Bad news

[Lonewolf Ed]

SimplyRed started a thread about me not long ago. I thought I'd start one with the latest. I got very bad news today. My colon cancer got into my liver and the doc said it is stage 4. She said it can't be cured. Without treatment, I might last 10 weeks. Even with chemo, the best I could hope for is maybe 3 years. I'm scheduled to have a port put in tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1 pm. They start me on 3 types of chemo on Thursday.

[Predarat]

Wishing you the best, hope somehow you defeat it. Thoughts and prayers that the reset of your life, no matter how long, is awesome.

[BlackHelicopters]

Praying for the best.

[PHOG]

So sorry, praying for the best.

[Dave Lane]

Ed If you'd ever like a private show of the heavens I can arrange for a night of moon / planets / whatever viewing. If you've never had a good chance to see our universe I can't think of anything more comforting.

[Chiefaholic]

My grandson went through chemo and beat cancer. Keep your head high and never forget the power of prayer.

[kysirsoze]

Thanks for sharing your struggle with us. Prayers coming your way.

[scho63]

I've never interacted with you or know you but I am praying for you and wish you the best in a tough struggle!

God Bless you and fight the good fight!

[Fat Elvis]

Originally Posted by Frosty

So sorry to hear this.

I know that unsolicited medical advice in cases like this are generally bad form but I wanted to mention this post by Fat Elvis that may help with going through the chemo.

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...0&postcount=80

Thanks Frosty. Here is the text of the post:

My wife would eat normally up until she would fast which would be 48 hours before each chemo session. Once that 48 hour timer started, all that she would drink is water. After the chemo session she would remain on the fast for another 24 hours and then she would start eating again-basically whatever she wanted until the next 48 hours before the upcoming chemo session.

It was pretty amazing. Other people who were coming in for chemo sessions (especially after several rounds and the chemo had really built up in their bodies) would look like death warmed over-literally since the chemo kills the healthy cells along with the cancer cells- and my wife would be looking pretty great (still lost her hair) and she had outstanding blood counts. It kind of freaked the nurses out a bit since they hadn't seen that before.

The thinking behind it is really pretty simple: When cells are put into a state of shock-like when the body goes into starvation mode- they more or less go into "hibernation" or self preservation. It is almost like they turn off. When this happens, the chemo doesn't affect them (as much). Cancer cells, on the other hand, have no mechanism to "turn off;" that is why they are cancer cells. While normal healthy cells are protecting themselves via "hibernation", the cancer cells, starving and no way to go into self preservation mode become sensitized to chemo due to their weakened state from the fast. It is a double whammy: your normal cells are protected while your cancer cells are sensitized to the very poisons being injected into your body.

After about 24 hours, the majority of the chemo has passed through your system (it was pretty easy to tell with my wife due to the color of her urine) and you go back to eating once again.

Fasting is going to be part of the future of cancer treatment. It isn't the be all end all, but it is part of large battle of literal life and death. Orthodoxy right now is that chemo weakens a person so much due to the poisoning of the healthy cells along with the cancer cells that many chemo/oncology centers actively encourage patients to eat a lot of food right before and during their chemo treatments "to keep their strength up" without realizing that it is the act of eating that makes healthy cells vulnerable to the chemo thus weakening the patient.

I don't need clinical trials to know that fasting works. I've seen it first hand with my wife.

I will share this information and our experience to whoever will listen and whoever can benefit from it.

When it comes to cancer, you just don't have time to wait for clinical trials that can take years.

[Al Bundy]

Just terrible news, LWE. I've never really interacted with you, but I am pulling for you.

[Don Corlemahomes]

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

Thanks Frosty. Here is the text of the post:

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/ea...nslmed.3003293

I don't have access to the full text, but here's one paper supporting that notion.

Short-term starvation (or fasting) protects normal cells, mice, and potentially humans from the harmful side effects of a variety of chemotherapy drugs. Here we show that treatment with starvation conditions sensitized yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) expressing the oncogene-like RAS2val19 to oxidative stress and 15 of 17 mammalian cancer cell lines to chemotherapeutic agents. Cycles of starvation (fasting) were as effective as chemotherapeutic agents in delaying progression of specific tumors and increased the effectiveness of these drugs against melanoma, glioma, and breast cancer cells. In mouse models of neuroblastoma, fasting cycles plus chemotherapy drugs—but not either treatment alone—resulted in long-term cancer-free survival. In 4T1 breast cancer cells, short-term starvation resulted in increased phosphorylation of the stress-sensitizing AKT and S6 kinases, increased oxidative stress, caspase-3 cleavage, DNA damage and apoptosis. These studies suggest that multiple cycles of fasting promote differential stress sensitization in a wide range of tumors and could potentially replace or augment the efficacy of certain toxic chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of various cancers.

[Fat Elvis]

Cancer sucks. No doubt about it. But it is beatable. Amazing advances over the past few years. Keep a positive attitude. That is crucial. You have people you don't know pulling and praying for you. You don't have to be religious to believe in prayer. It works. It helps to give you strength and it does have a healing power.

[KCwolf]

I'm pulling for ya .... Cancer Sucks .... Good Luck Brotha

[Lonewolf Ed]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Ed If you'd ever like a private show of the heavens I can arrange for a night of moon / planets / whatever viewing. If you've never had a good chance to see our universe I can't think of anything more comforting.

My family used to have a summer place in Montana, 30 miles southwest of Big Timber in the Gallatin National Forest. Our log house sat in a valley with the Boulder River at the edge of the property. I used to sit out on the deck on clear nights and marvel at how many stars there are up there. Sometimes, I could even see satellites pass by. I've never seen a sky so bright with starlight as I did up in the mountains of Montana. It is something a person won't ever forget.

[Lonewolf Ed]

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

Cancer sucks. No doubt about it. But it is beatable. Amazing advances over the past few years. Keep a positive attitude. That is crucial. You have people you don't know pulling and praying for you. You don't have to be religious to believe in prayer. It works. It helps to give you strength and it does have a healing power.

I am a Lutheran and I believe Jesus Christ died for me. I need prayers from those of you inclined to do so to strengthen me so I can hold onto my faith as this goes on. I do not want to lose my faith. I believe that faith and honor are about the only two things a person can take with them when he or she dies. You can't take money, power, or things.

[Hootie]

this is terrible news

just keep fighting man and never give up

you're in my thoughts