I had lunch with an old colleague last week who told me that one of her dear friends had recently been re-diagnosed with breast cancer and instead of following conventional medicinal approaches to treating the disease, she was attempting 100% holistic care.

Her friend was already a survivor — having had breast cancer years before, going through 6 (of her 10) rounds of chemotherapy and having a double mastectomy. She felt invigorated after stopping the drugs, was free of cancer and went on to live her life. Once the cancer came back, it spread dramatically. Instead of going back to the doctors and revising the chemotherapy that she dreaded in the past, she has now turned towards the Eastern medicine approach and forgetting all Western advancements in combating the disease.

I’m sure that this is a heated topic for many breast cancer patients and their families. Which treatment is the right treatment? Which treatment will be better for the patient? Is this something we should leave up to chance?

Read the rest of this entry »