Recycling our health

An article recently came out about how researchers from a ‘green’ chemistry center have found a way to recover a chemical called polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA).  It is a compound that is used in the television industry and is a key element of television sets with liquid crystal display (LCD) technology.  These green conscious scientists are worried about the heavy burden of having to manage all of the potential waste of thrown out television sets by just burying it in landfills, so they have now devised a way to recover and reuse it by putting it into our medical system.  It would now be used for things such as “transforming it into a substance suitable for use in tissue scaffolds which help parts of the body regenerate. They can also be used in pills and dressings that are designed to deliver drugs to particular parts of the body.”  Interesting.  I decided to take a peek at the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on  PVA and here is what I found relating to human exposure to this chemical:

Skin: May cause skin irritation.
Eyes: May cause eye irritation.
Ingestion: May cause gastrointestinal (digestive) tract irritation. May affect behavior/central nervous system (symptoms may include general depressed activity, altered sleep time, muscle weakness). May also affect blood and metabolism.
Inhalation: May cause respiratory tract irritation.
Chronic Potential Health Effects: Inhalation or ingestion for prolonged period of time may affect blood and metabolism, and behavior.

It is unbelievable that scientists cannot understand why disease rates, such as cancer, are sky rocketing.  Really?  Is our society so focused on going green that we have lost our ability to look beyond the trend and use our heads to see what the repercussions of going green may be?  In many cases, such as this, going green creates risks that outweigh the benefits.  We are now recycling, which is a major component of the going green movement, a carcinogenic chemical into something that will be put into our bodies and will most definitely take a toll on our health.

The irony is this:  What’s the point of  going green to create a healthy living environment for the future, when walking down this path may ruin the health of those who will be living in it?

Livin’ on a prayer….and DMSO

First, you should know that I give the glory to God for answered prayers.  I am so thankful for every single prayer that has been lifted up upon my behalf.  I’m thankful for the 156 members that signed up almost immediately for the Facebook group that was created to pray for my upcoming scans.  I’m thankful for the endless amount of emails, cards, phone calls and people that tell me that their bible study, etc. is praying for me.  More than anything in my treatment plan, I believe that prayer is the most important and the most effective.  I’m so fortunate that I was raised in a family that believes that we serve a God that can heal and answer prayer.  I take so much comfort and hope in that.

With all that said, I think that DMSO is proving it’s importance, as well.  By the time of my last scan, I had been on chemo for 3 months and it didn’t seem to be working because the tumor was still growing.  We’ll never know for sure, but with the addition of more frequent DMSO treatment since my last scan in May, my tumor is now stable and is not showing any sugar uptake on my PET scan.  What this means is that the tumor has not grown since May and it is presenting as a completely low grade tumor.  In the area of tumor growth on my scans in February and May, that area was up-taking sugar faster than the brain cells surrounding it.  This indicates active cancer cells, which was confirmed by the tumor growth.  We are now in a similar situation to last summer after going to Oklahoma.  The tumor was presenting as a high grade tumor before starting the natural treatment and then was low grade after doing a couple rounds of the treatment.  I was doing fairly high doses of DMSO at that time, as well.  This is amazing news!  If there was growth on this scan, I would’ve had to make the agonizing decision of whether or not to do radiation.  I can’t put into words the relief of not having to do this.

At this point we’re going to just keep on doing what we’ve been doing.  The fact that the DMSO seems to be doing the trick is a bit bitter-sweet.  It’s a bummer having to deal with the odor, but I guess it’s better to be around and smell a bit, than to not be around at all, eh?

We’re still waiting to hear from UCLA and will probably make a decision of the next scan date based on their recommendation, but for now we’re just going to bask in my scan results.  Thank you, again, for all the ways you are showing us your love and for your prayers.  We are blessed.