6 minute read
Unqualified Opinions
STEPHANIE MCKEITH
Deep in the throes of my studies to become a physical therapist, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. His oncology team wrote up a recipe for chemotherapy and radiation and they told him surgery wasn’t a good idea but if he really wanted it, they’d consider exploring the possibility of it. When my dad asked what his other options were, his pulmonary oncologist told him he had no other options. I was baffled, shocked and to be honest, I was disgusted. I am not a doctor and that was my first intimate experience with cancer, but it made no sense to me how someone with such an extensive education could tell a sick patient there are no treatment options other than what was inevitably going to make him sicker. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around that logic and refused to believe there were no other choices for therapy.
Not sure of what else to do and completely oblivious to what treatment alternatives existed at that time, my dad went ahead with the doctors’ recommendations. Although we’ve seen many times before what chemo and radiation do to people and how it strips life away, it was just as scary to do anything else. So, while he put on smile and prepared to tough out the barbaric chemicals, I dove into researching what could possibly help him heal and alleviate some of the side effects from the toxic compounds he was going to endure. Thankfully, he agreed to integrate anything that my mom or I thought would help support him to not only get better but to feel better as well. He was very clear that there would be one caveat to his cooperation; that I get him some of that “funny stuff” people smoke that makes their cancer go away.
I looked at him with a side eye stare and slight suspicion of what he meant by “funny stuff” and without hesitation I asked him if he meant weed. Before he even had the opportunity to respond, I accused him of just wanting to get high! It aggravated me that he would want to get stoned at a time like this. Drugs, really? He had cancer and all he could think about was sitting on the couch laughing without a care in the world. It made me so mad and my mind swirled with all kinds of backlash to toss his way.
Before I could get a word of my lecture loaded, the very next thing he expressed will stick with me forever. He looked right into my eyeballs and said, “I have cancer and the doctors are telling me I have six months to live. So what if I want to laugh and be happy?” Ugh, gut punch! That changed me forever and I began my study into cannabis and cancer that very same day. The more time I invested into learning about this herb, the more frustrated I became. In endless medical journals, the proof that cannabis had a place in medicine was abundant. It was assisting in the healing process of cancer, reducing seizures, combatting inflammation, regulating sleep cycles, relieving aches and pains, soothing gastrointestinal discomfort, helping people calm down from the anxiousness stress causes, and the list went on. With every article I read, I found myself thinking: why isn’t this a regular discussion with every cancer patient? Why aren’t all doctors talking to their sick or suffering patients about this?
I quickly learned that the opinion I formed about cannabis was not my own but one that was programmed into me from a young age. I had no evidence to support the judgement I spewed for a topic I obviously knew nothing about. The guilt for being so judgmental about something I had no supportive evidence to judge settled in quickly.
Good thing it’s okay to learn better and do better as you grow into a wiser version of yourself! I not only changed my field of study, but my entire lifestyle was adjusted by the mounds of information I was uncovering. At the time however, it was nearly impossible to find doctors that worked with cannabis. It was still federally illegal so obtaining it was very difficult and locating a specialist to guide us on dosage and methods of use was non-existent. We were on our own to figure out how all that went.
Sadly, the years that piled up by the time I felt confident in my education and experience to guide my dad in utilizing cannabis as an actual therapy. I was too late in my ability to help him incorporate the plant oil into his regimen. The damage from the conventional treatment caused his lungs to fail and we lost him to adverse reactions of treatment.
Thinking I had failed and wasted years studying cannabis as medicine, my sister was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. Cannabis became a significant therapeutic player in her recovery and maintaining her cancer free status to the date of this article! I have counseled thousands of people through their own journey with this plant medicine, including many at cancer clinics and in other countries.
One clinic in particular, Hope4Cancer in Mexico, is a favorite of mine. After working with their staff to assist in counseling their patients with the addition of cannabis into healing protocols, the founder, Dr. Tony Jimenez, requested I write a book.
His desire was to have an informative guide that could be shared with staff and patients alike. We are decades deep into the understanding that cannabis isn’t helpful to health at random. There is an entire system within each of us that interacts with the constituents of the cannabis plant yet is not taught in standard medical curriculum. It’s frustrating to doctors with a functional approach to health vs strictly pharmaceutical because they are limited in knowledge unless they devote the time to educate themselves about this very complex and intricate system.
I redeemed myself from the judgement and slang I once tossed around and have found my position towards ending stigmas about things I know nothing about.
Stephanie McKeith has spent her entire adult life being challenged by life changing stigmatized situations. It embedded a deep desire in her soul to help others escape their own hell on earth. She started a grassroots project, http://www.endingstigmas.com to share stories and resources so others aren’t left to feel lost or suffer in silence. Stephanie is the author of Cannibis Compass, Finding Direction in Your Endocannabinoid System.
