St. Louis

Dr. Simon Yu, M.D.

I first heard about him maybe a year ago.

I went to him for the first time about eight months ago.

He uses both conventional, and unconventional medicine.

Definitely less invasive.

I will admit, I lean towards Doctors that are like that.

Believe it or not, I'm giving conventional medicine an equal chance.

Dustin and I are opposite in this, as well.

He leans conventional.

I unconventional.

We balance each other out.

The problem is, every time I go to a conventional sight it scares me. The last one was Chemo Chicks, or something like that. One lady was talking about her "Chemo Brain." I guess Chemo is known for giving you short term memory loss that can happen at any random time. And it sounds like it is something you live with for the rest of your life. I could be wrong, though. I need to check that out more.

In all fairness, Dr. Yu has made me raise my eyebrows several times, as well.

Like when he told me I had an infection in a tooth two visits ago.

Not just any tooth, either.

A tooth that happens to relate to the lower lobes in my lungs.

Exactly where my tumor is.

He said that getting rid of the infection could help my lung heal.

I know, your eyebrows are raised, as well.

He mentioned pulling the tooth.

Pulling my tooth!?! You have got to be kidding. I've never had a problem with that tooth.

I left.

Didn't pull my tooth.

I hadn't had a problem with him before, but this? It was too far out for me.

It did make me go to the Orthodontist, though. Thinking that maybe my problem was in my bite after not wearing my retainer for 5 years.

I did have a bite problem, and do wear my retainer now.

So, I decided to try out Dr. Yu one more time.

No luck.

The pesky tooth still came up as my problem relating to my lung.

So.... I pulled it.

No, just kidding. :-)

I went and had a 3D CT scan done. I'm a doubting Thomas.

Dr. Yu told me a story about a woman who had severe lung problems. She refused, like me, to get her tooth pulled. After a year of being in and out of the hospital, then getting close to dying, she finally agreed to have it pulled. The Dentist informed Dr. Yu that the tooth had nothing wrong with it. Dr. Yu pointed out that she was dying so what could it hurt to pull it.

He pulled it.

Guess what? Massive infection underneath.

They cleaned it out and guess what else?

The lung cleared up.

I know, crazy, but I took the bait and had the CT scan done. I knew I would always wonder if I didn't.

What if????

Monday morning, just before we went into Mayo, Dr. Yu called me.

I held my breath, praying, in a crazy way that there would be an infection there.

There was.

I'll admit you could have pushed me over with a feather at this point.

I couldn't believe he had been right.

He was able to use the energies in my body to find an infection that he is 85% certain relates to my lung problem. He has never, ever, given me any percentages before this. He has refused, in fact, before this one.

We had already decided that if the CT scan checked out with what he was saying we would try that before anything else.

After all, even if the tooth has to be pulled, I would much rather do that than Chemo, or surgery, or whatever my other options will be.

For those of you who lean more towards the conventional, as my husband does, though even he was a little impressed by the tooth thing, don't worry.

We still have my appointment with my Oncologist. We are still very much listening to them.

And we are going to get the tooth taken care of a.s.a.p.

Infection in the mouth is bad, no matter what. I have heard several stories since then where people have pulled teeth and things really do clear up.

Crazy, but true.

So pray, the big choice right now is which Dentist to choose. One with years of experience, or an Oral Surgeon. I'm leaning towards the surgeon. That just has a comforting ring to it. :-) The problem is that they are both in St. Louis, and thus both not in our insurance range. Pray that possibly the insurance will cover it a little bit. These things tend to get expensive. :-) But... we know God will provide. He always has.

So.... that is my St. Louis story. A little hard to believe, and we still have our doubts, but we also have a little bit of hope, as well.

After all 3D Ct scans don't lie. :-)

This picture is just because they are so precious to me! It has nothing whatsoever to do with the Dr. in St Louis.