Christian Livermore - Times Hearald Record
When Barbara Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, she followed the treatment that traditional medicine called for. She underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, then further surgery to remove 17 lymph nodes. When her surgeon told her the next step was chemotherapy and radiation, she reflected on all the pain she had endured, and the nausea, fatigue and other side effects she could look forward to with the chemo, and said, "That's enough."
With the support of a doctor at New York Medical College who was studying the immune systems of women with cancer, Sarah started researching ways to make herself well. She got acupuncture treatments, took Chinese herbs and injections of mistletoe, changed to a low-salt diet, started to exercise regularly and reduce stress — anything she thought would make her healthier.
Seventeen years later, the cancer has not returned. She can't say for sure if it was the holistic and lifestyle changes that made the difference, but she knows she feels better.Two years after her diagnosis, Sarah heard that Benedictine Hospital in Kingston was looking to hire an oncology social worker. She applied and got the job. She created an oncology support program drawn from Japanese therapy, a natural way of wellness based on Buddhist thinking.
Her ideas put her in the vanguard of an effort to give the Hudson Valley a more holistic approach to treatment, something beyond the "slash and burn" protocol of surgery and radiation that forms the basis of Western medicine.
"There's this idea that we all carry a toxic load and that we can maintain a certain level of toxins in our body, and that something switches off our ability to resist disease," Sarah said, "and it's different for everybody."
Dr. Douglas Heller, an attending physician at Benedictine and Kingston hospitals, was intrigued by the questions of patients who said they were trying less traditional treatments such as acupuncture. He began exploring other ways of treating patients, or at least of treating some of the symptoms of illnesses and the side effects of such treatments as chemotherapy. He now works with his patients to find legitimate alternative treatments.
"Western medicine is fantastic at treating illnesses, but we don't always do such a good job at prevention. Eastern medicine and Chinese medicine take a different view," he said....
So when our life is in question can we afford to accept us what dogma tells us? Could this alternative approach be a cure?
