Going to Mexico

April 24, 2016
Dear Friends and Family,
I will warn you ahead of time that this is pretty lengthy, however, many have asked if I would send out an update on what’s going on and how I’m doing. After a ton of research, prayer, and inquiring from others who have walked this path, I’ve considered and decided to seek alternative treatment at a specialized cancer center, partially in Mexico and the rest in the US. Jamie and I sat down with my oncologist last week and she told me that after proceeding with this course of treatment (standard chemo), I could expect to keep going on and off until I die, depending on how long it may or may not put me in remission and also as long as I can tolerate the chemo. She flat out said that this protocol would not kill the cancer stem cells, just the cancer cells that are wreaking havoc throughout my body. The drug I’m taking is one of the most neurotoxic drugs and it does have considerable side effects. What some people don’t realize is that Stage IV means, I’m terminal. Only 24% make it to the 5-year mark.
Around four weeks ago, I started on one round of chemotherapy (Taxotere), two IV targeted medications, two oral medications to suppress my estrogen and progesterone to put me in chemically induced menopause, along with two other subcutaneous injections to rebuild my bone lesions, and one more to prompt the bone marrow to start producing more white blood cells. I prepared myself for the worst and that’s unfortunately what happened. I don’t believe it had to do with negative thinking but because I was slammed with all sorts of new medications at the same time. I asked if the doses could be changed or reduced but that didn’t sit well with the doctor. After all, clinical trials have shown what’s best, right? I’ve had pretty bad side effects. My oncologist even suspects collateral damage to my liver with enzyme levels sky high. I still I have mouth neuropathy, where my tongue and lips tingle, peel, and often hurt to simply touch, along with the pain and sunburn sensations on the bottom of my feet. My right hip and side have been in excruciating pain. Getting in a sauna several days a week has helped with the pain immensely. The side effects have been so severe that even my oncologist agreed that I should take a break from chemotherapy even though I’ve only done one dose, because of how horrible this experience has been for me. I asked if there were other options, but there are few.
I began looking at the alternatives out there and I have spoken to women who have my same diagnosis with all the markers, hormone receptor positives, and those in stage three and four with breast cancer. Some of them have never tried chemo and one in particular has been battling this dreadful disease now for 22 years. She is still fighting, and doing well, but she has learned a lot along the way about what has worked and what hasn’t worked for her. I spoke with another woman who also began to learn how to treat herself once her cancer markers in the blood elevated. Both women shared how going outside the country allowed them to gain access to medications and vaccines that are not available here in the US. I began to realize that I do have alternatives and many of them do fight the cancer stem cells, which seems to be the problem. I was told by at least three doctors here in the US that it’s against the law to produce vaccines using a patient’s own blood. The exception is for prostate cancer.
The truly puzzling aspect of this whole battle is that I felt great all year. My lab values were all within normal ranges, yet my body somehow didn’t recognize the cancer growing inside of me. It’s as if my body adapted to the cancer’s presence and didn’t acknowledge it as the terrorist or toxin that it really is. That is the enigma in this situation and it’s what’s prompted me to explore, seek, ask, and pester many doctors these last few weeks. I’ve had about 10 conference calls with physicians all over the US and Mexico, who were given copies of my medical chart, history, and specific tests. They all read my history and summary of the cancer diagnosis, looked at my supplements and shared with me what they would do if I were under their care. I found it interesting that in one of the stacks of oncotype testing, one of the physicians acknowledged that I really had three breast cancer diagnoses to include DCIS, Invasive, and Lobular. I read my file but somehow I missed this and we were never told in our follow-ons. Two others doctors commented on the fact that not only did I have HER2 + receptors on my cells which makes my cancer multiply and divide quicker, but I had poorly differentiated cells and a very high grade, which increases the aggressiveness factor. These are two double whammies and perhaps explain why the cancer spread so insidiously to my bones.
I began to realize that while I’m still reasonably healthy, I have a chance to try fighting cancer in a healthier way before I destroy the healthy aspects of my body with chemotherapy. I can’t keep going around in cycles killing cancer cells with no hope. The stem cells are still there and they can turn into cancer cells and completely evade the chemotherapy’s effects. I’ve discovered that some of these survivors sought vaccines and therapies that I’m not given an opportunity to use or try here in the USA, because it’s not approved by the FDA. In Europe and Mexico many other therapies are considered standard procedure for cancer patients but I don’t have access to them. It’s very frustrating. Let me give you an example of one situation I recently encountered. I discovered in my research that a cheap drug called Metformin is commonly used in Type 2 Diabetes. It’s also used off label for PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and sometimes for infertility. I was on Metformin briefly so that I could conceive Mia and Noah. I also had a history of cysts on my ovaries in previous years. I recently discovered that Metformin reduces HER2+ receptors, regulates estrogen, has minimal side effects, and potentiates the insulin. It may not be the best choice for everyone but I figured I have nothing to lose so why not try it. After all, I am considered stage IV. I asked my oncologists here in KY and in CO if I could be placed on it, and I was told “no” because it’s still under clinical trial. Right now the researchers are looking at how HER2+ can be reduced and help triple positive breast cancer patients like myself. Here is a drug that costs $5 a month and they won’t put me on it because the research isn’t in. I was on it briefly years ago off label and had no side effects and now they won’t let me try it for breast cancer, which is in a final stage. Keep in mind that women with Type 2 Diabetes who take metformin have drastically reduced incidence of breast cancer. Finally when Jamie and I spoke with my oncologist last week, I told her that I had cysts on my ovaries in the past and she said, “Oh, good, we can put you on Metformin.” Just like that, at my word, she was able to do what I wanted her to do weeks earlier. Interestingly if you look up Metformin on the Internet, you will discover that it was approved for use in France in 1957, but not until 1995 in the USA. Yes, that is a 38-year difference. The FDA has a lot of control on medications that are being used in other places. Metformin is now considered the first line treatment for patients with Diabetes Type 2, but for 38 years anyone here who wanted it had to travel outside the US to get it. This whole experience has taught me how to carefully and specifically word what I want and what I need. Some medicines and therapies I have to try elsewhere because they don’t exist here.
After speaking with patients who have done some of these alternative treatments and are still here many years later (15, 22) when the medical community gave them weeks and months to live, I believe it’s worth trying. I mean it’s not like I can get worse than terminal, so I don’t feel like I have anything to lose. The patients I spoke to also have the same exact diagnosis I have and both had extensive metastasis than I have. At the clinic, I will also come away with education, classes, and lots of information on how to keep my body in remission. Conventional doctors’ offices here in the states don’t equip you with these tools and resources. You have to look everything up online and go to one provider for one aspect of healthcare and another provider for another and so on. Where I’m going I sit with a panel of doctors in medicine, nutrition, chiropractic, oncology, physical therapy, etc… and they ALL discuss my care together and how to treat my whole body, hormones and all.
Some of these clinics also use something called IPT, which stands for Insulin Potentiated Therapy. It is a process where they take a small amount of approximately six chemotherapy drugs at 10% strength, tag it to glucose and then drop your insulin levels so your cells are hungry. They infuse your body and the cancer cells immediately feast on this glucose tagged with small chemotherapy dosages and then they die. It’s targeted so it doesn’t wreak havoc on your whole body. The researchers do sensitivity testing on your cancer cells, grow them in test tubes, and then test to see what homeopathic, chemo, and natural agents actually kill your cancer. There are about 30-50 test tubes of your specific cancer that they work on. They also filter your blood to look for metals, toxins, viruses, etc.. They don’t do any of this routine testing here in the US unless you find a special clinic and pay out of pocket. It makes more sense to me to have them look at my blood and not lump me in with the rest of all other cancer patients giving me what they think or assume is best based on clinical trials and research. As much as I’d like to follow the norm and respond to stimuli like everyone else, I just don’t. I don’t know why.
So, I plan to leave in mid-May to seek treatment for about four weeks. Jamie will stay in KY with the kids. In addition to the treatment I receive while there, they will make a vaccine for me to bring home and take each month–it will be formulated from own immune system. This clinic only works on cancer patients and they have been doing this for 60 years. They are originally from Germany and have had remarkable results with patients who were considered hopeless. They specialize in stage 3 and 4 cancers, with breast cancer being the main one they treat. Patients do periodically go back to have more vaccines made but the difference is that the immune system has been cleaned out and reinvigorated and strengthened in many ways. One of the comments I have found from doctors who run these clinics is that most patients wait too long, their bodies are depleted from toxic chemotherapy, and they have lost their strength and stamina. I ‘d rather try while I’m seemingly healthy enough, albeit somewhat debilitated from the chemotherapy. If you‘ve seen the “Truth About Cancer” series, I have spoken to some of the physicians who run these clinics and they have been very informative. I have appreciated seeing who really reads my file and what and how they propose to treat me. Some have reiterated what others have said and sometimes they disagree with one another. I’m glad that at least two well -known physicians spent a lot of time with me reviewing my supplements and concurred that I was on track with 90% of them.
Through these last several weeks we have seen several others we know die unexpectedly. Some of them were still young (teens and 30). It’s overwhelming to even think about because family and friends weren’t given a chance to say goodbye. We are never promised a long life, and yet why some die quickly, and why I am being given time has allowed me to think about how I want to live out the rest of my life. I hope and pray it’s long and that I beat the statistics, but I know I may not. I’d like to see my children grow up, and I’d like to spend as much time with as many friends and family as possible. A year ago I had long beautiful hair and no visible scars, and now I hardly recognize myself with my baldhead and numerous wounds on my neck and chest. After awhile you adapt and realize it’s not a big deal anymore. Those things are simply not important. My kids still hug me and they pray more earnestly than they did months ago with routine, rote prayers. For example, Noah prays, “Please God don’t let Mommy die.” Mia prays for my healing. Jonah asks lots of medical questions to try to understand the system or why I can’t try things here that I can attempt to use in other countries. He is trying to make sense of it all. I can see my children maturing in small ways as they see the big picture and begin to comprehend what’s important. I’m grateful I get the privilege in seeing this aspect of their personalities.
God has shown me in many ways how much He loves me. My marriage is stronger than ever. Jamie and I spend as much time together as possible. We still take our walks in the evenings and he helped me get through those horrible days weeks ago. There is nobody else I’d rather have at my side through all of this. He has even told me he wished this could have happened to him because he thinks his body is stronger and could handle and absorb it better. Most people would never want this, and yet I know without a doubt, he would trade places with me in a heartbeat to spare me the pain and because he’s selfless. I really am blessed! “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress and I will never be shaken. “Psalm 62:1-2.
As I close this update I want to share something that has helped me get through this trial. I shared this recently with a friend who has just lost her sister unexpectedly and with another friend going through a difficult time. I have stopped asking “why” because it’s pointless and futile. Instead I ask “how”. How seems to give me more control over the situation and what will happen in the future. How does this trial help someone else? How can I praise God in the midst of this circumstance? How might I encourage someone else who has just started out where I was last year? How might I do things differently? You see, I have some control over an uncontrollable event simply because I can chose my response. When I ask “why” I have no answers and can’t make sense of what’s happening even if I try. Why even go there and go down that pathway? It just leads to more unanswered questions this side of heaven. Thanks again for your prayers and offers to help. If you’d like to pass this on to others, please do. I hope it will encourage other people on their own journeys and when and if they are going through some sort of suffering. My friend will post it on FB as well since I have not been able to find or locate everyone’s emails. I have avoided social media but realize that what I am going through touches my hearts and more than I’ll ever know. Many have lost loved ones to cancer and probably wished they had known more about other options but felt hopeless. You won’t know what else is out there unless you try it. I feel and believe that is what the Lord has prompted me to do in a leap of faith. I have nothing to lose! Faith is really putting my fears on trial.
Love, Allison