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The Tree (true story)
In my front yard is a very large Ficus tree-bold and beautiful. It shades the majority of our yard, and is one of the reasons we chose to buy this house. Well, in January of this year, Phoenix was hit with frost. (Yep Phoenix) We were not prepared for this, as we were still using the pool! Well, the tree began to die. About the same time, I was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma. (Bile Duct cancer which there is no cure for and tumors on the liver.) One day, the tree was down to about 3 leaves, and my husband and I were standing out front, sadly looking at the tree. My husband (Polo) reached out and touched a leaf, and in a shaky voice said, "Babe, this tree still has life in it and just needs to be nursed back to health......like you" Well, it became like an obsession with him, watering, plant food, trimming, etc. Throughout the months as he nourished the tree, I had two procedures for sir-spheres done. SIR-Spheres are biocompatible radio-active micro-spheres that contain yttrium-90 and emit beta radiation. They are implanted using a syringe and travel via the blood stream, whereupon the spheres are targeted to the tumors within the liver.

On September 4th,I went for a PET scan after just two treatments, and I was told that there was very little activity of cancer on my liver. I am almost cancer free already. The tree is also flourishing and full and once again shading our front yard.

Learn more about this author, Becky Paez.
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