Terminal Illness

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Terminal Illness

 

TEN WAYS TO BEAT THE REAPER

" It ain't over till its over. " (Yogi Berra)

 

All terminal patients need to be reminded that while

there is life, there is more than hope alone. Namely:

 

 

1. A condition may be serious, and generally

considered fatal by expert medical opinion. Well,

expert opinion has been wrong before this. Dewey did

not defeat Truman.

 

2. You risk nothing when you acknowledge desperation.

Health practitioners often hide from patients when

they think nothing more can be done. Too bad, because

desperate patients work harder. Harness that will to

live and go for it.

 

3. Read Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra

(Harmony Books, New York, 1993) for encouragement.

 

4. Death is to be denied, fought and beaten for as

long as possible. There is too much talk about

" preparing for death, " " putting affairs in order " and

" accepting death as a fact of life. " You can if you

want, but I will never negotiate with death. Death is

described as the " last enemy " in the Bible. We're all

going to go, but we certainly don't have to go

quietly. Life may be fatal to everyone, but it

doesn't have to be today and it doesn't have to be

you. Don't wait until you hear the rattle of death;

duck and run for it now. Is this an attitude of

" denying " death? Not really. In Africa, we did not

deny the existence of lions by avoiding them. Keep

fighting, and don't worry about hurting death's

feelings by doing it.

 

5. Medical doctors generally fight disease with one

hand tied behind their backs. This is because they

arrogantly assume that if they don't know it, it isn't

knowable or worth knowing. Baloney. Aggressive use

of vitamins and radical diet revision DO have their

place in the science of therapeutics. Besides, if

someone is going to die anyway, what have they got

to lose?

 

6. Body saturation of Vitamin C is indicated by

diarrhea. Saturation of carotene is indicated by

orange skin. Saturation of niacin is indicated by

flushing. In order, these are the benchmarks of

maximum use of the most powerful antibiotic-antiviral,

cancer/heart disease preventer, and mind-calmer in

nature. If you are really sick, and still haven't

tried these, then you haven't lived yet. If you are

breathing, you haven't died yet.

 

7. Practitioners, here are four steps to harnessing

the life force even in grave cases.

 

A. LISTEN to the patient; they will tell you more

than technology ever can. Patients will tell you why

they are sick, and it is as likely to be from misery

as from microbes. Don't forget stress reduction

training, counseling, clergy, hugs.

 

B. KNOW about nutrition and vitamin therapies and

ALL possible options. Never say never, and do your

homework. Were he a physician, Will Rogers might have

said " All I know is what I read in the journals. " Get

your nose out of JAMA and read other journals, such as

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Journal of

Orthomolecular Medicine. Doctor, if you are too busy

to seriously investigate alternatives, then you are

too busy. Send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope

and I'll send you a free one-page list of the very

best health reading you'll ever do.

 

C. Access your patient and COMMUNICATE knowledge,

one adult to another. Provide your references and

give homework. As you did yours, the patient should

do theirs. It only takes half a minute to provide a

patient with an alternative medicine reading list and

the suggestion, " Take vitamins, become a vegetarian,

get and use a juicer, and load up on Vitamin C. " I'm

NOT saying that this is a sure cure but rather that it

is a very potent and very low risk additional measure.

 

 

D. MOTIVATE and stimulate the patient to want to try

all possible healing approaches. We do not trivialize

medicine nor do we guarantee miracles when we urge

alternatives. Doctors and patients alike must do

everything possible to get well. Every physician is

duty bound to offer ALL options " for the good of the

patient, to the best of my ability. " Your ability

includes offering encouragement. Build a fire and fan

it.

 

8. For a terminal patient, any improvement at all is

cause for celebration. Slowing the rate of decline

is improvement. Stabilization is better. Some

recovery is better still. Cure is, of course, the

best. Improved length of life is a major goal, but

improved quality of life is the most important of

all.

 

9. The only thing good about yesterday's obituary

column is that you weren't in it, and the proof is

that you are reading this today. The people that

didn't make it have no bearing on you. Will Rogers

was once told that parachutes in airplanes would

probably only save one person per crash. He answered,

" But wouldn't he be just tickled! "

 

10. I have worked with the dying, and have come into

intensive care units to find beds empty that

yesterday contained a friend. Sometimes it was

because he'd died during the night. Sometimes it

was because she went home well. No one, but no one,

knows how long they have to live, whether sick or

not.

 

Copyright C 1999 and prior years Andrew W. Saul.

From the books QUACK DOCTOR and PAPERBACK CLINIC,

available from Dr. Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren

Street, Holley, New York 14470.