My mom came to take me to the hospital to get my next round of chemo today. I was a bit nervous about getting more because it’s causing neuropathy in my hands. My right hand has already been severely damaged by the tumor resting on all the nerves that go to my right arm and hand, and because of that, I’ve been using my left hand. But with the neuropathy increasing in that hand, I’m risking the use of my left hand as well. And wouldn’t that be wonderful?! Arg!!! …So…. Karsten, my wonderful hubby, sent us off with a prayer. As he’s helping me get into the car, carrying all my things and being the kind man that he is, I start bawling. One, I’m reminded of how WEAK I am, and two, I DON’T want more chemo! We drove off with me, and now my mom (who doesn’t cry), bawling and waving goodbye to my poor honey. 
 
By the time we’re at the hospital our tears are dry and we arrive in the waiting room where I ask the ladies at the front desk for my jewelry (the hospital band they make us wear). After getting my blood work done, my pic line dressing changed, and a chat with the nurse practitioner (who has a chat with my doctor), they tell me I don’t have to have chemo. The doc wants me to wait a month in hopes that the neuropathy improves. YAY!!! So rather than staying at the hospital for another two hours, we got to go home! YES!!!
 
Now, this is how my brain works. I can FEEL the tumor in my neck. That alone makes me nervous. So, I’m wondering if I should have gotten the chemo? But then I’m thinking, maybe this is an answer to prayer and God is going to intervene? One way He could do that is by curing me instantaneously! That’s what we’d all like to happen. Not much different than Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-19 expecting to be healed by Elisha by him calling on the name of the Lord with a wave of his hand. No, that didn’t happen. Instead, Naaman had to go dip himself seven times in the filthy River Jordan. He wasn’t even allowed to dip himself in cleaner rivers. No. It had to be the Jordan. So after throwing a tantrum (and because of the encouragement of his servants), Naaman stomps his way to the Jordan. This required “action” on Naaman’s part. And because he did what he was told (dipped seven times, not once or six) Naaman was healed. 
 
Years ago, God answered our prayers to heal me by providing Vitamin B17. This is what I’m taking now, along with the chemo (with my doctor’s full knowledge). I’m hoping and praying that the chemo, radiation, and B17 I’ve already gotten, will now cause the B17 ALONE to be enough to take care of this large tumor. This requires action on my part. Not to mention keeping sugar out of my diet and eating right. So, I’ll be doing that. In the meantime, pray this is enough and that the tumor shrinks so significantly by the end of April when I get my PET scan, that the doctor is blown away. I was told today by my nurse and the nurse practitioner, that this kind of cancer is very difficult to beat. Of course, I then shared my B17 story with them (because with B17 is was easy to beat), and said, “I wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t quit taking it.” They didn’t know how to react. LOL Anyway, just pray. Prayer is a powerful tool that also “works!”  
 
Last but definitely not least. The story about Naaman can also apply to baptism. I’ll just quote the verses, that way I’m not running interference with the word of God. He can speak for Himself. And if you’re unsure, read the verse before and after the ones I’m sharing, that way you’ll know their context.
 
Acts 2:38-39, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’”
 
1 Peter 3:21, “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”
 
Finally, Jesus said in Mark 16:16, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

​Thank you ALL for your prayers, including by those mentioned in my previous post!
 
 

It turns out I DO have lymphoma again.

Last year I quit taking the B17 (it was causing my blood pressure to significantly drop), and now I have a tumor that’s 10x8x8cm. It’s wrapped around the spine in my neck and pressing on the nerves that lead to my right hand and arm (so I have little to no function in my right hand and arm), and because of its location, it’s too risky to do surgery to take it out. Anyway, the tumor is too big IMO for the B17 to attack fast enough, so I agreed to do the following. My oncologist put me on an “immunotherapy” called Brentuximab. This is supposed to be a “targeted” therapy, which means it will only release the chemo into the cancer cell. Well, and even though the following wasn’t supposed to happen, I am losing my hair. As a "targeted therapy" it shouldn't affect my hair. My doc looks at me strange and doesn’t know why I’m losing my hair. He said it must be stress. If that’s the case, I’ve been stressed my whole life, so I should have gone bald a long time ago. Anyway, I hardly ever see him and don’t really feel like he truly cares. The last nurse I had also wasn’t being honest about this treatment causing hair loss. We finally looked it up as a "common side effect" on the Mayo Clinic’s website. Grrr.
 
Anyway, what I realize now, but didn’t realize a year ago when I quit taking the B17, is instead of stopping cold turkey, I simply should have gone back to the brand that originally wiped out my tumors. It didn’t cause my blood pressure to drop so low. So I’m now back to taking www.tjsupply.com (two 500mg a day) without any problems. You see, I had switched to a brand by Apricots from God whose B17 was more “pure.” Only thing is, because of that, it had an adverse reaction on my blood pressure. Now because my tumor is so big, I don’t think the B17 will be able to work fast enough to knock it out, so I agreed to this “targeted” therapy that’s supposed to only attack the cancer (and NOT my hair, e-hem). 
 
In the end, God has our days numbered. 
 

Here's an update on the nightmare I've been going through for the past two months.

​I went to see a thyroid specialist at the end of July. He found swollen lymph nodes around my neck. They did a biopsy that was inconclusive for the cancer I used to have, which was Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma. This oncologist wanted me to get a second opinion and sent me to an oncologist where I battled cancer the first time.
 
So, I saw the oncologist today, October 7, 2020. The “second opinion” at the hospital I used to go to when I had cancer/Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma. This was the doctor’s response to all my blood work and questions in summary:
 
He listed ALL the symptoms of Lymphoma, asking me if I have any of these symptoms. I have NONE of them. But that means nothing. Nearly ALL my blood work was NORMAL with literally “NO indication of cancer in the blood.” His words. The only blood work that wasn’t normal was the blood work that indicated I have inflammation (Immunoglobulin G). Because I have inflammation, he has concluded I have Lymphoma. He also said the biopsy indicated I have Lymphoma because it detected T-cells in the tissue (forget the fact that T-cells ALSO indicate I could have a bacterial infection). But any kind of infection was not an option. Instead, I have Lymphoma. Period. No ifs ands or buts. So, either I’m going to be the longest living patient with Lymphoma or, IMO, I have an infection. 
 
Yesterday, I got results back on my teeth. I have two to three teeth that are abscessed, and two that are full of cavities close to the roots. The dentist said I don’t have enough saliva in my mouth (all thanks to my previous cancer treatments that damaged my salivary glands), so my teeth are severely infected at the roots. They will ALL need to come out. So, arrangements are being made to have six of my teeth extracted (FUN), all on the bottom jaw line. This type of bacterial infection can certainly cause “inflammation” in my body and swollen lymph nodes around my neck (which I have). There’s no indication of swollen lymph nodes anywhere else in or on my body.
 
We shared this news with the oncologist, but it means nothing, I still have cancer. He said, either Lymphoma can cause infections, or infections can cause Lymphoma. But he still strongly encouraged me to get my teeth taken care of before treatment. I have not chosen to do his treatment at this moment in time, and most likely I never will choose to do his treatment.
 
The treatment he has to offer is a drug called Brentuximab. This drug acts very similarly to B17 (what originally wiped out in total eight of my tumors). Brentuximab is what they call a “smart drug” because it goes directly to the cancer cell and then releases the chemo in that cancer cell. I find it interesting because B17 goes right into the cancer cell, which then creates a chemical reaction that then produces cyanide, which is then released into the cancer cell; therefore, killing the cancer cell. 
 
The oncologist really would like for me to get a PET scan, so he can see where/if any other tumors might be. I told him I’m not comfortable with that because of damage to my kidneys. He repeatedly said the PET scan does not harm the kidneys because it doesn’t use contrast like the MRI. However, I said, “But it uses radioactive material. How can that be good for the kidneys?” I then asked if he’d be willing to write down that the PET scan will not damage my kidneys and sign his name to it? He suggested I have the radiologist do that. I said, “But you’re the one who is saying it won’t damage my kidneys, so it makes more sense that you would sign something that says that.” I said, “I’m the one who has to live with these kidneys, not you.” I said all this with a smile. He said he would not sign something that says that. (E-hem!!! Why not?!! If it doesn’t cause any damage?!) Anyway, he said the last blood work I’d gotten from them in 2012 did not indicate kidney damage. I said, but three months after that blood work, I got test results showing early signs of damage. No acknowledgment.
 
Final conclusion, according to this doctor (who was friendly and not rude, but narrow-minded) I have Lymphoma. 
 
This is called “protocol.” They MUST follow protocol even to the detriment of the patient to prevent getting sued (this I learned from my family physician). Had I followed the oncologist’s protocol the first time around (by taking more chemo), I would have died eight years ago.
 
In the end, GOD is my Physician. He has my days numbered. And (whether you believe this is possible or not, because He’s done this with me before) He let me know, “Everything’s gonna be okay.”  He is the One holding me together. My husband’s words. 
 
Please pray that all will go smoothly with my teeth! AAaaack!!!

I recently updated my story by adding more detail. But just a quick update on my kidneys. I recently discovered that there are no tumors in my kidneys (YAY), and instead, one of them was damaged from the traditional cancer treatments, so I only have one working kidney, which explains why I have Stage 3 chronic kidney disease.

Now for my updated account of how I can today celebrate seven years of being cancer free.

MY STORY OF VITAMIN B17

On November 1, 2010, I was diagnosed with Stage Four Non-Hodgkins T-cell Lymphoma when my oncologist found a tumor in my head. He gave me radiation for this tumor, which continued to light up on all the PET scans for the rest of my treatments, but the growth had stopped. Within a year-and-a-half I was given eight rounds of chemo (including 22-hour bags and other numerous amounts of smaller injections of chemo that are innumerable—nearly bleeding to death twice), 35 treatments of radiation, a stem-cell transplant (which included "enough chemo to kill a healthy person"—my oncologist liked to say—along with full-body radiation), and numerous amounts of drugs and one magnesium vitamin. 

Despite this aggressive protocol, all these traditional cancer treatments failed. After this, I was left with three tumors: one in my ribcage and two in my spine. By October 2011 they did radiation on these tumors in order to stop the growth. 

In the beginning of November of 2011 I saw a naturopathic doctor who gave me high doses of Vitamin C (via an IV), a slew of vitamins, and I got on Vitamin B17. During this time I was on an immune suppressant drug prescribed by my oncologist called Tacrolimus (a.k.a. Tac) because of the stem-cell transplant (they didn’t want my new immune system to attack me), along with a slew of other drugs. I’d gotten the transplant so that I could receive a new immune system that would kill off the cancer because it’s our immune systems that kill cancer. But they overdosed me on the Tac, which is likely why the cancer returned. Still, while on the Tac, the B17 worked, and by the end of December of 2011, I was declared in remission. 

At this time I was taking 70 pills a day, which included drugs from the oncologist and supplements from the naturopathic doctor, including the B17. It was too much for me, so I got off all the supplements (including the B17), but continued taking what my oncologist prescribed. Then in February of 2012, the cancer came back, revealing a tumor in my pelvic bone. Again, I got radiation, but I still didn’t take any more of the supplements, including the B17.

Then in June I got another PET scan which revealed more tumors. The tumor in my pelvic bone still lit up (just like the one in my head did until the end of December 2011), I had another tumor in my rib cage, and three in my lymph nodes. By this time we were defeated. I was going to die. My oncologist, Dr. Myint from Colorado University Hospital, said all he could offer was more chemo, and sent me home to think about it. By this time, I had nothing to lose. I decided to slowly wean myself off the immune suppressant drugs (namely the Tac), along with all the other drugs the oncologist had me on, and I read up on Vitamin B17. At my next appointment with my oncologist, I refused the chemo (if I was going to die, I’d rather die strong than with my head in a toilet) and told the nurse practitioner that I was going to take Vitamin B17. Dr. Myint came in later, and when I asked him if he’d heard of B17, he puffed up his chest, and said, “Yes, of course.” But that’s all he said, and normally, he’d go on and on about the quackery of other alternative treatments we (my husband and I) had mentioned in the past, but this time he said nothing. They were willing to monitor me on this, and I was to return in eight weeks for another PET scan.

In August of 2012, I got on Vitamin B17, 500mg twice a day. Eight weeks later, these were the results of the PET scan: the tumor in my pelvic bone was gone; the one in my ribcage was gone; and the three in my lymph nodes, one was gone, the other was almost completely gone, and the other had shrunk so much my oncologist wasn't worried about it (by this time I had a new oncologist who was unaware that I was taking B17). After doing the math, I figured by ten weeks, all the cancer was gone.
 
Vitamin B17 wiped out my cancer on two separate occasions: December of 2011 while taking the immune suppressant drug (Tac) and in October of 2012 when I was off the Tac. This means the Tac had no affect on the cancer, and I could not have experienced a “spontaneous remission” as doubters believe. I've been free of cancer now for SEVEN years since October 2012, all because of God's stuff, His vitamin B17, a concentrated form of bitter apricot kernels. All the glory belongs to my Father who is in Heaven. Praise His Name!

Genesis 1:29, “Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

I want to apologize for being missing for so long! I've just been enjoying life and been busy with my family. 

I owe all of you an update on my ferritin levels after faithfully drinking the Essiac Tea. I'm sad to say after six months, my levels did not improve. So, I really don't know what lowered my ferritin two years ago. 

While I got my blood work done for my ferritin levels, I also got a lot of tests done in regards to my kidneys by order of my doctor. Turns out my kidneys have worsened; although, I'm still at Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease. This explains why my ferritin is not improving. If you recall, kidney disease causes high ferritin. So now I'm working on improving my kidneys. My kidney problems are all because of the traditional cancer treatments I had (that failed) of chemo and radiation. Another side-effect of all that poison. SIGH

In the meantime, I'm not really worried about any of this. God has my days numbered, and I just pray that He'll allow me to be of use to Him while I'm here on earth, and as soon as I'm useless and a burden, I trust He'll take me into His heavenly arms and I'll be able to put the fleshly problems behind me. This means, I'm taking my oncologist's advice (believe it or not) and LIVING MY LIFE. 

God is GOOD, no matter what happens, and if more people could truly KNOW HIM, they'd want Him too!

Isaiah 55:6-13

6 Seek the LORD while He may be found;
            Call upon Him while He is near.
      7 Let the wicked forsake his way
            And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
            And let him return to the LORD,
            And He will have compassion on him,
            And to our God,
            For He will abundantly pardon.
      8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
            Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
      9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
            So are My ways higher than your ways
            And My thoughts than your thoughts.
      10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
            And do not return there without watering the earth
            And making it bear and sprout,
            And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
      11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
            It will not return to Me empty,
            Without accomplishing what I desire,
            And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
      12 “For you will go out with joy
            And be led forth with peace;
            The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
            And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
      13 “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
            And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
            And it will be a memorial to the LORD,
            For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”


Acts 22:16
'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'

I can't believe an entire year has gone by!

​Last year around this same time, I discovered my thyroid quit working like it should. I wanted to find out “why” it quit, so I did a ton of research and discovered all my blood work was normal in regards to my thyroid except for my ferritin levels. I’d never heard of “ferritin,” so I looked up what it was. After a long misunderstanding (believing it was “iron”) I finally learned that it’s the protein in the body that actually carries the iron. Well, my iron levels were normal, but my ferritin was high. This could mean I either had Lymphoma (which is the cancer the B17 cured me from) or Chronic Kidney Disease (of which I was diagnosed shortly after my ferritin discovery). Anyway, the likelihood that it was Lymphoma was predominately on my doctor’s mind and she strongly urged me to get a scan, of which I refused because I didn’t want further damage done to my kidneys. 
 
Around September of last year, I learned of Essiac Tea from a dear friend battling her own cancer. I’d also read that it helped a woman cure her hypothyroidism (which is what I had). So, I started taking the tea for my thyroid. I also got on a pill (IP6), in order to lower my ferritin because I’d read that it would lower the ferritin levels. After being on the tea for about a month or two and not noticing any changes in my thyroid, I quit drinking it but kept taking the IP6 believing it would lower my ferritin. In November of this time, I also asked to have my ferritin tested again. After all, it’d been nearly five months since the last blood test, so why not find out where I was at? Last summer, my ferritin levels had last been tested at 971. In November they had dropped to 789! I was shocked and thought for sure it was the IP6 that did it. So, I stayed strong on the IP6.
 
After being on IP6 for four more months, I discovered that it DID NOT WORK and my ferritin levels had skyrocketed! Normal levels should range from 50-150. Mine were at 1065 at this point. Of course, my doctor is freaking out and trying to get me to go back to see the hematologist/oncologist. I refused. God is my doctor, and I realize He uses doctors, but this hematologist woman was awful! You can read about that experience in posts below.
 
All I knew was I’d done SOMETHING to lower my ferritin back in September, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. After days of battling, racking my brain, trying to remember, I finally just broke down before my Father in heaven. “God, my brain just doesn’t work like it used to, and I know there was something I did back then to lower my ferritin. Will You please remind me what it was?” I had a busy day that day, and it wasn’t until I sat down and was still for a few moments that the words suddenly came to me out of the blue, “Essiac Tea.” 
 
HA! That was it! I’d taken the tea, not imagining it would lower my ferritin, but that’s what did it! So, I got right back on the tea, thanking God in the process and praying to Him that I was on the right track. FOUR WEEKS LATER, my ferritin DROPPED from 1065 all the way down to 873!!! The way I figure it, as long as I’m consistent with the tea, my ferritin should be in normal range by August of 2018, this year! I’m praying that when they normalize, so will my thyroid, and hopefully, so will my kidneys, and another bonus …. I’ll get my hair back. 
 
From the beginning after all the doctors have failed me, I’ve asked God to be my Physician. He is The Great Physician after all. Better than any human out there … no comparison, really. I trust in Him and am leaning on Him. He has my days numbered. Not any human being, not me, and not any doctor. GOD is in charge of my life and my body, and He has led me to the remedies He knew I needed around every corner of this journey. 
 
Thank You, my God. Thank You, my heavenly Father. Thank You, my Abba! Thank You for allowing me to live a little while longer so I can raise my children and possibly even enjoy my grandkids sometime in the future. I will do my best to tell them ALL about You and how wonderful, magnificent and LOVING You are, how You gave Your one and only Son to die for all people, great and small.

I can't believe this. It finally came to me, and I DON'T KNOW WHY I didn't realize this to begin with! I was drinking ESSIAC TEA regularly and then slacked off (sigh) JUST BEFORE I got my ferritin test done at the end of November that showed a drop of 200 points! THIS is what lowered it! The reason I missed this is because I was drinking the Tea for my Thyroid and not seeing any results or feeling any differently. So that's all I was focused on. Because I was taking the IP6 and it claimed to lower ferritin, I just assumed that's what did it. Now I know the TRUTH! 

I've been constantly PRAYING for God to help me to REMEMBER what in the world it was that I DID during that time. And it just now came to me .... ESSIAC TEA! 

I still have some left over, so I'll get started on it again right away. I can't believe I'd forgotten this. This does not mean I'm going to stop eating healthier or doing intermittent fasting. I've got to take care of my body! I need to repair it, heal it, from all the damage that's been caused by the radiation and chemo that failed me. Eating a raw, vegan diet is what's going to do that. 

Thank You, God! Thank You for being my DOCTOR! It's always His stuff that helps me! Thank You, my precious Lord, for helping me to REMEMBER! PRAISE YOU LORD! 

So .... this is where I got my Essiac Tea in case you're interested (and NO I do NOT work for these people): www.discount-essiac-tea.com. 

I also need to thank a precious friend and sister in Christ who introduced me to the tea. Thank you, my dear friend, Cathy. You know who you are! I love you! xxx

Finally, another friend introduced me to something new that is shown to be very successful at wiping out cancer. It's called CELLECT. I have yet to try it, but this friend said it wiped out her cancer. In just over a month it dissolved a lemon-sized tumor! You can read about it here:
 https://cancercompassalternateroute.com/therapies/cellect/

Again, I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for showing me the way. He is The Great Physician, and I'm beyond grateful that He's willing to be my Doctor. There aren't enough words to describe my gratitude. 

God is GOOD. (No matter what happens!) I love Him. 

​I just got bad news yesterday when my lab reports came in. Turns out, my ferritin levels have gone up significantly! It went from approx. 785 to 1065. Normal ranges should be 5 - 150 approximately. I’m so disappointed about this because it means the IP6 isn’t working to lower the ferritin levels like I thought. I’ve been racking my brain to figure out what caused them to drop 200 points from the 971 range, which took places between July 2017 to the end of November 2017. What did I do between July and November that caused these numbers to drop?
 
I was taking the IP6 (sporadically)
I was doing some intermittent fasts (not often)
I had been on hash oil (for fear this was cancer)
 
My conclusion is that the IP6 had nothing to do with it since right now my numbers have skyrocketed and I’ve been taking it consistently.
 
So, what in the world should I do?
 
I’m trying to remember what my diet was like during that time. Like I said, I’d been fasting on and off. But I hadn’t really changed how I ate. Of course, I always try to avoid sugar. It’s possible I did a better job of that before the Holidays.

The causes for my high ferritin could be from chemo (all the chemo and radiation I had during my cancer treatments that failed) or it could be from my having Chronic Kidney Disease (which I've been diagnosed with), or it can be cancer. I read about this at the following LINK: https://link.springer.com/article/10.2478/s11536-013-0256-4. 
 
I feel defeated.
 
I have to trust God to fix this for me, to lead me to the right solutions. I suppose I’ll get back on the hash oil, start fasting again, and also significantly change my diet to a steady course of raw fruits and vegetables. This isn’t easy when you’ve got a family of five to feed and make meals for, but it looks like they’re going to have to start eating my way for it to work. Certainly won’t kill them, that’s for sure! And Lord-willing, it’ll lower my ferritin levels and keep me alive a bit longer!
 
Please pray for me. 

Long story short about my health. The other day, I discovered in the online lab reports, I've been diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease, which means my kidneys have minor damage. Likely from chemo and radiation and all the countless SCANS. The docs never "told" me this during my appointments, other than to say the results aren’t that big of a deal, and kept urging me to get a scan because of my high ferritin levels (not bothering to mention that it could be disastrous to my kidneys). I've been assuming I had kidney disease because I have a lot of the symptoms for it. I'm a little peeved that they never made this clear during the appointments. Anyway, they want me to get a scan because high ferritin levels (which are caused by inflammation) could be a sign of cancer. But I KNOW I don't have cancer because my white blood cell counts would be off the charts, and a tumor would have shown up by now (it's been six months since my first test) AND the pregnancy test I took was not positive (if you don't know the story on that, there's a post on that somewhere). I told the doc this, and I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts, but I'm NOT getting a scan because it could damage my kidneys even more! 
​
Now for the good news. I've hired God as my Physician, and He doesn't charge a dime! I truly did ask Him, more like BEGGED Him, to be my doctor, and He's led me to all the things I need for my kidneys, and what I need for my ferritin levels. I went in to get more labs done last Monday to check my kidneys, and I told them I wanted my ferritin checked too (even though the doc didn't ask for the ferritin test). It was awkward, but I asked for it anyway. Turns out, my kidney counts dropped one point in less than a month, and my ferritin dropped 200 points since they last checked it! This is GOOD NEWS. This means, what I'm doing IS lowering my ferritin (I'm taking IP6 Jarrow brand for the ferritin), and what I'm doing is also helping my kidneys (drinking more water, exercising, coQ10 and L-Cartinine). So, hopefully I can convince them to let me get another lab done next month so I can see where I'm at by then. I'm about to add another vitamin that works on a cellular level that I believe will also help lower my ferritin AND improve my kidneys. It's called Protandim. Anyway, my counts aren't where they "should" be, but I'm seeing progress in the right direction. All thanks to my Great Physician. So, SO grateful to the Lord! His prescriptions for my health are far less invasive! 

UPDATE on my health: I heard from the doctor and she’s shifted again. She said she changed the CT scan because of my weak kidneys, but that also meant I couldn’t get the MRI because of the contrast involved, so instead she wants me to get a PET scan, which makes no sense since I’d get radiation from that one too! They used to send me home from the hospital after a PET scan with a note for the police in case I got pulled over because they’ve often detected bomb-making material from patients after their PET scan appointments. I went home with many of these “notes.” Despite all this, the MRI and PET folks were still calling me to make an appointment. Here’s what happened: she wanted me to get a CT scan, got mad when I refused, then out of fear I changed my mind and said I’d do it, then I got a message saying I was getting the PET scan and MRI instead. Because I didn’t agree to do any of those and only had agreed to do the CT scan, I said “no” to all of them. Then she called and explained that she changed the scan from a CT and MRI to the PET scan because it would be less harmful to my kidneys. Had I not initially refused to do the CT scan, my poor kidneys would have already been harmed—which was the reason I didn’t want it in the first place! So, now I’m done. I never want to see this doc again. I’m not doing any of the scans, I don’t need them.
 
The night before last, I prayed again to God, asking him to be my doctor (again), then told him how overwhelmed I was by all the research I've done, and wondered if I was trusting in Him at all? It was then I just asked for a miracle. I'm just too tired to figure it all out. Then the next morning I called my mom and she told me to tell the doctor to "buzz off" and don't do the scans because my blood counts are fine, and just eat right, drink enough water, take my B17 ... and remember that God is my doctor. I was shocked to hear her remind me of what I'd just prayed the night before (especially because she doesn’t usually talk this way). So, with that reminder, I told the doc to cancel all my scan appointments, and that’s when I finally heard back from the doctor (not her nurse, but the actual doctor) who told me the scans would have been bad for my kidneys anyway. Is God in charge or what? I’m just so grateful He led me to make the right decision.
 
Remember the pregnancy test a man with cancer took for me, and it was positive? Well, even though it’s not extremely accurate, I took one, and I’m not pregnant, which means, I don’t have cancer. I don’t have any visible tumors, no pain, nothing. I’m fine! Other than the fact that I’m losing my hair. During this discovery about my kidneys, I found out that high ferritin (the whole reason I got on this wild trek) can be caused by kidney disease or kidney damage, which then can affect the thyroid, ETC. Like I said (and the reason I was hesitant to get the CT scan in the first place) I’ve gotten A TON of these scans! A TON! So many, I can’t even count how many I’ve had. I’ve got to protect my kidneys—they are a vital organ, after all. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they are now suffering because of all the cancer treatments (radiation, chemo, scan after scan after scan), and I need to do what I can to help them. I don’t have kidney disease or kidney failure, or kidney cancer or colon cancer. I don’t have ANY of the symptoms for those issues. God helped me to see what my kidneys needed before any of that happened. Allowing me to lose my hair was a wake-up call! Not to mention, taught me not to complain about my hair no matter what it looked like. Instead, I’m grateful for whatever I’ve got left! And I thank God for that. Because of all my complaining, I really don’t deserve to get it back. I lost it once, God brought it back beautifully, and then I complained. Such a brat, I am!
 
So, my goal now is to do everything I can to help my kidneys. Lord willing, this will lower my ferritin, and then my thyroid will get back on track, and my hair will come back. All of this will happen if it’s God’s will. He’s my Physician.