From 7 to 16.. booting the elephant out of the room and out of our lives

For all those who love my better half and have been following our battle with Sir Hodgkin, here is an update and good news. R's last reports are A+! All parameters are good and the haemoglobin which at one time had reaches its nadir: 7, has now shot up to 16! This could only have happened with the guidance of two exceptional doctors, my GP and my Tibetan doctor and the unstinted support of all my friends from the world over. But above all it is because Ranjan trusted me implicitly and agreed to swallow all the potions and brews I made for him. Not to forget the Internet that allowed me to get all the information I needed. I so wish I could have done the same for my parents. I know have a greater admiration for my mother who refused all conventional treatment. Sadly I could offer her nothing in lieu.

We did have 10 chemo sessions but again with the approval of my two doctors. The oncologist wanted 2 more but I decided to stop when I realised that Ranjan was saturated with the poisoning. All along my Tibetan doctor and I prayed that his immune system would remain intact and it has.

I did not follow any protocol. I trusted my intuition and made choices when I felt them to be right. I would call it the Anou Protocol which was a medley of diet changes, supplements, jumping of the trampoline, exercising and above all not accepting to live in 'survival' mode. We just lived as we had when he was well. We absolutely did not return to the conventional options of post chemo tests and scans and all else. We booted the elephant out of the room and of our lives.

I recently read two articles on cancer. Frightening. The first is about a doctor profiting from selling toxic chemotherapy. It is only the tip of the iceberg. The second article is about the lifting of the hold on a breakthrough cancer treatment by the FDA. Dr Burzynski does not believe in 'one size fits all' and offers personalised care. This is a point I had raised with R's oncologist when I insisted that he did not need the last 2 chemos that were part of the 'protocol'.

What modern medicine or let us rather call it bizMedicine is a almost total corruption and manipulation of the Hippocratic Oath, and we are falling for it. I am reading a fascinating book by Rana Dasgupta entitled Capital, and urge you to read Chapter Five to see what is happening in our city. It is terrifying.

We all need to make the right choices, to inform ourselves before rushing into treatments proffered with alacrity and impunity, to listen to our body and above all to keep positive. Laughter is indeed the best medicine!