As you know, I try to read up on cancer, alternative approaches to health, cook books, and anything health-related I can get my hands on. I’ve been trying to read “Anticancer” and “In Defense of Food” of late, but I’m actually having difficulty getting through them. Maybe because they are both more of what I’ve read previously? I do plan to finish them, but decided to start something new.
Today I picked up “Knock Out (Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It In the First Place)” by Suzanne Somers, recommended by one of my blog-mates. I have to say, I am hooked after only reading the Acknowledgements, Foreward and Preface! Here are just a few statements that just resonated with me and make me want to read more:
“Conventional medicine’s approach to cancer prevention and treatment is a debilitating, often deadly, fraud.” (from the Foreward by Dr. Julian Whitaker) Wow. Very strong statement!
“According to the New York Times, adjusting for the size and age of the population, cancer death rates dropped only 5 percent from 1950 to 2005. What other technology has performed so miserably over this fifty-five-year period? Would you accept a medical therapy that has not improved much since 1950?” (from the Preface by Suzanne) I think we are continuously kept in the dark on the true results of the “war on cancer”. Think of all the money that is raised for cancer research. Can you imagine putting that much money into ANYthing and not seeing dramatically different results?
The book is divided up into sections featuring doctors who are both curing cancer and preventing cancer. I can’t wait to dive in further!
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As I mentioned yesterday, I received my Best Doctors report and am set up with a meeting to review next Friday. In general, the expert said that my diagnosis and treatment were correct. He put me at a 77% 10 year survival rate, and offered only Aromasin, Arimidex and Tamoxifen as alternatives for the Femara. Obviously, I did get a “conventional” doctor, even though I was hoping to get one who had some experience in homeopathy. I’ll provide additional details after I have my appointment next week, but the gist of the document is that, in his opinion, my doctors have done all the right things.
Counter that with my post on the Dr McDougall Discussion Board where someone posted reference to a study that talks of the toxicity of the Femara, as well as demonstrating that, while the cancer-recurrence rates are lower on Femara, the death rates are not. So you don’t get cancer back, but you die of something else. (Note: 4 years out, the overall survival rate was 96% for the Femara group and 94% for the placebo group. Also note: that this particular study was for women who took five years of Tamoxifen first, so not an exact situation to mine.) The site also featured posts by women who decided on no aromatase inhibitor from the get-go and are thriving many years out.
The general point here is that data is data and it can be used and “spun” to support any argument you want to make. There will always be two sides (or more) of the story; you really need to trust your own instincts and continue to educate yourself.
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The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117057/
lights cancer action! 