Michael, The Cancer Center my husband is using (ranked #13) opened up a Complementary Medicine department this year. We visited after surgery and before radiation and he hooked up with their acupuncturist. She is an MD trained in acupuncture medicine in China and an asst. prof at our local university. She ran a nerve conduction test of some sort after his MRND and has since treated him for pain, nausea, anxiety, and I'm not sure what else. He seemed to have a relatively easy time through radiation (he didn't do chemo), had the peg but didn't use it, took pain meds (but according to drs, less than others), etc. One week, he didn't go and felt he noticed a big difference. Another week, she changed her treatment to skip the anxiety/nausea part, and within a week he was experiencing upset stomach. The interesting thing was he didn't know she was treating him for the digestive system/nausea thing at the time. He also ordered some auto-hypnosis tapes from tranceformation.com to relieve stress and promote healing. He found this very helpful. He also ordered a Guided Imagery CD set (Healing Cancer From Within and another). Again he found this helped him as well. The thing that has intrigued me about this is that it would be very much like me to try these kinds of things - but very much unlike him. And yet, all of these complementary approaches have seemed to not only help but give him comfort throughout this. I also enlisted a good friend to be his "prayer warrior" and she sent him encouraging e-mails and prayers daily. I think if nothing else, being able to relieve stress and calm one's mind is a huge boon in fighting this disease. As I heard my husband joke to a friend of his a few months ago regarding the fear one feels - "A coward dies many deaths - a brave man but one." So true, fear is powerful and anything one can do to fight it off or stare it down is a good thing.

I wish you the best of luck in finding the right solutions for yourself.