You Fighting Cancer – Week 11 of Burzynski Treatment

Well we got the P.E.T. scan report back. As I see it with what all that has taken place over the past 60 days we are holding our own. The scan showed no new tumors, no increase in size of the 2 active tumors and even a slight reduction in the thickness of one of the tumors.

The issues with my platelets continue to be an area of concern and question. I gave 5 vials of blood on Tuesday for a DIC (Disseminated intravascular coagulation) test and have been given a prescription of steroids for ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) hoping that this will help boost my platelets.

The thought is that the only chemo drug Tykerb is not causing my platelets to drop to 33K now (normal is in a range of 130-160K. So, my body has something else going on. We may have to press on with the chemo treatment of 2-3 drugs and ignore the platelets and just keep and eye on any bleeding.

Note on diet; the nutritionist recommended that I eat beef less than once a month. That’s kinda tough when you live in Kansas and every other truck that goes by say “Eat Beef”. She recommended that you go to your local meat market and ask is they offer certified organic beef for sale or if they know a rancher that raises beef in such a format. I found this beef again at our local farmers market. Maybe it’s me, but I think the beef taste better.

We also have started to eat range feed bison in chili and sauces alike. I personally like this better than beef only because it is a leaner meat. Give it a try.

I ran across another article that rang home at Newsweek. Cancer is not just an emotional event that challenges you every single day. Pushing you to live life and not let cancer rule your life. I find that I have aloud myself to live again. For so long I would not start a project that I knew would take me 6 months or more. I figured “what was the point”. That’s the wrong way to go about this. You need to live your days doing the best and most you can of the things you love to do. If you get that project completed then you have fulfilled one more goal or dream.

This article touches on the financial challenges that you will also face no matter if you have great insurance or not. At some point if you venture out like I have to a non-traditional treatment that will cost you monies from your bank account.

Of if you take a leave of absence from work to concentrate on your focus of healing your body. The loss of income alone is an eye opener to say the least. The difference of being in loosing a job is that you can look for a new job or start a business. On LOA you can’t earn an income by the rules of the leave.

If you keep your faith many things show up just when you need them too that will help you through these times. It has happened that way for us. We are blessed with a great family and great friends.

This journey of you fighting cancer is a tough road, but it starts by taking one step at a time, showing up for the next event, living life, and not let cancer rule your life. New treatments come out every week and I pray that in my life time there is a cure for this monster that claims nearly 600,000 Americans every year.

Till next time ENJOY THE DAY!