By Kitt Ritchie
I have stage IV metastatic breast cancer. I was diagnosed 3.5 years ago. In September 2023 I stopped conventional treatment, initially intending to take a break to allow my body to heal and rest and started pursuing natural and holistic therapies. My latest scan reports show my disease is still stable. No progression. I’m as surprised as my oncologist. I’m a bit of an anomaly I suppose. I’m not in remission. My tumours are still there, but they’re just sitting quiet for now.
Firstly, I want to say that I am not sharing my story to encourage anyone to quit treatment. Please don’t! This is risky. I’m really rolling the dice here. I am choosing my quality of life over longevity. That’s not for everyone. I had been unable to tolerate any of the aromatase inhibitors, so I felt I had little choice but to pursue other options. (An aromatase inhibitor (AI) stops the production of estrogen in post-menopausal women and is mainly used to treat hormone positive breast cancers.)
I also have oligometastatic disease to my bones (5 tumours), have had a bilateral mastectomy and SBRT (radiation) to stabilize the largest tumours in my ribs which were 5cm and 8cm. I still have some smaller areas in my spine and hips that I am keeping watch upon, but I don’t have a huge amount of disease in my body at present.
I was on Letrozole (an AI) and Zometa (Zometa, or zoledronic acid, is a bone tumour agent and is used to treat bone pain and curb breast cancer from metastasizing to the bone) for 3 years, since December 2020, and had been stable with no progression for most of that time but it was still hell. The first year and a half wasn’t too bad but then my symptoms of depression, pain and fatigue became completely debilitating. Last summer, I could barely get out of bed most days. I thought it was from the cancer. Now I realize it was from the drugs and treatment.
After my last Zometa infusion, in September 2023, I got really sick. I could barely even walk and I realized that I just had to give my body a break. My oncologist agreed that I had developed drug toxicity to both the Letrozole and Zometa so I stopped taking my medication. I intended to just take a 4 to 6 week “treatment holiday” but I felt so good after being off all the medication that here I am 10 months later, still off of treatment and still stable.
Since stopping treatment, I have been focusing on my wellness and trying to boost my immune system to help my body heal. I’m doing this through diet, nutrition, exercise and mindfulness practices. I have seen a couple different Oncology Naturopaths and with their guidance I am using natural supplements, herbs, vitamins, antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. I do gentle yoga, meditation, resistance training exercises, walking and other moderate exercises. I try find joy every day and stay in a state of calm and zero stress as much as humanly possible. Life does interfere with my “Zen” at times, but I am fiercely aware of feeling stressed or irritable and will quickly find calm or meditate to put my body back into healing mode.
I feel really good. I still get tired some days and need to rest but it’s nothing like the debilitating fatigue I felt before. I’ve even gone back to work recently, just part time. Life is good. It feels kind of normal again. I realize that diet, supplements, exercise and meditation alone may not be enough to keep my illness stable long term. I will most likely have progression at some point and I’m not sure how well I will deal with that or what I will do. If and when I have progression, I may decide to go back on treatment. I don’t know. I don’t need to think about that now. For now, I am just enjoying life, enjoying nature and finding peace, joy and happiness every day.
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