148.Facing Cancer Empowered with Dr. Paul S. Anderson the author of “Cancer… The Journey from Diagnosis to Empowerment.”
148. Facing Cancer Empowered with Dr. Paul S Anderson the author of “Cancer… The Journey from Diagnosis to Empowerment.”
Episode 148 of the “Beyond Adversity Podcast” with Dr. Brad Miller features a conversation with the author of “Cancer…The Journey from Diagnosis to Empowerment” Dr. Paul S. Anderson.
Dr. Anderson is a recognized educator and clinician in integrative and naturopathic medicine with a focus on complex infectious, chronic, and oncologic illnesses. In addition to three decades of clinical experience, he also was head of the interventional arm of a US-NIH-funded human research trial using IV and integrative therapies in cancer patients. He founded Advanced Medical Therapies in Seattle, Washington, a clinic focusing on cancer and chronic diseases, and now focuses his time in collaboration with clinics and hospitals in the US and other countries.
In this in-depth conversation, Dr. Anderson speaks with Dr. Miller about the debilitating situation that a cancer diagnosis often brings to the patient into families and how to respond to it. Dr. Anderson talks about the process, or journey, one has to go through in order to overcome the adversity of facing a cancer diagnosis. The key to Dr. Anderson’s process is taking the necessary actions to move from a state of debilitation, at the point of a cancer diagnosis, to a state of empowerment which is ultimately healthier and more encouraging for the patient their family and loved ones.
Episode 148 of “The Beyond Adversity Podcast” is a must-listen for any person who is facing a diagnosis of cancer, or any other debilitating disease, and for their family and loved ones. This is especially true for those who are actively seeking practical steps and a process in order to journey from state of chronic illness both physically and emotionally into a state of empowerment.
“The Beyond Adversity Podcast” with Dr. Brad Miller has the purpose of empowering people who are facing life’s adversities (including disease) in order to emerge to a place of peace, prosperity, and purpose and indeed empowerment. “The Beyond Adversity Podcast” is published weekly by Dr. Brad Miller.
https://www.consultdranderson.com/
Transcript
Dr. Paul Anderson with us who helps us in the area
Brad Miller:of cancer and other health matters. He is our nationally
Brad Miller:recognized expert and educator and clinician with decades of
Brad Miller:experience with cancer and other complex chronic illnesses. And
Brad Miller:he was part of the human of the US National Institutes of
Brad Miller:Health, the trials that were done there. And he oversaw
Brad Miller:research into integrative therapies for cancer patients,
Brad Miller:is a co author of a few books, including outside the box cancer
Brad Miller:therapies and success breakthroughs with jack
Brad Miller:Canfield. But his current book we're going to be talking about
Brad Miller:today is specifically about cancer. It is called cancer, the
Brad Miller:journey from diagnosis to empowerment, we Welcome to
Brad Miller:Beyond adversity, Dr. Paul Anderson. Welcome, Paul.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Thanks so much for having me.
Brad Miller:It's awesome to have you here today on our
Brad Miller:podcast, where we're looking to deal with matters that get
Brad Miller:people stuck in life. And one of the things that will stop people
Brad Miller:in their tracks is when they hear the words, you've got
Brad Miller:cancer. And I got a feeling that you've either experienced some
Brad Miller:adversity and either in your own life or certainly seen that when
Brad Miller:you've had to be with people in those positions. But I'd like to
Brad Miller:first start with your story about some maybe some some
Brad Miller:adversity or some pivoting points that you've had, what got
Brad Miller:you to the place where you found you just had to zero in on
Brad Miller:cancer is zero in on this topic for this this book, what were
Brad Miller:some turning points for you that tell you a little bit about your
Brad Miller:story?
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's a rather
Dr. Paul Anderson:protac tracted lead up to this particular book. But the, the
Dr. Paul Anderson:high points really are. Early in, in my practice and career I
Dr. Paul Anderson:was doing very general family practice for for the most part.
Dr. Paul Anderson:And because I did a lot of, at the time, a lot of integrative
Dr. Paul Anderson:therapies that were around healing and helping people with
Dr. Paul Anderson:nutrients and other things, I started to have a lot of cancer
Dr. Paul Anderson:patients seek my help for healing after chemotherapy or
Dr. Paul Anderson:recovering after surgery and any number of things.
Dr. Paul Anderson:That was a long, long time ago. And what I found was, because
Dr. Paul Anderson:there was really almost nobody doing it, certainly in my area,
Dr. Paul Anderson:I started to just gather a lot of families who had cancer in
Dr. Paul Anderson:the family. And so one of the early points if go back 20 or 25
Dr. Paul Anderson:years was really this mass of the grief that goes around
Dr. Paul Anderson:dealing with people, you know, family units that are dealing
Dr. Paul Anderson:with cancer, because it is you know, with very, very rare
Dr. Paul Anderson:exceptions, nobody wants to get a diagnosis of cancer, as you
Dr. Paul Anderson:said, I mean, that's the last thing any of us want. So when
Dr. Paul Anderson:you're working with that, interpersonally that's a that's
Dr. Paul Anderson:a heavy load to take on. It's a really the first kind of turning
Dr. Paul Anderson:point, the first wake up call really was how do I deal with
Dr. Paul Anderson:that personally, how to, you know, how do I not just maintain
Dr. Paul Anderson:space, you know, with a patient, etc. But you're involved with
Dr. Paul Anderson:the cancer patient, their family members, their health,
Dr. Paul Anderson:everything? How do you keep a good perspective on that, and
Dr. Paul Anderson:yet still have a caring healing relationship. So that was really
Dr. Paul Anderson:a critical point A long time ago. And if you fast forward to
Dr. Paul Anderson:about, I believe, about 10 years ago, you mentioned the National
Dr. Paul Anderson:Institute of Health Study, I was part of a very large group, but
Dr. Paul Anderson:I ran one area that was in interventional area, meaning we
Dr. Paul Anderson:did things to patients. And one of the things that a five year
Dr. Paul Anderson:study does is it gives you time to look backwards. So when it
Dr. Paul Anderson:was all done, and we start writing things up that we found
Dr. Paul Anderson:and what worked, what didn't work. The other thing you start
Dr. Paul Anderson:doing is thinking about well, what's what do people have in
Dr. Paul Anderson:common? Who did better or worse beyond beyond medicine, you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, what are their things that really affected them? So the
Dr. Paul Anderson:first book that was written called outside the box cancer
Dr. Paul Anderson:therapies is more a chronicle of the study and the years before
Dr. Paul Anderson:that the the NIH work, the what I call sort of the externalized
Dr. Paul Anderson:journey, what are you doing with your cancer in the years after
Dr. Paul Anderson:that, and the book came out the next real kind of critical
Dr. Paul Anderson:turning point was, I was doing a lot more mentoring of other
Dr. Paul Anderson:adults. doctors who are dealing with cancer patients. And I
Dr. Paul Anderson:started to see there was in this is not something I just
Dr. Paul Anderson:realized. But I started to see, one of the things that it people
Dr. Paul Anderson:have in common a better quality of life and often better outcome
Dr. Paul Anderson:with treatment and length of life is that they have done
Dr. Paul Anderson:something to move from the horrifying diagnosis of cancer,
Dr. Paul Anderson:to being an empowered person around their cancer diagnosis,
Dr. Paul Anderson:as opposed to say, a victim. And so that's really what led to
Dr. Paul Anderson:sitting down and saying, Okay, let's look back over 30 years,
Dr. Paul Anderson:and, you know, categorize, how did patients get from point A to
Dr. Paul Anderson:point B, in a better way, or a worse way in? And how could you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, a book help people go through those steps. And, as
Dr. Paul Anderson:you've mentioned, it's very much about the person who has cancer,
Dr. Paul Anderson:but also those that love them and care for them. Because we
Dr. Paul Anderson:all go through the same thing. If you know, if I'm your friend,
Dr. Paul Anderson:and you develop cancer, and I want to be a supporter, I go
Dr. Paul Anderson:through very similar grieving process and all of that. So
Dr. Paul Anderson:really, that's what led to the book was, is there a way to make
Dr. Paul Anderson:this unfortunate but necessary process a little more doable, a
Dr. Paul Anderson:little more graspable by the vision.
Brad Miller:So it sounds like you found these transition
Brad Miller:points, both with your patients and possibly with yourself and
Brad Miller:the other cancer doctors you were working with as well, there
Brad Miller:was different levels of investment and so on with their
Brad Miller:their patients and transformations that they had to
Brad Miller:go through. You mentioned about how different people react
Brad Miller:differently when they get that diagnosis. And some people
Brad Miller:respond in a more healthy manner, and therefore have a
Brad Miller:better prognosis. Let's talk about that for a second to what
Brad Miller:are some what are some of the things that people do? What are
Brad Miller:some of the actions that people that you've observed, have taken
Brad Miller:that both on the negative side where they didn't do anything,
Brad Miller:and both? And then on the positive side, where some, some
Brad Miller:good things happened? Tell us why some people reacted to that
Brad Miller:news.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah, well, and that's, uh, you know,
Dr. Paul Anderson:stories are probably the best way to put flesh to things. And
Dr. Paul Anderson:that is, one thing we did in the book is I have a story of two
Dr. Paul Anderson:patients who were as far apart as you could be with this
Dr. Paul Anderson:journey, to kind of give it some give it some flesh to it. But
Dr. Paul Anderson:what I've seen, and I always tell people who may make this
Dr. Paul Anderson:point in the book, too, that of course, we all get to choose our
Dr. Paul Anderson:own way of dealing with things. And if somebody wants to do to
Dr. Paul Anderson:stay stuck and angry, that's their choice. But what I see as
Dr. Paul Anderson:far as better for your outcomes are, everybody starts out in the
Dr. Paul Anderson:same place now, because we're all individuals. And what I
Dr. Paul Anderson:often is people won't think about it maybe this way. But the
Dr. Paul Anderson:first thing that happens when you hear a bad diagnosis,
Dr. Paul Anderson:especially cancer diagnosis, is it connects with the parts of
Dr. Paul Anderson:your brain involved in fight or flight. And those connect with
Dr. Paul Anderson:memories of bad things that have gone on. Now, if one of those
Dr. Paul Anderson:bad things or a group of those bad things had to do with people
Dr. Paul Anderson:being very sick or dying of cancer having, you know, some
Dr. Paul Anderson:people have lived through this with family members. And it's
Dr. Paul Anderson:been horrific. You know, we all know people who've had pretty
Dr. Paul Anderson:devastating episodes and multiple people, their families,
Dr. Paul Anderson:and it, it can take you there immediately, you don't even know
Dr. Paul Anderson:you're going there. You just feel this overwhelming, you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, grief and anger. So some people it that turns into anger,
Dr. Paul Anderson:some people it turns into denial, some people get
Dr. Paul Anderson:extremely depressed, and then there's, you know, every other
Dr. Paul Anderson:manifestation, but those are the big ones. So the important part
Dr. Paul Anderson:in how I start the book is that you first you need to know
Dr. Paul Anderson:that's not abnormal. That's how we're wired as human beings. The
Dr. Paul Anderson:trick then about it is the people who, in my judgment, do
Dr. Paul Anderson:this in the most negative way that doesn't turn out well. They
Dr. Paul Anderson:stay there and kind of marinate in those negative feelings and
Dr. Paul Anderson:emotions. And there's actually a feedback between the fight or
Dr. Paul Anderson:flight system of the nervous system and the, you know, the
Dr. Paul Anderson:dark memories and all of the stuff. And they are sort of to a
Dr. Paul Anderson:degree self soothe by their anger or their depression or
Dr. Paul Anderson:whatever. The problem is, is that then they stay in the role
Dr. Paul Anderson:of the victim and the cancers happening to them. They have
Dr. Paul Anderson:nothing to do with it. They may go to the doctor, the doctor may
Dr. Paul Anderson:do things for maybe friends that try and help them but they're
Dr. Paul Anderson:very stuck and they actually don't ever progress my
Dr. Paul Anderson:experiences. If If you follow that pathway, which is your
Dr. Paul Anderson:choice, but if you follow that pathway, your quality of life is
Brad Miller:horrible. It's a very passive life resignation
Brad Miller:approach. I call that the malaise of mediocrity or the
Brad Miller:malaise of misery where people just choose to be stuck in that.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah. And and that's, that's, that's an
Dr. Paul Anderson:excellent descriptor Malays. Because it's, yes, it's
Dr. Paul Anderson:comfortable to do that. And it makes us feel good sometimes to
Dr. Paul Anderson:feel, you know, angry or sad or whatever. But the the point of
Dr. Paul Anderson:what I saw with people who did it more on the positive, you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, health giving side was, they would start there, but then
Dr. Paul Anderson:they would realize, look, I can't stay here, this is not
Dr. Paul Anderson:good for me to stay depressed or in, you know, denial or angry,
Dr. Paul Anderson:etc. The problem might be that they don't naturally have the
Dr. Paul Anderson:skills to say, Well, what in the world do I do to go to another
Dr. Paul Anderson:place? And so what as I kind of deconstructed my experience with
Dr. Paul Anderson:people over all those years, what I really looked at were
Dr. Paul Anderson:what, what are the stumbling blocks we go through, in getting
Dr. Paul Anderson:out of that hole first, and then getting to say, what is it I
Dr. Paul Anderson:have to deal with as, as a human and here, so I can just move
Dr. Paul Anderson:past this and keep stepping up, it's baby steps literally. And,
Dr. Paul Anderson:and as we all know, if if you're a loved one, have a patient with
Dr. Paul Anderson:cancer, you have the same experience, it's just going to
Dr. Paul Anderson:be different from a cancer patient, because you have
Dr. Paul Anderson:different memories, and you have different hang ups and all that.
Brad Miller:Yeah, well, that's, it's fascinating, because, you
Brad Miller:know, I'm, I'm a pastor for 40 years, and, and had been
Brad Miller:privileged, I'll say, to be with people when they've had bad
Brad Miller:diagnoses. And I've, in my own family, my own father died of
Brad Miller:kidney cancer about three and a half years ago, and we got the
Brad Miller:diagnosis about 10 years ago, and my route personally
Brad Miller:devastating that was, but you do choose how you react to it. And
Brad Miller:then I've also noticed when I've conducted funerals, that the
Brad Miller:families and people you know, react differently, as well, and
Brad Miller:there's, you know, healthy, life giving productive ways doing and
Brad Miller:other ways to do it, as well. But I think there's some
Brad Miller:commonality here, and I'm interested in some of the common
Brad Miller:experiences you had people have succeeded in that, and
Brad Miller:particularly, how when some folks call upon some power
Brad Miller:greater than themselves, you know, some sort of a life force
Brad Miller:a words of spirituality, or meditation or reading or some
Brad Miller:people throw themselves into study, you know, they tried to
Brad Miller:study everything there is to do but the topic, tell me about
Brad Miller:people calling upon some power to give them strength greater
Brad Miller:than selves, how that was a factor in recovery.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah, I certainly would say in the, in
Dr. Paul Anderson:the, in the grand scheme, that that in one way or another fit
Dr. Paul Anderson:into every story of people moving forward. Now, in the
Dr. Paul Anderson:book, the way that I tried to write about that, because
Dr. Paul Anderson:because humans have such a broad experience of, you know, a
Dr. Paul Anderson:higher power or something other than themselves. I didn't want
Dr. Paul Anderson:to be, you know, too narrow in the way I described it. But I
Dr. Paul Anderson:give examples where I've seen people who had a particular
Dr. Paul Anderson:spiritual upbringing and background that they that was
Dr. Paul Anderson:that was good that resonate with that. And it actually the
Dr. Paul Anderson:realization that I can't stay here in this stuck angry place,
Dr. Paul Anderson:or whatever they were at, in the beginning, kind of reignited a
Dr. Paul Anderson:connection to that. And so they actually were able to go and
Dr. Paul Anderson:meet with a counselor or a pastor or somebody related to
Dr. Paul Anderson:their spiritual tradition, and it actually deepen that, that
Dr. Paul Anderson:connection that they had in a lot of ways. And that became, if
Dr. Paul Anderson:you will, sort of the skeleton around which they built a lot of
Dr. Paul Anderson:their recovery. Part of that it connects to what we were talking
Dr. Paul Anderson:about just a few minutes ago, which is, you, if you connect to
Dr. Paul Anderson:something like that something that's bigger than you, it's
Dr. Paul Anderson:easier to step out of the role of being a victim, and to
Dr. Paul Anderson:realize that you, you know, you're not alone here, you can
Dr. Paul Anderson:call on something other than you something bigger than just your
Dr. Paul Anderson:worries, to help you move forward. So, I definitely, I
Dr. Paul Anderson:definitely have seen that be a core with people. I've seen some
Dr. Paul Anderson:people where, as you said, some people intellectualize it a
Dr. Paul Anderson:little bit more, they, they'll read everything about their, you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, type of cancer or about recovery or whatever, they're
Dr. Paul Anderson:reading a lot of people and there's a great deal of research
Dr. Paul Anderson:in this area A lot of people do either prayer practices or
Dr. Paul Anderson:mindfulness practices, things, you know, in that nature, just
Dr. Paul Anderson:to help recenter them and again, you know, not feel like they're
Dr. Paul Anderson:it's them against everything. And so some people people
Dr. Paul Anderson:meditate. You know, there's there's 1000 expressions. But
Dr. Paul Anderson:yeah, I
Brad Miller:think that that's a core with, with most people I've
Brad Miller:seen what you've seen some commonality of those people who
Brad Miller:practice some form of a calling upon, whether you call it God or
Brad Miller:spiritual life or meditation or study, they've caught up on some
Brad Miller:aspect of some force greater than themselves in order to have
Brad Miller:some healing and some wholeness and to self care. self healing
Brad Miller:is one of the things that you advocate, I know, taking some
Brad Miller:charge of your own situation. So and, and to in my way, thinking
Brad Miller:that's drawing on, that's a source of some power there, you
Brad Miller:know, you got to, in order to heal in order to have wholeness.
Brad Miller:You can't, you know, your body is breaking down, your spirit is
Brad Miller:being attacked, and so on and so forth. You have in my mind, I'm
Brad Miller:just sharing with you reflecting with you, that you need, you
Brad Miller:just can't do it on your own. You know, that's what people say
Brad Miller:why people go to the doctor, right? They go to the doctor,
Brad Miller:because you can't, if you're sick, you can't figure it out on
Brad Miller:your own.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah. Yeah, it's and empowering to be able
Dr. Paul Anderson:to step to that place where they're where you're, you're
Dr. Paul Anderson:calling upon, you know, other information, whether it's, say a
Dr. Paul Anderson:doctor, or a helper or, or a higher power, you're, you're
Dr. Paul Anderson:really surrounding yourself with other positive things that can
Dr. Paul Anderson:take you, you know, through it, because, you know, we're not
Dr. Paul Anderson:meant to figure everything out on our own.
Brad Miller:Well, let's talk about people now for a second,
Brad Miller:let's talk about relationships. In this healing and wholeness
Brad Miller:process, this aspect of self care, we've mentioned how it's
Brad Miller:hard for people to really have healing and wholeness with do it
Brad Miller:on their own and calling upon a higher power. But the power
Brad Miller:that's right before us oftentimes is our spouse or
Brad Miller:family or friends or co workers, sometimes people put it out
Brad Miller:there in their network, you know, online and so on these
Brad Miller:these things, they have sometimes develop a rapport with
Brad Miller:their caregivers, I'll my I have a son who's a hospice worker for
Brad Miller:us to set he, even if or during relatively short bouts of times,
Brad Miller:he developed real rapport with the people he cares for. But
Brad Miller:let's talk about that how these friends and family and
Brad Miller:relationships I call it the fuel of overcoming adversity. But
Brad Miller:there can be some times when it can be a hindrance as well, I
Brad Miller:just like to just talk a little bit about the power and the
Brad Miller:function of health of relationships, loving
Brad Miller:relationships, particularly. Yeah.
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah, it's just just like, you know, having
Dr. Paul Anderson:others come in professionally or higher powers to call upon. We
Dr. Paul Anderson:exist in community. And whether that is a spouse or close
Dr. Paul Anderson:friends or network, or all of the above, rely on that group of
Dr. Paul Anderson:people for, you know, their input, their energy, their
Dr. Paul Anderson:lifting you up, et cetera. And one of the areas that we
Dr. Paul Anderson:specifically talk about in the book is, there are there are
Dr. Paul Anderson:better and worse relationships that we have, and some are just
Dr. Paul Anderson:naturally healing. And some can actually be toxic and very
Dr. Paul Anderson:negative. And when a person gets sick, that tends to accentuate
Dr. Paul Anderson:those, you know, you can have people and sometimes they're not
Dr. Paul Anderson:trying to be this way, but you can have an extremely negatively
Dr. Paul Anderson:oriented friend, loved one family member. And when you get
Dr. Paul Anderson:sick, it, it bothers them so much in here, reflecting the
Dr. Paul Anderson:negativity on you, which is not not a healing place to be the
Dr. Paul Anderson:way I talked about in the book. And what I've seen countless
Dr. Paul Anderson:times is you want to as much as you can gravitate towards
Dr. Paul Anderson:whoever in your group, you know, they're having a hard time
Dr. Paul Anderson:dealing with your diagnosis too. It's it's a two way street, but
Dr. Paul Anderson:those who feed you who you know, who are giving who engender a
Dr. Paul Anderson:healthy attitude, and lift you up when you're down or help you
Dr. Paul Anderson:through places. And most people have those folks in their lives.
Dr. Paul Anderson:And you actually do have to be a little careful with people who,
Dr. Paul Anderson:whether it's intentional or not, are on the negative toxic side,
Dr. Paul Anderson:because they literally will drag you down with them. It's It's so
Dr. Paul Anderson:important, others are,
Brad Miller:are part of our world. That's why the reason I
Brad Miller:call it the fuel of healing and hold us if you get bad fuel, or
Brad Miller:if you get no fuel or so to speak, it's going to stall you
Brad Miller:and I've seen it happen and obviously you're sharing the
Brad Miller:usage and happen where those toxic relationships. This is
Brad Miller:where I know You talk a lot about empowerment in your work.
Brad Miller:And sometimes the empowerment piece has been making hard
Brad Miller:decisions, isn't it about even those relationships and
Brad Miller:celebrating and lifting up the good ones and maybe, you know,
Brad Miller:limiting the toxic ones?
Dr. Paul Anderson:Yeah, it's it's, it's so critical, because
Dr. Paul Anderson:that fuel as you say, is you It really is what drives us or
Dr. Paul Anderson:stalls us out. Most people, not everybody, but most people try
Dr. Paul Anderson:to please those around them. And they try and put other people
Dr. Paul Anderson:first. And in all these things that many of us grew up hearing,
Dr. Paul Anderson:when you have something life threatening, like cancer, it's
Dr. Paul Anderson:hard to step into a role of saying, I have to protect myself
Dr. Paul Anderson:first. And if that means limiting exposure to certain
Dr. Paul Anderson:friends and family, you need to do that because, and that's not
Dr. Paul Anderson:being selfish. That's actually being kind to yourself,
Brad Miller:I just wanna share with you a brief story from my
Brad Miller:own experience to this point, I just reminded me that I just
Brad Miller:wanted, I just want to share it. I mentioned in the past, one of
Brad Miller:the persons I was a pastor to was a judge in the county that I
Brad Miller:lived in, which meant, you know, he was involved with local
Brad Miller:politics, and he said, people to jail and all kinds of stuff he
Brad Miller:developed to share identities is what I'm getting at, we got a
Brad Miller:diagnosis one of those terrible diagnosis of liver cancer, and
Brad Miller:he literally was dead within eight weeks later, what I want
Brad Miller:to make with you about is this relationship, he was on the
Brad Miller:hospital for several weeks. And he called to his bedside in the
Brad Miller:local hospital, literally over 100 people who were in his life,
Brad Miller:good, who had good relationships and bad relationships. Some
Brad Miller:people get sent to jail, some people have political foes and
Brad Miller:so on. And he had a moment. And I was one of those people, we
Brad Miller:had a moment with, wait a moment by his bedside, we had a healing
Brad Miller:moment, he apologized to them. He made things right. In some
Brad Miller:cases, there was even financial stuff involved. He made it right
Brad Miller:with everybody. And what my point is, those relationships
Brad Miller:were all restored, because he was very, very intentional about
Brad Miller:healing those relationships and developing a good rapport and
Brad Miller:those relationships. And I no one else has ever forgot that
Brad Miller:gift he gave to everyone else. And I think these positive
Brad Miller:relationships, especially those are the gifts that we can give
Brad Miller:to others, whether we are helping that person who has to
Brad Miller:cancer diagnosis, but in many times it's that person who has
Brad Miller:cancer, who's given that gift to others. Have you seen that type
Brad Miller:of thing happen? where a person who's sick has given the gift to
Brad Miller:a
Dr. Paul Anderson:very Definitely, yeah, yeah, some of
Dr. Paul Anderson:the remarkable and uplifting stories that that I've seen and
Dr. Paul Anderson:reviewed in my mind before writing are actually people who
Dr. Paul Anderson:be so you're in a clinic setting. Sometimes there's
Dr. Paul Anderson:things people do together, such as they're all getting IV
Dr. Paul Anderson:treatments together something in a big room. So people develop a
Dr. Paul Anderson:lot of community in that in that respect, and there would be
Dr. Paul Anderson:definitely, people with cancer, maybe the person with the worst
Dr. Paul Anderson:cancer in the room, but they made everybody else feel better,
Dr. Paul Anderson:feel more grounded, feel more hopeful. in their life, they
Dr. Paul Anderson:were that way, they were actually the sick person and
Dr. Paul Anderson:quite ill. And they were just able to uplift those around
Dr. Paul Anderson:them, you know, and bring them close. And, and as you mentioned
Dr. Paul Anderson:with me, that's a pretty remarkable story with the judge.
Dr. Paul Anderson:But also he had a very short amount of time
Brad Miller:what he knew at that time, and he but he did
Brad Miller:something about it, he could have stayed in bed.
Dr. Paul Anderson:And but he did yeah, it's it's that being
Dr. Paul Anderson:proactive and, and there were definitely cases, especially
Dr. Paul Anderson:with those people I was talking about that just naturally Boyd
Dr. Paul Anderson:people up where they actually did reach out to family or
Dr. Paul Anderson:friends and just clear the slate you know, make amends or, or
Dr. Paul Anderson:talk it through or whatever. Be that's also being empowered, you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, that's your, you're in charge of what's going on
Dr. Paul Anderson:regardless of your physical circumstances. You're, you're
Dr. Paul Anderson:going to do the right thing. Yeah,
Brad Miller:it's an there's that word. Again, you've
Brad Miller:mentioned it several times. I think it's a theme of your book
Brad Miller:of empowerment, of taking charge of your own health in your own
Brad Miller:situation. And I'd like for you to talk to our audience here for
Brad Miller:a few minutes about some of those specific steps. I'm
Brad Miller:talking about self discipline. So talking about habits,
Brad Miller:practices, what are some things that people can do both in, you
Brad Miller:know, in your physical health area, your mental health, your
Brad Miller:emotional health, that people can do to say cancer, you will
Brad Miller:not beat me, I'm going to take charge of my life, I'm gonna be
Brad Miller:empowered.
Dr. Paul Anderson:I think that the first the first step is
Dr. Paul Anderson:realizing that you don't have to like anything about the
Dr. Paul Anderson:diagnosis that you have or the diagnosis your loved one has.
Dr. Paul Anderson:And you You also need to be able to realize and let go of the
Dr. Paul Anderson:fact that you start where you start, which is usually some
Dr. Paul Anderson:negative emotions. The important part as you move forward,
Dr. Paul Anderson:though, as you say, the discipline of it is waking up
Dr. Paul Anderson:literally every day. Because you're gonna wake up every day
Dr. Paul Anderson:and still have cancer in this case and say, even if the only
Dr. Paul Anderson:thing I do today is remember that I have a choice over how I
Dr. Paul Anderson:feel and react to the situations I'm in. I may have no choice
Dr. Paul Anderson:over how the cancer is going today or what medical treatment
Dr. Paul Anderson:I get or but I actually have a choice over how I process that
Dr. Paul Anderson:where how much power I give that where it sits in my life. That
Dr. Paul Anderson:is a very hard thing for most of us humans to do when we don't
Dr. Paul Anderson:feel well, because Are you normally we kind of tie how
Dr. Paul Anderson:we're feeling mentally with our body is doing. And sometimes it
Dr. Paul Anderson:cancer, that tie doesn't work very well. And so the biggest
Dr. Paul Anderson:thing is, and this is very critical, and it happens with
Dr. Paul Anderson:chronically ill people too, you may wake up most days, a you
Dr. Paul Anderson:still have cancer, but be you may not feel great, you may not
Dr. Paul Anderson:feel your former self divorcing yourself from that physical
Dr. Paul Anderson:feeling and saying, I still have a choice over how I am going to
Dr. Paul Anderson:be as a patient with cancer today. That's the first, second,
Dr. Paul Anderson:third and fourth and last steps. Everything else then flows from
Dr. Paul Anderson:that which is really working the muscles, whether they're
Dr. Paul Anderson:spiritual muscles, or mental, emotional or thought pattern
Dr. Paul Anderson:muscles, so that most of your day you are actually in charge
Dr. Paul Anderson:of those thoughts and empowered. And if you go to even you know,
Dr. Paul Anderson:there's a paper written even just a year ago now, about
Dr. Paul Anderson:empowerment with cancer. And it makes the point that when they
Dr. Paul Anderson:look in, they look back at a bunch of different studies
Dr. Paul Anderson:around empowerment. The key to empowerment and better outcomes
Dr. Paul Anderson:was not Did you have control over what your doctor did, or,
Dr. Paul Anderson:or what hospital you went to, or, you know, all the logistics
Dr. Paul Anderson:of your cancer life. The key was, did you feel that you had
Dr. Paul Anderson:self determination around that, and you were in charge of your
Dr. Paul Anderson:life, regardless of what circumstances game, those people
Dr. Paul Anderson:needed less pain medicine, their quality of life was better, and
Dr. Paul Anderson:usually their length of life was better as well. I think that
Dr. Paul Anderson:because that is very much not a native human human process to go
Dr. Paul Anderson:through, you know, because most of the time people feel well,
Dr. Paul Anderson:you got
Brad Miller:to as you just met, you got to work out, you got to,
Brad Miller:you got to exercise those muscles. And so that's why we
Brad Miller:have your book and your resource to help people to exercise that
Brad Miller:a little bit called cancer, the journey from diagnosis to
Brad Miller:empowerment. And I'd like to conclude our conversation by
Brad Miller:being very specific and very practical, pragmatic to the
Brad Miller:person or persons out there who may be dealing with just this,
Brad Miller:you know, I'm sure, tell us a story about someone had some
Brad Miller:transition or turnaround in their life. That may be a good
Brad Miller:example to others. You mentioned a couple already.
Dr. Paul Anderson:There's a number of stories, but there's a
Dr. Paul Anderson:particular woman who was about 63 years old, and I won't use
Dr. Paul Anderson:her name, but she had she was part of the research study. So I
Dr. Paul Anderson:got to know her really well, because I saw a number of times
Dr. Paul Anderson:a week and knew her family and everything. She started out not
Dr. Paul Anderson:not negative. she of course, was not happy. She had metastatic
Dr. Paul Anderson:cancer, but she was more bewildered, it was just you
Dr. Paul Anderson:know, gee, you know, where was it past choices I made that
Dr. Paul Anderson:brought me here. Was it other health habits? or How did I get
Dr. Paul Anderson:here? So she was just stuck in this kind of cycle of self blame
Dr. Paul Anderson:and other, you know, other negative things. And we would
Dr. Paul Anderson:talk about these things. And in her mind, and this, this is not
Dr. Paul Anderson:a quick thing with most people. But as we would talk about it,
Dr. Paul Anderson:and as she process through things, once she was able to
Dr. Paul Anderson:essentially step away from the idea that she had to figure out
Dr. Paul Anderson:the the question of why, why did this happen to me? Because we
Dr. Paul Anderson:often never know the answer to that. It was amazing to watch
Dr. Paul Anderson:her become free from that even their cancer didn't change. She
Dr. Paul Anderson:was still just a second everything else. But in her
Dr. Paul Anderson:case, that was the anchor to the past. And the negativity was she
Dr. Paul Anderson:had to figure out why. And she really should never would. Once
Dr. Paul Anderson:she stopped doing that she actually became so much more
Dr. Paul Anderson:bright, so much more generally positive. And she was a positive
Dr. Paul Anderson:influence on people all around her. In her particular case, it
Dr. Paul Anderson:was figuring out that she was trying to hold on to a question
Dr. Paul Anderson:she could never answer. And she when she got free of that she
Dr. Paul Anderson:was actually free to move forward. And essentially, with
Dr. Paul Anderson:almost everybody and I talked about different permutations of
Dr. Paul Anderson:the book, there's something it may not be that it may not be
Dr. Paul Anderson:self blame or whatever, but there's something holding them
Dr. Paul Anderson:from moving forward and divorcing from that is, is life
Dr. Paul Anderson:changing?
Brad Miller:What's that freedom that you mentioned that release
Brad Miller:that acceptance even when someone you know we all are
Brad Miller:going to pass away, we're all gonna die eventually. So you
Brad Miller:have to come to a point of acceptance. Those people will
Brad Miller:have the freedom of that whether they recover or whether they
Brad Miller:don't, are the ones who have a much joyous life and even their
Brad Miller:impact on others is a good thing. So good stuff.
Brad Miller:fascinating stuff. Dr. Paul Anderson if people want to be in
Brad Miller:contact with you or learn more about how to get your book or
Brad Miller:get on your website or connect up with you on the things that
Brad Miller:you offer, how can how can folks do that?
Dr. Paul Anderson:So the book, easiest way is any online
Dr. Paul Anderson:bookseller Amazon, for example, or Barnes and Noble pals,
Dr. Paul Anderson:anybody in right now it's available either as a regular
Dr. Paul Anderson:paper version book or Kindle. And so any any online if they
Dr. Paul Anderson:just start to search cancer, the journey from it'll be the first
Dr. Paul Anderson:one that comes up usually. So the book is easy that way. Oh,
Dr. Paul Anderson:in modern times, what I've found as far as other ways to contact
Dr. Paul Anderson:social media seems to be more and more what people do so the
Dr. Paul Anderson:two outlets I have there that have links to a lot of
Dr. Paul Anderson:newsletters and other content on Instagram. It's simply Dr. Dre
Dr. Paul Anderson:online, Dr. Dre online. And on Facebook, it's Dr. Period, a
Dr. Paul Anderson:online and on both of those are slightly different content. But
Dr. Paul Anderson:there's links to, as I say, a lot of free newsletters and
Dr. Paul Anderson:resources, and other any other way you need to get a hold of me
Dr. Paul Anderson:put
Brad Miller:links to all those connections. On our website. Dr.
Brad Miller:Brad Miller, calm. Great to be with you today. Sir. The name of
Brad Miller:the book by Dr. Paul Sanderson is cancer. The journey from
Brad Miller:diagnosis to empowerment, our guests on beyond adversity, Dr.