Vernon,
Where did you get the 19% number? The AJCC published 5 year survival rate for Stage 4 oropharnyx SCC is almost 30%. I only had radiation and 2 Cisplatin Tx and my RO gave me an 80% chance of 5 year survival (even though my MO stated 28.2%). I'm a month shy of 6 years and have been cancer free ever since.
You had 3 surgeries, unless I counted wrong. I have to agree with David on this one, you're a very lucky man, in fact, the ONLY one I know of here who has forgone conventional medical treatment (for the most part) and is still surviving. If it were me I would be just more than a little nervous about the recurrences that you keep having. Many others here have chosen an easier path out - i.e. no radiation and are no longer with us.
I hope that you are right and that the alternative cures that have worked for you can be proven scientifically to be truly efficacious and not a fluke. Do you know what the morbidity rate is for the Alpha Medical Clinic? That's kind of an oxymoronic question since thay are never going to tell you (unlike US hospitals which have to publish that kind of data).
3 out of the 7 treatments mentioned on the link are not proven to be efficacious (and one is not a cancer treatment). So 1/2 of their cancer treatments are questionable. See:
http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/altseek.html1. Whole Body Hyperthermia - They claim that there have been many published studies on human efficacy - I could only find animal studies and it was a combination treatment on rats, used with a chemo type drug. No human data published by a credible source.
2. Oxygen Therapy
3. Insulin Potentiation (IPT)
4. The Immune Modultory program looks an awful lot like IAT (Immune Augmentive Therapy)
5. Chelation is not a cancer treatment (and is a suspicious "treatment" anyway - right up there with colon cleanses.
You're smart hedging your bets and being followed by a CCC. I truly wish you the best.
It is my charter however to keep as much science and truth on the forum as is possible. I also want people to have hope that they can be cured and when the success rate for complete cure (response) of all types of cancer continues to improve with conventional medicine, it's impossible for me to champion alternative treatments without scientific efficacy studies. Reading testimonials on their web site doesn't make the cut.
We don't try to discourage people from alternative treatment, That's why we have an alternative treatment topic on the forum.
Our view on the matter has consistently been that alternative treatment should only be used adjunctively and with concurrence with your medical team (if that's the route you want to take) WITH conventional treatment.
There have been many instances here where people went across the border, had no success and died because their cancers had progressed to an untreatable state by the time they got into treatment.
