and others interested, I have added photos to the Photos Section.

[Guest guest]

Be forewarned: The first two photos are startling, and may be

frightening and/or disgusting to some members.

Even though that may be the case for some, I believe the posting of

all 5 photos is of much value to members because:

most importantly, they show that at least some mainstream treatment---

Rituxan, in this case---can work wonders.

secondly, they may possibly be illustrative of how rebounding aided

the tumor shrinkage that resulted from the Rituxan.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that I add the fact that when the tumor became

so very large, and when nothing natural I was doing appeared to be

affecting it in the slightest, that my wife and I prayed that God

would grant us a miracle, and it certainly appears God did! ;+))

As to why I allowed the tumor to get so large without trying anything

mainstream to try to shrink it, and also why I finally did get

mainstream treatment, here are my reasons:

1) This is a low-grade, follicular Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma tumor, and

as such it is VERY different than a sarcoma or a carcinoma, in that

such a tumor generally does NOT eat into and destroy surrounding

tissues, AND does NOT metastasize via the blood to other areas of the

body. In fact, had this been a sarcoma or carcinoma, I never could

have allowed it to get this big, because long before this, it would

have caused so much destruction.

2) I had an appointment to see about getting Proton Treatment to

destroy the tumor, but could not be seen for 2-3 months, during which

time the tumor kept on growing. (Anyone interested, do a search under

proton treatment to see what it is. In short, it is a " milder " form

of radiation.)

3) The tumor had become MDR(multi-drug resistant)years ago, so there

was very little chance any chemotherapy drug I could take would

shrink the tumor significantly.

4) I kept hoping some supplement or some alternative treatment would

kick in and that the tumor would at least stop growing, if not start

to shrink. But every day when I woke up I could see that the tumor

had enlarged. It was growing that quickly/that inexorably.

5) I tried to wait till I could get proton treatment, but finally the

doctor who administered the proton treatment told me the tumor had

gotten too large for me to be considered for proton treatment, and he

said I should just get regular radiation. I told him I was very

concerned about the radiation destroying my salivary glands, my vocal

chords, my sense of taste and smell, and possibly my hearing. I also

was concerned about being badly burnt by the radiation, and about the

possibility of never being able to properly open and close my mouth

again. From the research I'd done on radiation, all of those appeared

to be real possible effects from radiation to that area of my head

and neck. The doctor simply said, " You're past thinking about that;

You need to get that thing treated! "

Thank God I finally realized I could get Rituxan treatment instead of

radiation! Thank God I had the ONE type of cancer--- " B-cell lymphoma

with CD-20 antigen attached " ---Rituxan was made for!

I had already had Rituxan treatment about a year-and-a-half ago, when

the tumor had enlarged for stress-related reasons. But at that time,

the Rituxan had only shrunk the tumor about 1/2 a centimeter. It HAD

caused it to stop growing, though, which was IMPORTANT because that

allowed the alternative treatment I was doing to kick in and start

working to shrink the tumor.

This second time I got Rituxan treatment,(I need to say here that

UNlike with chemotherapy, lymphoma does NOT develop resistance to

Rituxan), I had no idea how effective it would be. I would have been

thankful if the Rituxan had just shrunk the tumor a little and had

caused it to stop growing. But as you can see, the shrinkage was

phenomenal!

Rituxan is NOT chemotherapy. It is " MONOCLONAL antibody treatment. "

It is not a cellular poison; it is not toxic to cancer or to healthy

cells, so there is no hair loss, no nausea, no general neutropenia

(though it does cause both cancerous and non-cancerous B-cells of the

immune system to be destroyed and then allow the healthy ones to grow

back about 6-9 months later), no mouth sores, dry skin, etc, that one

gets with chemotherapy. Rituxan is a protein, however, so there can

be a reaction, especially from the first dose, with resultant hives,

fever and chills. But those can almost always be quelled with

benadryl or with mild hydrocortisone. There are a very few people who

have had severe reactions to Rituxan, but if I have a choice between

radiation, chemotherapy and Rituxan, I'll take the Rituxan every time!

Today no one who looks at me would ever know I had a very large

tumor, or any tumor at all, in my jaw and neck. It's my hope now that

by staying close to the Lord, by keeping up my regimen of rebounding,

juicing, eating largely raw, taking supplements, getting sufficient

sleep and avoiding unnecessary stress, that the tumor will shrink

further, or that at least it will never start growing again.

It appears that with the success of Rituxan, researchers are looking

for more antibody treatments for other cancers. They are also working

on " personal vaccines " that are made from a particular person's tumor

tissue. There is also significant work being done

on " antiangiogenesis " drugs---drugs that will cut off the blood

supply to tumors.

All of those kinds of treatments, it is hoped, will be less toxic and

more effective than chemotherapy and radiation. BUT if more, LOTS

more, is not done to educate the public about HOW TO AVOID being dx'd

with cancer in the first place, then I do not see a whole lot of

sense in all of this work to find cancer cures.