Barbara's "House of Healing"
Cancer is a funny thing. So many people have it in some form or another, from a relatively minor basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) to a brain stem glioma (brain stem cancer). The funny thing is, you'd think that through modern medicine doctors would have found more ways to treat – and beat – cancer by now.
Instead, when you get cancer, or know someone who gets cancer, there are basically three treatment options: surgery, chemotherapy (either via IV or orally, like Bryan's) and radiation. Granted, throughout each of those options there are several sub-options, but those are the pretty much the big three. When surgery was ruled out for Bryan's tumor, we were left with a combination of oral chemo and radiation. Apparently, studies have shown that treating brain tumors through a combination of chemo and radiation is the most effective course of action.
However, beyond radiation and chemo, that's pretty much it. And you can only do radiation once, so you better hope that it hits all of whatever tumor you've got. It's a one-shot deal. You can continue chemo for a long period of time (Bryan will eventually go down to taking chemo pills only 5 days per month), but chemo and radiation are basically the dynamic treatment duo.
Really, at the end of the day, doctors give you a diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment. Then, for
all intensive purposes, they send you on your merry (or not-so-merry)
way. So really, the rest is up to us.
That's where Barbara's "House of Healing" comes in. That's just my little nickname for it. It's not like she has a business card with "Healer" as her title. Although minus any certain lawsuits, it might be be cool if she did. Barbara is the step-mom of our good friend, Matt. When Bryan was diagnosed, Matt and his girlfriend, Jen, asked Bryan and I if we had considered seeing any "alternative" specialists who help with self-hypnosis, positive visualization, Raiki, etc. We hadn't thought of it, but were 100% open to it. Basically, it fell into the "can't hurt" category.
Barbara specializes in hypnotherapy. Before you get ahead of yourself, this isn't the "close your eyes, you're getting verrrrrry, verrrrrry sleepy" type of BS hypnotherapy. This is a type of guided meditation (completely controlled by Bryan) that incorporates positive memories from his life. So it's like a custom meditation. It's been remarkable because when Bryan is sitting there, all relaxed and concentrating, he's recovered memories that haven't surfaced since he was eight years old. You can actually SEE the happiness come through on his face. His endorphins go up and his stress level goes down, allowing his body to fight, fight, fight this tumor away. And for me, it's pretty funny to see what random memories come out of that huge brain of his. For example, who knew that at 8 years old, watching his Aunt's Siberian Husky lick the tears from his younger brother's hysterically crying face (which only made him cry more) would make Bryan so relaxed? Ahhh...you've gotta love the relationship between older and younger siblings.
Anyway, Bryan sees Barbara twice a week and so far, it's been great. She helps him visualize that his tumor is shrinking, helps him concentrate on his breathing and overall relaxation, and helps him visualize our future together. While I'm not allowed to contribute, if I could I'd ask for a big house with two kids and a Goberian. Or Puggle. No, Goberian. But this is his meditation, not mine. :)
Bottom line is: when you've got cancer, every bit helps. It's the things BEYOND the medication and radiation that help keep us positive. When there are dark moments, and we all get them, we can draw from our own positive energy, happy memories and hopes for the future to keep us strong. And given that Bryan is meditating right now, I know that's exactly what he's doing.
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