Where to meet me & the treatments you don’t need to tell me about.
I have a favor to ask for when you see me or Elizabeth next. There is a very strange phenomenon that has been occurring as we navigate this current hiccup that we call a health struggle. What we have on our plate is one that most would consider awful, brutal, sad, heartbreaking… pick your tough adjective. The thing is, while we have plenty of moments each day of mental and/or emotional heaviness, our days are still wonderfully full of joy, laughter, praise, and goodness.
One thing we have found to be odd, is when we are in one of those uplifted frames of mind and we bump into someone we haven’t seen since the news, we are confronted with a sad look and empathetic demeanor. In that moment, we are immediately reminded of the tough stuff and falsely wish we hadn’t seen you. I say falsely because we actually love to see you. I love how many people care about us. I love to hear someone say, our family prayed together for you last night, when I bump into you at Meijer (Scotty, you’re the man). I walked into the grocery store looking for yogurt, I walked out thinking how amazing Scott and his family are AND how it sucks our situation is one that gets discussed during bedtime prayers. I both crave and dread those interactions.
We need that prayer. We need that reminder how many amazing people are lifting us up like Aaron and Hur lift Moses hands when he was too weak to do it on his own to win the battle (Exodus 17:11-13). What would also be helpful for us, is to match our energy, as the kids say these days. I am mostly a happy go lucky guy. Bringing joy to others’ day gives me energy. When you see me next, you’ll know by my face if I’m somber and struggling, or chipper and my usual goofball self. Wherever you see me/Elizabeth, that’s where to meet us. If I look like I’m stoned, I can promise you I am not partaking and am either having an allergy attack (they have been bad for me lately) or I could probably use a hug. Ladies, keep it to a side hug and under five seconds… ya know, for propriety’s sake.
I know it is a tall order to ask of you. Instinctively, when you see us, your heart and emotions go to the first time you heard the news. But we have been processing this for months, even years. It is ok for you to start with condolences like “I’m sorry to hear about your wife, we are praying for you”. I’ll likely respond with something like, “thanks we need it”. But from that point forward if I’m not tearing up, we can jump into the joys of life like, how ‘bout them Detroit Tigers?! How about that incredible double rainbow the other day?!
As I mentioned briefly in the last blog post, we sit in a constant tension. At every given moment I am both overjoyed to have a woman I love immensely, at my side, AND devastated that I have to watch her navigate effing cancer. If you talk about how awesome my wife is, my eyes will twinkle and light up in agreement. If you talk about how devastating cancer and chemo is, I’ll probably fight like mad to keep the tears at bay. And that could all happen in the same 60 second conversation.
So meet us where we are at in that moment. Empathy isn’t always sadness. Sometimes it is reminding us of the strength in our community support. Sometimes it is laughing at my stupid dad jokes, cuz they are freakin funny. Because ducks have tail feathers in order to… cover their butt quacks.
Shifting gears- I’ve said it a few different ways, but people are so stinking thoughtful that they break through barriers and share info they have that they believe is important anyway, on the chance that it could help. People want to help, and I see that. I’m not mad, or annoyed, but I do want to share some clarifying info. We have looked into an insane amount of cancer fighting things.
So my last bit of suggestion is if what you have to share is on the list below (and I probably forgot some things we’ve looked into) then we have already either done it, are doing it, or determined with our awesome team of highly qualified medical professionals, that it wasn’t right for Elizabeth’s situation. If you have a certain sugar that ants from the Amazon have chewed on, then feel free to share those ants with us (reference from a movie, the Medicine Man with Sean Connery… great movie). When we first met with Elizabeth’s functional medicine doctor and told her all the things Elizabeth is doing, the doctor was shocked… “wow, you guys are on it!” If you send me info on one of the below items, I will probably have a look on my face like this:
Before we get into the list of cancer treatment stuff, here are some specifics to pray for:
Less pain from the chemo treatment she has on Thurs (5/15) than the first round
That our hearts and minds would not grow numb/cold
Tumors to shrink & circulating tumor cell numbers to drop
Energy to parent/play with the boys
That moments of joy aren’t robbed by the mental gymnastics of “what if”
That we can either come up with an answer to “how can we help” or folks would get divine inspiration of how to help, because we rarely know what we need until after it is provided
And now the moment you have been waiting for… the list of medical stuff. Enjoy the not so light reading:
Chemo (many different variations)
Targeted therapy
Radiation
Mastectomy and liver resection
Turmeric/curcumin
Mushrooms (many variants)
Vitamins A, B12, B17, C, D, E, and eff it
Omega 3 fatty acids
Ozone therapy (several variants)
Hyperbaric oxygen
Photodynamic therapy
DMSO
Nebulizing all kinds of things
Ivermectin (regular and high dose)
Fenbendazole
Mebendazole
High dose Melatonin
Berberine
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Mold/Heavy metal/parasite detox
Hydrogen Inhalation
Fancy water (ionized, hydrogen, alkaline, Kangen)
Cold plunge
Near infrared sauna
Far infrared sauna
Light therapies
Sound wave therapies/ Sonodynamic therapy
Dry sauna
Steam sauna
Activated charcoal/binders
Vibration plate/rebounding (lymphatic release)
Lymphatic massage
Dry brushing
Acupuncture/acupressure
Homeopathic tinctures, etc.
Dutch test/hormone testing
Maintrac/signatera/ctc tests
Chiropractic
Coffee enema
High dose Vit C
Nicotine patches
Vegan diet
Therapeutic Keto diet
Carnivore diet
Intermittent fasting
Long term water fasting
Fasting around chemo
HIT workouts/working out in general
Organic eating
Juicing and Chris Wark/Gerson’s approach
Metabolic approach to cancer and Thomas Seyfried/Dr Nasha/Jane Mclelland’s, Dr Marrik and Dr Makis’ work
Hope For Cancer/Dr Tony Jimenez protocols
Blue scorpion venom
Shark spleen extract
Methylene Blue
Ashwagandha
Green tea extract
Ceremonial grade matcha tea
Grounding
EMF protection
Bluetooth protection
CBD/Cannabis
Essential oils
Black seed oil
Black walnut oil
Clover extract
Zinc
Quercetin
Modified Citrus Pectin
Milk thistle
Olive leaf extract
Aged garlic extract
MCT oil
Cacao powder
Black raspberry powder
Mistletoe extract
Chlorella
Metformin and other off label drugs
Castor oil packs
Iodine
PIOH
PEMF therapy and other frequency therapies
T cell therapy
Immunotherapies
Histotripsy
Teas like essiac and soursop