by Irene King

I would like to share a little about my own bout with the Big "C".

I was also diagnosed with cancer. In my case, it was breast cancer. My husband found the lemon-sized lump -- I had been somewhat lax in self-exams because I did mammograms faithfully every year. So much for early detection.

I was scheduled for surgery and the diagnosis was cancer. I can't even begin to describe the cold feeling you get when the doctor's telling you that you have it. To make a long story short, I went to a master herbalist who had been recommended to me by a very good friend. She put me on an incredible raw food, dry-brushing, cleansing, herbal regimen.

When I went in for the lymph-node surgery some six weeks later, in spite of having Level III cancer, my lymph nodes and tumor site were absolutely clear!

Needless to say, I feel that cancer was my friend. It woke me up to the priorities in life and made me take my health much more seriously.

I'm going to share below the type of regimen, diet, herbs, etc., that I was/have been on.

This does not mean that I'm prescribing -- not only am I NOT a doctor, but I don't even play one on TV!

One more thing about non-supportive doctors. I went to an oncologist for a preliminary checkup and found him to be the most offensive, holier-than-thou, Nazi asshole I had ever run into in my life. I had already decided that chemo was not an option. That locked it up for me - no way was that idiot going to play with my health! He basically told me I was stupid for being worried about side effects - I thought Larry (my husband, Larry King - not the one on tv :-)) was going to deck him.

Nearly a year later I'm still cancer free and still very much on an excellent diet. I don't plan ever to change, although one does slip from time to time ;-).

My desire now is to become even more familiar with herbs and perhaps become a master herbalist. I feel that God has provided a cure for everything. We just have to look to His resources to find them.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write me and I will tell what I can remember about everything that I did. Believe me, it wasn't easy!

And now, the story :-):

I was dragged kicking and screaming to the herbalist. I had already talked with her a couple of times and she insisted that I start IMMEDIATELY on an all-raw, vegan diet. I was totally against the idea of a raw diet. What did that have to do with anything?

At any rate, desperate times call for desperate measures and so I went.

She put me on a regimen that literally changed and saved my life.

First and foremost is that I had to eat an all-raw vegan diet. I learned to like it -- sort of.

Juices
I try to drink at least a pint a day -- a quart or more when I can. Each cup of juice should contain at least two of the following: carrots, beets, FRESH celery, ginger, wheatgrass, barley grass (I sprout these myself), parsley, or dark green vegetables. Don't ever use brown, wilted celery. It can be toxic. And it goes without saying that all vegetables should be organic whenever possible. If not, get the freshest you can find and scrub well. I also throw in apples, oranges and lemons (whole) from time to time. I think my tastebuds are permanently traumatized!

Supplements
Spirulina with organic sulphur (MSM), vitamin C powder, and organic cayenne. I also add nutritional yeast, Barleygreen, beet powder, and kelp.

During crisis
Up to nine garlic cloves (raw) a day. I put in a small food processor with parsley, lemon, and a little sea salt to cut down on smell and make it palatable. Otherwise, two cloves a day when I think of it.

Coenzyme Q 10 - 100 mg once a day (expensive!)
Vit. D-3 - 800 IU a day. 1200 during crises.
Vit. C - 2000 mg
Vit E - 800 IU
Selenium - 250 mcg.
Melatonin - 3 mg.
Colloidal minerals - One tablespoon three times a week

Herbs
With any herb, it's good to take a break from them one or two days every two to three weeks. When crisis has passed, it's not a bad idea to go nearly a week or to scale down. Every Sunday is my herb-free day, with an occasional long weekend thrown in. When I first started, though, I went for a straight six weeks with no days off. When my diagnosis came back clear, my herbalist suggested that I begin to take an occasional day off to give my body a rest.

Chaparral tea -- one cup two times a day with 10 drops chaparral tincture. The tea is made by soaking two very rounded tablespoons of the dried herb in a quart canning jar in just enough vodka to cover for about 10-15 minutes. Then fill up the jar with boiling distilled water. Must use distilled because it uses all the goodies that the herbs have. Then let the jar sit for 8 hours, preferably in the sun. By the time it's ready to use, it should be tan and cloudy. Tastes truly nasty! But it smells like the desert after a rain. I call it my herbal chemo! She taught me how to make my own teas and tinctures, so I do a lot of my own stuff now. The tincture is made by filling a jar half full of herb, then adding boiling water enough to just cover. After it cools, fill jar to the top with vodka or everclear grain spirit. It should sit at least a month before use. Shake once daily. I'm drinking the tea now only several times a week. I keep a bottle of tincture available "just in case."

This is important - Because it is such a strong and powerful plant, chaparral is NOT a "one size fits all" herb. It has to be used judiciously and only when there is a great need for it.

Echinacea tincture (both kinds of echinacea) - Because of the way she "brews" her tincture, I cannot hope to duplicate it, so I buy from her. During crisis time, three to six dropperfuls a day. It's not cheap!

Astragalus tincture - Make my own. One to two dropperfuls a day.

Burdock root and red clover blossom tincture - ditto

Parasite cleansing tincture
Use only for one week - maybe once every three/four months. This is strong stuff! Tincture consists of green black walnut hulls, wormwood, garlic, cayenne, ground cloves, and ground pumpkin seeds. Use tincture instructions above and use two dropperfuls a day - one in the evening and one at night. Should also take capsules of ground cloves and black walnut hulls at the same time. Can't use this the way you can use herbal fiberblend. I was pretty horrified at what came out!

Cleansing Stuff
During crisis: two enemas a day, some with strong black coffee (cooled down of course!) I still do them from time to time if I'm feeling a little "stove up." Herbal laxative - I think it's the same formula as Dr. Schulze's #1 intestinal formula, except that it worked better. I don't know what she has in it but it's easy to use. It has the same effect as Herbal Fiberblend. Intestinal Flora - I can't remember what I'm using off the top of my head, but it's a capsule a day.

Lifestyle

• Dry brushing every day. Natural brushes can be found at Target, Wal-Mart or K-Mart for about six bucks.
• Castor oil packs three times a week. Castor oil on a cloth against the skin over the liver to stimulate immunity. Use a heating pad and don't let it get uncomfortably warm. This sounded goofy to me, but it worked!
• Warm water with lemon each morning.
• Sunshine every day. Twenty minute walks to start - build up from there and make working out a regular part of your routine. I'm planning to walk a half-marathon later this year!
• Rebounding - fun when you can't get outside. Because of limited budget, I found a nice little cheapie trampoline for about $20 at Service Merchandise.
• Hot/cold baths & showers
• Laugh
• Spend time on and for yourself.
• Pray - a lot. I had to learn how to pray for myself. I think that's the hardest thing for people to learn how to do. Get others to pray for you.

My experiences
When using the green food, prepare for unexpected results. Unlike tableted vitamins, they actually work. If you're on Barleygreen you already know what I'm talking about. You get energy, see changes in the skin, etc. I was really skeptical when I started, but my hair started growing faster and my skin cleared up. My skin is as soft as someone in her 20's and I'm 47.

If a cancer patient is drinking a lot of beet juice, be careful. It can be an explosive detoxifier. To say nothing of the fact that it turns bodily fluids various shades of pink and red! You can get a real feeling of illness as your liver tries to cope with the aftereffects of toxins dying off. Look up Herxheimer Syndrome (or Reaction).

I had to start adding some cooked food to my diet after six months because I noticed that I was shedding a lot of hair. After about three weeks on cooked food (rice, steamed veggies, stir-fry, my own home-baked bread, etc.) the shedding stopped. My diet is now about 80% raw and 20% cooked. That's what's best for me.

Obviously this is a long and difficult regimen. I can't always do everything every day, but I do my best to do the most that I can. Actually, the supplements, herbs, etc., are secondary. It's the lifestyle changes that are the most significant. Sunshine, fresh air, laughter and prayer are more important than anything!

The one thing I can say that I respect the doctors for is that they take cancer very, very seriously. And so should anyone. You have to hit it with everything in your arsenal.

I hope you found this interesting. Reading back over it, I can't believe that I was able to stick with any of this!

Addendum

Hi Chet!

You did a wonderful job in putting my little narration on the website. But I'd really like to correct an presumption. It's my fault; when I went back and reread it, I could understand how someone could reach that conclusion.

The issue is that I had two surgeries. The first one was the one that removed the lump. I wasn't worried because there was no history of breast cancer in my family, I had breastfed three children over one year, and lived pretty healthy. So, being the type of person that I am, I asked to see the tissue while still in the operating room. (Warning: gross description following) It was kind of strange looking: sort of a creamy pearl white mixed with brown (I think blood that had changed color from the fluid in the jar), and with blue (yes, blue) swirls entwining around it. I think back now and get a little shudder that I was looking cancer in the eye.

That was about the 25th of May of last year. I had already gotten in touch with Barbara Rogers (my herbalist - 702-454-6060) and had sort of started on the raw diet. Five days later I got the news - my large tumor was cancerous.

I'd like to take a minute here to rant about mammograms. I was 46 when this was diagnosed. I had mammograms EVERY year since the age of 40. I had even had one when I was 35 that the doctors wanted to use as a "baseline." Yet this huge tumor was completely UNDETECTED until my husband found it on the upper inside of my left breast. I had one more mammo in June - the technicians were told to be "extra careful" to include all surrounding tissue - because even the doctors couldn't believe that something that large had been missed. I still may do another mammogram - maybe when I'm 50, because I sure don't see the use of them. Talking to other women also gave me an interesting insight. Nearly every one who had cancer surgery had also been faithful with mammograms, but yet still found the lump on their own. Needless to say, we are not exactly mammo fans.

Well, I got the news on June 1; however, because my surgeon was going to be out of the states until near the end of July, I could only schedule a July 20 surgery date. That gave me over six weeks to do something serious about my health. That's when I buckled down and followed Barb's recommended program seriously. BTW, I had an opportunity to briefly meet a lady who had gone to Barb when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Well, the cancer is now gone. Without surgery.

At any rate, I met with the surgeon once before surgery where I was given the choice of a lumpectomy (actually, just cleaning out the area where the lump had been) followed by six weeks of radiation; a modified mastectomy (breast only removal); or a radical mastectomy (where they remove everything but the kitchen sink) with no radiation therapy for these surgeries. He also said that because of the size of the tumor that chemotherapy was highly recommended. Because it seemed that people I knew who died from cancer died because of cancer **treatment** rather than the cancer itself, I was already pretty sure that I wasn't going to do chemo. I opted for the lumpectomy, figuring it would be less traumatic. Since the tests came back with NO SIGN OF CANCER anywhere in my body, I was so relieved that I had gone that route!

All the rest of the report is okay. But I wanted to be sure that you (and everyone) understood that I did have two surgeries. Which, since I didn't have surgery that was disfiguring, I don't regret doing at all. It was just peace of mind.

I hope this helps to clarify my story. Thanks.

Irene

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