What Kills Most People is Not Heart Disease or Cancer – it is Ignorance
Michelle LaBrosse, PMP
We started my Mom today at the Burzynski Clinic to cure her brain cancer. This place is run the way medicine should be run. As we walked into the building, we were met by a receptionist who handed us our schedule for the day and escorted us to the 2nd floor waiting room to meet with the intake Physicians Assistant. We reviewed all the intake forms we had filled out a couple weeks ago. But the primary purpose of the meeting it seemed to me was to assess our intentions and our beliefs about curing cancer and just why we did not go the conventional route with chemotherapy. (It wasn’t going to cure her cancer and might in fact kill her so why risk it). Then three physicians spent an hour reviewing my Mom’s case. They came in and discussed their assessment. Which was fascinating and validated earlier perceptions of the neurosurgeon in New York. My Mom had a very small (the size of a pea) dangerous tumor – an anaplastic astrocytoma. The neurosurgeon in NY removed it when he did the biopsy resection of her brain. The larger more diffuse tumor has not grown and is considered a very low grade brain tumor – which is causing brain swelling. The brain swelling is causing most of her symptoms and was increased by the seizures (caused by the brain surgery). A precautionary dose of anti-seizure medication AND steroids may have prevented most of my Mom’s increasing deficits.
The doctors at Burzynski proposed a three level approach to shrink the large diffuse brain tumor (without surgery, dangerous chemicals or harsh burning radiation rays). And they have also proposed an approach to insure the dangerous small tumor does not reappear. They follow a conservative approach both medically and financially. They first try a gene targeted therapy protocol using specially formulated medications that are customized to my Mom’s genes. This is plan A – and will take about ten days to see if it bears fruit. Plan B is a more aggressive approach to deliver other gene targeted therapies intravenously to shrink the tumor. Plan C is the most aggressive using the FDA Clinical trial phase III approach that will wipe out the tumor if Plan A and B do not work completely. Because my Mom never received radiation or chemotherapy, her chances of success jump from 25 percent to 50 percent. They emphasize personalized treatment plans at the Burzynski Research Institute so this is the personalized plan to cure my Mom’s specific brain cancer based on my Mom’s genes and her specific cancer.
Yesterday they did blood and urine tests. Today she is going to start Plan A. Tomorrow she has the baseline imaging studies done. Because EKG’s taken during my mom’s seizures showed bundle branch blockages – but on either sides of her heart (not typical of a heart problem). they are doing an echocardiogram to see if there is in fact a heart problem to consider or to validate if the EKG readings ware due to the seizures. GOOD MEDICINE – I wonder why no other physicians ordered this? Oh I forgot – it was because she was 78 and they treated her as if she were dying, NOT LIVING.
At the Burzynski Clinic from 3 – 5:30 every day is set aside for education. Yesterday we learned about Gene Targeted Therapy and how it works. We also met another patient who was in for the same condition as my Mom. This woman had had left side paralysis just like my Mom. And she became paralyzed on her left side after her first seizure too – just like my Mom. When her brain tumor shrunk, it took her about a week to learn how to walk again. This was very encouraging for my Mom to meet her as she does not want to be cured of her cancer to just end up being impaired long term. She is going for a full recovery. The goal is to be playing tennis again by Christmas.
At our education session, I learned something that I have to say I whole heartily agree with – it is not heart disease or cancer that is the number one killer. Ignorance is the number one killer. And I dare say it is NOT the ignorance so much of the patient but the ignorance of who they seek out for medical care. For as long as I have been a professional, I have noticed that the most arrogant professionals tend to also be the most ignorant. And what constitutes the height of arrogance is when a doctor dismisses you and your research or others research as irrelevant yet fails to do their own research. Most doctors I ran into BEFORE I went to the Burzynski Research Clinic not only dismissed other research, they down right discouraged us from seeking it out. And when we did, they did not embrace it yet were threatened by it. Thus fostering more ignorance and causing more needless suffering. The folks at Burzynski welcome the insight and research. Why – their main mission is to CURE their patients’ cancer.
