Up until the last couple weeks, Karen was doing fairly well. It seemed that the protocols she was using from the natural health practitioner were doing what they were designed to do.
However, about a week and half [maybe two weeks ago] I began to notice subtle changes...like the pain was intensifying, loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, legs and feet swelling, and then her tummy started to bloat. Right now it is so bloated that it looks like she is 7-8 months pregnant.
I went online and began a thorough search on pancreatic masses, pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. She had all the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, but I thought I'd do some more research. I spoke to the natural health practitioner and she kept saying that it's not cancer...but she didn't visually see the symptoms I was seeing.
Last Monday evening a week ago [two weeks from this coming Monday] I finally sat down and we talked. By this time she was losing a lot of her strength and balance. She even fell one night going to the bathroom. I told her what I had found, and that we need to seek other treatment. At first she wanted to deny it...I can only imagine what went through that poor girls mind!
We decided we'll need to seek another route, so I spent the next 4 -5 days calling clinics, doctors, filling out forms, emailing and faxing forms, picking up medical records from hospital and oncologists. We finally found one in Dallas that was willing to do something besides just standard chemo. In my research I had found numerous ways to treat pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, since this is in the head of the pancreas, it cannot be operated on. I did find some treatment centers in California and Mexico, but they want anywhere from $27k-$37k for a 3 week treatment, and that doesn’t include any protocols, therapy, etc. One thing I did find out…cancer is a big business here in America, and the big pharma, FDA and doctors are all working together…
We spoke to him [doctor] on the phone last Monday and scheduled a 2 hour consultation appointment with him on Friday [yesterday]. The clinic is actually in Grapevine [close to DFW Airport] is 3 1/2 hours away from our home in Austin. I was really concerned about her going this far in the car. Just going to the healer 3 times a week which is only 5 minutes away has been almost unbearable for her. It was almost more than she could handle to make the trip.
Gradually this past week she has been losing more and more strength. She has been drinking two hemp protein shakes per day [about 16 ounces] and 8 oz. of juice [beets, carrots, celery, spinach leafs and an apple]. In between she would eat things such as a small portion of fresh tilapia, cantaloupe, cauliflower…but it seemed she couldn’t maintain her metabolism. She would either vomit it up or have bad diarrhea. I believe the cancer cells are grabbing all the food and starving her. She is now at the point where she can’t sit up or get up by herself. I help her walk to the bathroom because she has a hard time keeping her balance. She lies on the couch 99% of the time, and on occasion she will want to lie in on the bed…but only for 15-30 minutes.
Her pain was so intense that last Sunday evening I finally convinced her to take some pain pills. That has helped to ease the pain, but it is still there. God has gifted me with the ability to lay hands on an area where someone has pain, and relieve them of the pain. So for temporary relief, I lay my hand or hands on the area of pain, and she would get relief for a couple hours. I also massage her feet and legs a lot, because she loses feeling in them and they get cold.
The doctor told us yesterday that we first have to stabilize her before we can give any treatment, so what he wants to do is give her shots of nutrition through an IV 2-3 hours per day, and as many as 2-3 IV’s per day. He said doing this for 5 -6 days will help build her body back up and get her more stable. He even suggested that we might have to put a tube in her stomach to make sure the nutrition goes where he wants it too.
He told us that there are various ways of treating cancer. First off he told us that there is no cure for cancer outside of a miracle. We can only treat it and get it neutralized and extend her life for 10-15-20 years…it’s entirely up to her. One option is going to Mexico and injecting stem cells from placenta into the cancerous areas, and this requires at least 4-5 trips, each costing $15k-$20k. Even then, there’s no guarantee that that will work. We don’t want a full body chemo as not only doesn’t that destroy the immune system, it also doesn't actually kill the mother cancer cells. That’s why so many people that do chemo [if they survive it] get a relapse in 2-3 years.
What the doctor is suggesting is something called IPT (Insulin Potentiation Therapy) or also known as Immunotherapy. Here is one link and another one that explains IPT. Basically what it does is they go in and open up the cancer cells and chemo the cells directly…and the cells only. That kills the mother cells. There is also radiation therapy or cyber knife. Depending how good her body responds we could be able to get rid of most if not all of it with nutrition. As I’m sure y’all know, that a large part of the healing is emotional and spiritual...the body will respond accordingly. Karen is pretty upbeat about this [as much as she can be] and said she does want to fight it. I made her say it several times, making sure she meant it!
Anyway, we have a long journey ahead of us (and expensive I might add). We don’t have health insurance. We had tried to get insurance about 5 or 6 years ago, and when we did our physicals is when they discovered that Karen had hypertension [high blood pressure] and there went our chances for health insurance. We are planning on going up to Dallas on Tuesday to begin this process. She can’t stay at the clinic, so we’ll be staying at a hotel close by…one of those extended stay hotels that has a kitchenette.
We found out that Star Flight [equivalent to Life Flight]will fly her from Austin to Dallas free of charge. All I have to do is get her to the airport here in Austin, and they will fly her to DFW airport, and then a shuttle will take her to the clinic. So I’m checking into that on Monday as well. Better an hour and half in the air than 3 and half hours on the road.
I went to our bank today and set up a special account and called it “Karen’s Recovery Fund”. It is at the credit union where we bank at, and if you know anything about credit unions, they have what they call shared branches all over the country. We have a friend here whom I have helped in fund raising for other people and organizations, and she is organizing a fund raiser for us. I am asking all of the family that can and wants to, to help out with our expenses. I know things are tight for a lot of people, and those that can will, and those that can’t won’t…no judgment on our part. J I’ll put a link at the bottom where you can put in your zip code and see if there is a credit union close by. All one has to do is go into the credit union and tell them they want to make a deposit into Karen’s Recovery Fund, and they can look it up. The name of our credit union is University Federal Credit Union. Please don’t feel obligated….. Follow your heart! This is really hard for me to do, because I’ve never been one to ask for assistance or money, but I also know that we have given a lot over the years to needy causes, so I guess it’s our turn to receive! You will need the account number, sop please either text or call for the account number.
Krystal and Kendra are coming down the end of next week and staying for 4-5 days. Am looking forward to seeing them, and I know Karen is as well. Keep us in your prayers…
Here’s the link: http://www.cuservicecenter.com/
P.S. We have had quite a lot of people call or email saying that they are having difficulties at the shared branches to deposit the money into Karen's Recovery Fund. We have an individual who is taking care of all donations as well as fund raisers, so it might be better if you decide to contribute to send it directly to him, and he will see to it that it goes to the right place.
Please send donations to: Stan Sarver, 600 South Bell Blvd., Suite 200, Cedar Park, Texas 78613. The check or money order should still be made out to Karen's Recovery Fund.
