My Back and the new Chinese Medicine Doctor

So on October 31st, I had an appointment with the PA for my back doctor. I had emergency spinal surgery on February 10th to remove a lesion that was compressing my spinal cord. The compression caused me to lose movement in both of my legs and the ability to urinate normally. So that was almost 9 months ago. Unfortunately, I still struggle on a daily basis with pain at the incision site as well as extreme soreness and discomfort in the muscles between my shoulder blades. The pain at the incision site is a random, all day type of pain. The discomfort between my shoulder blades tends to get worse as the day goes on. The more I do throughout the day, the worse the pain is. In fact, there are times that I struggle to stand up anymore because the pain is so much. I'm not an expert, but I had assumed that after 9 months this type of pain would have been resolved. I know the muscles in my back are being asked to do more and to adjust, but I thought that would have been resolved a while ago. So, I decided to have it looked it.

We met with Leah Frazer, the PA for Dr. Mahan. She's been great when we've met with her in the past and she was great this time too. She looked at the incision and said that it had healed well. She did express some concern that it was taking so long to heal. However, she did say that when healthy muscle is cut (aka experiences trauma), it can take longer to recover. She said older individuals with more atrophied muscles tend to heal faster than younger individuals with healthy muscles. So I'm glad I'm young and have healthy muscles, but it's too bad I'm stuck with a longer healing process. Her only recommendation was to have some dry needling done and go to physical therapy. My chiropractor told me that when you hurt part of your body, sometimes the body will grow more pain receptors at the site as a defense mechanism. In other words, the pain at my incision site might be because of additional pain receptors. He recommended vitamin E oil and Shea butter to help. So we will see if I can get this pain under control.

As many of you know, I am very much a believer of the alternative, holistic approach to treating disease. It has been an integral part of my cancer treatment since I was diagnosed last year. I went to Mexico to start off my treatment. I juiced. Went to a kinesiologist. Purchased a Kangen water system. Bought a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Have undergone rife machine treatments. It's been a lot! But it's because I believe in it. Now...I don't do all of those items anymore. I had to simplify at one point. Currently, I still use the Kangen water and the hyperbaric chamber. I also do my best to eat cleanly. I'm not perfect at that, but I don't want to be. I still want to live. Anyway, back to the current day...

On two different occasions, I went to some kinesiologists here in Sanpete county. While there was some progress that we witnessed during those two different occasions, I decided a while ago that I just couldn't go back to them. I believe that some of what they did contributed to the hemorrhaged tumors in my brain as well as the extreme nausea I experienced before my arm surgery in July. My feelings were that they were being negligent in how they were treating me. But the thing is, while I know that immunotherapy can help my body gain control of the cancer, I believe that it's the natural treatments that will KEEP me cancer free.

A few weeks ago, I started to feel that it was time to get back into something similar to what I'd been receiving from the kinesiologist. I ended up finding a doctor in Salt Lake who practices Chinese medicine. He does what is called pulse diagnosing. He feels your pulse and looks at your face and tongue and, based on what he sees and feels, can diagnose what is going on with your body. Some background on him... His mom was diagnosed with cancer when he was a kid. She was treated by Chinese medicine. Several months after beginning this treatment, her follow up scans showed no more cancer in her body. The oncologists' explanation was simply that she had never really had cancer and her scans were wrong. Anyway, Dr. Lindsey decided that he wanted to help people in the same manner his mom was treated. He actually served an LDS mission in China and, upon returning from his mission, sold his truck and moved to China for 5 years so he could learn how they practice medicine. He has been practicing ever since.

Shortly after my appointment with Leah Frazer, we went to Dr. Lindsey's for the first time. He identified some issues I was struggling with and prescribed me some stuff to take on a daily basis. Since starting this, my sleep has really improved, which is great. I've struggled to sleep for the last several months and it feels good to be able to sleep again. My next appointment with him is next Thursday and I'll see him every two weeks. Based on what he said while we were there, I feel much better about working with him than I did about working with the kinesiologists I was working with. I'm hopeful that between the diet, Kangen water, hyperbaric chamber, and working with this doctor, I can set myself up for success in the long run. Modern medicine is incredible and I'm very grateful for it, but I do believe it's the natural, clean, holistic treatments that will sustain me in the long run.

Finally, more than anything else, I believe that God can cure me of this cancer. If it's His will that I live, I know that as long as I put forth effort to be healed I will be healed. I also know that if it's His will that I return home, then it doesn't matter what I choose to do for treatments; He will take me when He's ready to. I move forward in faith every day. I've seen His hand in my life in so many ways and I know He is intimately aware of me and my situation. While I have the faith to be healed, I also have the faith to not be healed. That being said, I've felt from the get go that this is "Just a Bump in the Road" and that I'd beat it. I still maintain that. While life is certainly different in some ways, I move forward in faith each day that life will eventually return to normal. My testimony has grown. My faith has grown. I'm grateful to be where I am and for the road I have walked. Here's to whatever comes next.

"Come What May and Love It"