 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Cancer / July 2006Woo-hoo, more good news
My May CT scan showed shrinkage of my liver mets (down to 7 mm). Although my latest CT scan showed no more shrinkage of these, it did show shrinkage of the ones in my lungs to the point where all my tumors show up on the films more as cysts than tumors. To me, this is remarkable, considering the huge orange-sized tumor taken from my lower intestine in Nov of 2003 + mets to liver and lungs. Makes me wonder why I am so fortunate. Is there a connection between physical conditioning (competetive distance runner for 25 years) and the progress of a stage IV cancer? Any studies done on that? Or am I just one of the lucky ones? I thought I would be dead within a year, but here I am plugging along, putting up with a lot of side-effects, but still much enjoying the time I have left. My onc is thinking of giving me an extended break in the near future from my weekly doses. Maybe I can recover some of my old conditioning back in that time. At this rate, I may find myself at the high end of the 5-year survival statistic. Interesting though, is the fact that I am not really a "fighter" about all this like some I know are. I'm more of a passive/realist, and from what I've read that doesn't help things (although I am deeply spiritual and I've read that that does.) Once this erbitux/avastin treatment has done all it can, maybe that iron-thing treatment will be next. Is that only in testing stage now? Or has it been approved? Of course being in good shape helps. Positive thinking has been studied at patients with positive attitudes live longer. I am glad you are able to enjoy your retirement perhaps you will make the 10 year mark! >Of course being in good shape helps. Positive thinking has been studied at >patients with positive attitudes live longer. >I am glad you are able to enjoy your retirement perhaps you will make the 10 >year mark! Found this on the web, by Michael Lerner, one of the more reputable professionals on complementary cancer treatments. (I notice he avoids use the adjective "alternative"): A regimen of regular exercise, yoga or tai chi is among the complementary physical approaches that inspire confidence and are plausible. These practices may help improve what doctors call "functional status." That is, basically how much physical stamina a patient will have in encounters with cancer and its treatment. Functional status is a modest but significant predictor of improved survival rate with many cancers. Similarly, scientific studies show that relaxation techniques somewhat improve immune function. Studies also show that intense stress can enhance the growth of some cancer tumors in animals, and probably in humans as well. So relaxation and other stress-reduction techniques, like meditation, hypnosis or visual imagery (in which patients imagine their tumors shrinking, for example), are now widely used. The rest of the site: http://www.wellness.org.za/html/articles/a-hedge.html is a sane and sensible response to complementary ways of dealing with cancer. (My friend just recommended Royal Jelly bee honey - thanks but no thanks. Sheeesh!). > Once this erbitux/avastin treatment has done all it can, maybe that > iron-thing treatment will be next. Is that only in testing stage now? > Or has it been approved? What iron justice posted about ? Lactoferritin - something to do with milk and iron - an enzyme, I think. It's dated Sept 2005 and refers to Recist Criteria. I'll post about that separately. Which states " * Smaller clinical trials with fewer patients * Earlier go/no decisions on drug compounds * Faster regulatory approval for new drugs * Earlier use in clinical care Point about what he posted, there's no mention of which type of NSCLC each patient had. Some are slower growing, some are faster moving and some types of cancer not infrequently have natural periods of relative stability. So the point I want to make is one does not know unless it's lined up against a standard, which is probably in Phase III clinical trials. Since the RECIST says " Earlier use in clinical care", your oncologist should know soon enough if it's worth a try or not; but there's lots in Phase I or II clinical trials. So many that I don't even know how an oncologist decides whether one might have value, over another. Maybe a good question to ask your oncologist and then start researching your options at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui or rely on your oncologist and/or double check at www.acor as to if any have had value. The other way, I suppose is to search PubMed for recent studies. Helen Stanbro used to tell people to do so and contact the researchers for more details about the treatment and/or cohort of patients in the trials. The instructions are in (I think) Part 4 of the FAQ J > My May CT scan showed shrinkage of my liver mets (down to 7 mm). > Although my latest CT scan showed no more shrinkage of these, it did [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > giving me an extended break in the near future from my weekly doses. > Maybe I can recover some of my old conditioning back in that time. Well, I think physical conditioning boes well for perormance status. Thjere's an article here <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1 5726622&dopt=Abstract> Factors predicting survival in stage IV colorectal carcinoma patients after palliative treatment: a multivariate analysis. J Surg Oncol. 2005 Mar 15;89(4):211-7. > At this rate, I may find myself at the high end of the 5-year survival > statistic. Interesting though, is the fact that I am not really a > "fighter" about all this like some I know are. I'm more of a > passive/realist, and from what I've read that doesn't help things > (although I am deeply spiritual and I've read that that does.) Lowkey was diagnosed late 2000 Stage IV and passed away Oct/o3 You were diagnosed Dec/03 Stage III. I don't think he was "physically conditioned" (an exsmoker), but maybe the biggest factor is I think his was a CEA secreting tumor. Yours was l7 preop and 47.5 post op. His was 21,000 at it's highest and at some points, 1,500 and doubling rapidly. Maybe Steph can comment if the CEA secreting tumors have a worse prognosis. In any event, hopefully you can keep it under wraps for a long time with Erbitux/Avastin combo. I hope so J >> My May CT scan showed shrinkage of my liver mets (down to 7 mm). >> Although my latest CT scan showed no more shrinkage of these, it did [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] >I hope so >J My latest CEA is in the 20's. I was d/g-ed stage IV. > >Lowkey was diagnosed late 2000 Stage IV and passed away Oct/o3 > >You were diagnosed Dec/03 Stage III. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > My latest CEA is in the 20's. I was d/g-ed stage IV. Thanks Joe, I should have searched the archives instead of going back up the posts (to 2003) for your introductory post. at this point, I don't even know why I'm comparing you to Lowkey. He was (I think) only on Erbitux. You're treading new ground by being on the combo? So since Steph hasn't commented, I'll leave it that CEA predicts recurrence and/or response to treatment. (hope I got that right). J |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.