by admin | March 13th, 2009
In my experience with melanoma cancer of the lymph nodes [armpit variety] the conventional treatment is surgery [Lymphadenectomy Axil] followed by testing [MRI, CT & PET scans] to see if the cancer is spreading and to find the source if possible. I also proceeded to have ongoing visits with a dermatologist who continued to look for the cause. He seemed to view me as an Idaho potato and proceeded to carve [what he thought to be] multiple potentially cancerous eyes [moles] out of my increasingly scarred torso. Every one of the biopsied moles turned out to be “atypical” which means potentially cancerous but not. The worst part of that experience was having body hair stitched into the incisions which makes for uncomfortable healing and nervous bandage removal. [Ouch!] I now recommend shaving before hand and distinctly remember the urge to moooo! when the doctor would brandish his scalpel because I was beginning to feel like the proverbial “Cash Cow” being thoroughly milked. Seeing the protocols and billing practices I was reminded that cancer is a multi-billion dollar industry eager to get its pound of flesh one way or the other. My oncologists, during this time, soberly talked to me about how melanoma can travel virtually any where in the body through the blood steam and lymphatic system and can be fatal at that point. He encouraged me to have the remainder of the [apparently healthy] lymph nodes under my right arm “cleaned out” surgically even though the scans showed no cancer. I asked if by removing healthy lymph nodes I would be compromising my immune system. I suggested that because the cancerous lymph nodes came out clean and encapsulated that my immunes were working properly but he said it was not worth the risk and that the additional surgery was simply protocol. He then scheduled me to see a Johns Hopkins Melanoma Specialist in experimental vaccine therapies who basically said that in order to qualify for any of his experiments that I needed to have the aforementioned “clean out” job first. We had been earnestly praying for guidance and wisdom during this time and now we began asking the Lord for an alternative to the one size fits all approach to cancer. [to be continued]
