Part II

We started the cannabinoid regimen on October 22nd, and also started both Ivermectin and Fenbendazole the following day. Whether any of this may have worked as a cure had we started earlier is impossible to say, but I can say that Jack was correct regarding the palliative effect. By November 10th I'd been able to dramatically reduce the morphine (just half a pill per day) and the Lyrica (one per day). I switched primarily to Tylenol for pain, though her reports of pain seemed to be much less as well. This could have been owing in large part to the IPC having been removed a few days prior. Her pleural effusion had become “multiloculated” so the IPC wasn’t draining anymore, and I believe the catheter was rubbing against some of the major nerve pathways.

In-home hospice care began on November 21st and on November 23rd I reported to some friends: “The CBD/THC seems to be working as Jack suggested (or it's a God thing, or God working through the circumstances which led us to Jack. It's still God anyway as He's the one who created hemp;-). There is only some noticeable pain when trying to move her, like for changing her briefs. I have only given her 1000mg of Tylenol once yesterday morning and again this morning, and she is now fully weaned off of morphine and the Lyrica. Overall she’s pretty peaceful, all things considered. Hospice will of course be providing other stuff to have on hand like Ativan, fentanyl patch, liquid morphine, but are fully supportive of our approach for now. If/when there comes a point that I can’t administer the cannabinoids in any of their delivery forms we’ll switch to the standard-of-care stuff.”

As it turned out we did not have to switch to SOC medications with one minor exception about 90 minutes prior to her last breath. Also, the fact that the delivery forms are coconut oil-based meant that my wife did not have any issues with opioid-induced constipation, and as such we did not need to administer any supplements to address this. When she was still on the morphine and Tramadol we had to add magnesium.

My wife’s passing was blessedly peaceful, in our home, with no agitation at all and almost no noticeable pain. She was in the presence of me, our two sons, and her sister. I had not needed to give my her any pain meds, or any other meds, over the last 4 days or so of her life, with the exception of .25ml of morphine with about an hour and a half left. I even cut back the cannabinoid use from once per day to once every two days. She simply slept most of the time.

I did not have an autopsy performed but I believe her death resulted directly from “cancer cachexia.” I perhaps witnessed a metabolic race of sorts, with the cancer eating away at her energy stores faster than whatever food she could take in would offset that process. It’s entirely possible (perhaps even probable, owing to what the last labs taken on October 31st showed) that the cancer stayed confined to the pleura and chest wall. There was zero indication of metastases beyond that. Perhaps the cannabinoids were creating apoptosis, just not quite enough to cure. All speculation of course. Nothing more.

This path we took may have been too little, too late from a curative perspective, or even if done sooner it may not have been curative at all. But it has deepened my conviction to hew more closely to the things the natural world can provide rather than what the medical-industrial complex wants to sell us (though not outright rejecting all of it). I think the work of Seyfried et al will eventually show this, along with more research into cannabinoids and other natural products. I also believe, as my wife did, that she already had the deck stacked against her owing to her earlier high carb diet, diabetes, hypothyroidism, loss of her appendix a couple years ago, along with the chemotherapy and hormone therapy 10 years ago.

Again, I tell this story both for some more closure and to contribute another avenue to look into for whoever might be curious. A friend suggested telling this story would be a way to pay forward some knowledge I gained from Jack, things which I may never have known about were it not for the connection through my son to his friend’s dad. If you look into that patent I mentioned above (which also encompasses some 40 or more other patents) you may find yourself believing (especially if you are of a conspiratorial bent) that these patents are held so as to limit exposure to and public knowledge of completely natural processes and products for use with cancer. My own story is full of speculation and it would be a disservice to suggest anything but a simple, “It seems worth looking into.”