Hello everyone, I'm sending a mass email to update everyone on Nancy's condition. It is very hard to keep everyone updated as time is at a premium with the care for Nancy and all the studying we are now embarking on, so I thought that this would be an excellent way of communicating to everyone. Most of you on this list know that Nancy has contracted Cancer. For those who didn't know and are quite shocked at this development, let me first give a quick brief announcement here. After a couple of months of a small pain growing into some swelling, on Monday February 5th Nancy was admitted to Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was diagnosed by Thursday morning as having aggressive Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which is a cancer of the lymphatic system. She was also told that she would be dead within two to three weeks if nothing were to be done. My opinion was that she would not even have lasted that long since the tumor was already starting to choke off some vital neck organs in particular the superior vena cava or the main vein coming down from the head leading to the heart. Since it was quite obvious that we only had a few days to make a decision, a stint was placed inside her vein to prevent the vein from collapse and that bought us a couple more days. Since we didn't have enough time to make any informed decisions regarding alternative treatments, we were at the mercy of the conventional medical system. So Nancy decided to accept the chemotherapy treatment by Saturday afternoon. This should buy us enough time now so as to research and study and to decide the best route for her. The following Monday evening she was discharged looking much better and starting to recover from the trauma of the previous week. She is to go in once a week for a blood test and once every three weeks for an additional dose of chemo. It's been five days since coming home and she is able to get up and around a good bit. She tires after a few hours of busyness. Her nights are usually accompanied by discomfort. Matters are improving as each day goes by. But what we see is just the surface. She appears to be improving. However, we know that the cancerous tumor is still there and that we still have a crisis in hand. How did this happen? Well, no one know the causes of cancer but this is the story of how it crept up on Nancy. Around mid to late November (she turned 40 on the 20th) she started having a small pain under her right collar bone. It seemed that she pulled something by perhaps lifting or pushing something too big. After about a month of it not going away she told me that this pain was there. Also, out came the books to try to figure out what would be good to do. By the second week of January some slight swelling was occurring in the right shoulder. Something must be really out of whack so a chiropractor was consulted. He seemed to do some good at first but then that didn't help either. By February 4th the pain and swelling was becoming worse so she consulted with a nearby naturopathic type neighbor. Her analysis was that something definitely was seriously wrong deep inside and whenever she has something come up that is over her head she goes to this one country family doctor in Wilburton. So on Monday the 5th an appointment was made and he at first thought of either Hodgkins disease or some other kind of lymphatic disorder. So he consulted with an internal doctor in Fort Smith and his conclusion was just as dire and it was urged that we get her checked in immediately. So basically that's what we did. After CT scans, sonograms and biopsies what we found out was as stated above. If you put your right hand on your chest above your right breast and tuck your arm against your body with your fingers touching your breast bone, your palm and fingers are the approximate size and location of this cancerous mass. It is right above the right lung and is extending into the area just above the heart. It is in this area that the mass is starting to cripple the main vein that goes down from her head to her heart. With that vein collapsing, the blood is not able to drain adequately so with all the fluids being kept in the head, her head was beginning to swell rather grotesquely as well as turn a bluish/purplish color. To me it seemed that it wouldn't take too many more days of that before she would die. Hence the urgency of the initial procedures. Where did she get this from? No telling but we have learned this much so far. We all have cancerous cells of various types running through our body. But most of our immune systems keep everything in check. If something in life causes the immune system to skip a beat then sometimes cancer (or other diseases for that matter) can get a foot hold. It appears that this seems to be the case with Nancy. Sometimes it's easy to try to suspect a direct physical cause relating to this particular cancer or some religious/spiritual reason for God striking (like not observing a religious rite like someone else thinks you should) but I think if we do that we would be so amiss. We are currently chasing a few avenues which should also guide us as to the direction we end up choosing for her long term treatment. So, what's next? We are already running into problems with the conventional medical system. They have one answer and that is chemotherapy. In her particular case they say that she has a 70-80% chance of putting it into remission. Well, we just found out that while those numbers may be accurate, they're only good for five years. Also, the chemotherapy route and the cancer industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and that they have no intention of changing the status quo. We are finding that there are documented cases where some research doctors find good cures while working for the National Cancer Institute and others only to be blacklisted later by the establishment. One of the main things that chemotherapy does is that it kills the immune system which, believe it or not, sets up the patient to contract a different cancer 6, 7 or 8 years down the road. It turns out that long term percentages for complete remission following the conventional route are only in the 7% range. So far, every alternative, well-established treatments always emphasize nutrition designed to build and boost the immune system. Nancy was constantly fed the standard cafeteria institutionalized food with no thought for special nutrition. I guess though, if your going to put the toxins in chemotherapy in your body and kill the immune system, why bother with providing it with special nutrition? After all, if it's dead what good will nutrition do? Anyway, we're in the middle of studying intensively. Hopefully we will come to a conclusion and be able to act on it before the next chemo treatment is scheduled. We have been looking at a variety of directions. If anyone also has any ideas, please don't hesitate to let us know. People are always asking us how they can help. It is so very much appreciated. It is a fascinating lesson in life to so often be on the giving end and then suddenly something like this happens where you need to be on the receiving end. It is such a blessing to both give and to receive. We are already seeing much good come out of this trial. We also can see that much more good is yet to happen. It's these kind of things that truly make trials a blessing. As far as help, some of the obvious like cards and emails really does lift up Nancy's spirit. Emails can be sent to: n432r1@juno.com. Any cards or letters or anything else sent via the post office can be sent to: Nancy Brumm Leflore, Oklahoma 74942 If anyone wishes to send anything via UPS or other method, contact me for an alternate address. We're not even going to talk about the hospital bills yet. We'll tackle that bridge later. Nancy and I extend a great big thank you to everyone who has reached out in love and concern. She is awed and humbled by all the help and love that she has already gotten. Thanks so much everyone. Your prayers and/or thoughts are very much needed and appreciated. Love, Norman and family |