Today, mainstream media reported, just two days after the death of Peter Jennings from lung cancer, that Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, is being treated for the same dis-ease.
In healing there are four basic levels at which things operate. The four principles are, starting at the basic level, physical, mental emotional and spiritual.
Decades, when medicine was still very much an art, the emotional and spiritual planes were not so avidly avoided. This changed, I'd say, in the 70s when all medical education was moved forward (or really backward) to a cause and effect model. If you have A then you get treated with B, or maybe it should be called rote medicine. I'm not so sure about what it should be called, but I'd guess that "illness care" is a much better term.
I'm not a follower of Andy Weil mainly because I see that he gives rather superficial information to the masses, and he is in favor of fluoridation and vaccination. I don't favor giving out superficial information, nor do I support fluoridation or vaccination. I do however have one point that I share wholeheartedly with Dr. Weil and that is the belief called " placebo effect". Dr. Weil states that the placebo effect is the most underutilized tool in medicine. I agree, yet I know that it was such a strong point for doctors of days gone because it touched on the emotional and spiritual levels of care. And, it worked!
So here we have a young, grieving widow in the throws of chemotherapy, radiation and possibly surgery to treat her dis-ease.
I wonder, dear Dana, did you doctor ever take the time to mention that cancer is, at the forgotten level, a deep hurt? Did he mention that lungs speak to the issue of not being able to take life in fully?
Maybe you'll see this, maybe a friend will and will tell you about it.
For your sake I hope so.
