Gathering knowledge

I tried to get an appointment with Peter d'Adamo or his colleague,Ginger Nash, at the 'center for personalized medicine'. They are very booked up and I will have to wait for another visit to the States to do that. They deal with nutrition and supplements to suit your blood profile. It seems interesting and of value so I will go back to his book on this subject and try and see if I can incorporate some of the principles in my eating habbits.


I then tried to get an appointment at the Boyd Center with Dr Barry Boyd who was recommended to me by a doctor friend as a great integrative practitioner. Dr Boyd is an oncologist who has a more integrative approach. He was also busy but his assistant did manage to get me in this morning. So my dear sister in law drove Alex and I to Greenwich for this appointment.


I felt somewhat disappointed at this meeting...maybe because I was expecting a lot (lesson no 1 !). But also because in the end cancer is not a precise science and there is no one who will tell you what exactly to do to banish reoccurrance. It is all about statistics in a rather elementary way...by this I mean that statistics about human beings are for me very suspect by the virtue of the fact that it is so hard to take all factors into account and draw conclusions that are truly accurate. It is a little like testing an individual drug for safety levels in laboratory conditions and then extrapolating into real life when any individual may be taking several different drugs as well as eat different things and be exposed to different environments...etc.,...


However, on second thoughts, the meeting was interesting in that I did learn some things. Firstly that I should ask for a test called "Oncotype DX"test to be done on my sample of tumour tissue. This test looks at 21 genes within the tumour sample to see how active they are. It further enables the oncologist to understand the specific biology of the cancer and hence tailor make the therapies recommended. Secondly that from all the different things that one can do to improve one's chances of survival , activity takes the highest place in lifestyle domain and adequate vitamin D takes the highest place amongst supplements. This according to latest research not as yet proven because of the years of trials needed to get there but believed amongst the savvy. Anyhow I have come away convinced that I should incorporate an hour of exercise such as walking/swimming/qi gong/yoga into my daily life. This will be in 'plein air' so that the vit D situation will also be addressed. I kind of think I do that ...but in reality I'm always skimping ...so no more skimping. Btw my vit D levels are very good thanks to my outdoorsy life in Monaco! 


Alex left for LA this afternoon. And I miss him very much. It has been so lovely to have him by my side and to feel safe in his care. I have to stand on my own now!! I shall miss his company and his gentle and efficient ways.


Off to bed now as Nico is telling me off for staying up late.


sima