Fight on

 "God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimid. Don’t worry.”

Deuteronomy 31:8

My meds box used to look like this:

And now it looks like this:

A survivor is: "from the moment of diagnosis and for the balance of life" National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

It's been an overwhelming few months trying to figure out this side of the fight. I have talked to numerous doctors and nutritionist, naturopaths, and specialist. Here we are. This life living with Stage 3 Melanoma Cancer.

"Are you willing to settle for being overwhelmed by circumstances forever, or do you want to step up and overcome whatever is robbing you of joy and life?"

"The Best way to conquer feeling overwhelmed is to take our eyes of what's consuming us and get a bigger picture of what's really important. One of the main ways we accomplish this is by changing our perspective so we can get a true sense of God's character."

"Do your circumstances feel big an overwhelming? Take heart, because GOD is bigger!"

Perry Noble

First let me just rehash a little about my melanoma. I don't give details too often. Melanoma is so so different than all other cancers. And so so different in each individual case. It is a completely immune responsive cancer, which means it doesn't respond to typical chemotherapy and is killed best by using the body's own immune system, with immune system activating drugs. The drug I took for 8 months was doing just this, in hopes of fighting off straggling cells. There is no way to detect single cancer cell in the body, but once its a tumor it's billions of cells. At the point where the cancer cells spread from my tumor into my lymph system, all hell breaks loose in the body. That is why it is SO hard to treat, and SO unpredictable. That is why they never say "cure" with melanoma or they never say "remission". Instead we just remain No Evidence of Disease and do our best to ramp up our immune system so that those cancer cells that went loose, will never turn into anything again. So the fight for me, is still just beginning. I've got a whole life ahead of me to do just this, protect my immune system, stay strong and healthy, and that gives me the best chance at beating this things rear end. Does that make sense? Seems impossible to sum up anything about any cancer in a paragraph, let alone melanoma that I'm still trying to figure out.

A year ago this week, I started my treatment. Not knowing how I would feel, or what it would do to my body. In faith we steeped out in the unknown. I trugged through a long 8 months but only survived one day at a time. Looking back, I am thankful its over, and hopeful it worked. This week I start a new treatment, hopefully one that fights cancer, prolongs my survival, and has waaaay less side effects.

Through a pathway led by God, because when we are lost he leads, I found a naturopathic doctor at an oncology hospital that specializes in immune cancer, specifically melanoma. I've had several bouts of blood tests, and large amounts of it, to determine many things about my body and how to regain strength. I am still dealing with lower iron, but it's better, and my white blood count is low again, which is a little concerning. Especially entering into this time of year for me. There are some other issues I'm dealing with, for example hyper-thyroid, which for me just means my body is still working very hard to recover from a serious beating. Like my oncologist said, in treatment for almost a year, give yourself that much if not longer to recover. Still 6 months after treatment is over the drug can still be in your system. So this is month 6 for me, and its perfectly normal to have all these issues still. My body was wrecked.  So I'm not being impatient, but trying to get my body strong. So here I go.... On this naturopathic, holistic, track to do what I've got to do, and prepare my body best to be strong if we have to ever fight.

I have started to take several certain supplements and have strict dietary restrictions. Everything will be based upon my blood work labs and what my body needs from where it is lacking. There are several cancer fighting supplements like mushrooms and curcmin that have entered into my life as my best friends... why not? Who knew? Anyway I'm trying to be brief, and this isn't brief. Lastly, I'm starting injections of Viscosan M, Viscum Album, or better knows as Mistletoe. This drug fights cancer, boosts immune response, and prolongs survival. I will do these injections every other day, under the direction of my doctors, for as long as I can. Like years. The benefits of mistletoe in fighting cancer and strengthening the immune system are incredible even though you wouldn't hear of such a thing here in this country where we are backed by big pharm. (but thats not a subject I will ever touch) I will say I'm super thankful for big pharm because it saves lives for sure, but I also do believe there are often holistic approaches in conjenction with, and not just my way or the highway. I will say here that I feel God put this on my plate, it was not sought out. It was directed and planted and I'm submitting because I know in this life now to watch more carefully, and listen more intently to his guiding hand. Sounds cliche but it's truth. If you want to ask me about my pathway to Mistletoe I will gladly share that cool part of my story. If you know of anyone that may benefit I will also share that amazing part of God's design in medicine and helping the whole, from lots of different avenues. Just ask!

"As an alternative form of medicine in European countries, mistletoe is regarded as an effective medication in treating cancer. Mistletoe extract has been shown to kill cancer cells in laboratory animals and to boost the immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells. It has also been shown to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy and improve quality of life. There have been numerous studies addressing these uses, though weaknesses in these research studies have prevented mistletoe from being available commercially in the U.S. Researchers believe it fights cancer by preventing the creation of blood vessels that help cancerous tumors grow. For this reason, mistletoe has been classified as a biological response modifier and anti angiogenic."

Great resource of answers on Mistletoe:

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/patient/mistletoe-pdq#section/all

"One major effect of mistletoe extract is that it stimulates the immune system (immune modulation)"

lhttp://allgemein.mistel-therapie.de/index.php5?page=29&lang=1/mistletoe-pdq#section/all

"When used as adjunctive treatment in patients with a variety of cancers, it can increase survival time by as much as 40%.Typical Treatment: A typical treatment course can last several months to years. The doses are gradually increased and adjusted depending on the patient's general condition, sex, age, and type of cancer. Mistletoe is typically given by subcutaneous injection."

Nurse Heather is back at it. Is it not a miracle friends that all this in my life and my best friend is my neighbor and also the BEST nurse. Seriously friends NOT a coincidence. What in your life is NOT a coincidence??

"No calamity will ever bring only evil to us, if we will immediately take it in fervent prayer to God. Even as we take shelter beneath a tree during a downpour of rain, we may unexpectedly find fruit on its branches. And when we flee to God, taking refuge beneath the shadow of His wing, we will always find more in Him than we have ever before seen or known." Streams in the Dessert

I am not shy to ask for prayer, I know that healing and uplifting power of it. Pray for me friends, as we begin this new journey in our lives. One that is not what we planned, but one that will help nonetheless. It seems overwhelming at times, so I try not to think about it. I still won't let this cancer life define me and this is just another normal for us to get used to. We will get through, not by my strength but by his. Thank you.