Determination.

     Dean is a determined guy.  We have been doing a lot of reading about chemotherapy and what things he can do to help it along or make it more tolerable.  The obvious thing is to continue exercising.  Exercise has been shown to lessen side effects, to maintain muscle mass, and to improve mood, immune function, and even survival during chemotherapy.  He intends to keep exercising as much as he can.  He jogged 3 miles Saturday, a little slower than usual, but still he did it without problem.  He jogged 4 miles today.
     Another thing he is trying is fasting.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but human case studies have shown that  fasting during chemotherapy decreases side effects.  Studies done on mice, and not yet done on humans, also show that fasting protects normal human cells but not cancer cells from high-dose chemotherapy.   He has discussed this with his doctors.  Neither had much to say about fasting, no recommendations at all other than that it is up to him and to take care.  They were interested in getting copies of the studies to read about the findings, however.  Interestingly enough, Dean wasn't queasy at all yesterday while fasting but felt a bit queasy after eating breakfast this morning. Hmmmm. Maybe the case studies are right and this really works.

                  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815756/

                  http://uscnews.usc.edu/science_technology/fasting_weakens_cancer_in_mice.html


     Of course, when not fasting he will continue to aim for optimal nutrition in addition to the exercise.....the third prong in his plan of attack.  It is empowering to take action, to take your health into your own hands, to not just be a passive recipient of whatever chemicals someone is handing out.
     I have mentioned previously our disappointment that no doctors have ever mentioned diet or exercise or any adjuvant therapy he could try.  He goes to a large cancer center and we were expecting nutrition classes, weekly yoga and meditation classes for cancer patients, and maybe even weekly peer group sessions.  All have been shown to aid in cancer recovery.  Nope. No money in those.  The same with fasting...no money to be made so no one will pay to do the research.
     Health care should be holistic. People are wholes, and we are more than the sum of our parts.  I am probably showing my age, but back when I was in school we learned the systems approach to assessing and treating the human body. Don't they do than anymore?
     Everyone realizes that current cancer treatments are primitive, and will someday be looked on as being barbaric. Even Dean's cancer docs said that.  Treatments need to become targeted, and more ideally, preventative, and, the sooner the better.

The part can never be well unless the whole is well. -----Plato