April 26, 2008

Dear Integrated Health Medical Center,

This is intended to let you know what a difference Integrated Health Medical Center has made in my life.  As soon as I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, I knew that I was not going to follow conventional medicine for my healing.  Needless to say, this created a few "heated discussions" with my fiance.  At the age of 36, being a healthy vegetarian and a certified yoga instructor, this wasn't supposed to be happening to me.  And because I was young and healthy, that made the conventional doctors want to treat me even more aggressively.  But I knew that killing my body to try and save it was not for me.  It went against everything that I believed in. 

Thankfully, a member of my yoga community sent me an old email from the Paracelsus Biological Medicine Network and it showed a Dr Fitzpatrick speaking engagement on Sept 14-16, 2007.  It showed me that there was an alternative option in Santa Fe, NM, my backyard.  What a blessing.  I began my internet research on the cancer treatment options that the PBNM supported and that were available at the Integrated Health Medical Center, and found that they were many of the ones I had read about in alternative medicine journals sent to me by my mother's close friend.  So I called the clinic, and I was able to schedule an appointment the very next week.  Most larger alternative clinics I had called around the country needed a month or so before they could schedule you, and you had to have financing up front.  YIKES.  Upon the first meeting with Dr Fitzpatrick, we knew we had found the right place.  She took the time to answer not only my questions but my fiance's.  She ensured we knew our options and was also sure that she knew what I was open to doing for treatment.  And unlike the doctor that I had formerly been speaking with, she spoke with us as equals, wanting us to be involved in all decisions, not speaking down to us and telling us what the right decision would be.  It was also the first office that we had been to that both my fiance and I left feeling positive about the experience.  We finally agreed!  Within 1-2 weeks we began diagnostics and treatment.  Everyone made me feel like I was part of the family.  You could tell that all the employees at IHMC were there for a common goal.  Everyone answered my questions with a smile, and ensured that I was always comfortable.  The patients spoke to each other and carried on conversations.  Families felt supported and cared for in all situations.  It was wonderful to feel comfortable in a Dr's office again.

The IPT treatment has been the best thing ever.  Within the first 4-6 weeks of treatments the mass on my breast, which was formerly visible from across the room, was no longer visible with the naked eye.  And unlike conventional chemotherapy treatments, I was not sick, didn't have to buy a wig, and could even get on an airplane to fly home to get married in December because my immune system was not compromised.  There were people at my wedding that knew nothing of my diagnosis or that I was undergoing treatment.  There is no way that could have happened with conventional treatments.  Within 2 months, they could no longer find a mass using the ultrasound, and the MRI findings were inconclusive.  AMAZING!!

I can not thank you enough.  I have spread the word over and over again about your clinic.  I only wish that more people felt comfortable following their heart instead of listening to the scare tactics that are often employed at other offices.  I look forward to the day when Biological Medicine and truly being healthy is the way we treat dis-ease in this country.

You have my Eternal Gratitude.
Eryka