Cub's Cancer Journey

09/20/2023

This is an update to my cancer status and my last Kool-aid and popsicle post. Having esophageal cancer and declining the conventional radiation and Chemotherapy route, my naturopathic treatment is ongoing. The path I have chosen has had it ups and downs along with many happy and stress related tears. The battle with cancer related anemia and dehydration has left me craving cold liquid. My esophageal tumor has blocked the intake of all liguids at this point and only adds to my craving for something cold. In the spirit of quenching ones thirst as a kid and making things go viral, I would like to see who is willing to post a pic of them enjoying a glass of grape Kool-Aid (my personal favorite) and or an old school popsickle. Show me what flavor you enjoyed as a kid.

01/22/2023

01/22/2023

Good morning Everyone. I have completed my second week here at the Arcadia Clinic. The weekends are a time for me to reflect on the weeks treatments and continue to rest and heal. The daily routine of cancer treatment however does not get a weekend off. I am fortunate enough to be in great physical condition and not require a great deal of tending when the medical staff are away from the clinic. The part of the daily treatments no one mentions are the daily supplements I take along with some unmentionables. Gastric cancers of any kind come with the many daily belly processes we all take for granted. I will leave that to your imagination on that one. One of the most significant issues with esophageal cancer is swallowing. The many supplement capsules I take had begun causing me difficulty and making even eating afterward difficult. No worries, there is a solution for that also. My physicians here have suggested the use of Scopolamine, a medication often prescribed for motion sickness. It relaxes the esophagus making the swallow spasms tolerable and mostly completely resolved. Talk to your doctor if you are having similar difficulties. I am including a few photos of the process and yes it is gross and brings with it challenges of its own. Taste! Many of the supplements are not water soluble and we have found that adding coconut cream to the mix suspends the powder making it consumable and also more easily digested. A splash of hot water and your favorite juice makes the process more than tolerable. The majority of the world will never fully grasp the daily adjustments a person makes when fighting cancer and I hope the insights I have gained will help others overcome the struggling making the daily process more easily completed. Chicken bone broth is also a great way to get added fats into your daily routine for weight gain if you struggle to keep the weight optimal. My wife Kimbra makes this at home but many store sell broth. A hot cup with salt to taste as tolerated makes for a comforting addition to my day. Best of health for all of you. If you have questions or would like information on the process of my journey feel free to reach out to me. I am glad to share my experience and tricks I have used to make this journey as tolerable as possible.

01/19/2023

What an amazing week. I am blown away by the response to my recent updates. The overwhelming response has inspired me to keep the information flowing.

Today started early with Total body Hyperthermia. You may have seen previous posts referencing local hyperthermia and specifically heating the tumor in my esophagus with radio frequencies causing the tumor itself to heat up and become unstable. Cancer cells do not like being heated and resulting in increased permeability of the cell membrane by the chemical agents given through infusion. Conventional medicine would use " chemo" specific drugs for this infusion. I have not chosen this route so the infusions I am receiving are of the naturopathic type I discussed yesterday. I want you to understand the process I am going to show you so here is a rudimentary explanation of Hyperthermia therapy. Our bodies are an amazing thing and we all have experienced fever at some point in our lives. Many if not all of us have been taken Tylenol or Ibuprofen when we are ill to keep fever at bay. The truth of the matter is that we are hindering our bodies first line of defense at ridding our bodies of illness. Fever is not a bad thing when we allow our bodies to do what it does best to keep us healthy. Fever stimulates the immune system to fight bacterial and viral infection and suppressing it prolongs the lifespan of these illnesses. (Please do not think I am telling you to not take something for fever.) Our bodies flood areas of injury with fluid and blood flow in the form of inflammation as a healing mechanism the same as pain. It's a signal we need to not use the injured part of our body while it heals. Total body hyperthermia works on the same premise. The process starts with a 20 min magnesium foot soak to preheat the body and prepare it for a sustained fever state. The body temperature is elevated via headlamps to a core temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit over a two hour period. You reach 104 within the first hour and held there for another hour. This high temperature makes the tumor cell membrane unstable allowing your bodies natural immune response to fight the abnormal cancer cell. If you have ever used an infrared sauna for an extended period of time you have raised your core temperature without realizing it. The nursing staff continually monitors your temperature, pulse rate and provide IV fluids to replace lost fluids and electrolytes. The process is very "sweaty". The staff helps keep you cool with periodic wiping of your head and neck with cool, citrus water and provide sips of water to stay hydrated. The process seems restrictive but you have plenty of space under the tent to move around and keep yourself unrestrained. Following the 2 hour process you are placed under a heavy blanket to allow your body to cool slowly and keep your internal temperature elevated as long as possible. To make things even more refreshing, I walked out of the session to a heavy layer of snow covering everything. Germany was already a beautiful place and to see it covered in a layer of snow was very refreshing. I hope this finds all of you well and I look forward to finishing the week tomorrow for a few days to decompress and allow the week's therapies to continue to fight on my behalf. God Bless each of you. Cub and Kimbra

01/18/2023

I have one more post that addresses the hard facts of Cancer so please bear with me.
My first experience with the oncologist included the arbitrary start of chemotherapy drugs used in the conventional treatment of most if not all cancers that include the combination of radiation therapy and surgery. The questions I could not get the answers to at the time included questions like, what is the survival rate, treatment plan or even is my tumor responsive to these therapies. Despite my request for testing to determine the treatment efficacy on my specific cancer, no answers or information was able to be provided. These treatments were to be starting without delay regardless the request for information I as a patient and healthcare provider thought prudent. I made several requests for initial lab evaluation but was told they would check as needed after the initiation of Chemotherapy and radiation. The first invasive therapy was to place a feeding tube regardless of the need. This was the first "red flag" for me and made us take a hard pause. The one thing I want to say to anyone who finds themselves faced with the diagnosis of cancer is that you need to go home, take a breath, and allow yourself time to absorb this information and make a more informed decision on how to begin. The one thing you need to do is start something. Diet and your current daily habits and routine need to be evaluated. Determine what "YOU" are doing to contribute to your cancer. I am learning that we all have cancer cells in our body every day. The difference is that for most of the population our immune systems recognize these cells as damaged and remove them before they become active cancer. Day one here in Germany, I had several blood draws to test my tumor cells to determine which conventional and naturopathic therapies are of most benefit. This testing also included my gut health, heavy metal testing, and micronutrients that contribute to my overall health. Simple blood work does not show all the pertinent information required for effective treatment of cancer. To no great surprise the use of conventional chemo drugs like Cisplatin, Carboplatin and 5-FU were found to have an impact of less than 36%. Anything less than 40% causes more damage to the healthy cells and leaves the cancer cells that much harder to treat. They deteriorate your immune system killing the host more often than not. The treatment plan we started on our own included Mistletoe therapy, High dose Vitamin C, IV Ozone and a great number of supplements like curcumen, resvertrol, artemisinin, Quercetin to name a few. I also added daily therapies for detox of my body. Daily enema's, sauna, magnesium soaks and a drastic but required change in diet. We met with our Physician here in Germany yesterday and he confirmed via outside testing that the use of these natural supplements and IV therapies have a greater than 65% impact on my particular cancer. The lowest of my therapies was still greater than the best conventional therapy by over 10%. The initial consult with oncology indicated I would need a feeding tube right away because the radiation therapy would make swallowing difficult if I could swallow at all. It is without question the conventional therapies offered would have made the past 6 months unbearable and I am not sure I would have survived the therapy in a healthy enough state to continue my then current daily activity. Today I am pain free, I can eat and swallow with only occasional discomfort, sleep, work, laugh, and enjoy my life with little to no change even before the diagnosis of cancer.
I have received mixed comments about the choices to decline chemotherapy and radiation but know in my heart evidenced by my current state of wellness my choice was correct for me. I do not fault anyone's choice to seek the use of these conventional therapies but the outright refusal to consider other avenues of treatment by the medical community to acknowledge integrative therapies is astounding to me. I am a Nurse Practitioner and use conventional medicine on a daily basis and am not close-minded to anything I feel is in the best interest of my patients. The result of countless hours of research and investigation into cancer has given me time to stay as healthy as possible and bolster my own immune system to aid in the fight against my cancer. My naturopathic physicians have repeatedly acknowledge the potential for conventional therapy use to include surgery which is still in my future plans. The road to healing is far from its end for me but I am still strong and feel better every day. I feel positive that had I not taken a moment to consider alternative routes of cancer treatment I would not have survived or at a minimum increased the impact my body would have been required to overcome. I have changed many physical aspect of my life throughout this journey and the most impactful has been my change in mental clarity, spirituality and the ability to let go of the emotional stress I have been carrying for years. Dr. Henning Saupe on our first day here asked me what I have been swallowing and how I thought it may have contributed to my getting esophageal cancer. My first thought was that of the bulky type foods I was eating that caused discomfort for 1 year prior to discovery but what he really meant was what have I been metaphorically swallowing in the form of stress, resentment and all the other things in life that steal a person's joy. I am working on letting all that go and hope to foster that as time moves on. Thank you for indulging me with this long post. I hope it brings clarity and insight into what is happening in my head when asked about my perception of Cancer. Cancer does not scare me as much as the thought of doing nothing and hope all works out.

01/13/2023

Here is a photo of me receiving local hyperthermia treatment. It heats the tumor internally to promote tumor cell death. It is relatively discomfort free and takes about an hour to complete daily.

01/13/2023

I have completed my first week of therapy here at the Arcadia Clinic in Bad Emstal, Germany. We are a long way from home but the people here treat us like family. The care is top quality as well as the facility. I am experiencing medical care second to none I have seen or been involved with both as a health provider or a patient. The United States healthcare machine could learn a great deal from these people and I hope to bring some of that back to implement in my own practice. I am learning a great dal about myself and the untapped capabilities of the human body. I pray for continued strength and courage to accept all that is been given to me and look forward to a few days rest before moving onto more therapy next week. God Bless each of you and thank you for your thoughts and prayers.