Inside the oncology world

I will , forever remember our first experience with oncology/hematology ward at

The University of Chicago. By the end of that day we felt so isolated, had become completely jaded.

Before any conventional treatments, Brad had already bounced back from being choking on water to being able to eat Chicken Caesar Salad with just a few hiccups (We found a way around the hiccups.)

All of this success was from only eight days of orally consumed Cannabis oil.

I wish we had known about suppositories back then. There would have been no high.

Brad had just started a new job and had insurance so he went for an endoscopy. The image the doctor took showed a huge tumor wrapped around the esophagus, right above the stomach. The Dr referred Brad to RUSH, Chicago where they performed a biopsy of the right lung to see if the cancer in the lung was the same as in the esophagus. We stayed overnight. Brad set up an appointment with U of C oncology. RUSH had referred us to the esophageal cancer trial (PANGEA) run by Dr. Daniel Catenacci. The first appointment was set for six weeks after the biopsy to give time for the biopsies to heal before chemo treatments began.

We drove to U of C For the an appointment with a dietician, then Brad's first consultation with Dr. Catenacci. We pulled into the parking lot which charged $20. Once the ticket was dispensed then a female voice would say "Take the ticket." in a creepy, sinister, sexy tone of voice . . kinda like Sharon Stone in "Fatal Attraction". We were in high spirits, Brad had gained a lot of relief over the past two days. We hopped on the elevator to the 6th floor and noticed the weird, seductive female voice calling out each floor. The only difference was this tone of voice was enticing. We found the sign in desk. I noticed a bowl of oversized Ring Pops. That much glucose? Really? We noticed every desk on that floor had a bowl of candy. We took our seats. Lots of people coming and going. Next arrives what we called "The Creepy Cart." It was full of treats like Rice Crispy Treats with Smores (chocolate and marshmallows) on top. Every item on that cart was a glucose bomb. The folks who were pushing the carts were creepy looking people, too. God love them.

Soon, we met the oncology dietician who was a young lady. She had just had a baby. She was fairly distracted by this. We had already researched lots about diet for cancer so we were shocked to hear her say to fatten Brad up any way we could. Big baked potato with cheese, butter, cream cheese, bacon, sticky buns and ice cream. Brad and I looked at each other and said "I guess we're on our own." U of C does nothing holistic for patients seeking holistic cancer treatments. U of C is 100% conventional medicine. As far as we could see, there is no Integrative oncology care on offer.