Beating the Odds

Elizabeth Warren Will Beat the Odds and Win

Elizabeth Warren says, “You don’t get what you don’t fight for.” I know in my bones that is true. Twenty-two years after surviving breast cancer, it metastasized to my bones. Yet, by fighting, today I am stronger and healthier than a majority of Americans.

Fighting for a Diagnosis

Everyone told me the growing disfunction and pain in my right hip was arthritis. Finally, my Primary Care Provider (PCP) ordered an X-ray. Viewing the result, two orthopedic doctors said it didn’t look like arthritis; maybe it was Pagett’s disease. My PCP ordered a CT scan.

After seeing results of the scan, my physical therapist called. She said I had a metastatic illness throughout my skeleton, most prominently in my right pelvis. I needed to get a bone biopsy to find out what cancer had metastasized. Due to the fragility of the bone I was in danger of a pathological fracture. “I want you to use crutches to keep pressure off of the right hip.”

Thursday before Labor Day weekend 2018, I spoke with a scheduler at the appointed testing facility for a bone biopsy. He explained the delay in scheduling. “We had to find a doctor to do it, schedule a room, and order a special needle because ‘we don’t normally do bone biopsies.’” RED FLAG! I got the doctor’s name and checked him out online. RED FLAG! It was not his specialty and he had very low approval ratings. 

I called a friend to check my gut feeling that I was headed for a procedure that might permanently damage my right pelvis and leave me crippled. Concurring, she said, “Cancel it. You have one day before the long weekend to get rescheduled with an experienced doctor in a competent facility. You can do it.”

I cancelled the biopsy next morning and began searching for a place with experience. Just before noon I called to have an order sent. My PCP did not know this facility and sent it to a wrong number. I gave them the correct one. At 4:00 I received a call reporting that all tests and images had been received at my chosen facility. 

This Fight Is My Fight

Meanwhile, my naturopath and I reviewed the CT scan. It showed no tumors in any primary organs. I had done enough research to figure out that it was likely from the original breast cancer. She put me on a sugar and gluten-free diet with protein from green vegetables, fish, and poultry and gave me vitamins and a tincture to boost my immune system. I asked about using visualization to remove cancer cells from my bones. “Yes. Visualization has been scientifically tested and proven to be effective.” 

Two or three times every day I visualized myself being surrounded by a galaxy of Love, Hope, Expertise, and Archaic Body Wisdom. I took the light of the galaxy down through the crown of my head and through all of the bones of my skeleton, visualizing it zapping cancer cells and disposing of them. 

By the time the bone biopsy confirmed that the metastasis was from breast cancer, I had researched where to go for treatment. Eugene’s Willamette Valley Cancer Research Institute (WVCI) is part of a nation-wide medical network that collaborates on cancer research. 

I called to schedule an appointment with an oncologist so I could tell my PCP where to send an order. It would take weeks to see the person my naturopath recommended. The scheduler suggested someone else. I read his bio on my computer screen - 7 years at Mayo clinic and ongoing cancer research. Great! I’ll take it. 

Fighting to Stop the Growth of the Cancer

Everywhere at WVCI are the words, We Believe in Hope. My oncologist said, “You will have this disease for the rest of your life, but you will not die from it.” I like and trust this guy!

After getting acquainted and learning the drugs he was prescribing, I asked, “Do you think it would be possible by June 2019 for me to do a forty-five-minute presentation on my feet without crutches?” My accompanying friend gasped in disbelief. He was attentive. “I have been working ten years on an art installation that is scheduled for an exhibition in Seattle and I will need to speak about it.”

He responded, “I want you to see an orthopedic oncologist in Portland. You need to be seen by an doctor who is familiar with your disease.” Before I left, he had someone scheduling me an appointment at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). He sent me to the resident pharmacy to pick up my first drug. His plan to start me on a drug to strengthen my bones suffered delays as we fought with my insurance over their preferred drug versus his recommended one.

Two weeks later I was at OHSU. An orthopedic doctor told me there were treatment options, but it all depended upon what my goals were and how much I was willing to invest. I repeated my June 2019 goal. I asked about bone cement. He turned on the computer and showed me images of my right pelvis.

It looked like swiss cheese and there was a two-inch black hole. “We can’t do bone cement because it goes in as a liquid and would go right through the holes.”  He recommended doing ten days of radiation at WVCI and coming back in three months.

Radiation is exhausting but I was up for whatever it would take to restore my health and mobility. Once through that ordeal, my naturopath focused my vitamin supplements on bone growth. When I arrived back at OHSU on Christmas Eve day, I was no longer in pain and I had graduated from crutches to a cane. 

After X-rays., I saw the doctor and asked what they showed. He said there was no change. “But don’t bones re-grow?” “Yes, but very slowly. You may always have the ‘swiss cheese and black hole’. We have stopped the growth of the cancer. Come again in three months.” 

Fighting to Rebuild My Bones

I asked my naturopath, “If the X-rays don’t show any change, how could he say we’ve stopped the growth of the cancer?” Studying blood work done prior to my visit to OHSU, it showed that the breast cancer marker was down from 303 in September to 60. (It has since gone down to the 40s.) Radiation had given a boost to the drugs. We high fived and adjusted my vitamin supplements and visualizations accordingly. 

It was five months before I got back to OHSU. After X-rays, I was greeted by two of my doctor’s students who asked questions about what I was doing. I talked about my work with a naturopath. I did not mention my visualizations, sensing they would think that was ‘woo woo’. 

The interns seemed puzzled about something, so I asked what they saw in the X-rays.

Bringing up the images, one said there was obvious healing of the bone. I asked, “No ‘swiss cheese or black hole?’” The doctor confirmed this, said I was one of the lucky ones, and announced I did not need to see him again.

Three weeks later, I packed and shipped over forty art works, installed them at the gallery, walked for ten days up three metal staircases, and did six presentations without crutches or cane. I believe in science and the power of the human spirit.

Elizabeth Warren is fighting for the changes that will get this country back on track. I know in my bones that she can beat the odds and become the president we need at this point in our history.