I'm Still Here...
...though it seems a long time since I wrote anything significant, so let me get you caught up with a timeline. After Christmas, I noticed that my blood pressure was getting higher and higher and by January 22, I went to the general doctor to get a prescription to control it. The next day, I had what I thought were side effects to the prescription: itching, jaundice, clay-colored stool, dark urine. After 10 days, I finally insisted that the doctor change the prescription, but nothing changed with the side effects and I exhibited extreme jaundice including yellow eyes. By Monday, Feb. 4th, I convinced my doctor to order blood tests and they confirmed out-of bounds liver enzymes. She ordered a CT Scan for Feb. 6th, which showed a mass in my pancreas. Then over time, we finally had an endoscopic analysis with fine needle aspiration. The results showed an adenocarcenoma (pancreatic cancer) and a stent was put in my bile duct to relieve the jaundice condition. It took 3 weeks for the yellowing and itching to go away. Meantime, I consulted with two surgeons, who essentially said it was inoperable. The second CT Scan even showed that the tumor had doubled and not only was blocking the pancreatic duct, but wrapping around the portal vein and hepatic artery which go through the pancreas. Not one doctor recommended chemotherapy as a treatment for the cancer, so my consultations with the medical profession ended on that last communication with the second surgeon's opinion.

...not one medical doctor offered any help for my non-functioning pancreas, so I have begun to purchase for myself pancreatic enzymes to replace what should be going into my duodenum for digestion (I have lots of indigestion regardless what I eat). I am eating lots of purple grapes and drinking two glassed per day of grape juice, which is adding resveratrol to my diet. I am taking calcium by liquid gels to raise the pH of my body, which is a deterrent to continued cancer growth. I am exercising by walking along my road, and playing golf on occasion. My dermatologist has recommended getting sunshine for the jaundice, which I had suggested to my doctor, but she ignored the idea (I thought that jaundiced babies were placed under UV lights to get rid of the jaundice!) I am taking a mixture of maple syrup laced with bicarbonate of soda to get high pH environment closer to the tumor, since tumors feed upon sugar. I am lowering my intake of sugars, partly to starve the tumor and partly because a non-functioning pancreas means I am not producing the natural insulin needed for blood sugar control.

...Funny how the medical doctors were more interested in their own specialties of how to treat a tumor to remove it or poison it, etc. than of treating the cause of my tumor. My simple mind thinks that having taken Advair for my asthma for the past 10 years may have reduced my immune system, allowing the tumor to grow without anything to attack it. I have reduced my dependence on the corticosteroid and have tried to increase my immune system.

...All of this coupled with the prayers of an extreme number of friends, family, and internet acquaintances seem to be producing a great result. I am still pain-free and have an outward appearance of health (deduced from all the comments about how I look so good, probably compared to what they expected to see!)

...So for my twin sister, Kay, who is the only one who reads this blog, here is your latest rundown and with our weather improving this spring, I will get out to my office in the barn to update this blog more often.