Ongoing success for Rossanna’s client with Stage III pancreatic cancer - all done over the phone

By Rossanna M. Massey, D.C., EFTCert-I

Dear Gary,

Since my first article “ The Angry Pancreas”, my exposure to working with people who have pancreatic cancer, or cancer period, has been in many ways an unexpected soul journey.  What I’ve learned so far, is that not everyone is in alignment with life and the effort to live.  While the medical profession is aggressive in its approach to treating cancers, in many ways they set the stage for failure by creating an attitude of emotional helplessness and hopelessness. In the last fifty years, there has only been a five percent drop in the cancer death rate.  And so begins my story about a woman in Sweden named Susanne who decided not to do what she was told and chose instead to live.

We began our work together in August, 2008 by phone.  In her early sixties, Susanne is an artist, who prior to her illness loved to paint.  She is sensitive, well educated, and a refined woman.   Luckily, she is fluent in several languages including English.  In brief, she had emotional estrangement issues from both of her parents and had never learned to express anger for fear of more rejection.

Susanne was diagnosed with Stage III pancreatic cancer in June 2004. This means that the cancer had begun to spread and was found in one or more local lymph nodes.  After what was called a successful operation, removing part of her pancreas and the tumor in the standard Whipple procedure, all remaining organs and lymph glands in the area were determined to be clear and healthy.  As an additional safety measure, she underwent six months of chemotherapy.  She was told that after enduring the entire traditional medical treatment protocol, she could expect to live at least three years.  Perhaps subconsciously following her doctor’s orders, at exactly the end of her three year prognosis, she developed a new “highly aggressive” tumor on what was left of her pancreas and was given an ominous prognosis. 

In fact, her oncologist, when asked about life expectancy, answered “according to my book you should not be sitting here”.  In an attempt to nutritionally take matters into her own hands, Susanne tried dietary changes from a book by a cancer survivor, but subsequent tests showed no change in her condition.  Six months later she began to have severe unrelenting mid-thoracic pain and was advised to undergo more chemotherapy.  She did so for three months until she and her doctor decided to take an eight week break over the summer so she could travel.  In her mind she had decided not to resume the treatments but, according to her, didn’t know how not to.  Under pressure from both her family and her doctor she had one month before her next CAT scan to determine the extent of her next course of treatments.  Intuitively recognizing the need for “deep work” to be done, she sought help energetically through EFT.

When we began our sessions Susanne had no appetite, had difficulty eating solid food, was losing weight, and had little or no energy.  Because of that, she spent most of her time on the couch not really able to leave her house.  She was on pain medications that kept the constant pain at a level 4 intensity (on a scale of 0 to 10).  Her last blood test results had confirmed her declining state of health, and further impressed on her the desperate nature of her situation. 

Starting in late August, we had only one month before her next scan.  We worked with dizzying intensity twice a week.  At the end of our month of sessions, the exams and scans were done; her oncologist stated that her blood tests were “excellent” and that the cancer had not grown.  Susanne herself had admitted by then to having felt a shift back to the way she felt before she became ill. 

This article will only include the most impactful set-up phrases of our first month together in what I’d like to refer to as “phase one” of her recovery.  There were a lot more tapping phrases that were used during the course of our sessions, so if anyone is interested, they are welcomed to contact me.

With our initial consultation I determined we should begin our sessions with collar bone breathing for best results.  It also helped that Susanne was completely open and honest and ready to look at all sides of her life - the good, the bad, and the ugly.  She admitted to spending a lifetime of stuffing down emotions, and the only way she could show real anger was to cry.  Here are some examples:

Even though it’s not safe to be myself…

Even though I always do what I’m told so I can get love and approval…

Even though I’m very good at being good…

Even though I’m a terminal cancer patient…

Even though the research says this cancer is incurable…

Even though my doctor said I’ll never recover…

Even though I need this cancer for my own reasons…

Even though I don’t feel loved unless I’m sick…

Even though I don’t feel special unless I’m sick…

Even though mother only showed me love and concern when I was sick…

Even though I don’t know how to ask for love unless I manipulate it…

Even though I’m unworthy of good health, and I don’t deserve to get better…

Even though I need to be rescued, I always have…

Using my “Emotional Trigger-Point Technique”, I insisted she use words best described as the worst swear words imaginable!  I liken it to bursting the emotional balloon of anger. Once she let loose with what I presumed to be highly colorful language by the tone in which it was delivered (I don’t speak Swedish), her back pain went away, eventually completely.  

We tapped on her conversations with her doctors, nurses, home health care workers, and anyone else’s “dooming” opinions about her illness.  As usual, in between our set up phrases and tapping rounds, other aspects of her memories tumbled forth which quickly led to belching, weakness, rumbling in her stomach, flatulence and even nausea, which always quickly subsided.  Through my experiences I’ve come to believe these are normal reactions to especially old memories.

GC COMMENT: These "other memories" often contain the specific events that point to the emotional causes of dis-ease. These can be particularly good EFT targets.

We are now approximately five months past her prognostic date with destiny.  Our schedule consisted of phone sessions twice a week for three months, tapering off to once a week phone sessions with email homework during the week - technically still twice a week.

So far, Susanne is still firm on her decision not to resume her scheduled chemo treatments.  She’s gone from nearly bedridden and barely able to walk half a block, to taking a weekend trip with a girlfriend to a neighboring archipelago for a holiday of painting.  Her appetite graduated from only certain soft foods to a variety of solids, and now even cooks for herself.  Although she no longer feels constant pain, her fear of it coming back has caused her to continue taking her pain medications – but she has tapered her dose and reports that she’s still without pain. 

So intensive was our work together that she experienced two months of what she, at the time, described as exhaustion, and now, later, describes as a deep, much needed rest.  She recognizes it intuitively as part of her healing process and feels very differently now because of it.  She says her changes are now noticeably evident to her friends and family, who say she has a lighter air about her whole persona. 

Susanne says “I have the feeling that I somehow am in charge of my body and my health and that has been truly empowering”.  And after spending so many years silently angry and resentful at both of her parents, she now says that if she were to have a second chance, she would choose them both again.  Having said that, she also included that she has nothing but gratitude for the extraordinary life they afforded her, and would instead change HER attitude toward them if she did have that second chance.  Based on our work together I found these shifts to clarity and forgiveness to be particularly rewarding.

Admittedly, we’ve both agreed we are far from through with our work together.  The intention of this article was to let you know how far we’ve come with EFT and the emotions behind this type of cancer.  Suffice it to say that so far, as she was told by her oncologist, who is known not to dispense false hope, her current lab reports are completely normal!  When the oncologist went over her newest test results she exclaimed to Susanne, and I quote: “You don’t understand, this is fantastic”!  Also stating that her once very aggressive tumor is now “inactive” as if the ignition switch had been turned off!  In fact, since they can no longer find the tumor, the doctors have decided it must be “hiding” behind something.  Since starting on writing this article she has undergone yet another round of tests with the same excellent conclusions. 

While she is not out of the woods yet, there are fewer trees and they are smaller, apparently receding into the distance, so to speak.  A Stage III pancreatic cancer considered “operable” still has only a 20% survival rate at 5 years, and much, much less if there is a recurrence.  Even though she was under recognized appropriate medical care, the outcome predicted was not good.  Perhaps it was the medical treatments, it's almost impossible to sort out the cause and effect matrix here, but perhaps the changes in outcome so far have something to do with the clearing of life-threatening negative emotional energies, i.e. EFT. Surviving a recurrence of a Stage III is uncommon, much less its apparent “remission” and return toward health.  If the future continues as brightly as the recent past progress, then Susanne will join the rare and very tiny percentage of people who not only survived, but thrived.

Most Sincerely,

Dr. Rossanna Massey D.C., EFT Cert-I