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Excerpt from Cell-Level Healing, by Joyce Whiteley Hawkes, PhD
Most of us, at some unexpected and unwelcome time, will require medication that we would rather not need to take. From a strong anti-inflammatory for plantar fasciitis to prednisone for bee stings to chemotherapy for cancer treatment, the arsenal of strong medicines developed by modern science can frighten the formerly healthy. The need for pharmaceutical drugs is particularly challenging for those of us who eat organic foods and drink water as free of pollutants and contaminant chemicals as possible. We look for alternatives to allopathic medicines.
The sense of failure haunts a formerly well person: “What did I do wrong? How can I correct my thoughts or actions to make this go away?” Every pill or intravenous treatment becomes a reminder of the disappointment in oneself, in one’s associates, or in God. Worse than a reminder, many people fight medication with moments of anger and resentment, even while swallowing the prescription. Evelyn’s situation is a good example:
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Evelyn had been healthy all her life. Robustly healthy! How could the diagnosis of ovarian cancer possibly be true when she felt good, looked great, and was embarking on such a wonderful time in her life of companionship, travel, and retirement ease? The confusion around her made accepting the diagnosis even more difficult. Not until surgery revealed masses of inoperable tumors metastasized throughout her abdomen and in her bones did she really believe the doctor’s words. Deciding to accept chemotherapy was another hurdle of immense proportion, and she nearly refused. When I was called to her bedside, she was slowly coming back to herself after surgery, but she was in the throes of making that important decision about chemotherapy.
How did we get to the place of considering the best of allopathic medicine to be bad for us? Certainly there are the horror stories of misdiagnoses, of medicines that had harmful effects, of the wrong solution being put in a patient’s intravenous. These errors are highlighted, but the thousands of good treatments are not mentioned. Clearly, we all need advocates, questions, and caution about any treatment.
Evelyn had completed her “homework” on the various issues related to having cancer, yet she anguished over taking chemotherapy and the other medications necessary to make her more comfortable or prevent nausea. Our discussions focused on the scary stories stuck in her mind that continued to create fear. One common belief among the holistically minded is that any medication, and chemotherapy in particular, hurts the immune system and actually prevents the body from healing. Evelyn and I discussed her options, settled on a rational plan, and then plunged much deeper into our work. That deeper work gave Evelyn new tools to enhance her comfort and, hopefully, the efficacy of the medication. Her treatment was successful, and she is now in remission.
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If you are experiencing illness and your doctor prescribes medi - cation, the following steps can be taken, which can be adapted according to your personal situation:
- Make sure you have the best information possible from medical science. After a second opinion, when you feel you have all the data you need, proceed to the next step.
- Approach any medical procedure or medication with relaxed confidence that you have made a good decision for yourself under the given circumstances.
- Quell the opposing opinions within yourself, as if bringing two (or more) warring parties together at a mediation table. Ambivalence is one thing, but internal war is truly self-destructive. Bless the medications and ask that they do the work intended for your body’s healing and the very best possible outcome.
- As you swallow your pills, welcome them into your body as a healing potion.
Approach any medical procedure or medication with relaxed confidence that you have made a good decision for yourself under the given circumstances. - If you are receiving chemotherapy by intravenous drip, as the equipment is being set up, take those moments to bless the medicine for its best work in your body. Similarly, with radiation, bless the energy that is about to be beamed into your tissues. Relax and focus on the treatment as beneficial.
- Ask that the chemo, radiation, or other medication easily find the cells that need to recycle: the cancer cells whose molecules can then be discarded as waste or used by your body for building normal cells. In turn, ask that the healthy cells of your body be minimally affected and that side effects be as slight as possible.
- Once again, as the treatment begins or the pill is swallowed, relax into some moments of meditation of welcome in your body of the wonder of medical science and its healing properties as needed for your specific situation.
Learn more about Cell Level Healing.
