I’ve returned from an incredibly inspirational trip to Wyoming to meet my biochemist and naturopathic healer, Kevin to discuss ways to improve my health. I was there for a couple days and used the time to check out the Teton Mountains and a bit of Yellowstone Park which are beautiful. During a lot of the traveling we were at high elevation which brought us close to the clouds.  It’s an interesting sight to see them hanging not far above you and to even drive down into them.

 The most incredible part of the trip was meeting my biochemist who is one of, if not the most impressive person I’ve ever met. His approach to health is highly effective, science-based, revolutionary in the western world and often contrary to conventional medicine.  During our first meeting I was so impressed by his knowledge about health that I asked him to sit down with me for a video interview the next day. I had to capture some of his knowledge and share it.

We found that we both have a passion for helping people by spreading the truth about health. Nothing is more important than health, especially not money. There is a lot of misinformation out there and during the past year and half of my attempt to learn how to treat cancer I’ve encountered a bombardment of information. At times they were contradictory and I found it difficult to know what to think.

After the first interview with him I asked him if he would do a health video podcast with me if I bought him a webcam. He instantly agreed and since then I’ve been brainstorming ideas for our podcast and blog. I’m very excited about being his satellite and bringing his scientific wisdom to you. Every week(or twice a week if demand is high) we will do a half hour podcast, each with a specific health topic. We will also do a segment called “Questions for Kevin” where I’ll present him with questions from viewers.

The BioChem Health episodes are a part of my Life Smart Podcast which is about health and self improvement. The first installment will be out shortly. I’ll bring in guests in the future to talk about various topics.

Some of you will find this mind blowing and others will be critical because the information presented will be at odds with a lot of what you’ve heard. If you have suggestions, want elaboration on things or if you are skeptical of Kevin’s views then email me at Thuy@OneTwoThuy.com and we can use it for the show.  If you find our podcasts credible then spread the word, duh.

At BioChemHealth.com I will post articles written by Kevin. I've posted our pilot episode and an article about wheat allergy and have gotten a lot of good feedback already.

~Thuy

My stay at the hospital in Richmond Virginia lasted six days and was emotionally more difficult than my last stay for the amputation. Painkillers made the pain from the fracture bearable while I waited my turn for tests. The first was a full body CAT scan to see if the cancer had spread anywhere else. Fortunately it hadn’t, but the doctor delivered this good news somberly. The tests could only detect tumors that were at least 3mm in size. It was possible there were smaller, undetectable ones somewhere.

 

The surgeon performed a total hip replacement, which consisted of replacing part of my femur with metal and my hip socket with plastic. There aren’t nerve endings there anymore so recovery is less painful. The hip surgery went perfectly but it was the least of my concerns.

 

My doctor informed me that based on statistics there is a good chance the cancer will come back in 6 months to 2 years if left untreated. Sarcomas tend to spread to the lungs and the survival rate for lung cancer is dismal. A radiologist came in advising me to do radiation on my hip. It wouldn’t help the rest of my body but at least there would be some regional treatment. He practically said “If you don’t do any treatments the cancer will most likely grow back. If you do radiation, it will still most likely grow back but there’s a slight chance it won’t.” This wasn’t the most convincing sales pitch but I appreciated his honesty. If only my oncologist last year could have been this blunt of instead of quoting a misleading “70% response rate” I might have been able to avoid chemo. A different oncologist visited trying to convince me into more chemo. It isn’t effective and I couldn’t stand the thought of going through that hell again. Nothing else has ever brought me closer to death mentally and emotionally.

 

I felt like there was a ticking time bomb attached to my chest. My body was in suicide mode letting the cancer cells grow uncontrollably like weeds in a poorly manicured lawn. Based on the doctor’s news there was a chance I wouldn’t be alive in three years. In the coldness and loneliness of my hospital room I broke down a few times. There are so many things I want to do with my life. It’s not death itself that breaks my heart but loss of potential to do great things. I thought to myself that I would give up everything I owned for just five healthy years in order to accomplish a few of them.

 

Emotionally things got a lot better after being discharged from the hospital. That night four of my college friends drove down from northern Virginia and Adam Pliska came from A.C. to welcome me home. We threw a giant block of organic beef tenderloin, salmon and vegetables on the grill. Dinner was great and the company was better. I was still exhausted but being around my friends and family lifted some of the stress.

 

Since then I have been researching non-toxic methods to treat cancer that unfortunately are not offered by most conventional doctors. Chemo and radiation do significant damage to the body whereas non-toxic treatments tend to build up the immune system and specifically target cancer cells.  I have mentioned previously that playing live poker has built great contacts for me and the most fortunate so far has been meeting a guy that was in a position very similar to mine years ago.  His doctors told him that his cancer was sure to grow back.  He found a biochemist that specialized in alternative medicine that compared treating cancer to killing weeds on your lawn. You can poison it(chemo) or burn it(radiation) and it will destroy your entire lawn without killing the roots. Over time the weeds are likely to grow back. His method is to change the soil composition so that grass can grow but weeds can’t, thus to treat illness change your body composition so that it’s hostile to cancer.  Fortunately the biochemist has agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to see me. I’ll be flying out to Wyoming shortly to have him evaluate my case and prescribe a unique protocol to help me change my body chemistry.

 

The next couple months will be devoted to restoring my health which will entail a lot of research and a bit of travel. I feel confident that with the right guidance from knowledgeable people I can get healthy again. It will take effort on my part to find those people.

 

The past year and half has been a huge ordeal with life throwing one bad thing after another at me but I’m still sane and still fighting. If you have ever read Atlas Shrugged I feel very much like Dagny Taggart, a woman whose life is challenged by one thing after another.  Yet she fights through it with unshakable passion and determination. Though a fictitious character, she is my idol of strength.  If you haven’t read it yet I guarantee it will be among your favorites.

A couple links to check out:

1. My Facebook fan page

2. Cris Belkewitch's flattering article on me

~Thuy

My new website, OneTwoThuy.com [one-two-twee] has launched! We’re still tweaking the format and content so what you see will get better. I would have chosen ThuyDoan.com but someone already squatted on it and linked it to FTP [insert angry face]. Please do me a favor and click on it so that the search engines will start picking it up. J

The summer in Vegas ended abruptly. Just as quickly as it erupted it vanished into thin air. I was happy to see it go. Being in Vegas for the WSOP is always fun but I can’t stay there for much longer. I spend all my time in casinos or clubs which after a while feels artificial. The glamour fades and I long to go home.

It’s difficult to eat healthy in Vegas. I relaxed my mostly raw, minimal animal protein diet and started eating regularly. Aside from the occasional trips to Go Raw Cafe (which has great smoothies, organic salads, etc.) I didn’t like my Vegas routine and wanted to get back to a diet that was nutrient-rich. For motivation I made a semi-vegan food bet with a friend that is like this: for the rest of 2010 no animal products except for seafood, milk and yogurt. Anything made with eggs or butter is off limits, which includes most pastries, ice cream, pasta, etc. Each penalty costs $300 and the buy-out is $4k. The bet has gotten me cooking and eating really healthy again which feels great.

During my last week in Vegas I had a funny experience in a live game. It was 10/25 until a few wealthy Saudi Arabians walked in wanting to start a 25/50. They were vacationing and just wanted to gamble. We were more than happy to oblige. We ended the original game to start a ten-handed 25/50. It was a juicy thanks to our new friends. In one hand at least four people saw the flop, including a Russian and two of the Saudis. The Russian moved all in and then the action was on the big jolly Saudi. He and his friend who was also in the hand began speaking in what I believe to be Arabic. The Russian became infuriated and declared their hands dead. He called for the floorwoman and rudely berated them for not using English at the table. To end the drama the Saudis folded their hands. They were offended and didn’t want to play with him anymore so they packed up their chips and left to play pit games. Everyone was upset at the Russian who wouldn’t stop complaining. We wanted him to leave so that the Saudis would come back. One player offered the Russian $500 to go, another added $300, another chimed in with $50. In total the table offered $1,100 and he accepted. The floorwoman brought the Saudis back, telling them they could return to the game. Once they were back the Russian declared “I’ll leave and you can have your seats back if you MATCH their $1,100.”

Before the table was annoyed, after that we were pissed! He broke the agreement in order to milk more money out of the situation. In boycott everyone stopped playing. We all sat out and even tried to convince the floorwoman to move us to another table while leaving him there. Our boycott got to him. He agreed to leave with the original offer. The table was so upset though that nobody wanted to give him any money. Finally one of the Saudis eager to get the game going tossed him $1,100 in chips. He left, the Saudis sat back down and gambled away until the morning. It was one of the best games I played in all summer. Too bad I was card dead and couldn’t get any of the action.

Since being back home I’ve been able to focus on a few non-poker things such as meeting my continuation education requirements for my real estate license, figuring out things for my Realtor matchmaker service(more details to come on the website), finding a new roommate, and starting Spanish lessons again. I speak decently but not nearly to the level that I’d like. If you want to help me learn you can tweet me in Spanish and I’ll respond J. Don’t mind all the errors. Once time frees up I’ll also restart my Rosetta Stone Vietnamese lessons. People message me in Vietnamese sometimes not knowing that I don’t understand much of it anymore. Xin loi L. I’m trying to be productive which means fighting the urge to buy Starcraft 2. This would seriously counteract my efforts.

Edit Aug. 16th:

1. In-depth Interview with Poker Curious

2. ESPN WSOP episode 6 feature, starts at 5:25

Chau, chao, bye!

~Thuy

On this hot, dry evening I’m sitting on the balcony looking into the Vegas landscape. A helicopter floats in the distance, an electric train smoothly pulls into its next stop, and a few blocks away the tall figure of the Stratosphere blinks its changing streaks of light: green, blue, yellow, red, white…. This is Vegas as usual, I’ve seen it many times before. The sun has almost set. In the horizon is still that dull orange glow that reminds you there isn’t much time left. I’m brought to the realization that there really isn’t much time left. The WSOP season is almost over.

This past month has gone by so quickly. Each day melted into another, their borders becoming smudged like a watercolor canvas. I could barely distinguish one from another. What day is this? Does it matter? I’ve hit the tables so hard that when I think back on it, the most glaring images are that of a green-felted table, cards hidden beneath my hands and ever-changing stacks of chips. I drowned myself in the games because I wanted to prove that despite everything that’s happened in the past year, I could still build myself back up. I put in an exhausting number of hours and am overall happy with the results. In the cash games I’ve won the most ever during a WSOP summer. In the tournaments I’ve had the worst results of any WSOP season with over a dozen mostly small NLHE events played and only one cash. It’s been disappointing but with such good results in the cash games I still feel quite accomplished.

It’s the night before day 2 of the Main Event and there isn’t much time left in my WSOP season. I only have 5K chips which is about 12 big blinds. Day 1 was a slaughter. I was card dead for the most of it and got into a few marginal spots where I could have gotten away cheaper and saved my chips. After that bad run of cards I played cash games for a couple days and crushed them. If only I could have run that good during day 1…. There’s a decent chance I’ll bust day 2 so I’m not sure if it will air, but I did a feature with ESPN talking about this past year, the head shaving, playing at Phil Laak’s table when he broke the world record, etc. It would be really cool if any of it gets on tv. I also did a crash interview with Bluff which you can find here.

I’m going to get a good night sleep and play awesome short stack tournament poker for the remainder of my Main Event experience. Maybe I’ll run it up. If not, I'll enjoy the rest of my time here spending time with friends or hitting the cash games as usual.

~Thuy