Frequently asked questions.

No — and that's not what we're here to do. Dr. Lucas works alongside your oncologist, not instead of them. Think of us as the integrative piece of your care team — the part that asks why, addresses your terrain, and supports your body's ability to heal. Your oncologist manages your conventional treatment. We manage everything else. The two approaches work better together than either does alone.

Yes. We are an integrative oncology program — we are not a replacement for conventional cancer care. If you have active cancer and are not currently working with an oncologist, we will encourage you to establish that relationship. Our role is to work alongside your conventional team, support your body through treatment, address your terrain, and ask the questions your oncologist may not have time to ask.

In most cases, yes. Many of our patients are actively receiving chemotherapy, radiation, or other conventional treatments while going through SEED. Several of the therapies we use — including IV Vitamin C, mistletoe, and hyperthermia — have evidence supporting their use alongside conventional treatment, and in some cases may improve tolerability and outcomes. We review every patient's conventional treatment protocol individually to ensure our therapies are safe and appropriate in combination. There are some specific situations — certain chemotherapy agents, for example — where timing and sequencing matter, and we address those on a case-by-case basis.

Yes — and we take that seriously. We will review your records, understand your current treatment plan, and communicate with your oncologist when appropriate and with your permission. We believe cancer patients get the best outcomes when their conventional and integrative teams are aware of each other and working toward the same goal. We will never recommend anything that conflicts with your conventional care without a direct conversation about it.

SEED is a structured one-week intensive designed to give your body the best possible starting point for healing. Before you arrive, we do a thorough evaluation of your terrain — your immune system, your inflammation levels, your metabolism. During the week, you receive six evidence-based therapies every day that work together to shift the biological environment in which your cancer is growing. When you leave, you take a personalized home plan with you — along with six months of continued support from our team.

The onsite intensive is one week — Monday through Friday. You'll be with us for several hours each day receiving your therapies. But the program doesn't end on Friday. You leave with a home protocol that continues for months, and your six-month membership with Root Causes means we stay involved in your care — monitoring your progress, adjusting your plan, and answering your questions as they come up.

The SEED Program is built around six core therapies: IV Vitamin C, Mistletoe Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBOT), Ozone Therapy, Hyperthermia, and Terrain Support Medications. Each one addresses your terrain from a different direction — immune activation, metabolic disruption, oxygenation, oxidative conditioning, heat stress response, and targeted metabolic support. You'll also receive a comprehensive terrain evaluation, a personalized nutrition strategy, group visits covering nutrition, lifestyle, and psychological support, and a written home plan at the end of the week. Six months of clinic membership is included with every program.

The first month is a transition — from the intensity of the week to the rhythm of your home protocol. Most patients notice that the first week at home requires some adjustment — establishing the mistletoe injection routine, getting organized with the terrain support medications, following the nutrition plan. Some patients feel an energy shift during or shortly after the intensive. Others feel fatigue as their body processes the week. Both are normal. You'll have a post-intensive visit with our team during this period to check in, review how you're feeling, and adjust your protocol as needed. By the end of the first month, most patients have found their rhythm and are reporting a meaningful shift in how they feel day to day.

Honestly — and that's an important word for us. We measure success on multiple levels. Clinically, we track objective markers — changes in your terrain panel, inflammatory markers, immune function, and where applicable, circulating tumor DNA through Signatera testing. These give us a biological picture of how your terrain is responding. We also track patient-reported quality of life — energy, pain, sleep, function — because how you feel matters as much as what your labs show. We are honest that we are a start-here program. We are not claiming to cure cancer. We are claiming to give your body the best possible terrain from which to fight — and we measure whether we're achieving that, one patient at a time.

The screening appointment is a 25-minute visit with Dr. Lucas — by phone or in person. It's a conversation, not an exam. We want to understand your diagnosis, your history, your current treatment, and what you're hoping to achieve. We'll ask questions most doctors don't ask — about your life before the diagnosis, about your terrain, about why you think this might have happened. And we'll be honest with you about whether SEED is the right fit. Not every patient is — and we'd rather tell you that upfront.

We ask for your pathology report, your most recent imaging, any prior treatment records, and a list of your current medications and supplements. If you've had genetic testing — tumor molecular profiling, germline testing — we want to see that too. The more context we have going into your screening appointment, the more useful that conversation will be. Don't worry if you don't have everything — we can work with what you have and request additional records as needed.

Many of our SEED patients travel to San Antonio from outside Texas — some from across the country. We've designed the program with this in mind. The screening appointment can be done remotely by phone or video before you book travel. During your week with us, we can help connect you with recommended accommodations near the clinic. Your home protocol — the mistletoe injections, the terrain support medications, the nutrition plan — is designed to be managed wherever you live. And your ongoing support from our team after the intensive is conducted remotely, so geography is not a barrier to continued care.

For most cancer patients, yes — the SEED Program is the best place to start. It's designed to be a comprehensive entry point that immediately addresses your terrain, gets your foundational therapies in place, and builds the roadmap for your ongoing care. That said, we understand that every patient's situation is different, and we do offer other pathways into care at Root Causes Oncology. The best way to find out which path makes the most sense for you is through a screening appointment with Dr. Lucas — that conversation will help us understand where you are in your journey and how we can best support you.