I just watched the third episode of The Truth About Cancer which mainly focused on supplements, juicing and GMOs. It was equally as intriguing as the second episode and made me want to write a post about supplements. When I started seeing a Naturopath, my initial thoughts were that the supplements won't be able to kill cancer cells but at least taking them will make me feel like I am doing something to continue "treatment" when radiation ends.
After watching several documentaries including The Truth About Cancer and hearing about the effects of supplements like Curcumin and Green Tea extract for example, I am more convinced that they have the ability to kill cancer cells while protecting normal tissue. As they said in this episode, most people with cancer have chronic inflammation and if you stop the inflammation, you stop the cancer from forming. I know this was my case as I had my ferritin levels checked part way through chemo and was surprised at the results. Ferritin is an indicator of inflammation in the body and my levels were 3 times the maximum of the normal range.
Now I am still cautious and there are some things I will never believe like the woman they interviewed who said she expelled a tumor from juicing. Really?!? No one has to convince me about the benefits of juicing but come on. That nonsense aside, many of the supplements they talk about do have evidence behind them. I am always interested in what supplements others are taking to prevent recurrence so in the spirit of information sharing, will list out what I currently take. I am in no way suggesting that others follow this regimen.
IV Vitamin C - 50 grams once a week
Helixor (Mistletoe) - once a week with Vitamin C (amount changes)
Alpha Lipoic Acid - 150mg three times a day
Green Tea Extract - 700mg three times a day
Curcumin - 120mg twice a day
Melatonin - 20mg once a day
Coq10 - 100mg once a day
Vitamin D - 5,000 IU once a day
This may seem like a lot and odd coming from someone who asked their Oncologist for more chemo after 4 rounds of AC and 4 rounds of Taxol, however, now that I am educating myself about natural therapies, I am feeling much more comfortable with the drug-free path that I am on.
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Thursday, 21 April 2016
The Truth About Cancer
I signed up for The Truth About Cancer docu-series because I saw an advertisement pop up on Facebook. 90% of my internet searches these days are cancer related so it is no surprise that these ads are what show up in my feed (interspersed with celebrity gossip ads). I watched the first episode and wasn't really buying it. The way that Ty Bollinger introduced the series and the barrage of e-mails I had been getting leading up to the release of the first episode seemed too over the top. After the first 10 minutes I closed my laptop and went back to whatever other shows I was watching (likely an episode of the Real Housewives). A few days later I over heard some ladies talking about how informative they found it so today I decided to give it another chance. Episode 2 was well done and I am glad I watched it!
Although there were parts I didn't agree with (mainly about mammograms, how they are dangerous and lead to over diagnosis), there was other advice that rang true, specifically 'let food be thy medicine'. The individuals being interviewed went on to say that sugar isn't just a poison for cancer patients, it is bad for all of us. Dieticians and Nutritionists will agree with this, entire countries are starting to acknowledge it, for example the UK just recently implemented a sugar tax, yet Oncologists still stand by the fact that sugar does not feed cancer and "everything is fine in moderation". There is clearly a disconnect here.
It's also interesting what they said about essential oils, especially frankincense and using natural oils on your body instead of synthetic lotions and potions. I had the 'ah ha' moment a few months ago when it sank in that skin is our largest organ so why was I using lotions every day that were filled with chemicals. Sure, they smell lovely but all of those toxins were being absorbed into my body. Since then, I have stopped lathering up every morning with my Bath and Body Works lotions. They have now been replaced with all natural lotions and oils like the ones sold at Pure and Simple which is one of my favourite new stores.
All in all, watching the episode was an hour well spent. If you're interested in signing up for the docu-series, here is the link....just be prepared for a ton of e-mails every day which you can delete promptly after receiving.
The Truth About Cancer: https://go.thetruthaboutcancer.com
Although there were parts I didn't agree with (mainly about mammograms, how they are dangerous and lead to over diagnosis), there was other advice that rang true, specifically 'let food be thy medicine'. The individuals being interviewed went on to say that sugar isn't just a poison for cancer patients, it is bad for all of us. Dieticians and Nutritionists will agree with this, entire countries are starting to acknowledge it, for example the UK just recently implemented a sugar tax, yet Oncologists still stand by the fact that sugar does not feed cancer and "everything is fine in moderation". There is clearly a disconnect here.
It's also interesting what they said about essential oils, especially frankincense and using natural oils on your body instead of synthetic lotions and potions. I had the 'ah ha' moment a few months ago when it sank in that skin is our largest organ so why was I using lotions every day that were filled with chemicals. Sure, they smell lovely but all of those toxins were being absorbed into my body. Since then, I have stopped lathering up every morning with my Bath and Body Works lotions. They have now been replaced with all natural lotions and oils like the ones sold at Pure and Simple which is one of my favourite new stores.
All in all, watching the episode was an hour well spent. If you're interested in signing up for the docu-series, here is the link....just be prepared for a ton of e-mails every day which you can delete promptly after receiving.
The Truth About Cancer: https://go.thetruthaboutcancer.com
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Now What?
Now that chemo, surgery and radiation are done, it is scary to think that you are really on your own. The doctors don't need to see you for another 3 months, there are no more appointments and you are left with a feeling of 'what the hell just happened'? The part that scares me the most is my doctor's lack of information about how to prevent recurrence going forward. My last doctors appointment went something like this:
"How are you going to monitor that I remain healthy and cancer free?" - Me
"We are going to schedule follow up appointments with you every 3 months" - Doctor
"But those appointments are just a quick physical check up and conversation...no bloodwork or scans" - Me
"We have found that ongoing scans are not helpful for prevention and cause the patients more anxiety. If you have any headaches, bone pain or other symptoms in between appointments you can always call" - Doctor
"I'm fucked" - Me
I didn't actually say that last part but it's definitely what I was thinking. My doctor did offer to at least do a mammogram on my unaffected side and an ultrasound of both breasts and axilla approximately 4 months following the end of radiation. After pushing for bloodwork, they also added it but that's all.
Aside from my concerns over the lack of follow-up, there was no discussion about how, especially with triple negative breast cancer, a low fat diet and regular exercise can lower your risk of recurrence by up to 54%. There was also no mention about how to rebuild my immune system after it has been severely compromised. It makes me so angry to think that after poisoning you with chemo, impacting your physical appearance with surgery and burning you with radiation there seems to be no interest in helping you put yourself back together.
Thankfully this is where my friends, family, social worker and naturopath come in. I have put together my own after care team that can give me the support I desperately need while trying to figure out how to move on from here. So that's what I'll focus on until my next "follow up" appointment in 3 months.
"How are you going to monitor that I remain healthy and cancer free?" - Me
"We are going to schedule follow up appointments with you every 3 months" - Doctor
"But those appointments are just a quick physical check up and conversation...no bloodwork or scans" - Me
"We have found that ongoing scans are not helpful for prevention and cause the patients more anxiety. If you have any headaches, bone pain or other symptoms in between appointments you can always call" - Doctor
"I'm fucked" - Me
I didn't actually say that last part but it's definitely what I was thinking. My doctor did offer to at least do a mammogram on my unaffected side and an ultrasound of both breasts and axilla approximately 4 months following the end of radiation. After pushing for bloodwork, they also added it but that's all.
Aside from my concerns over the lack of follow-up, there was no discussion about how, especially with triple negative breast cancer, a low fat diet and regular exercise can lower your risk of recurrence by up to 54%. There was also no mention about how to rebuild my immune system after it has been severely compromised. It makes me so angry to think that after poisoning you with chemo, impacting your physical appearance with surgery and burning you with radiation there seems to be no interest in helping you put yourself back together.
Thankfully this is where my friends, family, social worker and naturopath come in. I have put together my own after care team that can give me the support I desperately need while trying to figure out how to move on from here. So that's what I'll focus on until my next "follow up" appointment in 3 months.
Saturday, 19 March 2016
Here We Go Again
How is it possible that my eyelashes are falling out again? Almost 5 months to the day since finishing chemo, when I was washing my face at night, I started to notice my eyelashes on the facecloth. Thank goodness for the internet and other blogs I had read that warned me this was coming.
Apparently a lot of women experience losing their eyelashes and eyebrows a second and even third time post chemo because eyelashes go through the process of loss and regrowth in repetitive cycles. After chemo, your eyelashes all grow in at once which means that as part of their cycle, they also fall out all at once. This usually happens about 4-5 months post chemo. Based on what I've read, the only thing you can do is to wait for your body to naturally restore itself after your treatment meaning that this could happen a few more times...great! I was hoping the Latisse I had been using would help but no such luck.
At least both my brows and lashes have just thinned dramatically but not fallen out completely. Nothing that a little mascara, eye liner and eyebrow pencil can't fix. What really would have helped is if one of my many doctors would have warned me about this. Sometimes I think they forget that hair loss, although maybe less traumatic than some of the other side effects from cancer treatments, does have a profound impact on people and warning them about things like this goes a long way. I guess that's what blogs like this one are for!
Apparently a lot of women experience losing their eyelashes and eyebrows a second and even third time post chemo because eyelashes go through the process of loss and regrowth in repetitive cycles. After chemo, your eyelashes all grow in at once which means that as part of their cycle, they also fall out all at once. This usually happens about 4-5 months post chemo. Based on what I've read, the only thing you can do is to wait for your body to naturally restore itself after your treatment meaning that this could happen a few more times...great! I was hoping the Latisse I had been using would help but no such luck.
At least both my brows and lashes have just thinned dramatically but not fallen out completely. Nothing that a little mascara, eye liner and eyebrow pencil can't fix. What really would have helped is if one of my many doctors would have warned me about this. Sometimes I think they forget that hair loss, although maybe less traumatic than some of the other side effects from cancer treatments, does have a profound impact on people and warning them about things like this goes a long way. I guess that's what blogs like this one are for!
Sunday, 13 March 2016
Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover
I saw this posted on Instagram and could totally relate. Over the last few months, I have received so many compliments about how good I look which is always appreciated and nice to hear but at the same time, it makes me wonder if people really realize what I have been through. Sometimes I think people, myself included, look at someone who is young, fit, vibrant and can't imagine that they are fighting cancer or lyme disease or crohn's or whatever the case may be. I am the type of person that tends to downplay things so when I have a bad day or admit to being in pain, it can catch my loved ones off guard. This breast cancer experience has given me such a deeper appreciation for what other people might be going through even though they don't appear to be "sick". What is that old saying? Don't judge a book by it's cover.
This has especially rang true for me recently as I have finished treatment. My employer has been quick to call and advise that it is time to start thinking about a return to work plan and while I understand their position, it's all happening a little too quick for me. While I have been off, I have kept in touch with co-workers and I know what they are thinking....she looks fine, she should be ready to come back to work soon, it's already been 9 months. The truth is, I do look fine, in fact I have lost 15 pounds and probably look better than I did before cancer but mentally, I'm just not there yet. Getting ready to face co-workers I haven't seen, keeping up my exercise routine and healthy eating habits while sitting in an office for 8 hours a day, not allowing myself to get stressed out by my job or the possibility of cancer returning...all of that just feels like too much right now. So instead of worrying about it, with the remaining time that I have off, I am going to continue looking fabulous and work on getting my mind to feel the same way.
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
Is PCR Everything?
When reading through articles, especially about Triple Negative breast cancer, everyone places so much emphasis on a PCR (pathologic complete response). When you have neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, one of the benefits is that the doctor can monitor your response by measuring the tumor (either by feeling it or with an ultrasound). The definition of a pathologic complete response can differ depending on the study being done, which presents an issue in terms of finding a consistent way to classify it. Most studies define it as the absence of residual invasive disease in the breast and in the axillary lymph nodes at the completion of the neoadjuvant treatment. This definition allows for in situ carcinoma, also known as DCIS, to still be present.
Based on the information I have gathered, achieving a PCR is more common in Triple Negative breast cancer because this type is more sensitive to chemo. Studies state that anywhere from 20-30% of women who's cancers lack estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors will achieve a PCR. Surely you have read articles like this one stating that patients who achieve a pathologic complete response with neoadjuvant therapy tend to have a very good prognosis. These women are at much lower risk for subsequent distant disease recurrence.
This is all fantastic news for those women that achieve a PCR but what about the other 70-80% of us? Does the fact that we had residual disease mean that we are doomed? Hearing about PCR over and over again, knowing that I did not have a complete response, does not make me feel good and surely there are others that feel the same way. Perhaps you have asked your Oncologist the same questions I have - is there anything else I can do? Do I need more chemo?
There are some women whose doctors will advise that more chemo is recommended but I am not one of them. I have seen 2 different Oncologists now who both said there is no concrete research showing that additional chemo has a long term benefit in terms of overall survival. When weighing the benefits versus potential toxicity, in my case, it is not recommended. So what do I do now? Unfortunately the medical response is "we wait and see". Frankly, I think that is bullshit and the wait and see approach doesn't work for me. I don't want to get back to living my life and forgetting this whole ordeal ever happened. What kind of advice is that anyway?
More to come in a later post about additional steps I am taking to prevent a recurrence. One article that I did find helpful in explaining the prognostic significance of residual disease can be found here: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/28/4414.full. Using the residual cancer burden calculator, it shows that I fall into RCB-I. Maybe I am an underachiever and did not attain the almighty PCR but this does give me some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Based on the information I have gathered, achieving a PCR is more common in Triple Negative breast cancer because this type is more sensitive to chemo. Studies state that anywhere from 20-30% of women who's cancers lack estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors will achieve a PCR. Surely you have read articles like this one stating that patients who achieve a pathologic complete response with neoadjuvant therapy tend to have a very good prognosis. These women are at much lower risk for subsequent distant disease recurrence.
This is all fantastic news for those women that achieve a PCR but what about the other 70-80% of us? Does the fact that we had residual disease mean that we are doomed? Hearing about PCR over and over again, knowing that I did not have a complete response, does not make me feel good and surely there are others that feel the same way. Perhaps you have asked your Oncologist the same questions I have - is there anything else I can do? Do I need more chemo?
There are some women whose doctors will advise that more chemo is recommended but I am not one of them. I have seen 2 different Oncologists now who both said there is no concrete research showing that additional chemo has a long term benefit in terms of overall survival. When weighing the benefits versus potential toxicity, in my case, it is not recommended. So what do I do now? Unfortunately the medical response is "we wait and see". Frankly, I think that is bullshit and the wait and see approach doesn't work for me. I don't want to get back to living my life and forgetting this whole ordeal ever happened. What kind of advice is that anyway?
More to come in a later post about additional steps I am taking to prevent a recurrence. One article that I did find helpful in explaining the prognostic significance of residual disease can be found here: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/28/4414.full. Using the residual cancer burden calculator, it shows that I fall into RCB-I. Maybe I am an underachiever and did not attain the almighty PCR but this does give me some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Friday, 26 February 2016
Mepitel Film Review
The results are in and I think the Mepitel film gets a passing grade but unfortunately not 100% from me. Based on all of the positive things I was hearing, I was really hoping to be one of those women that sailed through radiation but no such luck. I got to #20 of 25 regular treatments and one night the skin in my armpit area started to itch like crazy. It wasn't overly red so I wasn't concerned but when I woke up the next morning, 3 pus filled blisters had formed right at the edge of the film. My doctor recommended keeping it on but after 2 days, both the look and smell were really starting to gross me out. Sorry if this post is disgusting but I figured I would share for anyone who is in the same situation. I ended up cutting the film in the affected area and did the remainder of the treatments without it. As soon as I took the film off and showered, it felt so much better. The doctor recommended doing a compress with saline and gauze, 4 times a day for 15 minutes each then letting it breath. The blisters started to go away after only about 2 days of doing this and thankfully, so did the smell. Gross!
I think my problem was two fold:
1. I continued to work out 5 days a week during radiation and having a film over your armpit when you are sweating does not create a good environment.
2. I was applying a small amount of deoderant on my underarm area above the film to avoid sweating. Not a good idea. My Radiation Oncologist who I saw many times before starting and once a week after said nothing to me about the dangers of wearing a regular aluminum containing deoderant during treatment. First of all, I had no idea that so many deodorants contained aluminum and secondly, it makes so much sense now that it would react with my skin. After discovering this, I have read a bunch of blogs with people recommending Crystal, Toms and some other natural deoderants that are safe to wear during radiation.
My last day of radiation was a week ago and after 25 regular treatments and 5 boosters, my armpit is burnt to a crisp. The skin is a mix of black areas that haven't peeled yet, red areas where the skin has just peeled and pink skin where it is starting to heal. The rest of my breast is red but seems to be holding up just fine which is why I think the Mepitel film did work. I have been putting Calendula cream (made from calendula flowers and available at natural food stores) on the areas where the skin is still in tact and it seems to be helping.
Radiation and it's after effects have actually been worse than chemo for me. It seems that in 99% of cases, it is the other way around but as usual, I am an exception to the rule.
I think my problem was two fold:
1. I continued to work out 5 days a week during radiation and having a film over your armpit when you are sweating does not create a good environment.
2. I was applying a small amount of deoderant on my underarm area above the film to avoid sweating. Not a good idea. My Radiation Oncologist who I saw many times before starting and once a week after said nothing to me about the dangers of wearing a regular aluminum containing deoderant during treatment. First of all, I had no idea that so many deodorants contained aluminum and secondly, it makes so much sense now that it would react with my skin. After discovering this, I have read a bunch of blogs with people recommending Crystal, Toms and some other natural deoderants that are safe to wear during radiation.
My last day of radiation was a week ago and after 25 regular treatments and 5 boosters, my armpit is burnt to a crisp. The skin is a mix of black areas that haven't peeled yet, red areas where the skin has just peeled and pink skin where it is starting to heal. The rest of my breast is red but seems to be holding up just fine which is why I think the Mepitel film did work. I have been putting Calendula cream (made from calendula flowers and available at natural food stores) on the areas where the skin is still in tact and it seems to be helping.
Radiation and it's after effects have actually been worse than chemo for me. It seems that in 99% of cases, it is the other way around but as usual, I am an exception to the rule.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)