Entry 18: The Big "C"; Equal Treatment For All Patients? Nope.

Entry 18: The Big "C"; Equal Treatment For All Patients? Nope.

Oct. 3. 2012

I see why one might find my posting an anti-conventional cancer research meme offensive. I assure that I didn’t mean to offend. In fact cancer has affected my life. At 14 my mother was diagnosed with advanced Leukemia. She received radiation, and a bone marrow transplant.

Miraculously she is alive, as she had a paradoxically strong body. However, she does suffer from chronic health conditions in which debilitate her on a daily basis, due to the damage caused by the radiation. I'm not so sure I agree with this meme completely, and I'm not sure if I should have posted it now; but since there was a bit of an uproar I thought I'd address this. 

It doesn't completely represent where I stand, but it does somewhat. I'm only moderate about it. This means, I am a little on the radical side, but I've looked into it from a practical viewpoint. Chemo therapy/radiation does save lives and I'm not saying it doesn't. In retrospect, it is a bit of a game of russian roulette, because that treatment itself is very harsh and can cause all kinds of complications.

What I mean to say is that I'm not sure if I overly support conventional cancer research events, as they don't really seem to endorse some of the newer and amazing, less harmful cancer treatments that are only accessible to the rich.

Obviously if I didn't have the money, and I had cancer today, I'd have to go for my only option. However; there are more aggressive but integrative therapies such as at the Cancer treatment centers of America and many other private clinics in Europe. There are also complimentary therapies that can help quell the negative effects of aggressive treatment. So, you're right when you say that vegetable juice and happy thoughts will NOT work…on their own anyways.

However, these things are important in conjunction with the treatment, in any form. It's obviously impossible to eradicate something like cancer, with only diet and supplements. I don’t believe it’s possible, so I’m not that radical. However, there are some amazing ways to treat and cure cancer, which are also very aggressive but less harmful on the human body.

They are just not accessible to the poor and even to the middle class really; the costs are through the roof.

I don't know if I would personally survive chemo with all of my major chemical sensitivities and the allergically reactive nature of my body. That’s the thing, it’s a gamble depending on your body and circumstance. I also think my mothers extra weight may have saved her, because she lost all of it during the treatments. I don’t have those kinds of reserves.

Who knows though? From that personal standpoint the thought of being in the position of having cancer while low income really scares me. I'm not just scared for me; I'm scared for anyone in that position...particularly if they are hypersensitive.

I am at an increased risk with my mothers' history of ovarian tumors (which were removed) and then the Leukemia. I deal with autoimmune and hormonal issues, so I do take a lot of things that are also cancer preventative. I hope that protects me some.

If I were to ever develop cancer…it would be my greatest wish to be able to use an aggressive but integrative approaches. I extend that out to everyone...although that is certainly not realistic right now. A dismal truth is that Chemo is big business.

An example of an excellent new proposed cancer treatment is the use of bee venom. I don’t think it’s yet approved.

In order to function as a mom, a writer, a musician/artist, and to have a possible chance at success, therefore the ability to afford the integrative treatment I desire in the future, I have to treat my symptoms somehow. I do my best. For the gut issue, I take one small evening dose of an Rx medicine. It had gotten to the point of barely being able to eat at all, which isn’t good…so I had to do it.

I would prefer to treat the root cause of my gut issue, aggressively (I think it could be infections and whatnot, as naturopaths have suggested.) However, the time, money and devotion that needs is beyond my capacity right now. I do what I must. People finding they’re diagnosed with cancer, or any other serious and life threatening illness, while on limited income; have to do what they have to do.

Yes, it’s true that they are looking at bee venom, because it kills cancer cells…it’s very potent. They have developed a Nano bead in which they can encase it in, and then they can use a robotic system to control it and direct it exclusively to the cancer cell only; but not touch other healthy cells. Fantastic! But, it would be expensive as hell.

When faced with something like cancer, we might have no choice but to take chemo if we’re in that position. I just don’t think it’s fair when there are in fact better options. It is what it is.

Integrative therapies; enzymatic injections, deep tissue therapy, massage, professional detoxes, exercise therapy/physio, dental/TMJ treatment etc. I could go on. The best of healthcare is not available to anybody but the rich. Sometimes, the middle class opts for it too but even they have a hard time paying for it. It's a sad truth and it's unfair, but at the moment money makes the world go turn dictated by the pyramid. There could be ways to publicize some better treatments but the shift would be difficult and those cashing in on chemotherapy and other mainstream treatments would obviously (and do!) oppose it.

A solution would be for those same companies to transition into better approaches. Maybe they are doing some of that slowly but according to what I've read they aren't…or not moving fast enough. Change brings risk, their sales would obviously get worse before they got better...maybe they are afraid they wouldn’t survive that period of time. I'm only theorizing. This is how I feel; this is what I've seen from what I've read and from my humble point of view. I'm sure it's more complicated than that and I haven’t gone that deeply into it as of now. I don't have the background to get into the nitty gritty and I think I've gone far enough.

What I do know is that there are better quality treatments, even for serious conditions like autoimmune disorders and cancer. There are treatments, which are not toxic to the rest of the body, causing comorbid health problems. They do exist but they are not accessible to everyone. I am a humanitarian.

I don’t think business needs to be as cold and callous as it is. Obviously it needs to have boundaries, but I don’t think they have to be so tight. That’s all I'm saying. Everybody is different, and some people might be able to handle chemo better than others, or some might perish when it is not necessary. To me, it’s so sad.

Scarlit-Rose Ashcraft

aka "Rosie"

www.scarlitrose.org