You Fighting Cancer - Burzynski Treatment Weeks 37 & 38

  “You Have Cancer”

It took two weeks but the rash from the full dose of Vectibix has returned with a vengeance. The worst of it is my face. It truly feels like I have first and second degree burns on my face. Even my eye lids feel and look burnt. Now that’s hard to do! So, I’m piling on the Regenecare like crazy right now and forcing myself to do the pain pill thing. 
 
The really funny part is that this cycle started about 5 days ago and 3 days prior to that the rash seemed to disappear? Within 24 hours it was nearly gone from everywhere on my body and face. But, like throwing a stone into a pond, the water follows the stone to a point before it shoots back up and sends a ripple across the whole pond.

I had to stop the Xeloda completely for a while due to my platelet count dropped to 28, two weeks ago. Since stopping Xeloda, my platelets have returned to a whopping 43. This for me at this stage is about average (normal is 130-160). A drop of 5 more points and I would be boarder line candidate for transfusions of platelets. Bleeding is a major concern with platelets as low as 40-50 even.

“You Have Cancer”, probably the 3 scariest words in the human language. Though they say that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence the fear is that it is still. 
 
If you watched the Stand Up 2 Cancer National broadcast on Friday, September 10th you learned that; out of 20 men 10 will get cancer and out of 30 women, 10 will get cancer. That’s a scary set of numbers but even scarier is that every day in the USA alone 38 children are told, or their parents are told their child has cancer. All these numbers are totally unacceptable. 
 
If you did not catch the show please go to their web site; Stand Up 2 Cancer and donate what you can to help fight this monster. If you did not see the show and would like to, you can still watch the entire show FREE on the WEB. 
 
So, what happens when you’re told “You have cancer”? The shock sets in and the blood drains from your face. FEAR is what happens, plan and simple. As I’ve said on the blog before the first two weeks is an emotional roller coaster that you and your family will ride. There is no way around it so let it happen, it needs to happen. The tough guy thing won't work here!

Then at some point you become aware of the fact that you are mortal and that life does end for all of us at some point, you just did not think it was going to be this soon. You think about all the things that you wanted or think you have to do yet! Did you make an impact on life?
 
I’m here to tell you that NOW is the time to do the “special” things in your life that you for some reason have been waiting for. I know many things cost money and that is a major reason you don’t take the trip around the world you always wanted to do, but the little things like using the crystal glasses instead of the plastic ones or call someone that you have not talked to in some cases for years. Send a card for no reason to your spouse or family; help someone you don’t even know. 
 
By doing these things something else happens, you feel better and research now says that your immune system reacts in a very positive way to these acts of joy and kindness. You need your immune system to be at max power at this point of your life. 
 
Learn a new hobby or to meditate. I’m trying to improve on a hobby and to meditate, but let me tell you it’s tougher than you think. Try keeping your mind focused in meditation for 10 or 20 minutes and think of nothing but your breathing. Let me know how that works for you, it’s tough for me. I think I’m up to 2 minutes! That’s sad I know. 
 
From Lisa’s Office:
Denzel Washington made the comment on the Stand Up 2 Cancer program that “traditional cancer treatment” is/was like using a nuclear weapon to turn off the lights in your house. Everything is destroyed, but hey you did get the lights turned off. One of the major focuses of the Stand Up 2 Cancer “Dream Teams”is that they are working together on  “targeted therapies”. 
 
From the National Cancer Institute also comes more information on targeted therapy and the fact that many cancers of the same type harbor different genes that are typical of other cancers. 
 
For an example I will talk about my cancer. I have colon cancer that metastasize to my liver. I’m treated for colon cancer although I have HER-2 cancer genes that are over expressed in my liver. Those cancer genes are typical in breast cancer. I was not being treated for that since in “traditional” treatments I did not know I had HER-2 cancer genes overexpression...
 
With targeted therapies these details are uncovered and a customized treatment plan is assembled for you and your needs instead of the traditional “nuclear” light switch trick of today. It’s when the cancer metastasizes that make the treatment requirements completely unique for each and need to be customized in said manner for you to FIGHT CANCER in a way that makes sense, by asking and working with your doctor get this customized treatment set in-place. It could save your life!
 
Until next time You Keep Fighting Cancer and ENJOY THE DAY!

You Fighting Cancer - Burzynski Treatment Weeks 35 & 36

Find a Hobby

Well it’s been a good 2 weeks. Rash has gone thru a couple of cycles, but that’s part of the deal!

I was able to take a couple of days and head to Texas to learn more about a hobby of mine, which has a very positive effective on the mind and your self worth. I would recommend that you find your passion or purpose and pursue it each day.

This week I will be doing a FULL dosage of Vectibix on Tuesday.
The doctors at the Burzynski Clinic believe that this one full dosage treatment may have a positive effect on my CT Scan the following week. At the same time I am increasing Xeloda by 250mg more a day. Instead of 500mg a day I will be taking 750mg a day and they would like me to go to 1000mg a day.

 The last time I did all this was in early December and I ended up in the hospital for four days with internal bleeding and a rash from you know where. We will take this one day at a time on this and see what happens.

I guess no pain, no gain?

I’ve been asked a couple of times this past week what some of the supplements that I take? Here is the short list;

A good liquid multivitamin – Vitamin D – Turmeric  Curcumin -  CoQ-10 – Vitamin C – Green Tea – FRS with quercetin (see ad to right of this postings) – Probiotics.

If you’re interested in the brand or where I get these supplements drop me a line. We have learned that not all supplements are created equal. 

From Lisa’s Office: My sister-in-law Kelly sent us information on The University of Kansas Medical Center that has been working on a cancer vaccine. At this stage the vaccine is given to cancer patients that are at the end of any thing else as far a treatment. 

The vaccine’s goal is to boost your immune system to seek out those cancer cells that the standard medical treatment of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery missed.  

Worldwide, scientists are working on dozens of vaccines against melanoma, breast cancer and cancer of the lung, colon and pancreas. 

Vaccines narrowly target the immune system. Side effects are extremely minimal compared to conventional cancer therapies. Some side effects are no worse than those experienced from receiving a flu shoot – fever, chills, and soreness at the injections sites are the most common. 

Though this treatment is very expensive at this time many insurance companies have come on-board to pay for this $93,000 per treatment drug. 

Upcoming Event: Stand Up To Cancer Program

Until next time – You Keep Fighting Cancer and ENJOY THE DAY!

You Fighting Cancer – Burzynski Treatment Week 33 & 34

Vectibix

Got outside one day this past week for a few minutes and the heat took its toll.

Vectibix does not like sun or heat at all, which makes Summer kinda tough to deal with. So, if you are about to start Vectibix here are a couple heads up for you.

I notice that the side effects go thru a cycle. The rash that I talk about starts about 7 days after your infusion. So, you might think you're getting away from the rash, wait a good 7 days before making that statement.

Also ask to be started on an antibiotic before starting Vectibix. It will help a bit and keep in infection to a minimum.

If you are like me and have a whirlpool tub you will not be able to use that any longer. Hot water is the same as hot air. Not a good mix. Showers are a painful event also, and again should be as cool as you can stand to keep the rash at bay. Use a mild soap and shampoo.

After a shower I air dry as best I can then put on a clean T-shirt as a body bandage and rest for 30 minutes. The T-shirt will catch the blood from the rash areas that open up. And they will after a shower.

Lisa has learned from my mom that soaking these shirts in cold water before washing will take out the blood.

I also can't say enough good stuff about the Regenacare spray and lotion that I use after a shower and when the rash is really bad applying it a couple times a day. It's the only thing that I have come across that helps the pain and healing.

Vectibix is also a chemo drug that you will stay on until the tumors no longer are affected by the drug! So, this is not a 6 week or 6 treatment cycle type of a deal. So, the hard part here is getting your head around the side effects of Vectibix. You should with any luck know if this drug is working for you in the first 3 months (CT scan cycle) of starting treatment.

CT scan cycle is what the insurance companies will pay for - CT scan more than once every 3 months is going to be tough to get them to pay. You shouldn't probably have many more than that anyway for what this scan can do to you over time.

In the NEWS: Fructose Corn Syrup is not good. No kidding! I look at this way; if it is man made it's probably not going to be as good for you as nature intended it to be.

If you are going to us a sweetener then use Agave, Natural Stevia, or Organic Natural Cane Sugar. But this should be a treat and not an everyday addition. You ask what about Splenda? See statement above = not good in my book.

From Lisa's Office: She gained some information on a company named Rational Therapeutics that "identifies treatment options that will kill an individual's cancer cells while eliminating drugs that the cancer is resistant to." This takes into account the uniqueness of each individual's cancer. This method is called the EVA-PCD assay and is "for all cancer patients who are looking for answers about the drugs that will work the best for them" After a sample collection of living cancer cells, Rational Therapeutics performs the EVA-PCD assay on the tumor sample in the laboratory to measure drug sensitivity and resistance. This determines which drug, or combination of drugs, will likely be most effective for that particular patient. This would be different from todays way of the patient receiving chemo treatments that have been determined as the standard for a cancer type. The results are available within 7-10 days after they receive the sample in their laboratory, and has a very reasonable cost of around $3,500. This does not include the tumor biopsy. 


More information can be obtained from www.rationaltherapeutics.com

Till next time – You Keep Fighting Cancer and Enjoy the Day!