Doug, great story. Thanks for posting!
As it turns out, that's what my Dad was diagnosed with back in 2014. He had multiple types of cancer (SCLC and others) and went through all of the conventional stuff. At the end of their regime locally, they told him he had 3 months to live.
Dad also had a positive attitude, but more due to him being a ferocious fighter rather than simply a positive attitude. He never would have lasted through what he did without it. ...I dunno, maybe that's the same kind of attitude mentioned in the article, but it somehow doesn't sound like Dad.
Also, Dad kept us and most others out of the loop. We knew he was having chemo, but had no idea how bad it was. He kept putting off the results, but maybe that was the doctors putting [i:2794a47ace]him[/i:2794a47ace] off; I don't know. However, next thing we know, he's telling us he's going to drive to California with someone else, although he doesn't give a name. Ended up being that he drove himself, and that was the plan all along. Others he told that he would fly, and still others he said he wasn't even going to go. The total of these "others" consists of less than a dozen people, including the two of us.
Two days after arriving in Cali, his car died due to a MFG recall thing. Two days after that, he collapsed in his room, paralyzed from the waist down. He had no choice at that point but to call both me and their daughter (no, I don't have a sister....[b:2794a47ace]anymore![/b:2794a47ace]). I flew out and did what I could to keep his wishes going. It was a nightmare! Seems I spent more time trying to fight off the people screaming for him to get to MD Anderson or home than I did with him. Well, that's partially true. While I spent that last month of his life [i:2794a47ace]with[/i:2794a47ace] him, there were always too many interruptions for us to actually talk. Had to keep the phone on for doctors and the wife. Will leave it at that....gets too messy to say more.
Anyway, the doctors (and I use that term loosely!!) supposedly had this groundbreaking new technology, that I later learn they came up with decades ago, and that the cancer world doesn't want to give attention to. They also used MASSIVE amounts of radiation......from a 1950's-era radiation machine!! It looked like every desk, chair, cart, and even wheelchairs were picked up on the side of the road. The doctors were all very, VERY old....as in, why hadn't they retired yet?? And their "miracle invention"?? It was mounted on a re-purposed wall arm, and a mounting adapter made from....and I kid you not(!!), a 5" piece of 4" x 4" with a huge split and needing a new paint job!!
After he collapsed, they began treating the newly-found tumor on his spine (which caused his paralysis) with the massive doses of radiation. Unknown to anyone else, that ended up frying his esophagus to a point where his throat was collapsing. He first became unable to eat, then to drink. I believe the final part was that he was unable to breath. When the doctors at Cedars-Sinai said they could do no more, I was barely able to get him home before his body shut down. It all happened so fast that my head still spins!
I have no doubt if that story had existed back then, Dad would have found it. Maybe it would have worked. I'd bet the tumor on the spine still would have taken his legs, but he had an amazing amount of fight and determination going into that experience, even after the folks locally told him he didn't have a chance.
I've already shared Doug's story link with others who don't have cancer, but know of people who do. Thank you, Doug, for posting the link.
...And just to keep this tractor-related, I think my dad hated every tractor he ever owned. :shock: *lol*