The Fall and Rise of The Doogan (and a request for help)

[ViN]

Keep the faith, remain strong and, drive to relieve the stress

[SliM3]

Damn Doog, enjoy reading your introspective-like posts but this one's quite somber! Keep your head up My Doog! Praying for you and the fam!

[TheDoogan]

Hello Comrades!

I really appreciate all the kind sentiment and well-wishes here.

Just a quick update:

1) Most importantly, my Super Sprint 63.5mm stepped headers, section 1, and section 2 all ship in 3 days.



2) I had my car sent to the shop before I even returned from the hospital. I knew I'd be tempted to drive it, and I'd keep setting my left-femur fracture backward running that clutch. I haven't seen the car since when the medics carried me by it from the guy's porch steps that I fell on. But I think that when it's ready (parts will arrive on April 5; he'll probably take a week with it)... I could be ready to drive.

Well, the medical stuff

3) I worked a HARD core ketosis (<15g carbs, <55g protein) and fasting (5 days without eating at a time) strategy from around Feb 20th through yesterday - one month. I had my first cancer marker blood draws on Wednesday and I got the results on Friday.

The results: a statistically insignificant change! Essentially: it didn't grow. To me, that says... my immune system is catching up and reaching an equilibrium. (Obviously, there are other possibilities, but the PA *was* surprised to see no change in almost 60 days.)

4) With a baseline of data, I want to try something else now. I've had a hunch from the beginning that being in Ketosis doesn't actually KILL cancer; that it only (hopefully) slows and weakens it. This is just a hunch based on what I've been able to learn. Same thing with Fasting: I doubt you can lead these stem cells to death in only 5 days without food (or even 15, but I'm not that desperate yet).


Now it's far too early to say "I've got the cancer under control." This is only the second marker reading. But still, I feel called to shift my strategy to go on an "active killing" effort.

So today I left ketosis, and I'm beginning an INTENSE juicing regimen, with nut and kale salads (and a strategic blend of olive/flax/safflower oil dressing) on either side to keep up with caloric needs. 64 ounces of juice produced from 5lbs of a mixture of kale, spinach, collard greens, celery, carrots, beets, lemon, ginger and garlic.

I'm going to try this intensely for 2 weeks and then get another blood draw. If it appears that I'm only feeding a strong cancer with vegetable sugars, I'll go back to ketosis and fasting and see if I can re-stablize. But my HOPE is that a weakened cancer will fight to absorb these sugars, which will hopefully deliver their powerful cancer-killing energies (while also boosting my own immune system).

I've never considered myself even remotely a vegetarian, but now I realize that's what I'll be doing for the interim.

Time will tell. Either way, I'm hoping to keep getting blood draws every two weeks to keep a baseline going.

(I'm also planning to take all this data to an appointment I've schedule for mid May to the Mayo Clinic of Rochester MN for a second opinion. 20% to hear their opinions of my data spread.... 80% because it'll be an epic road trip in the M, and there's a Shrine to Mary, our Lady of Snows in norther Wisconsin I can hit before returning home via the upper peninsula of Michigan. MMmmmmmmmm. Now if only my wife could go! But it ain't gunna happen with the 4 little ones and the 1 year old.)



LASTLY. If you guys and the moderators can tolerate some religious sharing.

I do want to share something with you guys. This happened to me the night of my diagnosis. I still weep when I tell this story out loud.

When I was operated on, they said "you either have stage 4 bone cancer that is very advanced, OR a blood cancer - many of which are treatable." And within a couple days, they ruled out bone cancer! I was pretty confident leaving the hospital, then.

But the evening after I returned, I was sitting with my wife and her dad when my phone rang: it was the oncologist telling me that the diagnosis was multiple myeloma, a blood cancer for which there is no cure. She said chemo can prolong life expectancy but that we'd talk more about it at our next appointment.

It was a gut punch. But nothing prepared me for the horror of what I discovered when I went googling like crazy the moment all the guests left and my family went upstairs to bed. I lay in my living room hospital bed in this gorgeous house we just finished building, reading the most ghastly things about low 3 year survival odds and the horrifying death this type of cancer leads to. I was plagued with darkness over what my kids would have to watch, knowing that it would be so miserable that they'd probably be glad when that day finally came that I was rolled out of here.

I could barely get to sleep. It was a fitful night. I saw every hour on the clock and the darkness was palpable. No anger or bitterness, just a deep, crushing sadness - mourning for myself, my wife, my kids.

At 5am, I threw in the towel on sleep. I wanted only a distraction, and so I pulled up Wiki and searched for something related to WW2 aircraft. At least I could try to take my mind off it. After a few minutes, I said: "You bone head. PRAY. Prayer always helps. Just pray."

So I set my phone down and picked up my Rosary. I felt for the opening beads, and began a prayer.

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I am- "

Guys, i kid you not: in that moment Jesus appeared in front of me. It was like a hologram. Yeah, I realize this is going to sound asinine and insane - but I can tell you... it happened.

For about 2 or 3 seconds, nothing happened. I was looking at a blurry red-robed figure of a man- I could not see any detail of his face except to gauge his expression. I then realized he was standing in front of what looked like a Google search result page, but it too was blury. The moment the whole picture became understandable in my head (the moment I realized what on earth I was seeing), I knew it was Jesus and I was stunned silent with awe. At that moment he began to speak. He said:

"Pat, I saw how discouraged you were last night and I HATE that."

He said this with such intensity that I felt a sudden shock of fear. But then his voice softened a bit and he said:

"But it almost serves you right for going to the tree of knowledge rather than coming to me."

He then turned slightly and motioned behind him to the blurry screen. He said:

"Who is the master of all these things? Why would you look to see what has happened in other people's lives to find out what I'm going to do in your life?"

He then turned back toward me and he said:

"I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS. And from now on, you come to me."


Ever since that night, I've had a baseline level of peace and confidence. I still am aware that anything could happen, but... well: anything can happen!

I've had two other shocks like this in prayer, but I've never SEEN anything before. The other two were deeply moving to me at the time, but compared to this they were such small matters.

Anyway - yes, if I read some guy on the internet saying all this, I'd think... confirmation bias, delusion, mind saying what he needed to hear to maintain sanity, or 'he fell back asleep and dreamed it.' All I can say is: the memory of it is as real to me as any other, and I think about those words every day. (Plus, I'm telling pretty much everyone, hahah). I have a lot of prayer time each day, but during the day when I pray in an un-structured way, I've simply been meditating on that: "Lord Jesus, YOU are the master of all things. And from now on, I come to you."

That story was for what it's worth: and may God bless you boys.

I'll update you either:

a) When I first get to drive.

or b) Upon my next blood scan results.

Wish me luck.. keep those prayers coming if you can spare them... and WOLF, thank you for the link!

Peace be with you all,

-DGN

[bigjae46]

Best wishes and pray for a speedy recovery!

[eacmen]

You can beat this! Keep us updated. You’ll be in our thoughts and prayers brother!

[James31]

Prayers for you. I’m in your corner brother and I know you can beat this. Thank you for the update. Not gonna lie, I’ve been looking forward to it.

[umichchris]

sending all positive vibes your way man. i hope you have a speedy recovery!

[mrgizmo04]

You are going to crush it!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[WOLFN8TR]

Your welcome Doog. Stay positive and the prayers are inbound daily. 🙂

[turbosig]

Thinking of you and your family. Be strong and stay persistent. Much love.

[eacmen]

Bump. Hope all is well brother.

[TheDoogan]

EAC, that is good timing

Well men, today I picked up my M3. It has been at my mechanic friend's this entire time. Alas, though I was able to bring the black beauty home, the gear changes required to travel the 20 miles (even with 15 of them freeway) were still a little much for my leg. I am sitting with my foot elevated and the ball-joint area of my left hip is "active", as I say.

Three quick updates:

#1) The M3 is far better than I remember it. What a gorgeous machine. I've been driving our Land Rover for the past couple months, and while my leg appreciates how boring the SUV is, the M3 is unreal. I have missed it.

#2) The Super Sprint stepped headers + sect 1 + resonated sect 2 + street section 3 is ......... glorious. I had active autowerks headers before, and it's an ENTIRELY different sound.

It would not be possible to convey the following two points accurately: a) How DIFFERENT the sound is from what I had before. And b) How much BETTER it sounds.

This is now the car I've always wanted. It sounds perfect through the entire tach. I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. It's not just the tach / engine speed; it's the engine loading. And it sounded so perfect. I want to go out there and listen to it more.

#3) I have had one more blood draw since I last posted, and my numbers were almost exactly the same. That's a 3-month flat line. I view that as very good news! Time will tell. I am hitting things very hard still.

[NOTE: I say 'flat line' and 'statistically insignificant changes', but here are the exact numbers. From the day of my initial biopsy to the 46th day, which included 29 days of hard core keto and fasting, my cancer increased 8%. From the 46th day to the 75th day, which was hard core vegitarian / raw diet, my cancer went down 2% (6% higher than at the time of discovery). Research shows that these changes really are insignificant changes (I will begin worrying when the numbers are 300% higher than when it was discovered, unless I have other serious bone issues develop).

A couple points:

> I developed "life threatening blood clots" in April in my surgical-side leg. That was a wild ride that helped me to keep the cancer in perspective. Being told you have 50% odds to make it 3 years seems a lot less of a bummer when you might die instantly any minute! Hahah. (They put me on blood thinners, but cautioned me that if the clot broke loose, it could be fatal). That only lasted for about two weeks: I used a natural product called Serracor NK to dissolve those cloths almost totally in 2 weeks; the doctors had never seen clots dissolve so fast; they expected it to take 3-6 months to dissovle. (One of them was the biggest clot they'd ever seen in that office).

> I learned that you do not want to juice too many high-oxalate vegetables; namely Spinach, Chard, and Beets. Almonds are also high oxalate. Too many oxalates in your diet long-term can cause kidney stones in some people... but extremely high oxalates in the short term can literally destroy your kidneys in as few as six weeks. 5 weeks into my juicing regimen my kidneys began hurting. It was a close call and I was blessed to get the warning and find this out via research. I halted all juice and hit clear water hard for 5 days and the pain went away. Now I'm juicing only carrots, kale, celery, ginger, and lemons. I'll ease back into spinach, chard and beets eventually: they're damn good for you (that is; they're evidently powerful anti-cancer vegetables).

Alright my friends, I'll continue keeping you posted.

Right now, I have zero doctor appointments on the books. I just do not like to have them hanging over my head. I am going to go full steam on my diet and natural regimens and just monitor how I feel *until June 1st*. Then I'll go to a private clinic for my next blood draw to check my markers.

Thanks for caring; for reading my story. I'll keep you guys updated, and may peace please be with you. If you can afford it.... get that super sprint exhaust!

DGN

[Sharocks]

Great update Doog, glad to hear you're fighting and doing better!

Keep us updated and enjoy the M3!

[Kdubski]

Doog, you have any updates for us?

[maw1124]

Hello Comrades!

I really appreciate all the kind sentiment and well-wishes here.

LASTLY. If you guys and the moderators can tolerate some religious sharing.

At that moment he began to speak. He said:

"Pat, I saw how discouraged you were last night and I HATE that."

He said this with such intensity that I felt a sudden shock of fear. But then his voice softened a bit and he said:

"But it almost serves you right for going to the tree of knowledge rather than coming to me."

He then turned slightly and motioned behind him to the blurry screen. He said:

"Who is the master of all these things? Why would you look to see what has happened in other people's lives to find out what I'm going to do in your life?"

He then turned back toward me and he said:

"I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS. And from now on, you come to me."


Ever since that night, I've had a baseline level of peace and confidence. I still am aware that anything could happen, but... well: anything can happen!

, I've simply been meditating on that: "Lord Jesus, YOU are the master of all things. And from now on, I come to you."

That story was for what it's worth: and may God bless you boys.


-DGN

Thank you for your testimony @thedoogan!! Yes, He is the master of all things! May His Peace (that passes all understanding) continue to dwell with you.

Be well,

maw