Oct 6 2014: A zoom into our Alternative medical treatment for Cancer (Prong 3)

Greetings all,

6 Oct 2014

This is the 2nd post in our journey with cancer.   As in the 1st one, there are some quite personal details here, so you might want to skip it if you're looking for  adventures in China.  This does have Chinese connections, but it's based in the US!

A little history

Back in May 2014, after getting to a point where his prostate cancer had taken over his life and he was told it was inoperable, Rod looked for 2nd opinions outside of the conventional medical treatment venues.  He searched online, he talked to a friend of his who had a friend who had a complete remission of cancer years ago using diet, and through a series of what I think are Divine interventions, he found the Alternative Medical treatment facility in Myrtle Beach, SC.  He went there for 7 days, eating only the foods they prepared, took multiple treatments and nutrition supplements and exited there with a completely different lifestyle with the goal to make his body a place where cancer cannot thrive.    This is prong 3 of an overall approach to getting the cancer out of his system (prong 1 = hormone therapy,  prong 2 = direct injection chemo at the Cancer hospital in Beijing and prong 3 = nutrition and alternative treatments, prong 4 = a 2nd phase of IV treatments to keep the cancer from coming back at the Cancer hospital in Beijing...more about prong 4 later).  While at the Alternative Medicine Clinic, he met Dr Yu who is headed up Prong 2 and is in the process of heading up Prong 4 here in China)...Divine interventions.

When we were in the US in September 2014, after my business meetings in Lexington, SC, we drove together to Myrtle Beach so that I could visit this clinic and get the same health workup as he did.  I look at this as a booster treatment on our journey.  As many of you know, I lost alot of weight a couple of years ago  (See Blog entry of May 2013) and have managed to keep it off by nutrition and lifestyle and judging by the way I feel and exercise and lab numbers, I'm in good health.  It's always good to have confirmation! 

Bottom line up front:  

I'm convinced the guidance and treatments they gave Rod at the Alternative Health Clinic  have had and continue to have a very important role in Rod's health and are key to keeping the cancer in remission.  I don't profess to know everything about cancer and honestly, I know more than I really want to...and I don't know which of the 4 prongs are 'key'...I am convinced however that it will take all 4 and I'm not ready to gamble with dropping any of them yet!

What follows is a zoom into our experiences and treatments at the Alternative Health Clinic in Myrtle Beach.  Some of these are excerpts from the other personal blog I keep on the journey with cancer and some are up-to-date as of 5 Oct 2014.

Health care soapbox (rant alert!)

We acknowledge these treatments are not recognized by the US FDA.  Honestly, I don't care.  This whole experience with cancer and the results we have achieved with and without the FDA authorized treatments (and consequently are not recognized by the insurance companies either!)  have opened my eyes and aroused a healthy sense of skepticism for our  US health care system.  For trauma and emergency care, I believe the US has the best in the world (and we've lived several places in the world to provide this perspective)...however, for chronic illnesses, I'm not sure at all.  The physicians (at least the ones we've dealt with in this ordeal)  in the US system seem to have a very "treat-the- symptom-using-drugs" approach and are constrained by the 'standard treatment protocols'  and not at all interested or financially motivated to find the root cause and solve it.  I'm sure there are exceptions and I recognize it's not right to generalize so broadly.  There are certainly cutting edge technologies and research in the US and genuine physicians who really want to help people and I hope the various new treatments get to the doc's who want to help people!   But... there is certainly is alot of money at stake  for all the stakeholders (politicians, insurance companies, health care providers, drug manufactures etc) (notice I did not list the patient as a stakeholder in this game!)   to just keep treating the chronic illnesses with symptom management rather than finding a cure at the root cause.  The patient is a stakeholder in a completely different game...the one that controls his/her health and life. 

As an engineer and life-long problem solver, I believe that health problems, just like any other problem, must be treated at the root cause...unless we treat the root cause, we are just masking the symptoms and are condemned to see repeat occurrences.    Now, don't get me wrong... I believe there is certainly a place for medications to help us with symptoms...I need them and want them, just as much as the next person!  I'm merely making a point that treatment of symptoms cannot be confused with treatment of the problem...and unfortunately, I believe that for Chronic conditions, in the US, we (patients, health care providers, insurance companies, drug companies etc) have settled too quickly to just treat the symptom and forgotten (or delegated to researchers) about the root cause.  We patients have a big role to play in this game and are certainly not blameless in the current state of affairs,  and I am no saint when it comes to lifestyle choices either!  My gripe is that when we seek the treatments for whatever, in our case, cancer, that are outside the 'accepted treatment protocols (which are symptom management based) you're completely on your own.. financially, information seeking, emotionally, etc.   It's been my experience both inside and outside the US, and I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything...I aim not to be zealot for any cause.   I provide the explanations below to help everyone come to their own conclusions. 

Disclaimer:  We're not doctors and we don't diagnose or prescribe any treatments...I just share our experience!  If it helps you great..take what you like and leave the rest!

OK, off my soapbox...well, almost!

The older I get, the more like my mother I get...for those of you who knew her,  you may remember she had a rubber stamp made with the words "tobacco dollars paid you" on it.  As a tobacco farmer, and controller of the farm finances, she stamped every check she wrote with those words.  When all of the anti-tobacco campaigns started,  she used her stamp to make a financial statement to anyone getting paid for goods or services...or to put it bluntly:  "don't bite the hand that feeds you".   I never smoked or used any tobacco products even though I worked in the family tobacco fields all through my childhood.  Using tobacco products is certainly not a healthy lifestyle choice and I'm glad I have never had to battle that addiction...even so,  I so admire my mother's tactful yet inconspicuous and effective method for getting her voice heard.  She literally put her money where here mouth was!  May Ruby Tollner live on through her children!

Now, where were we?  OK, back to the Alternative Medical Clinic experience!

An investment in our health... Prong 3
7 Sep 2014

We just finished an intensive 2.5 day at the Alternative health clinic..a good experience for both of us.
Here's the sign outside the business...it's actually in North Myrtle Beach on Kings Highway, if you're in the area.

The Alternative medicine Clinic in North Myrtle Beach, SC

 Here's the link to the Alternative Health Clinic in Myrtle Beach:

 http://alternativehealthclinicmb.com/

The following is a description of our treatments and experiences...and of course my opinions about them!

It's all in the blood
I started out with a consultation with Dr Dong (Chiropractor and Acupuncturist here in the US.  Having just had a traditional physical with an American Doctor in China, I knew my normal stats (weight, blood pressure, lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol, blood sugars, vitamin D etc) were all good, so I admit, I was pretty confident going into these 2 days!  Dr Dong studied medicine in China and her medical degree as OBGyn in China is not recognized here in the US).   She took some blood and looked at it live under a microscope and showed it on a computer screen and explained what she was seeing.  Number and size, shape of Red blood cells, white ones, any germs floating around etc.   It's been a long time since I've looked at anything under a microscope!

Here is a picture of Rod talking to Dr Dong with his blood showing on the screen in the background. (When Rod was there in May, she pointed out some cancer cells in his blood...this time in September, didn't appear to be any cancer cells!!)

Rodney listening to Dr Dong about the health of his blood

She then did a dried blood test and based on how the blood dried she could tell other things.  For example, looking at the way the blood dried, she suspected that I had a food allergy and took me up to a lab to have a food allergy test and sure enough, I had an allergy to eggs (didn't really want to hear that, because I love eggs, and I have no symptoms that I know of, but it's evidently causing proteins to do something strange in my blood. )  Not sure I understand any of that yet, but  after hearing that, I have cut way back on eggs in my diet!  She also recommended to cut back on red meat, so I have done that too...more on diet later.

A stand-up Radio-frequency, heat generating infrared sauna...looks like a carnival ride, but doesn't feel like one!

After this, I went on my first treatment, the Photongenius:  (a type of stand up sauna that puts out light and radio waves to make your body generate more nitric oxide.  You stand naked in front of this thing and turn around (imagine a chicken on a rotisserie!) and start sweating profusely, drinking alkaline water and assume/believe it's doing something good!  We believe...we have no proof, but we believe!

The infrared sauna machine...the lights go on and off and the area that is not covered by lights has ceramic heat panels.

On the website for this machine, it says "The Photon-Genius is a dynamic energy sauna that provides more direct and targeted harmonic energy infrared (including full spectrum) than any infrared sauna in the world.
This combination importantly helps the body produce more nitric oxide (NO), the "miracle molecule" which helps preserve the elasticity of all the vessels in the body, because it is a "signaling molecule" that tells the blood vessels to increase in width or dilate. This has significant implications, because optimal blood circulation is a key factor in virtually all health issues, including Heart Disease, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, Cancer, Obesity, Arthritis, Anti-Aging, etc." 

I have no scientific data showing  this treatment helps  but we believe...and like a good conventional Sauna, as a minimum it clears out the pores and at best, it's making the blood flow better inside the body!

 Here's a link to the website for this machine.
 http://www.photongenius.com/

Radio waves are invisible to the eye but not to the cells

 While I was doing the sauna, Rod was taking a radio frequency treatment to combat the cancer.  The basic premise for this treatment is that all cells are vibrating at a certain frequency and that you can zap the bad ones with a certain frequency to destroy them.  This is a technology that was developed in the 1930's to kill different types of microbes and today it's being used by several to combat cancer.

Rod taking the Radio Frequency treatment...relaxing in a massage chair...so glad it's not a Chemo drip chair!

The Radio wave generator

The Radio way amplifier tube

I don't profess to know much about it, and it was painless, so we took it!  There are over 700 frequency combinations they can set this machine up for depending on the condition in your body.

Here are a couple of links that will give you more info if you desire to know more on the radio frequency treatment for whatever ails you!:
http://healyourselfathome.com/HOW/THERAPIES/FREQUENCY_THERAPIES/RIFE/GB_4000/GB_4000_MAIN.aspx#cancer

http://www.thegb4000.com

Cleanses are good for the soul...and gut!

At some point, we both took coffee enemas...I've never been a fan of any type of  enema and I don't drink coffee...so needless to say I wasn't excited about this treatment and I won't be going into personal details!  The premise of this treatment is to detoxify the liver.  The caffeine from the coffee is absorbed into this circulatory system and goes directly to the liver where it acts as a very strong detoxifier. It decongests the liver, and causes it to dump its toxins. It also causes the liver to produce more bile (which contains processed toxins from the liver) and stimulates the gall bladder to dump its contents which flows directly into the small intestine for elimination.
This frees up the liver, enabling it to process toxins more efficiently. The coffee only goes to the liver and does not circulate throughout the body so it does not act like drinking caffeine would.  Therefore a coffee enema speeds up detoxification and minimizes the backlog of detoxified substances.  I've told you more than I really know about this treatment!  I did it and felt significantly flushed out!  Nuff said on that one!

All the fixin's for a Coffee enema...good to the last drop!

In addition to getting a liver cleanse, we also both got a colon cleanse.  Not going into detail on this either, but safe to say we both left fully flushed!



Food, diets and Nutrition

Dr Brown (a Chiropractor),  tested me for my genotype and I’m a ‘warrior’ (which means I’m basically vegetarian with some fish, and Rod is ‘Hunter’ but since he is on the anti-cancer Gersin diet, he does not follow the Hunter protocol right now.
Not sure I believe all of this, but if you're interested, here is a link to the doctor who has done the most research in this area:
http://www.dadamo.com/media/gtd.htm






I'm convinced many diets work to either maintain or lose weight...the low carb, the low fat, the vegetarian, the paleo, South Beach,...blah blah blah...the thing that all of these diets have in common is that they eliminate sugar and most all flour based foods!  That's basically what I did to lose weight a couple of years ago and it's the lifestyle I have maintained...so I see the reduction of red meat a 'fine-tuning' and not a big adjustment.  For Rod the week he spent in back in spring convinced him that he too can live this lifestyle and not feel hungry or deprived.  We try not to be zealots about our lifestyle choices...they are our choices.  We are both convinced it's the best choice for us.

At some point, they prepared food for both Rodney and I.  It was delicious...fresh, organic, etc.  I don't have the recipes, but I'm sure that when Rod was here the last time, the fact that he had his food prepared reinforcing his new nutrition guidance all day, every day was a key success factor for the nutrition prong of the cancer fighting! 

For more information on the Gersin diet, that Rod is following, you can find info from  this website for an outfit out of California:
http://gerson.org/gerpress/the-gerson-therapy/

More Oxygen please

The hyperbaric chamber...not a coffin but feels like what I imagine one would feel like!

I also experienced the hyperbaric (an oxygen tank at 1.5 atmospheres designed to give me more oxygen). 
  Rod didn't like this and didn't repeat it...  but it was on the list for me, so I took it!  
I got inside, they zipped me up inside and it inflated to a pressure of 1.5 atmospheres (instead of 1 atmosphere, which is normal outside) and my ears popped until it stabilized.   Then I stayed there for 1 hour and got saturated with oxygen.  The concept is that the increase in gas pressure, increases the partial pressure of the oxygen gas and thus forces more oxygen to be dissolved in the blood  plasma in the body which allows the extra oxygen to be diffused or transported to the surrounding body tissues.  Can't say I really enjoyed this either and didn't feel any change afterwards.  I was glad to get out of the thing though...looked too much like a coffin for my sleeping pleasure!


Here is a website to the place that sells this brand of HBOT Chamber and also gives more info on the therapy.
http://www.oxyhealth.com/hyperbaric_therapy.htm

Anti-oxidents to the Rescue

We both took a carotenoids scan.  You place your hand in this machine and it does a painless scan.   The idea on this is to see how many anti-oxidents there are at a given time in the skin.  The more the better as carotenoids work sacrificially to protect the tissue.  Mine came back at 53000 (good, but could be better) and Rod’s came back at 32000 (ok, but the higher the better…his has increased from 17000 the last time he was there).
Here is a link to more information on this scan:
http://www.nuskin.com/en_US/corporate/company/science/nutritionals_science/serum_carotenoids_antioxidant_status.html

The carotenoid scan machine and results on the screen.

Flat feet + old Orthotics = Knee and foot pain...out with the old, in with the new!

Following one of my complaints of knee pain when I run, I was recommended to see Dr Rummel (another Chripractor in the center) to get scanned for a new set of orthotics.  I have had orthotics since I was in the 5th grade..and I've had the ones I was wearing in September since 1983...that's a little too long to remain effective!  She did a scan of my feet and recommend I get some new orthotics custom-made for my foot.  I ordered a couple of pairs and she had them sent to our mail forwarding service who sent them to us..I got them and am now adjusted to them now.  I'm pleased to report that my knee no longer hurts when I run (and I just finished a 24km run today in preparation for a 1/2 marathon in 3 weeks as I type this!)

Below is a link to the company she used...If you have flat feet, I highly recommend.
http://www.footlevelers.com/about

Acupuncture anyone?

We also got acupuncture treatments...mine for lower back and foot pain (probably due to the out of age orthotics) and Rod's for the cancer and not sure what all else!  One day I got electro- acupuncture and the other day, just straight acupuncture.  One day I asked her (Dr Dong) how many needles and it was 22..I can honestly say I didn't feel them going in..good thing I didn't see them!  This was my first experience with acupuncture...yes, living in China and not having acupuncture...strange, but true!  I do have to admit that my back and foot pain both feel better now...could be the orthotics, could be acupuncture..probably both!  One day, she also did cupping on my back...now that I have had in China..not my favorite treatment, but it too has been effective.

The electro acupuncture setup

A close up of the acupuncture needles

Alkaline or Acidic?

We both got tested for alkalinity .  Cancer supposedly thrives on sugar and an acidic environment in the body, so they give you alkaline water to drink (tastes the same as 'normal' water to me).  When tested, I was at 7.2 and he was slighter more, so we’re good).

We were both treated to a full body massage and that was really nice...after the cleanses, sweating, acupuncture etc it was nice to feel pampered!

Supplements and more...

 We both got a new supply of vitamin and mineral supplements and are now well stocked to maintain a very healthy lifestyle! (had to finally buy a new suitcase to bring all of the vitamins (and other buys) back to China.  Rod also got the B17 (apricots seed) capsules (made in Mexico because evidently you can get it in the US) that is supposed to stop the spread of cancer. 
  He's been taking that every day since this trip.

The High dose Vitamin C

An investment in our health

This has been a very good, but short visit for both of us. An investment in our health!
I have now experienced all of the treatments and dietary supplements and good that Rod did the last time he was in the US back in the Spring.

Since that initial treatment along with the other 2 prongs, What a difference 4 months has made! He is so much better than the last time he was here! Thank you Lord for his willingness to stay on this diet to keep his body at a level that is not conducive for cancer growth.

Rod was able to talk to a couple there at the clinic who were considering to come to China for Dr Yu treatment protocol…the lady had multiple tumors in the Brain, skin and it was also in her bones. She had the cancer stopped several years ago, then she didn’t stay on the nutrition program and the cancer came back…that was a powerful message for Rod…stay on the nutrition program!

This 'booster 2.5 days' was just what the Doctor ordered...good for our health and also good for me to see the treatments he had and meet the team for the '3rd prong'..I know we are doing the right thing by attacking this by the multi-prong, multi-country approach.  I'm glad we came!

Sarah, Dr Dong, Rodney as we were leaving the clinic

The 4th Prong has now started...

So, now as I write this (5 Oct 2014), Rod is participating in the 4th Prong approach in the Baofa Cancer hospital in Beijing.  It's a treatment that requires him to stay in the hospital for several weeks as he gets IV treatments.  So far it seems painless few side affects, but it's spread out over several days...more on that as it progresses.





That's our story and we're sticking to it!  Onward to the cure!!


Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers as we continue down this path!

Rod & Sarah