Today is Friday July 1st but this post is largely concerned with Wednesday, 29th June. Diana had set up a meeting with someone we'd first heard about following her diagnosis with breast cancer nearly 5 years ago. Professor Jane Plant is a professor of geochemistry at Imperial College, London. She contracted breast cancer herself nearly 20 years ago and was given just a few months to live. My understanding is that as an academic scientist she felt herself well-placed to conduct a literature review of the published research relating to the factors causing cancer and possible ways of treating it. She became very knowledgeable about the importance of diet and its relationship to the epidemiology of cancer. She went on to write a number of books and to establish a consultancy. I emailed her and outlined my condition. She suggested that we waste no time in visiting her in London.
Jeff and Marian, long-standing friends from my university days were ready to offer us a bed for the night but we knew that, however pleasant and relaxed the evening spent with them, we'd have to make a quick return on the Thursday to keep our appointment with the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham.
The journey to London was uneventful, apart from my forgetting to collect my shoulder bag from the luggage rack on arrival at Euston. It was successfully retrieved at the cost of an hour of our buffer time and an unwelcome increase in my bp.
Our meeting with Jane Plant at Imperial College lasted an hour. She asked questions and took notes. We asked questions and Diana took notes. It's difficult to sum up this intense period spent absorbing a great deal of information but I was buoyed by her optimism about my prognosis. She felt that conventional medicine (surgery and chemo) would in combination both excise and 'hit' the cancer already in my body; her contribution would be to offer advice on the way diet and environmental awareness could help prevent further metastases from gaining a hold.
So there was much talk about growth factors, the various no-no's, dietary supplements and other anti-cancer foodstuffs. Some of this matched the info we'd already garnered from another book, some did not. She was not a fan of the book in question and as they disagreed about the efficacy of a daily glass of red wine I was saddened to lose one of the few benefits of returning to the 'fold'; comprised of those who imbibe alcohol (after my long ten years in the wilderness).
I won't go into the dietary details - they are available in her various books. Just one comment though - if dairy products are as much of a public health issue as she, and, I believe, others think, why are we not picketing supermarkets, cheese-manufacturers and yogurt-bottlers? Her advice is not just for people like me - seeking to lengthen their lives having contracted cancer but for everyone - including those who are, as yet, cancer-free.
One more thing - Jane also had little positive to say about the private clinic with whom Diana had set up an appointment in the coming week - so that looks like saving us a lot of money and time; money and time we can spend on a mini-break beside Lake Bala this weekend. Adios (as was said to Andy Murray a few minutes ago!)
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