr. Bernie Siegel. This somewhat shortened version is a one borrowed from The Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation. To read the entire article and others, please visit Bernie at www.berniesiegelmd.com. To view more posts on the EHCF's blog, please visit www.emeraldheart.org.

Enjoy, this is a powerful post.

Elyn Jacobs, Director, The Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation

From Cancer Patient to “Respant” (Responsible Participant)
by Bernie Siegel, MD
Unfortunately doctors and health professionals, in general, do not study success. We are far more likely to consider an unexpected recovery to be due to the treatment or a spontaneous remission. However, I have learned from my experience with patients and by asking them, “Why didn’t you die when you were supposed to?” that they always had a story to tell.
By speaking up and becoming a character or problem patient you become identified as a person and not by your room number or disease and, therefore, are far less likely to have a fatal or non-fatal medical error made while being cared for. The word patient derives its meaning from submissive sufferer. That is not a good thing to be when hospitalized or receiving medical treatment of any kind. You need to be a respant, or responsible participant if you want to heal and survive.

We now know from studies how one’s emotions and personality affect survival rates. I was criticized years ago for speaking about many things; no one had researched because no one believed they made sense, which are now scientific. Simple things like laughter affecting the survival of cancer patients and loneliness affecting the genes which control immune function are now proven to be true by studies. The fact that women live longer than men and married men live longer than single men with the same cancers, is not about female hormones or sleeping with them, but about relationships and meaning in your life. Survival behavior and an immune competent personality are not an accident or luck.

…When people have a sense of meaning in their life, express anger and emotions appropriately in defense of themselves, ask for help from family and friends, participate in their health care decisions, say no to what they choose not to do, find time to do what they enjoy and to play, use their feelings to help them to heal their lives and do not live a role but an authentic life they will always do better than expected. I would add that a spiritual faith and not seeing the disease as God punishing them also plays a role, as well as, their desire and intention to survive. Disease is a loss of health, not punishment, and your health is to be looked for as you would seek to find your lost car keys.
Difficult patients do not die when they are supposed to. Statistics do not determine their outcome or results. Those with inspiration who transform their lives and rebirth themselves give their bodies live messages and the body then does the best it can for them. Our bodies love us but if we do not love our life and bodies it sees illness and death as a way to be free of our afflictions… When you let an MD, or Medical Deity, determine whether you live or die you are giving away your power. I have seen people, whose hope was taken away by doctors,….go home, climb into bed and die. I have also seen others get damn angry at their doctors and go on to survive for many years or be cured of their disease.

You have to start with a belief in yourself and faith in all the things you incorporate into your life and choose as therapy. I know people who have left their troubles to God and been cured of cancer. A patient of mine, who was a landscaper, after surgery refused treatment for his cancer because it was springtime and he wanted to go home and make the world beautiful before he died. He lived to be ninety-four and became my teacher…

….When patients become empowered they do not just respond from their intellect but use their intuition too. When you are submissive and let others prescribe for you, you are in trouble…
Last but not least one must also choose the therapy you believe in and you can reprogram your mind and body through guided imagery if there are any conflicts. I know of a case where, after repairing the radiation therapy machine, the radioactive material was not replaced. So for one month people were not being treated and yet the radiation therapist did not know this until their routine inspection of the machine was done a month later. He was telling me how terrible he felt about not treating anyone for a month when I said, “You’d have to be an idiot to not know you weren’t treating anyone. So obviously people had side effects and their tumors shrinking because they thought they were being treated.” His response, “Oh my God you’re right.”
…Patients need to be respants and keep their power and feel free to change doctors and criticize them in a constructive way. The best doctors are criticized by patients, nurses and family. Why? Because they do not make excuses and learn from their mistakes. So love yourself, take responsibility for and participate in your life and state of health. This is not about avoiding dying but about living and its beneficial side effects.


Elyn Jacobs
elyn@elynjacobs.com