What to do?

So what am I doing about it?

First off, let me say "Thanks!" to the people who actually read this thing. Your wishes and prayers and positive energy are helping. It is encouraging at a time when a little extra boost helps a lot.

So a common question is, "what are you going to do?" The answer is this: attack the problem on every front. Through dietary means, allopathically (conventional medicine), psychologically, spiritually and physically.

I've been living on fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and a little bit of organic lean meat. Pam bought a 10 hp juicer that is an engineering marvel. With it I've been eating a huge amount of fresh green veggies (kale, spinach, beet greens, wheat grass, dandilion leaves, and more), beets (#1 liver-cleansing food), apples, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, beans, lentils, peas, and on and on and on.

The local doctors seem to be pretty good at dealing with cancer, I'm sad to say. They were quite persuasive that the conventional medicine route would be effective, at least statistically. So, I'm doing an aggressive chemotherapy treatment to kill any stray cancer cells that might be growing but too small to see, and hopefully to shrink the existing tumors, too. Following that we have surgical and radiological tools on hand to deal with the current tumors and to ensure that no more come back.

My spirits are doing really well, all things considered. Like most difficult experiences, the fear of it is worse than the thing itself. My attitude of "one day at a time", combined with "so far, so good" is working very well for the minute-by-minute part of life. The experiences of my life so far have been a good preparation for this. Mountaineering is a long and difficult task, the end of which justifies all that goes in to it. So this illness is to me; I'm tucking my head down and putting one foot in front of the other when it gets hard. That got me to the North Pole, it will get me through this, too.

Ok, are you ready for this one? Pam and Jessica read that one of the biggest problems facing chemo patients is their compromised immune systems. One of the best things that helps to boost immune systems is what babies use to stay healthy during their first year: breast milk. You'll just have to do your own Google search on "breast milk chemo immune" to see what's going around about it. Here's the thing: Jessica had a baby 3 months ago and she's producing more than the baby can handle. She was talking about donating it to a place for mothers who can't nurse. So now (today, for the first time) I am drinking mother's milk smoothies. It's a little strange to think about, but at this point I really am game for anything I can do that will increase the odds.