| Mesothelioma, even after decades of medical | | | | What was striking about this man was, other than |
| research, is one of the most aggressive and least | | | | that he could function in the polluted environment |
| treatable of all forms of cancer. | | | | of Mexico City, was that he had unusually rosy |
| Nonetheless, a very tiny percentage of patients | | | | skin. That may or may not have anything to do |
| go into remission from mesothelioma, and I can | | | | with remission, but it was memorably. |
| report two cases, one anecdotal (but I have seen | | | | So what should I expect someone reading this |
| the films myself), and the other from the medical | | | | post to take away from my story? |
| literature. | | | | Well, it's not the only story of remission out there. |
| Dr. Demetrio Sodi-Pallares, who lived from 1913 to | | | | Others are scientifically documented. |
| 2003, was in his time considered the premier | | | | While I had great confidence in Dr. Sodi's integrity, |
| electrocardiologist in the world. A professor at | | | | and still do, a case study conducted in a free clinic |
| UCLA, Michigan, and Baylor medical schools, he | | | | built over an abandoned swimming pool in a |
| was the author of twelve books and over 300 | | | | doctor's front yard really doesn't rise to the level |
| papers in the medical journals. | | | | of scientific proof. |
| In the 1960's Dr. Sodi, as he preferred to be | | | | But it is consistent with some finding about the |
| called, was on faculty at Baylor Medical College | | | | prevention of mesothelioma I'll be writing about in |
| with the pioneer of bypass surgery, Dr. Michael | | | | a later post. If 10 servings of fruits and |
| DeBakey. Competitive with DeBakey, Sodi | | | | vegetables a day is good, by the way, that |
| perfected an alternative procedure, a "bypass to | | | | doesn't mean 20 would be better. There |
| bypass" requiring no surgery and minimal | | | | apparently is an upper limit to the usefulness of |
| medication. | | | | diet in preventing and possibly supporting |
| While bypass surgery is something everybody | | | | mesothelioma, as I'll discuss in a later post. |
| knows about all over the world, Dr. Sodi's | | | | If that were all the proof of remission to be |
| glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) infusion procedure | | | | found, I wouldn't post it. But the fact is, a |
| was only recognized as valid by the American | | | | carefully documented remission from |
| Heart Association 53 years after he developed it, | | | | mesothelioma has been documented in the |
| although it is used in 11 countries today. Dr. Sodi, | | | | medical literature. |
| of course, was encouraged to return to his native | | | | Dr. Roger K. A. Allen of the Wesley Medical |
| Mexico City at the age of 65. Dr. DeBakey is still | | | | Center in Brisbane, Australia documented the case |
| on faculty and will turn 100 on September 7, | | | | of a 61-year-old woman with mesothelioma who |
| 2008. | | | | went into remission within months, and has |
| Back in Mexico, Dr. Sodi (to his wife's | | | | stayed in remission for years. (You can find the |
| consternation) built a medical office over his | | | | full text of the publication, "Apparent Spontaneous |
| swimming pool and flower gardens and opened his | | | | Complete Regression of a Multifocal Malignant |
| doors to hopeless patients who had no money. | | | | Mesothelioma of the Pleura, here.) |
| One of his patients had mesothelioma. | | | | Dr. Allen notes that he has treated over 600 |
| Dr. Sodi had learned more or less by accident that | | | | mesothelioma patients and that there were |
| successfully treating heart disease sometimes | | | | multiple runs of the biopsy to make sure that the |
| brings about a remission from cancer. In the | | | | woman (1) had mesothelioma and (2) it went into |
| 1980's, a construction worker with mesothelioma | | | | remission without any treatment at all. |
| who was getting no relief from treatment at the | | | | By no treatment at all, Dr. Allen writes that there |
| public hospital came in, after ordering labs and | | | | was also no alternative medicine, no changes in |
| x-ray, Dr. Sodi put him on a three-tier program: | | | | diet, and no prayer--but it seems unlikely he could |
| Avoid all added salt and foods preserved with salt. | | | | really account for those variables. The Australian |
| Eat 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. | | | | patient had been in remission for five years when |
| And make sure you take a nap for 3 hours 5 | | | | the paper was published in 2007. |
| days a week, | | | | And there are also people who have had |
| The nap occurring on a pulsating magnetic | | | | mesothelioma who haven't stayed in remission, |
| mattress of the kind regularly available for back | | | | but who have lived a very long time. The Royal |
| pain treatment today. | | | | Brompton Hospital in London reports a |
| That's not the sort of regimen that's going to get | | | | mesothelioma patient who was in remission for |
| a medical school to keep you on faculty after you | | | | six years, then had to have a single tumor |
| reach age 65. It was exactly that simple. Dr. | | | | excised, and then lived another six years, twelve |
| Sodi's fee? Zero. | | | | total, and was still living at the time the paper was |
| I was a house guest of Dr. Sodi's some 15 years | | | | published. (You can read an abstract of that |
| later. He showed me the films of the shrinking and | | | | report here.) |
| then disappearing pleural effusions, and then | | | | Mesothelioma is a grave diagnosis, but it's not |
| introduced me to this and several other patients. | | | | utterly hopeless. Don't count yourself out. |