Loading...
X

Information I had to hear, but didn’t want to.

Quick answer – I will be back to complete my last 2 rounds of chemotherapy starting next week

This week Kendra and I have been on a fact finding mission. We are trying to find out what is best for our family. I tracked down some of the best natural / holistic / unorthodox cancer fighting docs I had access to. These are amazingly bright and gifted doctors. I was surprised at what they had to say.

When I was first diagnosed and fast tracked through the back halls of MD Anderson I felt rushed and pushed and at times like I was being kicked into something I didn’t have time to think about. I know the big pharmaceutical business plan and it was hard to not see it around ever corner. When insurance has a hick-up and you find yourself faced with over rides, extensions, and swiping cards to pay out of pocket expenses the Big Pharma machine looks evil. At that time a lot of folks were praying for healing and I also reached out for prayers that my medical team would have the knowledge and the  care to direct me properly. There have been some hurdles along the way. Twice the hospital missed giving me the right medication at the right time. There was also the morning I woke up laying in chemotherapy. That was not a cool morning, trust me you want the chemo in you and not on you.

So there I sat jumping into chemotherapy when everything I was reading told me to stay the hell away from the drug. Things changed a bit when the clinic PA walked in and explained Lymphoma to us. She saw there is some cancer in my family tree and informed us this cancer is not like any of those. She said the tumor is not like a regular cancer tumor. We went over all the nasty side effects and started running the EPOCH-R chemotherapy protocol.

After 3 runs of chemo I had a PET scan come back clean. Great, right? Not really. The doctor came back with upping my dose and wanting to hurt me even more. I was not a happy camper and had to question what he was doing. Dr’s don’t typically like that. We ran round 4 and came up with a plan to visit other doctors for 2nd opinions. Wednesday we were in Austin and Thursday Houston. Both alternative approach doctors sat down and explained things better than my MDA doctor had done.

The information given to me was not the information I wanted to hear. I wanted a maverick to set up and say “I have seen this before. Your chemotherapy is killing you. Please stop it now. Here is plan ‘B’ and plan ‘B’ is very successful”

Not even the doctor who was put on trial by the FDA want me to vary from my chemotherapy regiment. His oncologist was surprised at  the cocktail. He was also happy with the results. It seems like the prayers for guidance have been working.

I’m where I need to be and will be continuing on with upping my chemotherapy starting next Thursday. I’m not happy about it and someone might have to handcuff and drag me into MD Anderson next week, but I now know that is where I need to be.

This concludes my loose ramble about this weeks road trip. Later I will break down each doctors visit and the information I was able to gain. My Austin doctor has some very positive diet and supplement directives that will help this next round of chemotherapy. I will post on that soon.

Thanks for the prayers and the continued support.

-d Perrin

I'm Derrick Perrin and I support this message! Thanks for reading and comment or post if you have time.