A little while back, I shared a story about a patient with pancreatic cancer. It has now been almost a year since she was diagnosed, and she made the decision to treat with conventional medicine in the form of chemotherapy. She also decided to supplement her treatments with acupuncture and nutritional therapy.
I worked in conjunction with her Western medical doctors while she underwent chemotherapy. I treated her twice weekly to alleviate the side effects of the chemotherapy. Between her chemotherapy sessions, I continued to treat her bi-weekly to boost her immune system and build up her energy levels so she could survive the next round of treatment. Together, we worked through a full range of symptoms as they presented along with her journey through chemotherapy infusions, including all of the following:
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Cancer Antigen 19-9 is a blood test used to track the size of a tumor in the body. Notice the decrease in cancer antigen numbers as her treatment series progressed.
| Cancer Antigen 19-9 Count | Tumor Size | Notes | |
| January 19, 2011 | 19,000 | 6.0 cm x 6.8 cm | |
| March 4, 2011 | 1,100 | ||
| May 15, 2011 | 500 | 3.0 cm x 2.5 cm | *79.4% decrease in size |
| June 21, 2011 | 9 | 1.7 cm by 2 cm | *The normal CA 19-9 Range is 35 |
| November 1, 2011 | 0.8 cm x 0.7 cm | *No metastasis according to CT scan |
This patient was not a candidate for surgical removal of the remaining cancer because the tumor directly surrounded the aortic artery. Instead, she was advised to do radiation on the remaining 0.8 cm x 0.7 cm tumor. She completed 5 rounds of chemotherapy before November 1, 2011. At that point she had a break in treatments and flew to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington to undergo the Virginia Mason Protocol which involved a combination of chemotherapy and radiation in hopes to eliminate the remaining tumor.
My goal for treatment:
Of course, my goal was to balance the graph. Right after chemotherapy her graphs were like a roller-coaster with a lot of splits, highs, and lows.
Sometimes her graphs had very low numbers because her energy level was so low after severe bouts of diarrhea which put her in the hospital.
Other times you could tell that her anxiety was extreme and that she was in a lot of pain.
My favorite graph was on November 1st 2011. Together we had worked through 5 rounds of chemotherapy–doing acupuncture twice per week. We had worked through the extreme emotions of fear, anxiety and depression; and we helped her gain back 30 pounds and boosted her energy level back to a normal range. Mostly we had given her hope and conviction to fight this next stage of her journey. We had done all we could here in Meridian, Idaho and she was ready to go on to Seattle, Washington for the final step of this battle. Together we cried as we saw her final graph.
She knew that she was strong, I knew that she was capable, and the graph proved that we were both right! She was ready to conquer this final battle.
I can’t tell you how helpful it is to be able to show the patient their improvement. When they see these reports they’re motivated to try harder, stick with the program and achieve BALANCE!
So many practitioners are uncertain about using technology in their practice. I was too…at first. Click on the image to the right and watch the demo-video!
Just another reason why I love my job…
Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.
Acupuncture Research Analyst
Miridia Technology Inc.
Dr. KImberly,
This is miraculous. This is a feat. Acugraph is a wonderful work tool. You’ve encouraged all of us. One thing I’ve seen is to study more. You’ve greatly challenged me.
Thanks a great deal.
Amazing results! Thanks for sharing. Was your treatment protocol strictly what was recommended through acugraph or did you also supplement other treatment points in accordance with her symptoms?
Dr. Bell,
I always balanced the graph, and also added points in for symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, low energy, diarrhea, edema, pain, etc.
Kimberly
well balanced graph. Are you follow-up the patient, how is the stability of the graph and symptoms, mostly this kind of chronic issue, one day the patient graph is well balanced but another day looking bad. so how you manage this type of unstable position?