In 2015 Vicki receive a diagnosis that no one wants to hear: Mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer with little hope of recovery for its victims. It most often attacks the tissue that surrounds the lungs, though the abdomen, heart, and testicles can also be affected.
The primary cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos which could happen due to working with asbestos or living with someone who works with asbestos. In many cases, exposure happens through no fault of your own, making it an even more bitter pill to swallow.
Vicki, aged 63, had always been healthy, growing her own vegetables, and curtailing junk food. She smoked as a youngster but had quit the habit 34 years ago.
She complained to her doctor of back pain and not being able to breathe properly, but no one could believe it when her diagnosis was revealed.
Her life turned into a circus of non-stop medical appointments, blood tests, PET scans, CT scans, chest x-rays, and having the fluid drained from around her lungs every day.
Learning how few treatments were available for victims of the disease was discouraging, and finding a doctor with experience in treating the cancer was impossible. It was difficult to keep a positive outlook.
With one grandson and another on the way, she wondered if she would live to watch them grow.
The following year she underwent a Pleurectomy-Decortication of the right lung. This surgery involved opening the chest cavity and removing the pleural lining around the lung and then excising any visible tumors from the surface of the lung.
This was followed by chemotherapy treatments, but after the first two of four proposed treatments, Vicki had had enough. She went to the emergency room five times while taking the chemo and had lost 30 lbs. She felt that if she underwent one more treatment she would die.
Seeking alternative treatments Vicki started receiving massive doses of Vitamin C. The infusions were given twice a week, then reduced to once a week, and then tapered down to every other week.
Thankfully, her CT scans now look clear and her surgeon says her lungs look great. She has been able to return to almost all of the activities she enjoyed before her diagnosis. Vicki recommends that anyone inflicted with mesothelioma check into Integrative Medicine as an alternative treatment.
Her hope is to raise awareness about asbestos so that governments will ban this fiber from use and that further research into science, health, and nutrition will develop a treatment that will be able to destroy this monster of a disease inflicted upon so many innocent people.
