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Preface

In January of 2001, after a month of being sick with what I thought was the flu, I started to cough up blood. The diagnosis was an advanced case of small cell lung cancer (the fast moving kind) with a large inoperable tumor in my lung that was wrapped around my pulmonary artery and another tumor that was located in my brain. All I wanted to know was how the survivors had handled it. What did they do? What did they eat? What was their attitude like? What did the survivors have in common? To my surprise, the doctors I spoke to could not tell me. All they could do was quote grim statistics and recommend the conventional course of treatments.

The information in this book is not meant to take the place of your doctor’s advice. It is meant as a supplement that will help clear up some of the confusion you will encounter and give you the tools and direction to help you restore your mind, body and spirit to an optimum state of health. It came about through my unyielding desire to learn what other survivors did to beat the odds, combined with my own personal journey developing the skills and knowledge I needed to overcome the illness. In retrospect, this is: The guide I wish I'd had when I was trying to figure out... how to beat cancer.

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1. Decide You Want to Live!

Chapter one is all about the importance of maintaining a positive winning attitude and why it is essential to surviving cancer. I introduce concepts such as the mind/body connection and how the body physically reacts to our state of mind. Also introduced are tools that will help in maintaining a positive winning attitude such as audio tapes/CDs by various authors to help with relaxation and breathing techniques, positive affirmations and general healing on a daily basis. The concepts introduced in this chapter lay the groundwork for future chapters where you will learn to apply these concepts to direct your body to heal.

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2. Conventional vs. Non-Conventional Medicine

This chapter defines and discusses conventional vs. non-conventional medical approaches, multi-treatment centers, clinical trials and general treatment options. Although I clearly do not advise patients on which way to go, I do recommend playing an active role in the decision making process and arm them with information to help. I cite studies of survivors and discuss what I did in my particular case and why. I introduce the concept of when in doubt, do what the survivors do, which is a combination of conventional and non-conventional treatments. I also emphasize for those who choose that route, the importance of informing your doctor of any complementary alternative medicine (CAM) you are thinking of trying before doing so, to make sure there is no conflict that could interfere with your conventional treatments. Many of the thought processes I went through are described in detail and I think will provide comfort to others facing a similar set of circumstances.

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3. Making Decisions

Practical advice on making decisions when the world as you knew it seems to be spinning out of control. This includes everything from organizational tools, enlisting the help of a trusted friend or relative, preparing a list of questions, understanding what type of doctors and nurses you will be speaking to and how not to become intimidated. It is important to be able to evaluate your team of doctors and be involved in the decision making process in order to better embrace your program and increase your odds for success. Although each case is different, there are general questions that should be asked as well as general ways to ask questions in order to get the best information you can from at least two groups of doctors before making a decision. Also discussed is weighing your options on paper, checking out additional resources, emotions vs. intellect, your inner voice, mixed with personal anecdotes of my own decision making and what I learned in hindsight.

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4. Minimizing Stress

The APA reports that 75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are stress-related and that stress is linked to the six leading causes of death. Yet, conventional medicine tends to address the illness and ignore the underlying cause, leaving it to the patient to seek additional help to get at the source of the problem. This chapter discusses stress in detail and on a practical level, teaches how to minimize stress where and when possible to help the body heal. By reducing emotional as well as physical stresses on the body, your immune system will be able to direct more of its energy toward fighting the cancer. Even good things that can be stressful are examined. I offer numerous suggestions that will help, such as designating a spokesperson in order to avoid repeating the cancer story again and again, which I think only empowers the illness. I also suggest creating a wellness zone and address the concept of allocating your energy wisely. I discuss chemotherapy and what to expect, how to minimize its side effects and specific ways to protect yourself, before during and after treatments. I even discuss the biggest mistake I made and how to avoid it from happening to you. Overall, this is a very informative chapter.

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5. Eating Well

One of the best ways to get healthy and stay that way is to eat well. And it’s not just what you eat that counts, but how you eat can really make a difference. Instead of offering menus, which can be found in publications and websites listed in the back of the book, this chapter focuses on the philosophy behind eating well to help in your fight against cancer. For example, to maximize nutritional intake and minimize the physical stress on your body, it helps to eat smaller portions but more often. In other words, spread out the amount of food you eat throughout the day. This will help regulate your blood sugar levels and won’t be so hard on your digestive system. I also discuss the difference between ‘natural’ foods and ‘organic’ foods and why it is so important to eat as many organics as possible at this particular point in time. I strongly promote the juicing of vegetables such as carrots and discuss in detail, how and why it works. I also discuss stepping up your protein intake and eating fruit for fiber. Finally, in addressing vitamins and supplements, I discuss the importance of talking to your doctor first, to make sure what you do will not conflict with any treatments.

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6. Maintaining a Sense of Humor

This chapter discusses the benefits of humor when it comes to healing and how laughter can actually produce chemical changes in the body that will help boost the immune system. It also discusses how humor can be used as an effective coping mechanism. I tell real stories of how I managed to lighten up some of the darkest moments with humor that not only diffused the magnitude of a situation but also helped to avoid buying into some of the doom and gloom, making it easier to maintain a positive attitude. I discuss how making others laugh can make you feel better just by making them feel better and how adding humor turned acts of drudgery into moments I’d look forward to. Some of the humor may seem a bit twisted but it actually helped get me through some of the toughest times I’ve ever faced. Also discussed is Norman Cousin’s book, ‘Anatomy of an Illness’ and how that spawned studies on laughter and healing. The stories in this chapter make me laugh to this day.

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7. Breathing and Visualization Techniques

I believe the most powerful and effective of all survival tools are formed by combining breathing exercises with visualization techniques as discussed in this chapter. This is where you will learn creative ways to direct your body to heal itself. You will also learn how to customize these techniques and tailor them to suit your specific needs. Through adapting and adopting these techniques, you will be able to better embrace these tools, making them even more powerful and effective.

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8. Disposing of Fear and Anxiety

The difficulty in dealing with fear is its intangible nature, making it difficult to really get your hands around. The problem is that fear can be debilitating and if it gets out of control can derail the best of efforts to heal. Therefore, it needs to be dealt with. In this chapter, I teach how to dispose of fear with simple visual techniques I learned that can be repeated as often as necessary until it simply goes away. These techniques can also be used to effectively deal with anxiety and fear of death. The tools are invaluable and something I wish I had from the start.

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9. Energy Work and Integrative Therapies

A fascinating discussion on complementary alternative medicine from (acupuncture to yoga) and how these therapies are gaining acceptance in modern science, yet, for the most part are based on ancient principles. With an increasing number of alternatives and integrative therapies available for the treatment of cancer, I offer advice on how to decide which one or ones to try and how to go about it. Picking up on concepts discussed earlier in the book, such as the power of positive thinking, visualization techniques and the mind/body connection, I apply these concepts on a deeper level to this discussion. Furthermore... this chapter deals with therapies that do not fit into our current scientific world view and how to be skeptical but still have an open mind. After all, just because we can’t prove something today, does not mean that it doesn’t exist. For example, in the early 1800’s before developing more powerful microscopes, we couldn’t prove theories on the existence of germs, which today are accepted in everyday medical practice. Spiced with personal anecdotes and studies in Psychology and Para-Psychology, I tie it all together through cross cultural comparisons that illustrate how most of these approaches utilize the same underlying principles and universal energy that flows through all of us... and how this energy can help us reestablish and maintain a healthy balance of mind, body and spirit.

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10. Love and Prayer

This chapter begins by discussing the power of love, from a mother’s ability to kiss a bruise and make the pain go away to the importance of having a loving self-image and love of life in general. Although it is only natural at times, especially while going through cancer treatments to feel sorry for yourself, making it difficult to feel love, feeling too sorry or being overly critical can be detrimental to your health. To address this, I offer ways to cope with these issues, including bringing back loving moments in your past to help you heal in the present.

Praying to a higher order can also offer an infinite and powerful source of healing. It can provide great comfort and peace of mind. In fact, most people when faced with a serious illness or a loved one who is seriously ill, will turn to prayer. Even most non-believers will think of praying when facing death or a near death experience. In addition, praying and the belief in God, or some sort of higher order does not have to be based on a specific denomination. Nor does it have to be associated with a traditional father figure. It can simply be the belief in the universal energy or life force that is all around us. This chapter ends with an interesting look at prayer studies conducted by Dr. Mitch Krucoff, Cardiologist and Director of Interventional Clinical Trials at Duke.

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11. Healing Through Forgiveness

From the start, I knew in order to completely survive the cancer, I had to address the underlying causes, in other words, how and why it began in the first place. After all, cancer is really the eating up of one’s own body, so the body is literally destroying itself, a scary thought! If the body is really made to heal itself, what went wrong? Why did I get sick? What did I do to deserve it? In my case, one of the issues I had to deal with was smoking and letting go of any guilt associated with it. In addition, considering the fact that there are people who get lung cancer without ever smoking, as well as smokers who never get cancer, I knew there was more to it that I needed to understand. I take the reader through my journey by delving deeper into concepts discussed throughout the book, leading to... healing through forgiveness. In order to be completely healthy, you must have a healthy mind, a healthy body and a healthy spirit. Forgiveness is essential to spiritual health because holding on to old issues of anger and resentment destroys your spirit. Instead of living in the present, you will be exhausting your spirit on past hurts and angers. The way to help your body reach its full potential and optimum state of health is to free your spirit from harboring ill feelings by healing through forgiveness. To accomplish this, I offer specific techniques to practice along with listening to certain audio tracks as well as positive affirmations that you can adapt and adopt.

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12. After Completing Conventional Treatments

Once treatments are over, the structure that you have been accustomed to will end as well. Without having to go in for treatments, it’s easy to fall back into some of the bad habits such as eating poorly or working obsessively that helped bring on the illness to begin with. Therefore, it is important to remain mindful of the things you did to reach this point. Another area discussed is the periodic check-ups and scans that you have to go through and how that plays on your mind, as well as advice on how to handle it. I also discuss specific side effects that I suffered from, such as nerve damage throughout my body and what I did to overcome it. And finally, I describe how I truly got beyond the cancer psychologically and back to living a healthy life, cancer free!

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Postscript

I begin by posing the question, so why did I survive against all odds? I then sum it up and tie it all together, touching on key points and putting it all in perspective. I talk about the positives that can and have come out of a negative situation, and I encourage patients to help others as they create their own magical combination that brings them back to their optimum state of health.

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Review of Key Points

Throughout the book, there are key points, (preceded by the image shown above) that are designed to emphasize what was written in the surrounding paragraphs and/or pages. This section of the book lists all of the key points with corresponding page numbers for your review.

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Additional Resources Available

This is a selection of websites, books, tapes and organizations to further research anything in depth, such as ongoing research in the field, where to look for books on nutrition, and other useful information.

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