Whose Parade am I Raining On?

I joined two ovarian cancer groups on Facebook when I was first diagnosed. I was seeking information and the comfort knowing I wasn’t alone. And I reality, I have gotten some good information and more than my share of comfort. I am cheered when my Ca-125 numbers go down and told how cute I look in my beret. I’m encouraged to hydrate and not to google too much. But there is something to having spent a good bit of my career at academic medical institutions. I see posts about the latest treatment in Mexico or the Gorman diet or how homeopathy will cure my cancer. And I want to shout oh please! And at least once, in response to someone’s post about the “hidden secrets doctors don’t want you to know about cancer,” I did type, bullshit. And today I did it again. Someone posted about a study of 66 women who went on a Ketogenic diet and it helped their ovarian cancer. There were actually no stats or results included, but she was very excited and said she felt she “won the lottery.” I was not unkind, but I said it seemed like a very small sample. Well, this woman is Stage 4 and feel like she does not have much hope. And yes, she is likely looking for that magical cure that we all want. And I felt bad. So I responded, it’s certainly worth a try. And well, maybe it is. There is not much research going into the Ketogenic diet because no drug company makes money from it. Just like herbs. so really, who am I to say. I have acupuncture once or twice a week, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who think I’m wasting time and money. I take turmeric. I eat ginger. But I’m not going to go on an all juice diet or try to cure my cancer by starving it of sugar. But I guess I can also keep my mouth shut and my fingers off the keyboard when there’s a woman out there hoping against hope this shitty disease isn’t going to kill her.