It has been a busy week. Davis started having back pain again which triggered another CT Scan. The scan showed new tumors. Although we were hoping this wouldn't happen this quick, it isn't unexpected since it takes 1 to 2 cycles for the immunotherapy to kick in. Meanwhile Davis' pain is being managed and he is taking things day by day. Since his energy is low, I thought I'd write a post about his experience with cannabis. I'm sure he'll write more later on, as I believe he feels medical cannabis should be covered by insurance as it has done as much if not more for him than his prescribed medication.
Davis applied for medical cannabis last May (2018). He was prescribed CBD oil to help with appetite. He started with very low doses and increased it every few days until he noticed an increase in appetite. It was as this point he started to put some weight back on! Almost 15 pounds! He was enjoying food again. He was also prescribed 10:10 - which means equal parts CBD oil to THC oil for sleep. Davis has not slept through the night since last August (2017), and this was May (2018). The first night with 10:10 oil he slept 7 hours straight! He found all the other sleep medications he was prescribed would make him fall asleep, but not stay asleep and he'd wake up feeling "spacey" similar to a hangover. With the 10:10 oil he'd sleep all night and feel great in the morning.
Here is some background on the cannabis. This was all new to us, so I suspect many of you don't know how it works. The cannabis plant has over 100 different chemicals called cannabinoids, many with medicinal benefits. The two main ones are THC and CBD. The THC is psychoactive (produces the "high") which is why Davis' THC oil was balanced with CBD oil to assist managing the effects. These oils also reduce anxiety, reduce inflammation, relieve pain, control nausea and at high doses kill cancer cells or slow tumor growth. More about this later on! Davis' two oils have been essential for him since May.
The other thing we did was find a licensed designated grower. We applied for a federal license for someone locally to grow a very specific plant for Davis. This specific plant is to make Rick Simpson Oil (RSO), also known as Phoenix Tears or high dose cannabis oil. There is evidence RSO can reduce tumors and possibly cure cancer. Davis started on RSO. It is so strong, the first dose is the size of half a grain of rice! The CBD and 10:10 oils look like olive oil and the RSO looks like black sludge.
That is my cannabis oil 101 lesson.
Davis has his last immunotherapy infusion for cycle 1 this Wednesday, Sept. 26 - time to kick in...
Davis' mom
These blog posts have been so informative. Thanks for the insight, Leah and Davis. As I hear more stories like this, I can't help but feel like that I've been misinformed by charged politics and media channels about the legitimate uses of cannabis in medicine for cases such as Davis. It's nice to hear positive stories like these. Thanks for keeping us in the loop. - Steve.