I'm Lucky!

Is it always good to be lucky? I guess not. Today I had a visit with Dr. Chang, my medical oncologist. I only had one question, it's one that has kind of been hazy for me over the last year. "Why me?"

He said we had, in fact, discussed this in our first consultation, but there was so much to go over then that maybe it got lost in the shuffle.

Basically, the answer is "You're just lucky."

He said that in simple terms, everybody's body is different. Everybody's environment is different. When a person gets carcinogens introduced into the body from the environment that the body cannot deal with properly for one reason or another, sometimes cancer happens. This makes plenty of sense.

He also said that this type of cancer happens more often in western society. He thinks it's because we eat more. He personally doesn't think it has as much to do with the "what" we eat as much as the "how much" we eat. (But, if we eat less, we should focus on higher nutrient things).

That answered that question, I guess...

We also discussed treatment proposed by Dr. Dramov, my N.D. Dr. Chang doesn't think there is enough evidence that the Vitamin C treatment works for it to be warranted, but he said ultimately it's up to me.

He did say that both Vitamin D and Aspirin in low dosage daily amounts have shown a small amount of help with colorectal cancers.

He said the result of the last PET/CT scan (back in November) was encouraging in that there is no spread and the tumor is the same size. He said the SUV number did jump to 14, and that it is tough to say what that is due.

Hope all is well with everybody in the new year!

A Great Time Had By All!

So an update on what was to be our 10th Anniv. Staycation...Jeanah came home and told me she had packed my bags and we were to go to Seaside for a 3-day weekend...

We had a great time!

At many places of business in Seaside, there are old-time photos of Seaside's past. We ran across one that looked familiar. I think it's of some old-time gamblers...before there were Indian Casinos on the coast...

Happy Anniversary!!!!

It was one year ago we found out I get to do this battle with cancer. Oh what fun that was! We're hoping for many many more years!!

On that note, tomorrow is our 10th anniversary of marriage!!!! Can you believe it!!?? We're going to celebrate this anniversary all weekend with a "staycation".

We are still lining things up to start a Vitamin C IV drip with Dr. Dramov...hoping this will help assure no more cancer cells grow either "down there" or anywhere else. It's interesting how the intensive Vitamin C makes Hydrogen Peroxide around cancer hot spots and helps the healing process...we hope that's what happens anyway...

Merry Christmas everybody!

No Spread!!!

I just spoke with Dr. Dramov, my Naturopathic doctor, about some other happenings, and the potential ability to get back on the Vitamin C I.V. at little to no cost to me. That would be great if that's what we decide is best.

In any case, I asked him if he had the results of my PET scan from Tuesday, and he did although he had not looked through it yet. He examined it and said that according to the summary there is no sign of any metastatic disease and the tumor is about in the same state it was in two months ago, although the SUV was slightly higher.

He encouraged me to discuss this with Dr. Chang as well (which obviously is the plan for next Tuesday).

Anyway, thought I'd pass along what is seemingly good news!

Right Place, Wrong Time

I got the day mixed up somehow for my PET scan and went on Tuesday Nov 17 rather than Wednesday Nov 18. This was not good because I couldn't have done the test on Wednesday due to work schedule and the fact I already made special arrangements to be off on Nov 17... Well, they were able to schedule me to do the PET scan at 9:30 which meant waiting for 2 hours, but I survived and will take better note of my appointments from now on. I should learn the results of this PET scan next Tuesday at 3:30 when I meet with Dr. Chang.

HCG Test Results

Just got the test results from the HCG test (Philippines). It is at encouraging that the measurment is the same as the test in June. We are going to try to do this test every 8 weeks or so to monitor it "serially" as the doctor suggests below.

Your latest HCG test result on 11-6-09 is: Index +/- 4,(52.2 Int. Units) This is within the positive range. It shows no change as compared to the last result on 6-9-09(52.2 IU). Results can reach as much as 10,000 int. units or more especially in testicular cancer, some uterine cancers(H mole and choriocarcinoma) and germ cell tumor. However, most other cancers have result from 50 to 80 or 90 int. units. The test cannot stage the cancer but when done on a serial basis, say once a month or once every two months, the progress of the condition can be monitored.

INTERPRETATION of READINGS
of Chorionic Gonadotrophin Urinalyses

Index Int. Units Reading Interpretation
0 zero (-) Negative
1-3 1-49 (+/-) Doubtful
4 50-400 (+) Faintly Positive
5 401-999 (++) Definitely Positive
6 1000-3000 (+++) Moderately Positive
7 3001-5000 (++++) Markedly Positive
8 5001-10,000 (+++++) Very Markedly Positive
9 over 10,000 (++++++) Excessively Positive

Round 3

Just so ya'll know what's up...November 17 I'm getting another PET/CT scan to see what the status of the cell mass is. We should know the results by about Nov 24. We're hoping to see shrinkage in the cell mass and a lower activity level than the PET/CT in September. That would be encouraging. We're also really hoping to see no spread and no other potential "hot spots".

Also, we have sent in the HCG urine test to the Philippines. We're expecting the results for this to be in this week sometime.

Will post again when this comes in. Until then...be safe (but have fun)!