Neil's story -Tijuana,Magnesium Citrate,Vitamin C

04/20/01: It begins! I had been bleeding from the bowels for some time and it seemed that something was blocking the opening making elimination difficult. A colonoscopy was performed at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico which revealed a large rectal tumor blocking the anus. A biopsy was taken.

05/01/01: The doctor informed that the tumor is malignant as I was leaving my final post-surgery clinic for the acute appendectomy I had on the morning of March 12 — but that's a whole other story.

I hung around the VAMC for of another appointment in the afternoon. They stuffed barium down one end of me and up the other and something was injected into my bloodstream to make the veins stand out while they perform a cat scan. All in all, a thoroughly unpleasant experience!

05/03/01: I am sent to an outside doctor to have ultrasound tests performed to see if the tumor penetrates the rectal wall. It does. This doctor then tells me that they will have to remove my sphincter and the lower part of my rectum. Then they will give me a permanent stoma (an opening from one body cavity to another or to the outside) and a cute little bag to poop in (colostomy). I fail to get excited over the prospect. In 1992 when I was in the hospital with diverticulitus, another doctor wanted to remove my colon and give me one of these cute little bags. I said no then, and after studying the procedure and it's side effects I have decided that I do not want to live with such a thing.

05/07/01: I have been exploring alternative, non-toxic cancer medicine and decide that it is the way to go. After much study, I place my order for a supplement package of Cantron-32 oz., Megazyme Forte Tabs (enzymes), Shark Liver Oil, Alpha Factor (Colostrum), OPC's-Formula (anti-oxidant), Noni capsules and Squalamax. The total price for the package: $260.59 plus $5.95 shipping. UPS sent me email that afternoon informing me that it would be here on Monday the 14th. I browbeat myself for not specifying 2nd day air because bowel movements are becoming extremely difficult due to blockage by the tumor.

05/14/01: The package arrived today and I began taking the supplements at 11:00AM.

05/15/01: Can it happen this fast? This morning, less than 24 hours after starting the regimen, I was able to have my first non-Magnesium Citrate induced bowel movement in several weeks.

05/16/01: The improvement noted yesterday continues today.

05/21/01: I am now entering my second week on the supplements and, at this time, it is not possible for me to report much progress. The noted improvement of the 15th may or may not be real. It seems to come and go. I can have bowel movements in the morning. Later on in the day it becomes more difficult. There are definite changes however. A dull pain is beginning to be almost constant. Otherwise, my overall health and energy level seem to be improving.

05/23/01: Well, once again it was necessary for me to drink a bottle of Magnesium Citrate in order to evacuate my bowels. It's like riding on a yo-yo.

05/24/01: Today I received a letter from the University of New Mexico Cancer Research Center telling me that I have an appointment with them on the 5th of June at 9 AM. The letter fails to reveal the purpose of the appointment. The VA has not told me anything either, so I decided to call UNM to learn the purpose of the visit. The woman who answered the phone brought my name up on the computer and after a brief pause said "You're coming in for radiation therapy", to which I replied "No I'm not!" She: "Does that mean that you want to cancel?" Me: "May as well, I have decided not to subject myself to radiation therapy". She: "Why not? "Me: "Because I have done some research and found that it has been proven to cause more harm than good. It is a well known fact that radiation is carcinogenic. Furthermore, it tends to destroy the immune system — the one thing that needs to be strengthened." Then I asked her for the name of my Doctor so that I can call him and let him know of my decision." (In the VAMC it's a constant game of "musical Doctors.")

I was told back on Mayday that the doctors at the VA would meet the following week to discuss my case and that I would be called in for a consultation in which we would discuss the planned treatment. At this time I would be able to accept or reject their plan. Of course I had already decided to reject it and work with non-toxic, holistic methods of healing the tumor, i.e. Cantron, diet, et al.

Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful for what the VA has done for me. Without them I would already be dead from a ruptured appendix with peritonitis last March. I realize that doctors, for the most part, have a genuine concern for their patients. I do wish they would keep me involved in the decision process though. This is, after all, a life or death situation — My Life, My possible Death! I plan to call the doctor who referred me to UNM next week and let him know that I have decided to decline treatment and request that I be placed on an "Observation Only Protocol". — Still unable to evacuate my bowels today.

05/24/01: I made telephone contact with another Cantron user who lives in the nearby town of Mountainair, New Mexico in my local calling area. At his suggestion, I have gone from taking 1/4 tsp. of Cantron every six hours to 1/4 tsp. every four hours with a double dose just before bedtime. I generally sleep around six hours each night.

05/25/01: Unable to have a bowel movement again today until around 9:30 PM when I discharged something bloody and stringy looking. Then I proceeded to have the first relatively normal bowel movement I have had in over a month! I don't know exactly what happened but I like it.

05/26/01: The good news continues today. The tumor is still blocking the anal canal, but not nearly as much as it has been.

05/28/01: Still riding on the yoyo. My bowels have become plugged yet once again and I will probably have to resort to another dose of Magnesium Citrate.

Also, I purchased a 3cc syringe from a local vetenary supply store today for 15 cents and will begin using it to take the nightly double dose rectally, I had attempted to do it previously using a graduated dropper without success.

More Magnesium Citrate again today. Aaaargh!

05/29/01: With a guard to keep the syringe from going in too far and a little flax seed oil for lubrication, the syringe worked perfectly.

06/01/01: After several attempts during the week I was finally able to contact my Doctor at the VA today and inform him that I had cancelled the radiation therapy appointment and that I will not, under any circumstances, undergo radiation or chemotherapy. I have not entirely ruled out surgery, but only as a last resort. I told him what I was doing to treat the cancer and requested that I be placed on an Observation-Only protocol. I expected to receive a lecture but it didn't happen. He set up an appointment for me with another surgeon at 9AM on Tuesday, the fifth of June.

I was able to have a relatively normal bowel movement tonight!

06/02/01: Bowels still moving today! I substituted Tahitian Noni juice for the capsules.

06/05/01: I met with the VA surgeons today and, as I had hoped, they were quite supportive of my decision, although they disagreed with it. They agreed to keep me under observation and I have another appointment on the third of July. They wished me full recovery although they remain quite sceptical of the outcome. I now have my Doctor's telephone number and email address in the event that I need to contact him.

Although my bowels are a little tight, I was able to come home from the VA and have a bowel movement. Wonderful! I have been discharging a brown substance with the consistency of egg whites, exactly as predicted by my Cantron supporters — a good sign.

06/06/01: There was a large discharge of blood from my bowels this morning. I was a bit concerned, but it was followed by a relatively thorough elimination which leads me to believe that is was part of the process of healing. Possibly even a breakthrough.

Yesterday at the VA, my Doctor recommended that I add an iron supplement to my diet to offset such blood losses. It is probably a good idea.

06/07/01: I met with two doctors from the VA Hospital Oncology Department today. Once again, I was expecting to be met with opposition toward my decision and, once again, I was wrong. While they both felt that my decision was the wrong one and felt an "ethical obligation" to tell me their recommendations, they supported my decision and agreed to work with me to keep tabs on my condition. The younger of the two said that she is very interested to see how my chosen method of treating the cancer works.

They set up an appointment for me on June 19 with the GU clinic for a flexible sigmoidoscopy. I will have to drink a bottle of Magnesium Citrate and do two Fleet enemas prior to the appointment. Thank goodness I won't have to drink four liters of Golytely first!

06/08/01: I had an appointment with a doctor in the VA Hospital Urology department today. Among other things, we discussed my cancer and i told him why i have refused radiation and chemotherapy. I said that It is my opinion that cancer cannot exist in a body with a properly functioning immune system. He agreed. I also told him that both radiation and chemotherapy destroy the immune system -- the very thing that must be strengthened to fight cancer. He replied "Yes, they do destroy the immune system." I pointed out that he had just agreed with me that i should refuse radiation and chemotherapy. and he did not deny it.

06/17/01: No news is indeed good news.

06/19/01: Today was a big day, I had a flexible sigmoidoscopy and I just don't know what to think. I look at the picture one time and there appears to be a section of the tumor missing. I look at it again and there appears to be two tumors instead of one. Perhaps someone with a better-trained eye than mine can compare it to
the Colonoscopy pictures and provide some feedback.

07/04/01: I have declared today to be Independence Day — Independence from tobacco, that is. I also started taking about 1/2 AA Capsule of bloodroot once a day.

I received email today from Phil Safier, an old friend that I had not heard from in awhile. He offered me the use of an
ozone generator which I gratefully accepted.

07/06/01: Added Hydrazine Sulfate to my regimen today.

07/07/01: Day four without tobacco. I'm only pacing the floor now instead of climbing the walls.

07/08/01: I learned today that the drug I am taking as part of my smoking cessation program, Bupropion HCL (aka Zyban), will interfere with the therapeutic action of Hydrazine Sulfate. I have therefore decided to stop taking the Hydrazine until I get off of the Bupropion. This is another opportunity, not a setback. My resolve to not smoke another cigarette just got a whole lot stronger.

07/11/01: I tried a bloodroot tea enema (2 teaspoons Bloodroot and 1 Cup water steeped for 3 Hours). I didn't leave it in long because It was pretty intense. I have ordered some more and plan to experiment around a bit because it did seem to do some good. My bowels were much freer the next day. This is a recommended treatment for hemorrhoids which I also have. Bloodroot will also remove warts, moles and some carcinomas when used in a paste with zinc chloride and other ingredients (Black Salve).

07/13/01: Took the last of my bovine colostrum today and cannot afford to buy any more, at least for awhile. Also cut down on the squalamax from two capsules twice a day to one capusle twice a day for the same reason. I also had two root canals removed because I'm sure that they were weakening my immune system. They should have been removed years ago but i didn't have the money. Luckily I now have dental insurance so it only cost $50.00 out of pocket. It looks like I'll be on a liquid diet for awhile. All in all it was quite a Friday the Thirteenth.

07/16/01: My Laetrile arrived today. There was a mixup in the order so it was a long time in coming and I was beginning to fear that I had been ripped off. I began taking three 500mg tablets per day with 10,000 units of vitamin A from fish liver oil. This is also my last day as a coffee drinker, it was replaced with green tea — an excellent antioxidant.

07/18/01: The sutures from the oral surgery on the thirteenth were removed today and I instantly felt much better. One of the sites were the root canal was removed has abscessed, however, so i cannot put in my lower plate and I am on a liquid diet.

07/19/01: I decided to compromise and take one Squalamax capsule three times a day with the Laetrile. The tumor has been a little bit painful today although I am still eliminating OK.

08/09/01: Thanks to a lovely lady from Santa Fe, I am able to resume the bovine colostrum. I found a source just a few blocks from my home, Rio Grande Herbs, that is much less expensive then what I had been paying. I bought a bottle of Conjugated Linoleic Acid while i was there and started taking two a day.

08/14/01: No pain for the past few days and relatively normal bowel function. The colostrum, in five days, has made a skin fungus outbreak dissappear. It had dissappeared when I was using colostrum before but came back when I stopped. Today marks ten weeks of quality life since my scheduled radiation therapy. Each day is like icing on the proverbial cake."

I have been trying to find a source for raw milk and found it today! To understand why I consider this to be such a fine thing, see the "A campaign for Real Milk." website.

10/23/01: I have been somewhat remiss in keeping this chronicle up to date lately. I suppose that I just ran out of "gas." Here is a brief synopsis of what has happened in the past month or so. I had an appointment with the VA surgeon at on the first Tuesday in September. We had an interesting conversation with no tests or other procedures being performed. I told him that had a lot of energy and felt healthy, other than, of course, the "Monster" that lives in my sit down. I think that he had expected to find me in pain and wanting him to go ahead with the surgery and seemed to be a bit surprised that I did not, and possibly just a tiny bit disappointed. I cannot read his mind though and may be imagining the last part. Nevertheless, I DO know for a fact that he is genuinely concerned for my welfare and hopes the best for me. He scheduled me for another Flexible Sigmoidoscopy on December 6.

The next day I ran out of Cantron, OPCs, Megazyme Forte, Squalamax and had no money to buy more. I acquired enough money about a week later and ordered them on, of all days, September 11. So, another week drifted by without being able to take some of my most important supplements. When the package finally arrived on the 18th, the Megazyme Forte, one of the more important components, was missing. I sent email to the company and was informed that it had been back ordered and would be shipped as soon as it came in. It finally arrived about a week later. All in all, I went approximately three weeks without being able to take major parts of my Cancer Treatment. During that time the tumor began to grow and now seems to be involving the sphincter muscle. Now that I am back on the full regimen, the darned thing seems to have stopped growing again. I surely hope that is more than just my imagination.

Right now my main problem is that I will run out of Cantron tomorrow or Thursday and must decide whether to buy more or pay my rent on the first of November. The rent will probably win, I'll just have to go with the flow and see what happens. I have discovered a site that sells "Protocel", another version of Cancell/Entelev, Cantron. This one is supported by the Sheridan family, the family of the inventor of the substance.

10/24/01: Good news and bad news today. The good news is that the tumor seems to be shrinking quite a bit as evidenced by a nearly normal bowel movement this morning, the first in over a month. The bad news is that I ran out of Cantron last night, a bit sooner than I expected, and will have to make a decision between ordering more or paying my rent on the first. I suppose that I should buy the Cantron (or Procel) today and cross the "rent bridge" when I get to it. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions, decisions.

10/25/01: Well, I may be sleeping under a bridge next month, but by golly I'll have my bottle of Protocel clutched tightly to my breast.

10/09/01: Hmmmm, I made an entry sometime before the end of Octrober that a job recovering data from a computer and printing it came in that allowed me to catch up on my bills, including rent. Somehow it failed to be uploaded to the server. They DO say that first thing to go is the mind ;-) Now onto the news of the Sixth of December:

12/06/01: I had a flexible sigmoidoscopy this morning — the last one i will have — and it shows that the tumor is growing.

I seemed to be doing well, with the tumor showing signs of shrinking up until September 11. I watched as that second aircraft slammed into the WTC on CNN, and in that moment i saw the future. I saw a future in which the aura of illegitimacy that was hanging over the office of The President of our United States would suddenly dissappear, giving Bush a legitimacy as President that he does not deserve. In that moment too, i realized that we would soon be involved in a war in Afganistan — something the Bush gang has wanted for a long time so that they can build their "Silk Route" pipeline. Most of all, in that moment i realized that those in power would seize upon the situation and use it to convince the sheeple to willingly exchange "a little freedom" for the promise of "a little temporary safety". Each of these things has come to pass and with each new revelation of the denial of civil rights by the emerging Police State, my anger grows and my desire to live becomes a little weaker. I watched TV with clenched fists as Attorney General Ashcroft dodged questions about civil rights from members of the U.S. House of Representatives – most of whom have a poor track record on Civil Rights themselves.

Yes, the fact that I had to do without my supplements for a few weeks was also a factor, but in retrospect, it was/is a minor factor in comparison to the emotional turmoil that I now feel.

01/02/02: I was able to find a scanner today to use to make a scan of the tumor iamge from 12/06/01. I will be flying to San Diego in the morning to receive treatment. I'll probably be gone about a week, wish me luck.

01/17/02: I have returned from the San Diego area, spending much more time there than I had expected to. I stayed at the Americana Motel in San Ysidro which is about three miles from Tijuana. The Motel provided transportation to and from the San Diego Clinic in Tijuana each day for no extra charge. I highly recommend it. I will elaborate on the trip and what occurred there as soon as I feel up to it. I will also post the regemin that they have me on for the next two months when I am scheduled to return.

01/24/02: The flight to San Diego via Southwest Airlines -- provided by my employer as a Christmas Bonus -- was uneventful. I was picked up at the airport by V.G who, after spending the day with me, took me to the Americana Inn in San Ysidro where I lived for the next ten days. The inn provided daily shuttle service to and from the San Diego Clinic in Tijuana at no extra charge. There were a lot of people staying at the Inn who were attending the Hoxey clinic and riding the shuttle.

My first visit to the clinic was on Friday, January 4, 2002. They took a sample of my blood and gave me IV Therapy, first chelation, followed with a megadose of vitamin C, minerals, SOD (Super-Oxy-Dismutase) and amino acids. The procedure was repeated the following day, Saturday, and again on Monday and Tuesday.

Following the IVs on Tuesday I was driven to the office of Dr. Emilio Vargas Huerta, a proctologist in Tijuana, who examined the tumor. On Wednesday I was checked into the hospital and Dr Vargas Huerto removed the part of the tumor that was inside of the rectal wall using a cauterization technique. While I was recuperating from the operation, he told me that in the U.S. they have a one-fits-all procedure where they just cut everything out, create stoma (an opening from one body cavity to another or the autside) through which they pull the end of the colon and attach a colostomy bag to it (an apt description of what they wanted to do at the VA Hospital). He, on the other hand, had performed an operation that was custom designed just for me -- an operation that he had developed using over forty years experience as a proctologist. He called it "a work of art" and, seeing the results, I agree.

The next morning (Thursday), and for the next two days, the IV treatment was repeated at the San Deigo Clinic. On the last day, Dr, Munoz gave me prescriptions for the following regimen, which is mostly designed to stimulate an immune response to the remaining tumor mass:

I flew back to Albuquerque on Sunday, Janury 12 and will have to return to Tijuana in March for a followup visit.

I was extremely apprehensive about giving myself shots – something I've never done before. The subcutaneous ones though, are almost completely painless, except for the Eurixor which causes a welt that lasts for around five days. The intramuscular injections are another story altogether. They hurt a lot and keep on hurting for three hours or so. The fact that I am injecting 4cc doesn't help a lot either. Thankfully they are only necessary twice a week.

I recently started to have a reaction to the Benzaldehyde which has begun to give me relatively severe heartburn. Taking it with meals helps but I have had to reduce the dose by half.

01/27/02: I had to leave work early Friday because of intense flu-like symptoms – a reaction to the Eurixor. I slept for 12 out of the next 17 hours and arose Saturday feeling better than I have in over a year! Bowel function is excellent and there is no pain. I found out that the flu-like symptoms are a normal reaction to Eurixor and will try adjusting the timing of the injection from Thursday night to Friday morning. The reaction seems to take about 10 to 12 hours to manifest so I should be able to get in a full day's work. It will mess up the first part of the weekend. That's preferable to taking time off work.

I have been experimenting with the benzaldehyde dosage, letting my body tell me how much to take and when. I took the whole recommended dose today without problem.

02/08/02: I injected the Eurixor last Friday morning just before I went to work at 9 AM and the flu-like symptoms didn't come on until around 10 PM. I went to bed without setting the alarm and when I woke up nine hours later feeling good – until i gave myself the IM injection that is.

During a conversation with a customer last week, the subject drifted to health – as it often does these days – and I heard myself speaking about my cancer in the past tense! It was a real shock. The words "When I had cnacer...." just came out on their own. I know that I'm not out of the woods yet but my sense of well-being grows with each passing day and a small amount of physical exertion no longer tires me out. I have to be on constant guard because it is easy to slip back into old eating habits which include a lot of Sugar and TFAs.

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