Barbs first 9 treatments of Taxol/Carboplatin did not go well. The first
9 months of treatment and emotional stress were not of any wellness
program that I had conceived for Barb. I thought that chemotherapy was
suppose to cure. Uh, uh. That isn't so.
A few things at this point that I would like to share with you. The
first I was dealing with was the fact that everthing that I tried for
Barb, the various alternatives on the market, the family of Barbs and
mine from around the country in which I made arrangements for to visit
her and all the other efforts, were for naught, because Barb gave up.
She gave up at time of diagnosis, because we, as Americans are
methodically trained to believe that cancer is a death note. WE read
it, we see it on t.v. we are engulfed with the negativity and matters
did not help when similara negativities come from the medical
community.. The negativity about cancer being a death note is a myth.
So, no matter what anyone would have tried for Barb would not work. she
gave up. Now, its a good thing that this story is a success story,
because that attitude changes and I will tell you how and why in future
articles. Just understand at this juncture in time it was not so.
The other things that I need to share with you, just prior to Barbs
receiving chemotherapy, we asked the nurse and the various oncologists
what nutritional limitations should she have or what should she or
should she not eat? They all said, and I am certain many of you have
heard this as well...."eat whatever she chooses, we don't want her to
lose weight." OKay we said great. So during these first 9 months of
treatment we ate everything in sight. Barb gained 30 pounds while on
chemotherapy. And in future articles as well I will go into detail about
the importance of nutritional and physical therapy.
The other thing that I would like to share with you which is very
postive and one that I learned after the 12 treatment of chemotherapy
was...the fact that no matter what Barb took in the way of anti nausea
pill it did not work. she violently vomited after each treatment and
even the succeeding different treatments. I was so darn tired of seeing
her in this inhumane suffering when the compozines, and zofrans, and
kytrils and the others anti nausea pills did not work, that I demanded
to have a consultation with the oncologist, administrator of the
hospital, and the head pharmacist. That actually happened, a four way
consultation where they recommended something that boggles my mind
today. Years ago prior to the advent of the new pills on the market, as
I mentioned above, many or most of the hospitals prescribed a
combination of drugs or "cocktail" that worked well. It worked in the
majority of the survivors that received chemotherapy whereby no side
effect of nausea was experienced. They discontinued that at the advent
of all these new pills. Well, when Barb received the new "combination"
of pills, she never experienced a day of nausea after that. Since I am
a facilitator at a support group, I got permission to tell other
survivors about this cocktail especially those that experienced nausea
after their treatment, which has to be prescribed by doctors, and the
result was astounding, no one had been affected by nausea since taking
the combination and no doctor denied the survivor with their request for
the combination. Should you wish to receive the anti-nausea
combination, pls e-mail me personally and I will provide you with that
information. I have recently learned that our HMO is going back to the
combination that was so successful years ago. Again, one of the
importances of taking charge.
During the first month after diagnosis, I had mentioned that we saw many
different opinions and I explained the importance about the necessary
opinions. Well, in my exhuberance to get Barb back on a wellness path I
enrolled her and myself into 2 support groups weekly. Yes, I was going
to extremes with many things and I learned to temper my rationale
because I was in fear, not knowing how much time we had, that I thought
the faster I learned and gave to Barb the sooner she got well. I was
wrong. I will explain later because my attitude about how much time and
her survival had to change and it did. I was bringing family here, one
each week from all parts of the country, and that was wrong, because in
Barbs mind, altho she never said, she felt this was a good bye instead
of support. Even though we enrolled in two support groups, this was the
second phase I thought was important to her and my education on
wellness and that is the necessity of the support group.
Many of us perceive a support group as bereavement or solely for
receiving compassion and understanding. That is not the crux or the
main focus of what a support group should be. The main crux is the
education and knowledge you receive from other survivors that provide
impetus for our ability to take charge in our wellness. We have learned
much from the various support groups, I in particular. I must caution
you, our experience in one of the support groups was a case where the
facilitator did not control the direction of the conversations and many
tears flowed during the sessions. While this may not sound tactful and
compassionate, it is important that while your emotional attitudes is
in distress you shouldn't or need not be in a position to feel others.
This is about you. I have been told and I have read that whenever you
are in a support group that bereaves or is in distress....get out. There
are many more groups that provide you with compassion, education and the
needs that you are seeking.
The support group, at least provided necessary information about medical
benefits made available by the State you live in and the Federal
Government, Social Security Administration, which we applied for and was
accepted and they provided monetary help for our wellness journey, and
2nd opinions. The support group provided us with the names of
institutions like the National Cancer Insitute and American Cancer
Society and the internet web sites and so much other information that
the research that I was involved in gave me direction to understand
Barbs disease and how and the whys. Yes, the support group is to
benefit from knowledge and education and yes, compassion and
understanding is a necessity from all support groups. But most of all it
provided us with heart felt information from those great souls who
experienced the travels to thru their program. This was from both the
caregiver and survivor.
Tomorrow, my message will be the third phase of our success story and
that is the importance of understanding your disease in order to take
charge of the wellness program. The names and institutions that provide
great wealth of information.
Sorry, I am so wind bagged. I have much to give to you in terms of
information and I am so excited about bringing our success story to you.
HOpe it helps.
Have a great day
God Bless You All
Marty Auslander
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