Hopsice ... The New Beginning

This beautiful man on the right is Reggie Pierce from Episode 8 of the Radical Remission Docuseries. At various times battling kidney disease, heart disease, hepatitis C and, ultimately, liver cancer, this inspirational man's life began anew when his medical oncologist said those 6 fateful words: "We are referring you to hospice".

For some this is the beginning of the end. For others this is the beginning of their new life. You see, those words, while scary, are also incredibly liberating. At this point you figure you have nothing left to lose. It is at this point that Radical Remission survivors like Reggie respond with a resounding NO, THANK YOU !! And they begin the search to find healing in other places. Typically, patients at this point in their journey have trouble finding anyone to help them. Reggie certainly did. But, the beauty is, when Reggie found someone who was willing to work with him, his healing journey began.

Dr. Block (Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment) was willing to take on the medical challenge that Reggie presented. Utilizing a precise combination of diet, exercise, circadian rhythms (chronotherapy) and traditional interventions Dr. Block was able to lead Reggie to healing. Treating the entire body - and focusing on the host (patient) micro-environment - leads to better outcomes.

Think about this for a moment ... when someone presents to a physician with cardio vascular disease, what's the first thing the cardiologist does ?? They give the patient the speech about diet and exercise. They BEGIN with changing the host/patient micro-environment. Conversely, in the cancer world, we do the opposite. "Eat whatever you like ..." "It's most important that you don't lose any weight .." "I don't care if you eat cheesecake as long as you don't lose weight .." Cancer care is the only discipline where we DON'T immediately address the contributions of a patient's harmful lifestyle choices and actually have preservative laden snacks and sugar juices in the chemo room for their consumption. Medical Oncologists may mention as an aside that it would be good if you ate better or exercised a bit, etc. But they seldom make it clear that lifestyle changes are actually INTEGRAL to long term healing, nor do they make sure that these habits are supported in their offices.

Friends .... whatever challenges or chronic illness you face ... believe me when I say ... it's never over til it's over. Reggie found that to be true. If cancer is your challenge, seek out an integrative oncology practice. If you suffer from another chronic illness, GOOGLE! Others have gone before you ... and they light the way to wellness.

Blessings .....