Hope Floats

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." - Romans 5:5


God certainly works in mysterious ways! He encourages us to "hang on to hope" despite what we see happening around us by trusting Him and keeping an expectant heart. It seems that the anchor that we cling to, once again, all comes back to the power of love. There is no greater power in the universe. Even the greatest scientific minds of our time concur on this point.

And so it was, after last weeks' unsettling events and test results, the only choice we had, was to surrender to the love of God and "believe it before we see it," as we journey towards the victory and destruction of the enemy cancer. We jumped back up after a discouraging moment, remembering our motto "tough times never last but tough cookies do!"

We cannot help but wonder about God's orchestration of things as we look back at how certain events have fallen in place. I told you about the Chinese doctor and how I happened upon him quite coincidentally, and his recommendation of Chinese medicine. We decided to go forward (after our last meeting to review the scan results) with the Chinese approach to curing cancer with major emphasis on Reishi mushroom medicine, along with the brewed herbs from the mountains of China, and corbrin pills.

Then "coincidentally" the "fellow" Doctor we met with at our last meeting week before last, was unable to facilitate Johnny getting his B-12 shot necessary to start the chemo scheduled for this past Friday. So we did not start the new 2nd line defense chemo yet. (Could this have been a "God moment" making room for a chance to try the alternative method?)

But we DID get to talk with our oncologist about the specific possibility of giving the chinese medicine several weeks trial and we were thrilled to have her 100% support. We told her we had already started it for a week and in my research I found that the recommended amount was at least four cups of Reishi mushroom brew (he had only been drinking one cup per day) so we decided that for one week we would "sock it to it" with the recommended 4 cups of reishi mushroom, 2 cups of the brewed herbs, and 15 pills of corbrin per day.

Our oncologist has another patient also using Reishi but on a slow growing tumor. So she is unable to chart the effects as well. Considering Johnny's tumor indicated fast growth and that the chinese medicine information could possibly show results within several weeks, we decided to do another CAT scan this coming Thursday, which, if there is any significant change found in the scan, would prove that the Chinese medicine approach SPECIFICALLY was responsible.

WOO HOO! How exciting is that? And it makes me wonder about God's plan in all this. If the last scan we had prayed for yielded results it would have been due to chemo. If this scan yields good results it will be because of chinese medicine. That is exciting to me because Reishi mushroom therapy has NO SIDE EFFECTS. It does no harm to the patient. Could this be a clue to the answer the world seeks?

That has always been what distresses me about traditional western medical approaches to treat cancer. With chemo we infuse the body with poison which destroys our immune system and blood counts and has been proven to cause more cancer. With surgery (specifically masechtomy) the patient is maimed and mutilated of some necessary part of the body and side effects like lymphodema are something the patient must live with forever. With radiation the skin and organs are fried and this also has been proven to cause more cancer and bodily disfunction.

It seems like we have strayed from the original goal in medicine that Hippocrates mentions when he states that medicine will "do no harm." Wouldn't it be incredible if Western and Eastern medicine could combine forces hand in hand to effectively remove this scourge of the earth we call cancer? Wouldn't it be wonderful to find a cure to save those we love and those that others love all over the world?

From the research I have done it seems that the very minimum of possibilities to be had from exploring Chinese medicine is that it can work with Western medicine to eliminate the devastating and body wasting side effects of chemo, and radiation. That alone would be a blessing. But here is what else it has been documented to do.

1. Supports immune resistance during chemo and radiation.
2. Protects against bladder cancer cell growth
3. Possibly supresses invasive breast cancer cell growth
4. Stimulates cytokines, macrophages, and T-cells
5. Inhibits platelet aggregation
6. Protects liver from chemical damage
7. Sedative
8. Promotes feeling of well being
9. Cardio tonic - cardio vascular effects
10. Lowers blood pressure
11. Reduces or eliminates tumors.
12. Cancer preventative
13. Anti-allergies
14. Anti-inflammatory
15. Hepatitis
16. Anti-stress

So we march onward in battle and our days are filled with brewing and drinking the chinese medicine. We have also added other strategies including the power of prayer and speaking the Word and daily affirmations that Johnny's body is filled with all the healing forces necessary to bring his body back to good health.

We thank you all for your encouragment and prayers. Keep us in prayer again for our next CAT scan. Perhaps THIS is the scan God meant us to find. Meanwhile, we keep floating on hope.

Beautiful blessings,

Rene