January to September 2009
Louise's CA 125 level goes up again
After the end of the ten sessions, of course another test was required to evaluate the success of our efforts and, yes, it again involved darn needles. Poor Louise. I’ll have to talk to the staff at the cancer centre to try and see if they would have a solution that could help make life a little easier for her. I felt responsible for her wellbeing and this stuff about the needles was making me edgy and resentful; something would have to be done soon. As for me, regardless of the results, I had decided not to have more chelation treatments, so the test was unnecessary.
Fifty percent reduction in Louise’s heavy metal level was the result of the latest test. It was very encouraging, but Dr.R thought that, although positive, more reduction was a must and he suggested that Louise go through another round of ten treatments. More needles. ‘Sh….’, I thought. This came as bittersweet news for Louise though, who at this stage had not noticed any significant changes in her energy level and seemed to be losing her positive attitude. Not good. The fact also that all these treatments were not covered by Medicare or by our private health insurance was adding to our already high stress level. This venture was getting more costly by the minutes, one hundred and ten dollars per treatments plus cost of testing and specialized natural medication was beginning to be a heavy burden on our wallets. Now, to top it off, we were considering adding ten more treatments and one more test, Ouch! What the hell? We came this far so we may as well go all the way. If this was to bring my baby back to life, no cost was too high.
But, before going ahead with the second round of treatments, another disturbing situation had to be dealt with; Louise’s CA 125 level had gone up again and the gyn-oncologists wanted to see her to talk about more chemo treatments what a downer. CA 125 is a tumour marker detected through blood tests. When it goes down after treatment, it means that the tumours have shrunk, but when it goes back up again, it may mean that the cancer has come back and it’s not an encouraging perspective at this stage of the game, I know something about it.
So here we go again, back to the Ottawa Cancer Centre to evaluate Louise’s condition and the thought of more chemo treatment was not on our agenda. After a short stay in the waiting room, we’re invited by one of the attending nurses to proceed to a private room inside the compound and wait for the specialist on duty. Louise was obviously stressed out and a little depressed and I was impatient and apprehensive at the bad news to come. But we would never in the world have expected to be so shocked by what we were about to hear from Dr F. one of the leading gyn-oncologist in the department. Due to the fact that Louise’s CA 125 level had increased, the recurrence of her cancer was suspected. Therefore more chemo was necessary according to our up-to-now buddy, Dr.F. He strongly recommended that Louise go ahead with the treatment as soon as possible. I was nauseated at the mere thought of this and I can only imagine how Louise felt.
After spending some time explaining to us the ins and outs of the treatment, the kind of chemical they use (which was different from the first round of chemo) and the likelihood of side effects, he sat expectantly waiting for us to give him the go-ahead to start the sessions. He was growing more impatient by the minute because of our reluctance to agree. We were considering postponing his treatment in favour of the alternative option. He then stood up suddenly, gathered his paperwork and, exhibiting an air of grandeur, as if we had just insulted him personally, hurriedly proceeded to walk out of the room. Suddenly though, as if his unacceptable behaviour was not enough, adding insult to injury, he turned around while crossing the threshold of the door and said with a frustrated voice; "Well make up your minds quickly before I lose your file in the system.”
Even though we were completely taken aback by this poor display of professionalism, we decided not to give in to his undue and unfair pressure and to go ahead with the alternative treatment. Was it a mistake? Time will tell. As for Dr.F’s disappointing behaviour, well I'll let you make up your own mind.
Soon after starting the chelation therapy sessions, we quickly realized that the non-invasive and non-aggressive natural treatments was too slow to kick in compared to the lightning speed at which Louise's cancer was progressing. 'Clear cell ovarian cancer' is very aggressive and the natural treatments could not keep up.
Read more at Amazon.ca: http://tinyurl.com/ydcgzc5j
Dr. Pierre Milot, Ph.D., Ph.D. (tc)
Life Transitions Counsellor - Relationship/Grief Coach
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