by John Krech
My story started with feeling a burning pain in my groin. Thinking it was just a strain, I ignored it for several months until it was apparent that it wasn’t going away. Going to the doctor confirmed that I had testicular cancer, and the tumor markers signified that it had spread to other organs in the body.
After having the cancer removed I went back to my urologist for a follow-up consultation. He had met with a group of doctors in the area, and they all agreed that I needed a complete lymph node dissection, followed by a course of chemotherapy. I asked what a lymph node dissection was and he said that they cut you open from your chest to your pelvis. They then take out as many lymph nodes as possible.
I told him that I would like to get another opinion. He gave me the name of a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. He wanted to do the same surgery. By this time I was resigning myself to this major surgery.
But then I discovered the name of a published urologist at University Hospital in Cleveland. After showing him all of my records he told me that my tumor markers had come down and that I had no signs of active cancer at the time. The only course of treatment he thought necessary was to keep me under observation with follow up CT scans and blood work ups. If the cancer came back he would advise three heavy cycles of chemo and that should knock it out. (Make sure that you take all of your CT scans, x-rays, blood tests, and medical records with you so the reviewing doctor can get up to speed in a matter of minutes)
When I posed the question that the other two surgeons wanted to do a complete lymph node dissection, he said that they were totally useless. “We haven’t done those in ten years.” That was a “water shed” moment for me. If I hadn’t gotten that last expert opinion I would have gone through a terrible surgery for nothing.
To make a long story short, the cancer reappeared a year later. When I went in for chemotherapy, my oncologist wanted me to have a “PT Scan” done to see where the cancer had metastasized (spread) to.
I asked how a “Pet Scan” worked. My oncologist explained that a radioactive marker is mixed with glucose (sugar) then injected into your bloodstream. A scan is then performed to see where any active cancer calls are.
My oncologist explained that cancer cells are stupid. The minute they see sugar they start eating it, and since they have the ability to eat more sugar than normal cells, they light up like Christmas trees when they’re photographed or scanned.
This was another “water shed” moment. So cancer cells thrive on sugar, very interesting. The fact that cancer cells and tumors can be detected just by the amount of radioactive glucose they have consumed should tell us something about our diet.
I completed the cycles of chemo, and my cancer would reappear again 2 more times. My quest to find the “Keys to Surviving Cancer” had begun because I was living it.
Disease Proofing Your Body
You must first have a willingness to do whatever it takes to change your life for the better.
5 STOPS (These don’t have to be done all at once)
1. Stop drinking cow’s milk. (Organic sources acceptable)
2. Go off all commercially processed red meat, pork, and lunch meats. Only grass-fed, hormone-free and antibiotic-free meats allowed.
3. No artificial sweeteners (like Saccharin®, NutraSweet® or Splenda®). Stevia® is acceptable.
4. No soda pop, especially diet.
5. No refined foods. Anything where the first ingredient is enriched (like white flour, white sugar, and enriched grains) should be avoided.
5 STARTS (Start immediately)
1. Shop off the walls of your supermarket. The food around the outside walls is generally “Fresh Produce” and healthier than the “Processed Junk” in the middle aisles.
2. Take a high-potency vitamin/mineral supplement (that contains at least 50 milligrams of B-complex) along with fish oil (for men) or flax (for women) and calcium magnesium citrate.
3. Take a high-potency pro-biotic supplement at least 4 times a week.
4. Drink 1 1/2 times your weight in ounces of water every day and do a body cleanse twice a year.
5. Get a minimum of 20 minutes of fast walking and 20 minutes of strength training three times a week. That’s a total of 60 minutes a week of fast walk and 60 minutes a week of strength training.
John can be reached at john@planethealth.com and is willing to share time with anyone who needs his advice.