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Ovarian Cancer: Process and Survival

Post Surgery

Flora

Read Part I for facts with regard to prognosis and surgery…

The next few weeks after my discharge from the hospital, were very busy. My sister, Nance, and my mom decorated the house and Christmas tree. My sister Lauren visited from Washington and cleaned, cooked and lent invaluable withhold to all of us. There were visits to the surgeon for follow-up and the oncologist for the first visit. John and my sisters accompanied me. It was so very helpful to have person else ask questions and write down information. It can be an marvelous experience, especially when you’re a microscopic “spaced out” on vicodin for pain management, as I was. I signed on to be part of a clinical study using distinct combinations of medications for eight instead of the general six cycles. Laurie had brought a book with her that offered a lot of facts on how to deal with an ovarian cancer prognosis and subsequent treatments. One suggestion was to research clinical studies. There is a great deal of “cutting edge” research out there but you may have to hunt for it, do your homework, and bring the facts to your doctor. My oncologist’s office was conducting a trial, I was accepted, and I was scheduled to begin rehabilitation on December 21.

Even though I was dreading the whole process, I knew I had to arrival it in much the same way I did the surgery, approximately like an athletic event or a race. I wanted to go in as strong and as ready as potential and with a great “attitude.”

Attitude is defined as a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that shows one’s disposition, idea and thinking set. We may not be able to control a situation, but we can pick our attitude about that situation- victim or fighter; passive or aggressive; depressed or striving toward joy and happiness; caught in the “why me’s” or searching for the “what can I learn from this.” With the help of many population and straight through much reading and research, my “attitude-adjustment” process unfolded.

A booklet entitled “Preparing for Chemo” suggests some things that I immediately put into action.

1) Get your hair cut short so that when your hair starts falling out, it’s less traumatic and won’t clog the shower’s drain. (This worked for the drains but I was still traumatized.)

2) If you plan to wear a wig, shop for it before starting chemo. My sisters and my dear friend and hairdresser Patty, helped with both of these steps. Watching my long hair fall to the floor was very hard and yet made me feel the tiniest bit more in control of what was happening to me. To my surprise, everybody loved my new hairdo. The compliments boosted my ego when I surely needed it. Nance and Laurie accompanied me to the wig shop. Laughter is very good medicine-and we laughed a lot as we all played with the wigs before settling on two very nice ones. Four hundred dollars later I was armed with my hair prosthetics and a sore belly from laughing. At this writing, I am sporting my own very short hair after nine months of wigs and hats.

3) The booklet suggests having a dental check up and cleaning before starting chemo. Also leading is giving your home a thorough cleaning and possibly scheduling person to come in once a week thereafter- a clean house can minimize exposure to infectious agents.

4) building up impel straight through exercise and a good diet can help minimize some of the side effects of chemo. This booklet and other helpful literature, is available straight through oncology offices and offers good practical information. I also found the library and the internet to be good resources.

Shortly after my homecoming, from the hospital, I received a telephone call from Lindy, a volunteer with the Cancer community (set up by my husband and the cancer withhold staff at the hospital.) She had been diagnosed and treated for Stage Iiic ovarian cancer seven years ago. Hearing from her gave me a real boost and some good tips for dealing with the upcoming chemo. She shared her experiences with surgery, hair loss and perfect recovery! She is still cancer free! In addition to advice on make-up to camouflage the fact that one has no eyebrows or eyelashes, she told me how helpful acupuncture was for her. She felt that it surely minimized some of the chemo side-effects and “rebalanced” her body’s energy. I had had a few sessions of acupuncture many years ago, and I immediately knew that this would be right for me. I believe in its efficacy and certainly feel the sessions have been very beneficial.

My first acupuncture session was four days after the first chemo treatment. The meds they gave me to preclude nausea worked very well. I didn’t have much of an appetite and felt a microscopic achy and tired but the only real side consequent I experienced was a terrible, hand-wringing itching and tingling in my hands and feet. Amy, my acupuncturist, has worked with some population undergoing chemo, is very knowledgeable, and had a good rehabilitation plan in place for me. I scheduled to see her 2 days before and 4 days after every chemo session. After my first visit with her, I did feel better, more energized and the itching had certainly dissipated a good deal. She gave me some suggestions on supplements and some Chinese herbs to use.

The side consequent of itching, burning and tingling is called neuropathy and is fairly common with the types of chemo protocol I was on. After my second and third sessions, the symptoms worsened! I turned to the internet to learn more about neuropathy and what, if anything, I could do about it. I found an record by Cindy H. Makencon, website: http://www.ovarian-news.org, entitled “coping-Tips for dealing with neuropathy.” She offered a great deal of helpful facts along with reports of studies on the benefits of taking fairly large doses of L-Glutamine Sulfate and Chondroitin. I forwarded this facts onto Carolyn, the research nurse in payment of my clinical study, and she shared the facts with the oncologist. I had already started taking L-Glutamine when I met with him. He had added researched and advanced a new rehabilitation plan for me which included large doses of L-Glutamine, a convert in one of the chemo meds, and the addition of a medication called neurontin. The compound of all these things worked! The neuropathy gently subsided and I’ve had no added problems.

I believe a few other factors contributed to my being able to handle the chemo pretty well. I continued to increase my exercise regimen, progressing to walking everyday and then back to the gym for step-classes, albeit modified, and lifting light weights. exercise builds muscle strength, increases oxygen and blood flow and for me, was and is a real corporal and thinking energy boost.

I came over a book entitled: “Herbal Therapy & Supplements- a Scientific and customary Approach” written by Merrily A. Kuhn, Rn, Ph.D. And David Winston, a herbalist and ethnobiologist. The book was part of an at-home study procedure that I needed to perfect for my Rn continuing schooling Credits. The book offers a farranging guide to many common and some less common herbs and supplements, their uses, adverse effects, contraindications, and drug-herb interactions. After specific research, I started using some herbs and supplements designed to minimize chemo side effects and boost my immune system. I was specific to use things that do not stimulate estrogen in the body as my cancer was estrogen-receptor positive. I started taking these supplements one or two things at a time in smaller doses in order to monitor any unfavorable reactions, before adding more. Most importantly, I notified my physician that I was taking supplements and having acupuncture.

At the end of this article, I will offer a perfect list of the supplements and herbs that I have been using and some facts with regard to the rationale for each of these additions.

For some months, our kitchen counter resembled a drug and supplement store. I had to write up a daily program of what to take when. It was worth it! Once the neuropathy was under control, I tolerated the remainder of the chemo treatments pretty well. I was able to work full time and exercise, and my appetite and energy levels were good. Physically, acupuncture, exercise, diet, and supplements were, and still are, needful tools which helped me deal with the chemo and recover from its serious effects.

On other level, the emotional and spiritual aids were an even more suited part of the curative process. Previously, I mentioned my visualizations with regard to pre and post operative curative and looking myself wholesome and cancer free. Now, it was time to take it a step added and include it as a suited adjunct to the chemo medications. Rather than looking the meds as a poison, I started to visualize it as “nectar from the gods,” washing straight through me and being taken up by my immune cells as a potion to destroy cancer cells. A few weeks before my first treatment, I read an record about a young local girl who had battled cancer at age 16. She wrote a book about her touch and included her thoughts on looking her chemo as “nectar from the gods.” I admired her outlook and incorporated it into my work. My husband, John, created a special tape for me to listen to while receiving the infusion of chemo. This guided exercise included relaxation, curative messages, and suggestions for picturing my immune cells taking care of things and using the chemo effectively. Before each chemo session, even before they started the Iv, he would do a free time exercise with me. This ritual became a very leading part of the process. By working on my “attitude” towards the chemo and by connecting with these parts of myself that can be suited self-healers, I felt I was taking back control of what was happening. Feeling that you are part of the curative process instead of a passive receiver of medications etc., is very empowering.

Rituals and routines are very comforting, especially when you’re experiencing stressful times. My “chemo ritual” evolved from the very first session. The night before, I meditated and did my curative visualizations at bedtime. John drove me to the oncology center. I superior my chair and we settled in with his free time exercise. My sister, Nance, arrived bearing muffins and silly magazines. After visiting and chatting, John left for work and Nance and I munched muffins and laughed at the National Enquirer stories. About an hour before the infusion was completed, my brother, Tom, would arrive for a visit and to take me home. Somewhere in the session, my sister, Laurie, would call from Washington to check in and often John would “pop in” in his travels. I always had firm and felt lovingly supported. Sabrina included me in her meditation every morning and my mom would stop by the day after the session for tea and a chat. Every three weeks from December 21 straight through May 27, we followed this routine. The nurses and my house got to know one other and we became a real team!

Returning to work seven weeks after surgery was other normalizing routine that made me feel like I was taking back my life. Except for the day of chemo and the following day, I have worked full time, feeling productive, wholesome and normal. My co-workers have been very supportive and caring. They even threw me a graduation party to celebrate the completion of chemo.

Even before my last chemo, I was researching what to do to preclude a recurrence of the disease. I found facts on a clinical study for Ovarex, a vaccine designed to preclude a recurrence of ovarian cancer. After many phone calls, letters and haggling with my insurance company, I was thorough into a study being conducted at Stanford’s Cancer town in Palo Alto. It complex monthly infusions for the first three months and then every twelve weeks for the rest of the year, with routine labs and Ct scans. I have experienced only mild side effects and feel fortunate to have way to one more tool.

This past year has been one of lessons for me. I would have favorite the “universe” had given me a gentle tap on the shoulder instead of this Giant Thump on the head to let me know I had things to learn about myself and how “I am” in the world. Here are some of the things I have learned from this experience:

1. Pay attention – possibly if I had agitated more forcefully with my physician that something was Not right, she would have responded with more attention. Listen to your body and trust your intuition.

2. Don’t take whatever for granted – people, job, health, hair. When you face the loss of these things, you comprehend how special population are, how the day-to-day routine of a job is a gift, how precious good health is and even how much great a “bad hair” day is than No Hair!

3. There are a great many sources of invaluable facts out there straight through people, libraries and the internet. Taking advantage of these resources allowed me to generate a farranging plan to restore my health and fight the disease using a compound of Western and alternative therapies.

4. We do have choices in how we deal with a emergency – probably the best choice for me was to reach out and ask for help. The more population I told about my health issues, the more unavoidable energy came my way. I felt empowered rather than vulnerable and armed with my helmet (a wig, which, by the way, I got complements on) and my armor (acupuncture, supplements, chemo, prayers and visualization) I was ready to do battle. I was “Warrior Princess” instead of cancer patient.

5. Laughter is Good Medicine!

At this writing, my labs and Ct scans are completely normal. I am back to my general routines of work and exercise. I am sporting a “Jamie Lee Curtis” hairdo. I am excited about decorating and shopping for Thanksgiving and when we all come together, we’ll have a lot to be thankful for! Before we dig into our feast, I will be request each person to write on a piece of paper, one thing that they are grateful for. Each of us will then withdraw one of these papers from the basket and try to guess who wrote the message. It will be easy to guess mine. I am grateful for all the love and withhold from my house and friends (with a special thanks to my son, Matt, and my husband for shaving their heads to withhold me and to my son, Mike, and his band for dedicating songs to me at concerts and their fund raising for the Cancer Society.) I am grateful for the prayers and best wishes that came my way from population I do not even know. I thank you!!! Well, of course, that’s more than one thing on my piece of paper but so what! It’s time to celebrate!

Happy Thanksgiving 2004 and celebrate every day of your life.

Barbara’s perfect Ovarian Cancer Fighting Supplement List:

Three Imperial Mushroom Capsules – available straight through acupuncture office

A) Reishi- Immuno stimulant: enhances immune system; use is sanctioned by the Japanese health Ministry as an adjunct rehabilitation for cancer; Increases activity of chemotheraputic agents and reduces adverse effects such as nausea, decreased white blood cell counts; helps protect the liver against damage caused by viral, drug and environmental toxins.

B) Shitaki- strengthens immune principles response; improves survival times of cancer patients when used concurrently with chemo.

C) Maitake- best known for cancer fighting properties; many doctors in Japan use it to lower blood pressure and blood lipids; sufficient as an anti-tumor agent and immune principles modulator.

Echinacia- used in Germany along with chemo in the rehabilitation of cancer. May improve white blood cell counts in persons undergoing chemo.

Cat’s Claw- reduces side effects of chemo; used in clinical custom in Europe for cancer & Hiv; has leading immune enhancing properties; helps increase the whole of T-cells, the true soldiers of the immune system. In Austria, it is used together with approved rehabilitation (chemo, radiation &/or surgery) to treat hundreds of cancer patients per year.

Graviola- scientists have been studying this herb since the 1940′s – four studies were published in 1998 re: needful anti-tumor properties and selective toxicity against discrete types of cancer cells (without harming wholesome cells; Purdue University has conducted a great deal of research on the Annonaceous acetogenins house to which graviola belongs) much of which has been funded by the National Cancer manufacture or the National manufacture of Health.

Acidophyllis- rebalances intestinal flora (especially leading when you’re taking a lot of medications.)

Multivitamins with Vitamin E

Calcium Supplement

Ip-6 with Insositol- has been studied extensively for over 20 years; has suited effects on the immune system.

Wheat Grass Juice- increases hemoglobin; rebuilds the blood; improves body’s capability to heal wounds; washes drug deposits from the body; neutralizes toxins and carcinogens in the body.

Green and White Tea- Chinese believe green tea is a cure for cancer and a longevity tonic; boosts immune principles function; research being done all over the world and in the Us by the National Cancer manufacture re: anti-tumor activity. Both green and white tea are exquisite antioxidants.

Website for researching herbs- Plant Database Raintree Nutrition

I used the guided relaxations/visualizations Cd’s from the Stress schooling Center-Dstress.com

1. #209 Stress supervision for Pre and Post-op Survival

2. #208 Stress supervision for Healing

Reference:

Health update from Self Magazine by Jennifer Nelson November, 2004

Ovarian cancer: a not-so-silent killer

“Early prognosis is crucial. When disease is caught before it spreads, 80 percent of women will survive.”

by Barbara Ehlers-Mason, Rn and L. John Mason, Ph.D.

Written in November, 2004, one year after the surgery for Ovarian Cancer, in November, 2003

Stress schooling town (707) 795-2228 website: http://www.dstress.com

Barbara’s Ovarian Cancer Story Part Ii

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