1. What is Comprehensive Cancer Support?
-At Nourish Healthcare, we provide integrative, evidence-informed support for individuals navigating cancer diagnosis, active treatment, and recovery. Our services are designed to complement — not replace — the care you receive from your medical oncology team. We work collaboratively with patients and their providers to support overall wellness, reduce treatment-related side effects, and promote resilience throughout the cancer care continuum. This consists of:
 
1. Designing a nutrition plan aimed at supporting the body's metabolism; aimed at slowing cancer growth and supporting the body's optimal immune function.
Dr. Robinson is a Certified Oncology Nutrition Consultant through the Oncology Nutrition Institute. There is not one universal diet plan for all cancers. Each plan is individuailzed to the patient's case. 
 
2. Reviewing your current supplement regimen to ensure your current protocol is safe, as well as desinging an evidence based nutritional and herbal protocol to support your immune system and normal metabolic pathways.
 
3. Design plans to both prepare you for the typically draining effects of chemo and radiation as well as help build your body back up after each and every treatment so you can go into your next session ready to fight. 

4. Utilizing botanical phytonutrients to reduce the side effects of chemo and radiation allowing your standard care treatments to go more smoothly.

5. We offer a wide range of clinically supervised supportive therapies, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Locoregional Hyperthermia, Acupuncture, IV Nutrient Therapy and other evidence-informed modalities. Each service is ordered and overseen by licensed clinicians as part of your individualized care plan and coordinated with your primary oncology team, and are not standalone cancer treatments.
 
2. What sort of unique therapies do you utilize? 
-First and foremost botanical medicine (including Mistletoe Therapy) and medical nutrition therapy are our expertise, but for the patients that need it, we do use stronger therapies such as Locoregional Hyperthermia, Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Therapy, Acupuncture, and we are also pleased to offer provider-ordered, clinically supervised IV nutrient support therapies — such as vitamin C infusion and neuropathy support infusions — through our affiliated infusion services entity, Nourish IV Health. These infusions are administered at Nourish Healthcare by trained clinical staff under appropriate supervision and may be included as part of a comprehensive supportive care plan. We also work closely with the Ayre Clinic to offer patients accept to IPT chemo which is a way to utilize modern chemotherapy medications with a much lower side effect profile. 

3. Are Consults with Nourish an alternative to conventional cancer treatment?
 -NO! Our services are strictly adjunctive and supportive to standard cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. We do not provide cancer treatment in isolation and require all clients using oncology support services to be under the active care of a licensed medical oncologist and/or nurse practitioner. If you do not have a medical oncology team, you're more than welcome to meet with our medical oncology team, Dr. Hesselink MD and Rebecca Stealey NP, that we work closely with in the Burr Ridge office. If you're not thrilled about the conventional chemotherapy options you're being presented, we can direct you to talk with the Ayre Clinic to use these same chemotherapies in a less toxic way. 
 
4. My oncologist told me not to take any vitamins or herbs, is that true? 
-While there are many herbs and nutrients contraindicated in cancer, we have a wealth of knowledge of the effects of many nutrients and phytochemicals in supporting the body during conventional cancer care. Traditional oncologists have not received substantial training in herbal medicine and nutritional biochemistry, so it is not that they are wrong, they just aren't aware of or trained on these nuances. Dr. Robinson has spent 6 years of graduate degree education specifically studying food as medicine, herb-drug-nutrient interaction, and doing so safely. We will create a comprehensive evidenced based plan and provide any research necessary to support our recommendations. 
 
5. I am already on a lot of supplements, how can you help? 
-We review everyone's supplement regimen that comes in the door. Most patients come in to us taking things that are actually hurting their care due to drug / herb interactions. With a deep understanding of nutritional biochemistry and herbal medicine physiology, we are able to not only determine if what you are taking is appropriate, but can usually pare down the number of things that you're taking. We do this by strategically combining herbs and vitamins into fewer capsules or inclusive powders that are multi-purposed. 

6. What if I do not have an oncologist?
-We require that you are under the care of a medical doctor or nurse practitioner in order to use our oncology support services. If you do not have a medical doctor, we work with a MD and NP in an oncology clinic in Burr Ridge, IL. Appointments to meet with both our naturopathic oncology team and the medical oncolgy team in Burr Ridge on the same day can be made by contacting our office.

7. What type of services does the Ayre Clinic offer?
-We are a full service integrative oncology clinic that includes medical cancer care using Insulin Potentiation Therapy to enhance the chemotherapy regimens. More info for The Ayre Clinic for Contemporary Medicine is found HERE.

8. What if I already beat cancer, how can you help?
-First of all, you are awesome! But there is still a lot of work we can do. There is still a lot of diet, nutrition, and lifestyle work we can do to reduce your risk of cancer returning, as well as support your body with any lingering side effects you may have from the conventional treatments you received. (Gut disruption and digestive issues, loss of hair, neuropathy, lymphedema, etc.). We also offer circulating tumor cell (CTC) and tumor marker testing and monitoring to detect possible reoccurances ASAP and many months ahead of standard imaging, making them easier to treat should they occur. 

9. What if I have a family history or I'm just looking to prevent cancer? 
- We've got a number of treatment plans that we can build for cancer prevention, and offer hereditary cancer screening testing. Cancer is always easier to prevent than to treat, as well as it is much easier to treat if detected early, rather than waiting until it has advanced. On top of our treatment plans for prevention, Nourish now offers dozens of advanced tests to screen for various cancers and recurrence, meaning we can start treatment early if needed. 

10. I have a very rare or aggressive cancer, have you worked with it before? 
- Chances are the answer is yes. Due to the nature of our clinic, the patient population that seeks out our care are the people with the rare and late stage cancers that the conventional sysytem struggles to treat, thus resulting in us seeing an unusually large amount of these very difficult cases. Dr. Robinson has worked full time in oncology for many years with thousands of patients and has seen it all, including the rare stuff every day. 

11. Can you help tell me why I got cancer? Or any more details about my disease?
-Sometimes we can determine a strong likely cause, but the answer is not always findable as there are often many causes. We do order advanced sets of labs on every patient including tumor markers, metabolic markers, inflammation markers, hormone & vitamin levels, etc. in an attempt to learn the most about your disease and your body as we can. This allows us to build the most tailored treatment plan possible. We also partner with labs that offer liquid biopsy (blood test to determine cancer cell characteristics and tumor typing), as well as CTC - Circulating Tumor Cell testing (which measures how many malignant cells are in your bloodstream). This goes far beyond the standard CBC and CMP labs ordered everytime you go in to your oncologist for treatment. 

12. Do the other Nourish Providers work with cancer patients? 
-We actually have a team dedicated to your cancer care. In addition to Dr. Robinson managing advanced cases, we have other providers who will help implement different aspects of your therapy. Dr. Morales is our oncology resident who works with early stage cancer, and cancer prevention. Dr. Vang has completed specialty training in acupuncture specifically for cancer patients.  Sierra our oncology nutritionist helps implement the diet and life style interventions that Dr. Robinson & Dr. Morales prescribe, as well is available for homeopathic consults for the immense stress while going through cancer treatments. Of course our nursing staff that provides the IV therapies at Nourish are there to hold your hand every step of the way. 
 
13. Should I book an appointment at the Nourish Clinic or Ayre Clinic? 
-This is up to you. If you are in need of a full medical team, then appointments should start with Dr. Robinson in either office and we will coordinate your care if we need to have you see our medical oncology nurse practitioner in the Burr Ridge office. This will ensure you have the best team and have support of our oncology nursing staff. If you already have a medical oncologist and are looking to support your current conventional regimen that is already established, the Nourish office is the place to be. If you're not sure, give reception a call at 630-442-0169 and our receptionist can help you get things sorted out. 
If it is a timing issue, Dr. Robinson is in:
-The Darien Nourish office  - Monday -> Wednesday
-Appointments are also available via zoom on any day. 
Dr. Morales is available in the Darien office Monday - Friday.