In Her Own Words.…Survivor Lynn Buckley Uses CAM

by Steve Gordon

At the time of my initial breast cancer diagnosis, my life was go, go, go. I was a very competitive, aggressive person who wanted to tackle all that life threw my way. Achieve! Excel! These were my battle cries. And I had plenty to keep me going: I had Chris, my husband of nine years, and two beautiful boys––Michael, 3, and Andrew, 9 months–– who needed me. In addition to nurturing my family, I was also developing Essentials, my chain of women’s specialty clothing stores. Even though Andrew’s difficult delivery in 1994 should have been a wake up call, I kept pushing myself with work and family without taking any time for myself. I just couldn’t slow down. My wake up call came in May 1995 when I discovered a lump in my left armpit and my journey to healing began. It began on the gurney of conventional medicine, when my doctor diagnosed infiltrating carcinoma in the left breast axilla. I was 34 years old.

After four cycles of chemotherapy with cytoxan and adriamycin, my surgeon performed a lumpectomy with a wide excision in August 1995. He removed ten lymph nodes, six of which were still positive for infiltrating carcinoma–– and there was also ductile carcinoma in situ (with no clean margins) present in my left breast. This meant that I had two forms of aggressive breast cancer and as far as I was concerned, needed to pursue a course of aggressive conventional medical treatment.... So, on Halloween 1995, I was in the hospital again, this time to have a stem cell transplant, which I believed was my best hope for a long-term remission. I knew the prognosis for my type of combined cancers was not good, but I didn’t dwell on the statistics. “Statistics mean nothing,” a friend reminded me. “They’re just statistics!”

When I was released four weeks after my transplant, my blood and platelet counts were dangerously low and I soon found out I was also fighting a serious staph infection. At this point, I realized that I needed to regroup and focus. I understood that I had to prepare myself for a long battle which would include 2½ years of constant fighting to build up my blood counts with red cell and platelet transfusions....

By the way, I’m no stranger to cancer. My grandmother died of breast cancer and my uncle died of liver cancer. While I had an aggressive form of breast cancer, I didn’t dwell on this fact. I knew that in order to deal with my cancer, I had to listen to my body. I was determined to get my life back in balance.

In preparing for the transplant I had done a great deal of research. I was reading and learning and gaining as much information as I could about every aspect of treatment – not just conventional methods, but complementary methods as well.

Down deep I had always believed in the mind-body connection. CAM therapies fascinated me, partly because I sensed that exploring them would be important for my healing process–– and partly because I always had a natural curiosity and thirst to learn new things. As I poured through alternative healing books, I truly believed that some of the therapies could add years to my life. Searching for the right combination of conventional and complementary therapies is like searching for the right pieces of a puzzle, which you then have to assemble correctly. Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book prepared me for the reality of the disease and what was ahead. Carl and Stephanie Simonton’s Getting Well Again and Michael Lerner’s Choices in Healing (considered a sort of bible about CAM therapies) helped enormously in my quest for novel approaches to healing. I also listened to Deepak Chopra’s healing tapes, and watched Bill Moyers’ mind/body connection series, Healing and the Mind.

Much of my reading, viewing, and listening began to percolate into my life, giving me the purpose and strength I needed to fight my battle.... I’ve recently read Lance Armstrong’s amazing autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike! The story of this cancer survivor who has just become a five time winner of the Tour de France continues to inspire me––along with Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning with its inspirational message: “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”....

I did indeed resolve to get stronger. In 1996, I joined Stepping Stones, a bone marrow transplant support group, where I learned even more about the complementary therapies that other survivors were using to boost their immune systems and build their blood counts.

A dear friend, Lynn LaPalermo, had sent me a beautiful letter in which she told me what a strong person I was, and that I could beat the cancer. Actually, it was her letter that gave me the impetus to begin my exploration of CAM therapies. My friend encouraged me to try out a spa in Palm Springs where she did an annual cleansing. She also sent me four different supplements, among them shark cartilage and cat’s claw, to support my immune system.... I had always been very health-conscious, and ate the right things, such as fruits and veggies, but cancer made me willing to open myself to the entire spectrum of complementary and alternative supplements. I take vitamins such as selenium, E, zinc, magnesium, folic acid, B6, B12, and ginseng. And after I consulted with an herbalist, I started taking astragalus, which helps build white cells, and maitake mushrooms, which have compounds that may trigger the immune system to control the growth and spread of cancer. Sometimes I take these in tincture form because this is an optimum way to extract and deliver nutrients in a stable, soluble form.

I also listened to people–– not just medical or published authorities–– who might teach me something new. For example, when we were building the Cape Cod branch of Essentials, a construction worker at the site told me that he believed in a holistic approach to healing. He happened to be teaching a course on meditation, which I convinced my mother to take with me for four weeks. Because I am a high-energy person, meditation was hard for me at first–– but it did teach me how to relax, which has become an integral part of my healing.

I was cancer-free until January 1998, when I happened to discover a new lump in the same area of my left breast during a routine self-exam. By this time, I had learned to make the psychological leap of viewing my cancer as a chronic illness.... Finally, I had a mastectomy. Then, in March 2002, my doctor found a lesion on my liver. This time he ordered an experimental surgery called ablation. The procedure was a success, everything was clean, but I still didn’t feel right. My strength and stamina were declining. An iron panel test determined that my blood was still deficient, and a cortisol analysis indicated I had high stress, and that my body wasn’t absorbing proteins. To affect a real cure, I needed to pull out all stops. I wondered what else was out there. What else could be done?

After the lesion on my liver was discovered, I read Cancer Diagnosis: What To Do Next. It is a comprehensive guide to complementary and alternative therapies. I also stockpiled articles by Nicholas Gonzales, whom I had learned about through the Dana-Farber, and whose work seemed worth looking into. I tried both Reiki and acupuncture, which helped me deal with pain, boost my appetite, control nausea, and improve sleep. In order to promote relaxation, I did Qi Gong. I tried visualization, and would often fall asleep listening to tapes I made with my own voice and the music from Rocky. (For great info about how to make your own visualization tape, see Margie Levine’s book, Surviving Cancer. Margie’s also been one of my gurus.)

I also consulted with Diana Dyer (see recommended resources below), a nutritionist, who is herself a survivor. She taught me about smoothies made from fruits, vegetables, rice milk, flaxseed, and whey protein. I began eating a lot of tuna and salmon for the Omega-3’s, oatmeal, sliced apples, almonds, eggs and broccoli. I’ve also been walking, doing yoga and swimming in order to build muscle mass.

While I still fight my battle with the aid of conventional medicine—currently, I am getting weekly treatments of taxatere—I give much of the credit for my longevity to the complementary approaches to healing I have tried. You have to heal both your body and your mind.

For those who are newly diagnosed, I urge you to find out about your most beneficial diet before and after treatment; take vitamins and herbs; read as much as you can about your cancer; exercise and work on the mind/body connection; laugh and think positively; and most of all, seek the kind of support I was lucky enough to get from my mother, Angie, who gave up her job to live with me during the thick of my treatments and who continues to be my mainstay. Thanks, mom!

Lynn Recommends These Special CAM Resources:

• Michael Lerner’s, Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer, (MIT Press). It’s still the bible! You can read specific chapters that interest you on the web at this address: http://www.commonweal.org/pubns.html. This is an amazing service!
• Registered dietician and cancer survivor, Diana Dyer’s web site is a terrific resource. It is chock full of nutritional information for cancer patients/survivors––and a great place to find healthy recipes that are delicious, too. Go to: www.CancerRD.com. Enjoy!
• Roger Jahnke’s videotape, Qi Gong*Chi Kung: Awakening and Mastering the Medicine Within You. Learn about China’s ancient and remarkable system for cultivating life energy and self-healing. You won’t be disappointed in this treasure of a tape. See Jahnke’s site: www.healerwithin.com.
• The American Cancer Society’s Guide to Complementary & Alternative Cancer Methods. Helps consumers learn about and evaluate CAM therapies. Check out: www.cancer.org/bookstore or call 1-800-ACS-2345.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Do You Know?
Getting Started: Questions, Answers, Definitions and Some Advice...
Caregivers Corner: Nurse and Reiki Master, Pat Iyer, Is a Partner in Healing
Dr. David Rosenthal Speaks about the Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies
Chun-Han Zhu: Portrait of a Chinese Doctor
Creative Arts Are Complementary Therapies
In Her Own Words––Survivor Lynn Buckley Uses CAM Therapies
Diet & Cancer: Choosing Wisely to Live Well
Credits & Info