Perhaps even more dreadful than the original diagnosis of cancer is to have fought the good fight and won, enjoyed a cancer free life and then, suddenly, to find that the monster has come back. After 18 cancer free years, my rcc has come back with renewed vigor. Although we have virtually no control over this happening, we have total control over how we respond to this bad news. I have been reluctant to discuss the details of my recent rcc recurrence and that would be seen as a discouragement to those many or you who have used guided imagery with success. This was partly from embarrassment but more out of a need to organize a plan for dealing with it before going public. Nine weeks ago a CT scan. after a previous 6 month interval, revealed a recurrence with a rapid growth. It is not possible to know at what point in the previous 6 months that the exponential growth began so the rate, whatever it actually was, was quite rapid. I have just finished the 6th week of 50 mg pills (2 weeks on and 1 off) and plan to stay with this for some time to come. My own personal component of the healing program was to evolve a brand new approach to guided imagery, which I refer to as Targeted Guided Imagery. This involved producing a brand new CD, to complement the anti-angiogenesis work of the Sutent, that is radically different from the previous one that has produce so many good results over the years. I pretty much isolated myself from the normal routine and strictly concentrated on this program. The TGI is for use at the time the pill (or other treatment) is taken, but it was also used at the same time of day, each day even on the week off. This means that the mind/body component was working daily, without a holiday and without adding to cumulative side effects. It also tells the Sutent to concentrate on the tumors and let other organs, such as foot soles and others alone. There will be more on the details later but so far none of these side effects. I did have one humorous encounter with side effects. The book says stay out of the heat. Two weeks ago, I was caught out in the blistering Texas sun for five hours at the TCU football stadium where I was attending my grandsons graduation. My core temp went up, my face turned pale and I was just about ready to cash in the chips. Rather than go to an ER and have somebody kill me, I elected to go to a nearby Garden Restaurant where they make the best Bloody Marys in Ft Worth. Within 10 minutes, my color returned and I felt wonderful. I pass this along for the benefit of many of you who may find yourself in similar straits. Yesterday was scan day and the good results were most remarkable. In nine weeks of two on, one off ; One tumor shrunk from 3.5 cm x 2.5 to 2.8 x1.3, another from 2.3cm x 1.6 to 1.9 x 1.0 , another from from 4.7cm x 2.3 to 3.6 x 1.5. Believe me, I would have settled for stable disease I heard the number 50% describing the reduction of the many small ditzels that were late arrivers to the party scattered all over this lung that was under siege. It is interesting to speculate what the original dimensions topped out at in view of the likelihood that the maximum size, based on exponential growth, grew somewhat larger before growth stopped and shrinkage began. There must surely be a time, after the first Sutent pill, wherein inertial growth effects would have continued as the Sutent buildup grew to the point of effectiveness. I kept detailed graphs of blood pressure throughout the adventure and noted that the trend line to lofty heights was not discernible until they fourth week of treatment. Blood pressure increase has been touted as an indication of shrinkage taking place. If that is so, then all the above noted work was effected in a three week period. Not bad for a kid of 82 years. Just yesterday I took the first blood pressure pill. It would be a shame to blow a gasket while crossing the finish line. It is somewhat amusing to note that some of the side effects listed for Sutent are also side effects of being 82 years old. A classic problem of guided imagery is the impossibility of devising a one shoe fits all approach. I am thrilled to now be working on a program of imagery that will specifically target a specific disease, a specific treatment, for a specific organ, in a specific individual. There is a place for audience partition and the expression of the patients spiritual value system For the first time to my knowledge, the treatment itself will appear as a character in the imagery program. I see this as the fruition of 20 years of my life working in this field. The truth is that, as the number of years I was NED grew, I sensed that I was pulling farther apart from my fellow warriors who were taking fire in the heat of the battle while I just sat on the sidelines. This recurrence, troublesome as it may be, has put me back in the fight and I must confess a strange feeling of exhilaration to be back again, marching with my comrades in the fight. For years, I have advocated in vain for some pharma to involve a competent program of guided imagery in one arm of a clinical trial. Well, now this has been done - a trial of one with me as the subject. I guess this is where I belong - like an old dog come home. It will take a few weeks to develop this concept into a working package, but, for the first time, each and every patient will be involved in the production of a TGI disc. Easy to say but difficult to do. This should, in itself, be therapeutic. As to what it may offer to the world at large, if we could just shift the treatment response rate by a lousy 10% across the board, just look at the thousands of lives that might be saved. TGI will, like its predecessors, be patient friendly, patient administered and scheduled, with no adverse side effects and useful indefinitely at NO COST. I see no reason why Pfizer and others would not welcome such an augmenting component if they really have the patients best interest at heart. I dont know how much of the above reported shrinkage was due solely to the Sutent and how much to the TGI and I really dont care. As a patient, all I wanted was to get control of this out of control monster which I now deem has been done. This is not a program to achieve eternal life here on earth - just that it not be from cancer. I still get comments about a remark that I once made off the cuff in a speech at a KCA National Meeting to the effect that my preferred form of death would be a bullet to the head, fired by a jealous husband when I was age 90. I will be glad to assist anyone who has an interest in pursuing this with me. Still not sure exactly what we will evolve but , after a lifetime of pursuing inventions in the physical sciences, I expect we will agree with Kettering who said, This problem, when solved, will seem simple. I now am burning with passion to share this with others who might wish to pursue it with me. There is a certain feeling of exhilaration that comes from being out on the point of the arrow and, IF YOU AINT THE LEAD DOG, THE VIEW NEVER CHANGES. jerry white.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 14:45:56 +0000
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