I have had several conversations lately that had me thinking about the relationship between actual medicine and the types of supportive care or complimentary therapies people I know have tried, which they are convinced play an important role in prevention or recovery. After watching the first installment of the PBS / Ken Burns produced documentary Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies, I was in a fairly serious mindset on the subject, too. The history of cancer treatment is decidedly complex, with no shortage of conflicted emotions on how science has progressed — especially over the past 60 or so years — to the point where we are today. Coming out of essentially the Dark Ages, where little was known at all about the mechanisms of cancer cells and the prevailing belief was that all cancers were ostensibly the same, we entered a realm of promise and difficult choices that resonates to this day. And it is this difficulty that dominates so much of public perception that also opens the door toward less effective, but easier paths.

The problem is, on their own, those paths do not lead to the promised land. Easier to travel, they may be. But without the difficult choices, often there is nothing to lift the patient toward the promise.

Yet, there is a third component to this equation, hinted at centuries ago when physicians still believed the body’s ills were determined by the four humors and too much black bile was the likely cause of cancer.

While black bile was eventually proven not to exist, the notion that good health is founded on the balance of the bodily systems is understood today as a meaningful component of overall wellness. Balance in all aspects of our lives is important, and though it may not heal cancers nor even prevent them, because cancers show up in the healthiest people without any indication of prejudice, it can still assist the patient in the journey that he or she will inevitably be on.

There is no diet that will cure cancer. Nutritional approaches on their own, whether or not they are enhanced by supplements or extreme juicing or alkalized water, are all lacking a primary factor: a delivery system. That isn’t even addressing how the digestive system is set up to neutralize and disperse everything natural that comes into it and the myriad of reasons why food and herbs and any sort of water are actually quite silly to look at as the means to curing cancer. But when the drugs or radiation or surgery that can effectively treat cancer are being used, the body needs all the healthy support it can get. That means feeding it and feeding it properly — with balance. While the diet itself will not cure the cancer, it can enhance the patient’s overall health and wellbeing. Feeling good during treatment helps the patient to endure a difficult therapy. Eating healthy foods and staying well hydrated will enhance immune response and ensure a quicker recovery. Eating food that the patient loves will improve mood, enhancing the willingness to continue confronting the process.

Exercise, whether cardio, brisk walks, Ti Chi or yoga, also plays an important role. It cannot cure cancer, not even with the addition of intense meditation. But it does get the lungs and heart working and it does stimulate the flow of the pumpless lymphatic system. Exercise will purge toxins more quickly from the body while building strength and enhancing the immune system (that again!), as long as over exertion does not run the patient down. Again, it is all about balance.

Massage, acupuncture and other forms of palliative care may also help some patients to feel more balanced, less stressed and quite possibly less stiff or knotted up. None of these techniques can do anything to stem the growth of cancer cells or make them go away, but they can make the journey a lot more comfortable. A good rule of thumb is to walk away from any “alternative” practitioner who claims to have a cure through physical manipulation or some thousand year old technique, because that is a sure sign the practitioner has absolutely no clue about how to deal with cancer or what cancer really even is. However, finding a practitioner who is empathetic and willing to do whatever he or she can to enhance the patient’s quality of life during the treatment process may prove invaluable for some.

The trick is sometimes in understanding the full range of balance necessary for getting through this journey of living with cancer. Taking the easy path won’t always get you where you want to be, but the more difficult path certainly shouldn’t be any harder than it has to be; using any and all tools at the patient’s disposal to alleviate pain or discomfort, to eliminate stress, to improve mood and fortify the whole body and spirit, well, that is just plain smart planning. And any seasoned traveler should know that a smart plan is the best way to prepare for any journey.

As an aside, here is another web site that has a list of side effects that the potential cancer journier may want to prepare for. This was written about a particular combination of chemotherapies and emphasizes the personal nature of the side effects, but it is an honest and ultimately uplifting snapshot: FEC-THis: Side Effects.