When I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in 2008, my entire spirit crushed inside my heart. Feeling helpless and out of control, my sense of self diminished entirely. I felt completely disempowered. I was at the mercy of the team of doctors who diagnosed and delivered the news.
Cancer Is A Terrifying Thing
And an unexpected cancer diagnosis is a harrowing, life-changing discovery. The temptation to bury your head in the sand, obey every doctor’s suggestion, and simply accept the doom that has befallen you in a defeated, depressed manner is altogether too tempting. Cancer is scary–but it in no way removes your power and ability to make decisions about your treatment plan, unless you let it. I am a cancer survivor, and in order to provide you with encouragement, support, and inspiration you need to aggressively fight your own diagnosis, here is the treatment plan I wish I’d followed!
The Cancer Treatment I Chose
When I heard the doctor tell me I had breast cancer, I couldn’t believe the news. My only thought was that this couldn’t be right. I couldn’t have cancer, and the radiologists, surgeons, and other specialists all had to be wrong. However, they knew far more than me, and I knew better than to challenge their expertise.
Finding a treatment plan is necessary, I was told. So I mustered the strength to meet with doctors and hear their suggestions. Through the consultations with doctors and specialists, I was offered three choices:
- Lumpectomy which included chemotherapy, radiation, and a 25% chance of recurrence (either in the same breast, the other breast, or another part of the body).
- Single mastectomy which included radiation, and a 25% chance of recurrence (either in the same breast, other breast, or another part of the body).
- Double mastectomy, which would reduce the chance of recurrence to less than 2% and not require chemotherapy or radiation.
Like any logical person would, I chose the safest option provided with the least chance of recurrence, thus leading me into a two-year-long journey consisting of eight surgeries in 16 months for a double mastectomy with reconstruction. This was the best option among those that my doctors provided. I trusted them and didn’t seek any more advice.
The Cancer Treatment I Wish I’d Followed
A good friend of mine, also battling cancer, died while I was undergoing my treatment plan. Before she passed away, however, she talked to me about her life, her cancer, and the treatment plan she wished she had followed in order to get more years. She talked to me about how much she wished she had not allowed herself to be lead by the health community, But rather she wished she’d done more research on her own to identify more, better ways to treat her cancer. She told me she wished she’d fought her cancer in a more aggressive manner, rather than simply relying on the doctor’s suggestions and the most popular treatment methods.
Here I am, years later, cancer-free, and with a very different story than my friends, but I am wishing the same thing.
You see, when a cancer diagnosis hits you, there’s a sense of urgency to treat it. Doctors give you their recommendations and then you proceed based of their expertise, often giving little concern to any other information that might be available to you. While I in no way would ever encourage anyone to go against professional advice, I hope to encourage everyone to research first in order to properly understand their own health before undergoing serious surgeries, chemotherapies, or radiation.
When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew nothing about thermography. I was apprehensive the first time I heard of it since my doctors hadn’t mentioned it and it took no part in my treatment plan. My passion for helping other cancer patients, however, inspired me to invest 4 years of research, study, investigations, certifications, time, money, and 4 more years of running my own thermography clinic.
Thermography Would Have Given Me Insight
The result? In my 8 years of study and 4 years of practice in the field of thermography, I have undergone a complete paradigm shift in what I understand and know and what I should have done. I have learned that my original diagnosis of microcalcifications in my right breast (explained to me as “breast cancer”) were actually most likely calcifications that were the end stage of chronic inflammation and not necessarily the beginning stage of breast cancer at all.
Screening, testing, and examinations that were all available to me through mainstream medicine would have never told me that. A thermal scan would have augmented testing to reveal this information. Had I had the knowledge of thermography, undergone a thermal scan, and received this information, I likely would have achieved a different diagnosis than that which the radiologists and biopsy surgeons were giving me. With added insight, I would have been empowered to make different decisions. I am confident that had I been aggressive in my learning and research from the very start, I would have:
- Decided to do nothing from a treatment perspective
- Used thermography to track and keep tracking those calcifications
- Made lifestyle changes as recommended
- And continued to use thermography as my tool to see what those calcifications were kept at bay, diminished, or if they changed into something that was at all threatening
Only after this process would I have gone into an alternate treatment plan, if necessary. By using thermography as an adjunct to mainstream medicine, I would have had a great deal more information and, more importantly, I would have had far more power over my health.
Empower Yourself and Others with Awareness of Thermography
Keep in mind that while thermography can in no way treat your cancer and it should never be used as a replacement to mainstream medicine, but rather as an adjunct, it is an excellent tool that can clarify your understanding of your health and explain bodily abnormalities that might appear cancerous to other screenings. My lack of knowledge, fear, urgency to treat, and blind trust of mainstream medicine lead me to undergo years’ worth of surgeries when–if I’d just gotten more information and had a thermal scan–I would likely never have had to undergo. I didn’t have the knowledge at the time to say “no” to the three treatment plans provided, and since I thought they were my only options, I missed the chance that thermography could have offered me: understanding, knowledge, support, and power. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Research and learn first, then treat.
ABOUT KERRY PRESS: After 20 years climbing the corporate ladder with two fortune 100 companies, life became a whirlwind in 2008 when Kerry was diagnosed with breast cancer and was forced to make some major life changes. Kerry spent almost two years focused on fighting breast cancer, including breast removal and finding balance in a new way of life. Then, Kerry set out on a mission. In 2014 Kerry opened the first Thermal Imaging Centers clinics in the Phoenix, AZ area. After having her own battle with cancer and being in the circle of people who were “close to cancer” (on ALL DIFFERENT levels), Kerry learned of thermography and knew it as a critical tool for health and wellbeing! Kerry’s personal mission is helping others by providing FDA approved, radiation-free and PAINLESS health risk assessment screenings that aid in seeing angiogenesis via thermal emissions in the body that are indications of the early development of disease and dysfunction. Thermography is growing to be the gold standard and the preferred health risk assessment screening for EVERYONE – men, women, the elderly, and children! And Kerry Press is thrilled to be at the forefront of this change!