by Carole Jackson, Bottom Line Health
A friend who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer gave me a book that she had just finished reading. She found it so helpful that she thought I would want to share it with Daily Health News readers. I read it over the weekend, and sheâs right — itâs quite a story. Itâs filled with unusual ideas that may help patients with all kinds of cancer — not only breast cancer — beat their disease. What gives the story a unique twist is that the author, Kim Allison, MD, is the director of breast pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle… and Dr. Allison had been promoted into this position just a few weeks before learning, at age 33, that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer with an average five-year survival rate of only 40%.
Today, four years later, she is healthy — and the book, Red Sunshine: A Story of Strength and Inspiration from a Doctor Who Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer, explains how she got that way. I called her to find out more.
Knowing how serious her cancer was, Dr. Allison told me, she chose a “take no prisoners” treatment plan that included chemo, radiation and surgery. She decided to have both breasts removed even though she had cancer on only one side. But those arenât the parts of her treatment that make her story so unique and valuable… itâs the things that she did in addition to that — which doctors almost never tell their patients to do!
ADDING A SECOND APPROACH
As a specialist, Dr. Allison knew as much as anyone could about how to treat her disease medically, but she decided to also develop her own “alternative” treatment strategy so she could feel that she was marshaling every possible resource that might improve her odds of survival.
Even as a healthy person not facing cancer or any other serious illness, I found her approach inspiring. Itâs important to note that Dr. Allison isnât sure that any of the following actions helped cure her cancer, but she did tell me that they made the journey less onerous. “These strategies changed my perspective and helped me get through each day,” she said. Here are some highlights from the book and our conversation…
THREE BIG IDEAS
I adjusted my attitude. Early on, Dr. Allison decided that she wanted to consider her fight an “opportunity to grow and learn about how tough I can be” rather than just questioning why something so bad had happened to her. She decided that the poison being dripped into her veins — a potent drug called doxorubicin, nicknamed the “Red Devil” because of its deep, red color and horrible side effects — should be considered her ally, so she renamed it “Red Sunshine.” “That was an important mental switch, because it made me want to show up for treatment,” she said.
I recruited several great teams. As a busy working mother — with a four-year-old daughter, an infant son and a husband who had recently opened a restaurant — Dr. Allison needed all the help that she could get with her disease and her life. She was fortunate to have friends and family members who were available and willing to assist her. This isnât always possible, she said, but it never hurts to ask for help. She appointed these people to be “gurus” of different things. For example, one was in charge of music (downloading tunes onto her iPod for her to listen to during chemo) and another, who still lived near her parents in California, was assigned the task of helping her parents cope from afar.
Dr. Allisonâs medical treatment team included a pathologist, an oncologist and two surgeons. But she also worked with a physical therapist, who taught her techniques to avoid complications like lymphedema (swelling in the arms) after surgery… a nutritionist (who helped her eat a well-balanced diet)… a personal trainer (who helped her continue to work out by encouraging her to walk and do strength training and yoga)… a naturopath (who advised her on supplements that might help with treatment side effects)… and an acupuncturist (who helped her keep her stress and pain levels under control). This was an expensive group, no doubt, but Dr. Allison told me that many major cancer centers offer some of this support for free — and you often can get insurance to cover at least part of the cost.
I believed in “magic.” Though her career is all about science, Dr. Allison said that she was willing to believe in magic, too. She visited a shaman — a spiritual adviser — an experience she found enriching in ways that she never expected. And, with the help of her mother (who visited regularly) and a friend, she created a “healing ritual” in her backyard. “We stated out loud in a united way that I was planning to destroy the cancer that had grown inside of me. Then I burned an image of my cancer in a fire,” she said.
Iâm so glad that Dr. Allisonâs cancer is now considered “most likely cured,” since there was no residual cancer after chemotherapy was completed — and sheâs feeling great. Only future research can determine whether or not her unusual, two-tiered psychological and medical approach can make a significant difference, in terms of fighting off cancer — but in my opinion, Iâm sure it didnât hurt.
Source(s):
Kim Allison, MD, director of breast pathology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, and author of Red Sunshine: A Story of Strength and Inspiration from a Doctor Who Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer (Hatherleigh).