Chemo almost killed me, hope for cancer recovery when you're out of options

Hello, my name is Carol. Some of my friends call me California Carol because I'm passionate about health and juicing and I live in southern California.  In spite of my so called "extreme healthy lifestyle" I almost died last fall from advanced colon cancer, I was diagnosed in March 2012.  I tried everything that I knew but was unable to stop the growth of the tumor.   It's a miracle that I'm here today.  After three years of a very organic diet, juicing and coffee enemas, and a few other alternative things, I was persuaded reluctantly to add radiation and chemo to my treatment for the type of cancer that I had.  Three weeks into radiation and five days of Chemo I ended up in the hospital in a catatonic-like state,  I have very little memory of this but my family tells me I almost died, after five days in the hospital the doctors sent me home and told me if I continued chemotherapy I could end up back in the hospital with the same or worse condition and my other choice would be to consider hospice. What happened after that was quite a surprise, I want share my experience with you.

But first a little background information on how and why I chose a more natural treatment.

In 1975 my 9 year old daughter Debi was suffering from severe asthma attacks. This had been on going since she was a baby.  The Doctor put her on immunization shots and medication when she was three years old. The asthma typically lasted seven days and came every two months. It was frightening to watch her infant body struggle for air, her chest would heave and cave with each effort to breathe.  A cold, fever or even just being exposed to sick school kids could bring on an attack, so if Debi  showed any signs of getting sick, we kept her home from school and hoped for the best! One day Debi woke up with puffiness under her eyes and complaining that she didn’t feel well.  I thought she might be catching something so I kept her out of school and took her to the bowling alley with me as it was our league day.  While I was there an older woman, whom I didn't know heard me talking about my daughter and how difficult it was to keep her well.  The woman looked me straight in the eye, shook her finger at me and said," you can do something to help your daughter " Me? I said, what can I do?  The doctors haven't helped her. Then she said, " do you give her milk, white bread, and sugar?" Well yes of course I told her. Doesn’t everyone? Isn’t it good for you? She glared at me and said "No, you need to go to the health food store and read everything you can on the subject of nutrition and asthma" I never saw that woman again but she changed my life,  I went that afternoon.  I bought two books, one about Asthma and another called “Sugar Blues”.   The information I learned  and the fact that Debi never had another asthma attack is what got me interested in nutrition.
I spent the next 20 years shopping exclusively at the health food store and juicing, I threw out anything in my kitchen that had sugar or artificial ingredients.

 While I sat in the waiting room of the radiologist office watching the other people sign in and then disappear through the door at the rear of the building,  I silently asked God, is this really what you want for me?  As I laid on the cold hard radiation table trying not to move as the elements penetrated through my body, burning the tissue, I asked myself what happened, how did I get to this place?

The radiation appointments usually lasted 15-20 minutes they were scheduled Monday through Friday.  It was Tuesday, the second day into the 4th week. After each visit I was always so wiped out that all I could do afterward was go home and collapse in bed.   I could barely walk and was so weak that I had to use a wheel chair to get back in forth to the car and then Danny my husband had to help me get into our SUV.   What happened next is a bit unclear in my mind but after I got home,  I got a phone call from a good friend.  I was always so happy to talk to my friends, Karen and Bob.  They called to check on me.  Later my daughter told me that I was talking gibberish to Bob.  My husband took the phone and Bob urged Danny to call 911 or take me to the ER immediately.  My daughter was at the house  and she thought I could be having a stroke and both her and my husband were frantic about what to do.  I got another call minutes later from my boss and the same thing happened.   I remember trying really hard to pronounce a word and speak clearly but I was not aware of my "new language". I couldn't complete a sentence.
  There are only two things about the next 24 hours that stayed in my mind.  First is my daughter insisting that I get back into the car and go back to the doctor.   She was waiting for a chance to get me to the car and would not let me go back to my room.  I argued with her and said, "Why do you want to take me to the doctor they will just give me more drugs? I looked directly into her eyes and told her that she did not understand!  I felt like I was begging her to let go of me, but she would not.  I did not want to go to the hospital and remember putting up a fight!   Debi says that her and Dad had to practically drag me to the car because I didn't want to go.

 I have some recollection of ER, sitting, slumped over in the wheel chair waiting for them to call my name and trying to hide my appearance with my hooded jacket over my head.   From that point on I did not talk or respond to their questions.   When the doctor asked, who was president and what year was it? I couldn't answer correctly.  I told them it was 1975.  The doctors and my daughter told me the next day what happened.


I asked my daughter to give you an account of the next 24 hours in her own words.


First let me say that my mom raised me on healthy food, and I've seen for myself the power of eating organic foods and juicing, when my mom decided to start chemo, I was very worried for her, as I am over educated about the harmful side effects that come with chemotherapy and radiation.

In my heart I didn't want my mom to receive this treatment, but I kept my opinions to myself, she had tried everything else and the tumor was still growing inside her. I was praying for the best and frantically searching for other alternative methods to try.

I watched my mom drop in weight from 130 pounds to 95 pounds.  Everyday I was begging her to eat, and forcing her to drink fluids, her electro-lights would drop and this would make her cranky and defiant. I began to feel like I was all of a sudden the parent forcing a stubborn child to eat and behave. I was desperate to keep her weight from dropping any further and everyday I would scout the grocery store for food that my mom might eat. I walked into my moms bedroom that Tuesday morning with a bag of groceries, my dad was kneeling at the side of her bed looking distraught, "whats wrong dad?" I asked, he replied "she won't talk to me".

I sat down the the floor next to my moms bedside and tried to have a conversation, her words were scrambled and I thought she was having a stroke, then the phone rang, it was a friend of my moms checking in on her, I listened as my mom attempted to speak on the phone, it sounded like she was speaking in tongues, her speech were nonsensical.

At that point my dad and I tried to get her back to the hospital, my mom put up a fight and argued with us and said she didn't want any more treatment, she begged us to just let her rest, while I wished that all she needed was rest, I knew in my heart that that this was an emergency. I helped my mom get up to use the bathroom, she needed me to help her walk at this point, knowing that once I got her standing, my dad and I could get her into the car, I told my dad to get her things and get ready to go. After my mom came out of the bathroom she tried to head back to her bedroom.  I had my hands around her waist supporting her and started to direct her towards the front door, she planted her feet on the hard wood floor and said "no! you don't understand! I just need to rest" then my dad and I basically dragged her to the car while she tried to pull my hair. My mom glared at me as my dad drove away.
As tears rolled down my face  I quickly gathered my things an headed out the door to meet my parents at the ER.
When I arrived, I found my mom in a cold room lying on a cot, waiting for test results, she was catatonic looking, stiff and very distressed, my mom is generally peaceful and happy, she wouldn't speak, and had a desperate look in her eyes,  her breathing was heavy and rapid, her arms were flailing and it seemed as though she was trying to tell us something but couldn't. The next 24 hours were a series of tests, blood transfusions and  repeated speeches from every doctor and nurse about the 'do not resuscitate waiver'.  I wanted to scream every time I was asked what my moms wishes were. I wanted to say, "stop talking like my mom is going to die and help her get better! we will ask her what her wishes are when she is responsive again, but do we have to go through this with every nurse and every doc on every shift? I prayed by my moms hospital bed all night long and in the morning she did wake up, I was so happy to see her open her eyes and ask me, "what happened?"her breathing was normal again and she was smiling! I hated the though of more poison being put into her frail body, I was relived when the doctors told us she was too weak to withstand any more treatment, all I wanted to do was get her home and try a new therapy that I had read about online.  I prayed that this one would make a difference.

It has been four months since I got back from the hospital. I have not had any more chemo or radiation since that day and There have been some major changes in my health. The doctors have a hard time understanding that I'm not dead, they keep saying "I'm so surprised"   As I type this, the sun is streaming through my bedroom window.  I have gained 16 pounds, I'm eating  three meals a day,  and my blood work shows that all of my levels are almost entirely in with in normal range.   I had a CT/Pet scan in January of this year and the report said, "significant improvement,  residual remains." I have gained  back most of my strength and now I'm cooking my own meals and even driving the car again.


Right now you are probably wondering how I went from almost dying to where I am today,
That is another story that I will go into in more detail in the next blog.  I will say this, the faith and prayers of many compassionate friends carried me through the last three years and sustained me while I fought to save my life.