I Had Hodgkin's Lymphoma In 1995 - Here's What Happened part 3

I started chemotherapy within a few days of being discharged from hospital where my cancer had been confirmed. It was a time of confusion having so much information pushed upon one together with getting on with the job in hand. I was told that the prognosis for Hodgkin's was good but that I would probably go on to have other problems associated with having chemo and long-term I would be at higher risk of getting diabetes (which I now have) and other assorted problems - it was a case of accepting the chemo as the lesser of the 2 evils. I just wanted to get started. I was feeling lousy is the best way to describe it. My energy levels were shot - I had to have a lie down after having a shower - and life was 'difficult'.

I was, I believe, reasonably cheerful despite it all and my wife echoed my positivity. We were fighting the disease together. The chemo started at the end of October 1995. By January 1996 we attended a review of the chemo with the consultant only to be deflated by the news that the treatment had made no headway on the cancerous cells. It was not a good time. They wanted to try a different chemo drug that would have different effects including hair loss. What else could I do but agree. I had been seeing Denis, the spiritual healer regularly for my time on chemo and trying to eat foods that would promote my body's immune system. But it hadn't, at that point, turned the tanker round.

In the bleak midwinter alright.

But there were two developments at Easter that made me sit up and notice. On TV I half caught a programme, Beyond 2000 I think it was, that had an item about the cancer killing compounds that were being studied in Shiitake mushrooms. The second item of interest was a magazine article about, again, the cancer killing properties of the drink Green Tea. These two products and the interest they genereated in me for a cancer killing diet made me want more informaton. I had a lengthy telephone conversation afterwards with a well renowned Bristol shop and was eager to know if they could give me more information but much to my annoyance they completely cut me down on the subject saying there was nothing in it, no scientific studies had been carried out so it was all bunkum! I was quite depressed with the attitude and that there just wasn't any studies going on. What was cancer research consisting of? Merely trying to find more and more potent drugs to attack the problem?

Anyway I integrated the mushrooms and green tea into my diet.

I haven't mentioned another element to the story that may have been part and parcel of the end result. Another very strange coincidence and for those who don't believe in coincidence it can't be denied that it was strange.

Prior to becoming ill I had set about trying to start a self employed business having taken redundancy after 30 years working on the railways. I had started putting ads in places. I had not received one enquiry prior to going into hospital. I had not given the business any thought whatsoever. Yet when I came home from the hospital - the same day remember the Daily Mail got me on track with a spiritual healer - there was a message from a guy, Ray Hicks (he too is no longer with us), who was interested in my doing some work for him. I had to ring him to say sorry but my circumstances had changed and I explained about my illness. He said that if I was interested I could see him anyway and he could give me electronic acupuncture treatment whilst I could work as and when I was able. And that is precisely the course of events - I had regular electronic acupuncture aimed at boosting my immune system and there were times I was glad of a little work to keep my mind occupied.

So you see there were these strands that had all come together by the Easter of 1996. In my last post on the subject I'll conclude my journey.