Ch 17 - Eye-Opening Discovery

Original Post 4/24/10

2009 started off on a very good note. My first tumor marker test shows another decrease! The laboratory normal level for the CA 27.29 tumor marker is 38.8. On January 26, 2009 it is now 31.2. Praise God!!


I’m watching my beautiful granddaughter, Cassidy, 3 days a week. She is a real joy, as she is a very pleasant & responsive baby. As her crawling skills have improved, I have to improve our baby-proofing. I create obstacles to keep her in the living room, & she loves the challenge of working to outsmart me by figuring out ways to go over or around them. She has a very calculating mind! I think the mathematics/reasoning skill genes may have made it through to her.

God has opened the doors so that I am assisting 7 people with health issues, by corresponding with them by email. They are requesting resources & information concerning diet & nutritional supplements for cancer & other health concerns. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to share resources & information with them & to encourage them. It is always interesting & stimulating when God brings people into my life & I allow Him to work through me to minister to their lives. It brings great satisfaction to my soul!

Since learning about their role in my battle against cancer, there’s never been any doubt about the fact that the diet, nutritional supplements & regular exercise are part of God’s plan to bring about the healing He has promised. I knew that eating the right foods & taking nutritional supplements could strengthen my immune system from my having studied nutrition when my kids were very young. I knew that I needed help in deciding what foods & nutritional supplements were the right ones. As I explained in Chapter 7, I asked my family physician if she could recommend a doctor who might be able to help me with this, if I should have to undergo chemotherapy, as a form of treatment for my cancer. She quickly endorsed Dr. Powers & gave me his phone number. When I finally met with him, we had decided on the hormone, or more accurately an aromatase inhibitor, as my form of treatment. Since I was not going to undergo chemotherapy, you might think it was not necessary to go through with the appointment. However, I had other health problems that I thought might respond to his recommendations; so, I decided I should meet with him. More importantly, it seemed as if God was leading me in that direction, & I didn’t want to ignore His prompting. After meeting with him & doing some reading, I learned that there are foods we eat that actually feed cancer cells, & there are supplements that can help my immune system do the job it was designed, by God, to do.

The major culprit, for ALL types of cancer, in terms of foods, is sugar & foods that are quickly converted to sugar/glucose. It is a well-established fact that cancer cells are sugar-feeders. You can slow cancer growth by lowering the amount of fuel available to tumor cells. In my blog “What is a PET Scan,” posted on the Diagnostic Tests page, I note that “cancer cells demonstrate a 3 to 5 fold increase in glucose uptake compared to healthy cells.” That’s pretty dramatic! This is a good reason to avoid sugar, at all costs, & to eat foods that are low on the glycemic index, as well as ones that will help strengthen my immune system so that it will recognize & destroy existing cancer cells & cause any new ones that form to commit suicide.

This is an excerpt I previously printed in the blog “Growth Rate of Cancer – How Long Has It Been There?” posted June 25, 2009. It comes from Chapter 1 of Patrick Quillin’s book Beating Cancer With Nutrition. (This book is reviewed in the blog “Books to Read & Share” posted December 2008.)

“[1] Your body survives endless assaults on the integrity of the DNA & is able to repair most of this damage. [2] If the defective cells still exist, then the telegraph system within the healthy cell colony tells the cancer cell to revert back to normal functioning, called cell-to-cell communication. [3] If the defective cell with bad DNA continues to grow, then the body instructs the cancer cell to commit suicide, aka apoptosis. [4] If this doesn’t work, then the body shuts down the making of blood vessels to the tumor, called anti-angiogenesis. [5] If the tumor continues to grow, then the body begins to wall off the cancer cells with a tough envelope made of collagen & calcium, called tumor encapsulation. This is good news indeed. All of these anti-cancer mechanisms are fed by the nutrients in your diet. . . That’s why an aggressive nutrition program is essential [emphasis added] . . . The fact is, your body has the internal means of beating cancer if given the right collection of precursors (nutrients) & the proper toxin-free & restful environment.”

This is the first book I read about treating cancer by some means besides surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. It helped me to begin to understand the connection between my diet, exercise, & cancer. There were a lot of eye-opening discoveries in the book. I chose this book by asking Dr. Powers for a recommendation of a book title or an author, as I describe in Chapter 12. From there I wanted to continue to learn more, & continued reading other books & information on the Internet.

My selection of reading material is done prayerfully. I have specific criteria that I use as a standard, to critically evaluate resources. I have written 2 blogs in which I have reviewed many books that I think are worthy of reading & sharing with others. These books contain lots of eye-opening discoveries. These lists are not exhaustive of the material I have read. I have deliberately left some of my reading material off of the list, for various reasons. Yet, I should add another blog to share some additional books I have read, since posting the part 2 reading list, that are also excellent resources & worthy of reading & sharing.

It’s very tempting to print blog after blog by copying excerpts from these enlightening books, but I know that many of you do not share my in-depth interest in the many topics I research.

As much as I find all of this research fascinating & useful, it is especially exciting when God shines His light on things to fit together puzzle pieces I’ve not seen a connection between before. These eye-opening discoveries are the most exciting ones I can share. I want to share an eye-opening discovery God revealed to me. First, I have to set the stage.

In chapter 3, I explain that God told me, before I went to the appointment to learn the results of my very first biopsy, “The biopsy is malignant, but this is not a death sentence.” Although I do not want to hear that it is malignant, it certainly is a huge comfort to be told that it is not a death sentence! At that point, I don’t know how much of a key role this message will play, as I continue through the process of appointments, medical procedures, laboratory tests, waiting for results, reading about cancer & cancer treatment, & learning the type & stage of my cancer, etc. It is my lifeline, in a manner of speaking, which helps me to maintain a peace that cannot be explained, in human terms. It is a gift of God’s grace! I Timothy 1:14 “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith & love that are in Christ Jesus.”

In chapter 6, I describe how God spoke to me & said, “Patti, I am the Lord that healeth thee, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.” As I said in that blog, I don’t have a habit of thinking in King James English. I later pulled out my King James Bible & used the concordance to look for a reference. It is Exodus 15:26, “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” which is not a verse I have ever committed to memory, & I am not in the habit of reading Exodus on a regular basis. We were in a church service when God spoke to me, but it was not a healing service. It was a Christmas production. God’s Spirit was present, & God spoke to me, in my mind. It was awesome! I did not understand this to mean that I was being healed on the spot or that I was going to be healed at some specific time & place, as a miraculous event. As I prayed about it, over the next few days, I sensed that it was going to take place over a non-specific period of time. I was at peace with that. I already knew that my cancer is not a death sentence; this is additional confirmation that healing will continue to transpire over time until it is complete. The exciting aspect in this message is the fact that He added, “from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.” Doesn’t this have to include my other health conditions? WOW!!

I accept this as fact, but I don’t spend too much time thinking about how God is going to specifically bring this about. God is in control. Since God has led me to combine medical oncology – hormone treatment – with alternative treatment oncology – strict diet & nutritional supplements, it’s natural to assume that the two will work together, in conjunction with prayer & faith, to bring about my eventual healing. I will: trust God to be in control of the entire situation & to give my doctors wisdom, follow my doctors’ orders. I will: trust God to help me to be faithful to follow the plan God has set out before me, & trust His peace to guide us in making prayerful decisions. My role is to be faithfully obedient in following God’s plan.

Romans 12:1-2 is central to my commitment, on this journey. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy & pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test & approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing & perfect will.” In light of all that God has done for us, & for me personally, I have given him my heart & my life completely. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 9 years old. Though I strayed far away from God during my first year after high school, I did find my way back & rededicated my life to Him completely. There’s been no turning back since that time. It seems so logical, for me, to trust Him with my life, especially at this critical time.

God’s renewing of my mind is an ongoing process, as I pray & read His Word. You see, God knows that once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior we will struggle to understand His ways and to follow Him, until we change our way of thinking. This is a process, not a single event. Over time we allow God to transform our thoughts and desires; he calls it renewing our minds. This is part of the process of Christian growth. As our thinking is renewed, we can better determine His will for our lives. It is good – He wants only what it good for us; it is acceptable – the better we understand it, the more ready we are to accept it; it is perfect – it is complete, all-embracing, making provision for every area of our lives. What more could we want? I am able to see how God’s plan for treating my cancer is good, acceptable & perfect! Praise God! It’s not a plan I could create on my own. I can only seek to be faithful in carrying it out, & I thank Him for the grace He provides to help me to do what I need to do. I can see that He has renewed/changed my thinking in specific ways, about food, nutrition, nutritional supplements, & the ways our bodies/immune systems function, through the research He’s led me to read & study on this journey. God’s will applies to us in broad, general terms as well as in individual & specific matters.

The morning of April 1, 2009, I am praying for a friend who has been ill & absent from church for quite some time. I do not know the nature of her illness. She has been on my mind quite often during the past week, & I’ve prayed for her frequently. This morning I pray for her at length. As I pray, I am, of course, trying to pray specifically. I know that we share a health problem in common & wonder if that is currently the issue causing her such difficulty. If so, I know that her dietary habits are a key issue. This is because God helped me to make a wonderful eye-opening discovery a year ago, as a result of my diet change, addition of nutritional supplements, & nutrition-based scientific research about the condition; these changes brought about a tremendous difference for me! I pray that God will give me an opportunity to share this information with her so that I might help her to find the same relief I have found, if this is the issue she is struggling with. However, I’m not sure that I’m on the right track, since I can’t imagine that this condition would cause her to be so ill that, with medical treatment, she would be absent from church for an extended period of time. Round & round, in circles, my mind goes. I need to just pray for her with loving compassion. She is a very sweet & compassionate woman who is very much missed when she is absent from church. I remember a time God miraculously healed her of a condition for which she was facing surgery. It was so awesome. Her surgeon confirmed that she was healed & did not need the surgery. Praise God! I know God can heal her current condition. I am sure she is praying God will do just that. I ask God to heal her, to restore her to health. As I continue to pray for her, I sense God saying, “If I heal her without her changing her eating habits, the problem will reoccur.”

Now I am really confused. What does God mean by this? I can understand that she needs to change her eating habits. Will God grant me an opportunity to share some valuable information with her so her current problem is not repaeated?

God reminds me of his promise to heal me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I am still confused. Then I am reminded of my sensing that God will do this over a non-specific period of time. I am reminded of how God led me to seek help to strengthen my immune system, which led to my learning that diet, nutrition, nutritional supplements, & exercise all work together in helping my body do the job it was designed to do, to fight the battle against my cancer. In this process, I have found that other health conditions are improving, as my immune system is getting stronger & functioning more efficiently. The picture is getting a little clearer, as these thoughts RAPIDLY RACE through my head. (This is NOT how my injured brain normally works!)

Suddenly, THE LIGHT GOES ON!! Now I know why God did not just reach down & miraculously heal me of my cancer, even though He is capable of doing so. I believe God is saying, “If I had healed you & you had not changed your lifestyle & eating habits, the cancer would be sure to reoccur.” I would have ended up disappointed & wondering how I lost my healing. However, what would my motivation have been to make the necessary changes I’ve made, if my cancer had been healed? Would I have picked up any of the books I’ve read? Probably not; even if someone had convinced me to read one of them, any changes I might have made would have been temporary & minimal. WHAT AN EYE-OPENER!!! I realize now that I needed to go through this process, as a cancer patient, in order to prompt me to eagerly seek the scientific & research-based information I have learned, so that I am armed with informed motivation to stick with my convictions, in terms of the lifestyle changes I’ve made, so that I will continue eating this way, continue to exercise regularly & continue to take my nutritional supplements, even if I am declared to be cancer-free. Healing will come & it will be permanent, because I have made permanent lifestyle changes, in order to follow God’s plan faithfully, to bring about His promised healing & to be certain that I am taking care of my body in a manner that absolutely minimizes the possibilities of the cancer having a chance of reoccurring. Praise God for the eye-opener!

My friend’s illness was not the condition we share in common. She did recover & return to church soon after this prayer session. God provided an opportunity for me to share some information with her, & I loaned her the book, The Seven Pillars of Health, by Don Colbert, M.D., to read, which is reviewed in the blog, “Books to Read or Give as Gifts, Part 2” posted May, 19, 2009. I have not been able to schedule lunch with her so we can have a conversation about all of this. We’ve only had very brief encounters since this time. I’ve left the situation & the results in God’s capable hands, while I keep her in my prayers.

God knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He knows just what it will take to change or adjust our thinking so that we will change our actions. However, He is a gentleman. He does not manipulate us like a marionette or force us to do what we do not want to do. He moves into areas of our lives only where we give Him permission & works, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to help us see things the way He sees them. Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will & to act according to his good purpose.” I have used this verse to pray & give God my heartfelt, sincere permission to make me willing “to act according to his good purpose.” I’m human; there are times when I know what the right thing to do is, but I really don’t want to do it. There are people who have told me they see me as someone with great willpower & tremendous resolve. I will tell you I can be stubborn, & I have tendencies toward obsession, once I am thoroughly convinced that something is right or the best thing to do. This is how God hard-wired my brain; it’s also the effect of my upbringing & the influence of the role models in my life. Nevertheless, I struggle with a major hurdle; how do I flip on the ignition switch? Once my mind is made up, I’m pretty set in my ways & determined. Obstacles sometimes slow me down or divert my attention, but they will not destroy my convictions. I love to share my convictions with others. My challenge is to determine how I can inspire others to flip on the ignition switch in their lives so they will begin to make healthy changes in their lives. That’s when this verse is really helpful. I can tell you, from experience, it works! It’s even helped me to break a couple of bad habits. I give God permission to make me willing to act in accordance with his good purpose. He only wants what is best for me.

God is in control of my journey. As I look back over the events that have taken place so far, it just boggles my mind to realize how much God has done for us along the way. There is much more than I am able to relate in these blogs & chapters of my story. There are times I remember to pull out my notebook to scribble down some thoughts, but there are often times I just treasure the moments & praise God silently.

When reading over my story, there are parts that read like a novel. I think, ‘Wow, isn’t God amazing to work like that, in that woman’s life?’ Then I realize, ‘Hey, I’m that woman!’ It’s weird yet awesome! God has done these things, for ME! I feel like an observer of my own story. I think, ‘Who am I that God would do these things for me?’ Then I remember He does them because He’s my Father, & He loves me just because I’m His daughter, in the same way that I love my own children, just because they’re mine. I don’t love them because of what they have done, what they’ve accomplished, or how they look; I love them because they’re my kids! My story still seems too good to be true, but it is. Praise God!

As I said, I can now understand why my healing will occur over a non-specific period of time. As I am obedient in following the plan God has set out before me, my body will continue to respond. Healing will gradually occur. And it is happening!! Praise God!!

On a final note, why do we find it easy to believe that God works through doctors, surgical procedures, medical procedures, & prescription medicines, yet remain skeptical that God works through healthy food, physical exercise & nutritional supplements? Who made the plants & animals? There is a great deal of scientific study behind the recommendations made regarding diet & nutritional supplements, as there is behind the medical profession & prescription drugs. God's wisdom has been revealed through both avenues.

I always took my multivitamin & mineral tablets & calcium supplement every day, but I was a skeptic. I would shake my head at those who talked up using “homeopathic medicine & natural or organic foods & other products” not so much to stay healthy, but to treat chronic medical conditions, illnesses & diseases. I thought, “That’s nice if it works for you, but I’ll stick with proven medical science for illnesses, diseases, & chronic conditions.” I’m singing a new tune now. The 2 work very nicely together. Without the medical profession, the tests & procedures it offers, I wouldn’t even know I have cancer. However, I also respect & appreciate the alternative treatment that is improving my test results. God works through all that He has created. (4/24/10)