Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Friday, December 31, 2010

Dr. Hillary Prescribes "Herbal Gleevac"

Aww Stony, I knew you'd hit on something I've been meaning to talk about.

Yes, I've used and prefer my marinol the old fashion way. I am a full on support of marijauna for medical purposes. I, once, belieed that the "legalize marijauna" movement was just a bunch of hippie stoners looking for a way to protect their favorite pass-time.

Having suffered long and hard, I now know for a fact it relieves pain, anorexia, nausea, and vomiting like no other medication possibly can. It also doesn't have side effects like dyskinesia, which are Parkinson-like twitches that can last for life. I can't take most commercial anti-emetics because they cause dyskineasia.
That side effects is scary as hell.

 I'd like to get high. My severe lung issues: lung fibrosis from radiation and bronchiolitis obliterans (GVHD of the lungs from my allo transplant) won't let me.

I've just started walking up stairs again after years of being unable. I get pneumonia upon pneumothorax. Just a few months ago I was going into respiratoy ditress so badly walking five feet to my care I would wet my pants.

So no smoking for me, which means I need to find a way to eat it and enough of it to do its job.

 Its kind of hard to down brownies to treat not eating, vomiting, etc.

So I've been thinking....
I know, a little scary, that maybe I could turn it into a dipping oil for bread.

 The problem with cooking weed is you need something like oil or butter to extract the active ingredient (THC). If you don't do this your just chewing anyother weed.

Then I could dip bread, which I do eat, into it or pour it onto rice, which is also easy to ingest.

And I'll up the ante by adding herbs to the olive oil.

In the book, "The Anti-Cancer" there is a suggestion for the herbal equivalent of gleevac.

 Gleevac is America's most recent promise drug for cancer patients. Its a chemo therapy pill that allows people to live virtually normal lives with cancers such as leukemia. One writer and editor at Elle magazine was diagnosed with leukemia in her late teens and now in her mid-twenties is looking to having children while taking the drug, but these meds all came from ideas in nature so I'll throw these in:
Parsley, celery, mint, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, and rosemary.




I don't know exactly what amounts of which herb will work best. I put most my faith in the parsley, which has shown up time and time again in literature, as well as oregano and thyme.
I'll let you know how it works out.
I can whip this up for next time aka Jan. 10 when I get my medi-port placed and resume treatment.

Thank you everyone for commenting and reading. You remind me why I started writing. I'm excited and hoping I'll have the energy and strength to keep writing. I think that should be my artistic focus and my hobby.

 Last year I didn't feel like myself with the steroids. I felt crazed and confused. I feel like last year was spent in a foggy cold sweat that I'm finally emerging from.

I've been thinking a lot about my past therapis and how they relate to my current state.

I have taken SGN-135, the new"It" drug for hodgers that looks like it may give them a chance to have cancer without disease.

I took it at dana farber in the summer of 2008 during Phase I to establish proper patient dosing. Phase I means never been tested on people. I had a Level 4 reaction. That means a tachy arrhythmias, severe dehydration with electrolyte imbalances, cardiac abnormalities. I had to be spoon fed gaucamole by my sister.

Level Five is Death.

I think it was determined I received the dose for a 300Lb man but that's what happens with trials.  Not all trials offer participants a nice easy ride.

It did send me into remission, which we knewit would, because everything sends me into remission.

 I was a total lab rat and allowed it because I knew it would be great for others in the future.

I used to cry remembering my view of "kill one to save a thousand" when I was a healthy practitioner, a wannabe future researcher, but now I'm thankful for the time it has given me and the ability to help others in the future.

 I think I have access to the very best trials with Alyea at Dana Farber if that's the route I want to take.

And I would want that trial to be for a cancer vaccination.

See, I also know exactly what study I would try to finagle myself into. I have contingency plans upon contingency plans. I was on Plan Y (do everything possible to stay alive) two years ago but it's working out.

My priority is being close to my family and having as normal a life possible here.

2 comments:

Jerry Carlin said...

Hillary, I am not sure about legalizing "it" either and for the same reasons. It is so easy to find in Oregon. It might work in a tea? I had four cookies once by accident (I am cumpulsive) and that was plenty, for sure. Hope this new year will be so very good to you!

Unknown said...

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