Husband diagnosed , wife wants to help

Hello everyone,

My husband was just diagnosed by his family doctor through a blood test. His white cell count came back 19.000, and he checked the last exam in nov. 2007 and it was 16.000 ( back then that did not raise any red flags. It was a different doctor). The exam came back suggesting CLL and he is going in with a hematologist for more tests soon. He was told it was possibly "stage 0" and that he could be in the watch and wait stage for many years.

I would like to know if there is anything I could do to help.

Is there anything he should/should not eat? 

Is there a way to change this count by what he eats?

Is it the white cell count that matters?

Should he take supplements? Iron maybe? He already takes " one a day" daily, has been doing that for many years actually...

I also read about grapeseed oil in your diet, is it true that it helps????

 

He looks, feels and is very healthy. No nodes, no fatigue, nothing. He jogs every other day, he is 45. He eats OK but we both decided we should improve his diet, we just don't know how.

Please help by answering all my questions if you can, thanks immensely.

Take care, my best to you all.

Claudia

 

 

Regarding diet, you might want to learn more about the "ph" (acid/alkaline) balance in your bodies.  My son, age 33, has carcinoid cancer and has been seeing a nutritional counselor as well as doing a lot of reading on his own.  Info from a couple books we are reading--"Green for Life" and "Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life" -- indicates that cancer survives in a body where the ph level is too low or "acid".  His body was very acid when he first started testing it, so he is eating a lot of alkaline foods -- vegetables, especially greens, are very alkaline. He makes "green smoothies" in order to get several servings of greens at once--plenty of recipes in these books.  Since I am not a medical professional, it's hard to say what would help your husband but, after reading these books, I wish we would all hear more about this.

Hang in there!

 

Julie

 

On 3/18/2009 mom_of_2 wrote:

Hello everyone,

My husband was just diagnosed by his family doctor through a blood test. His white cell count came back 19.000, and he checked the last exam in nov. 2007 and it was 16.000 ( back then that did not raise any red flags. It was a different doctor). The exam came back suggesting CLL and he is going in with a hematologist for more tests soon. He was told it was possibly "stage 0" and that he could be in the watch and wait stage for many years.

I would like to know if there is anything I could do to help.

Is there anything he should/should not eat? 

Is there a way to change this count by what he eats?

Is it the white cell count that matters?

Should he take supplements? Iron maybe? He already takes " one a day" daily, has been doing that for many years actually...

I also read about grapeseed oil in your diet, is it true that it helps????

 

He looks, feels and is very healthy. No nodes, no fatigue, nothing. He jogs every other day, he is 45. He eats OK but we both decided we should improve his diet, we just don't know how.

Please help by answering all my questions if you can, thanks immensely.

Take care, my best to you all.

Claudia

 

 

Claudia, 

My late husband had CLL and it took 9 years before he needed any treatment.  As far as changing his diet, just make sure that he eats a healthy diet.  My husband didn't have to do anything special for several years.  He just went to the doctor whenever they scheduled him and they would do blood tests and take his vitals and ask how he was feeling.  My husband didn't die from the CLL.  He died from non-small cell lung cancer. 

Just be there for him and educate yourselves as best you can.  If he is diagnosed with CLL, find the nearest cancer center and ask for information about the disease.  That will help a lot.

Jane

Dear

Hello,

You can find very useful information on CLL at the LEF website:

http://www.lef.org/protocols/cancer/leukemia_01.htm

All the best.

couldnt figure the dx, forget the family dr, go to an oncologist. The diet thing is something all cancer patients go thru and try. Everyone seems to have a cure. Just eat a well balanced diet. Stay away from the herbal thing. Dont try the iron thing it will maybe hurt if too much. Forget the grapeseed, tree bark crap.  Just think how healthy he is and what all he does. It could be something besides cancer. Live everyday to the fullest and dont dwell on this. He doesnt even have a clear diagnosis.

Dear Laura, I have CLL for 5 years. All my treatments has been natural. I am doing wonderful, and I am writing a book about Leukemia. Read Cancer- Step Outside The Box from Ty Bollinger, Cure Your Cancer with Bill Henderson. My suggestions: Number 1: Nutrition at the best. Number 2: The best supplements for Immune System. Number 3: No Stress. Number 4: Sleep 8 hours or more for Immune System. Number 5: Colon has to work 100%, do detox if necessary. Number 6: Drink a lot of good water (do research about it). Number 7: No chemicals inside the house. Number 8: Exercise every day, WALK is the best. Number 9: He has to make things that makes him feel good about himself. I, myself, do a lot of dance. I think life is wonderful and I believe that anybody can be completely cure from cancer. Try to help your husband to be positive. It's very difficult to get over a disease, but it is possible if you try hard. Good Lucky, Sueli T. from N.C.

 

On 3/18/2009 mom_of_2 wrote:

Hello everyone,

My husband was just diagnosed by his family doctor through a blood test. His white cell count came back 19.000, and he checked the last exam in nov. 2007 and it was 16.000 ( back then that did not raise any red flags. It was a different doctor). The exam came back suggesting CLL and he is going in with a hematologist for more tests soon. He was told it was possibly "stage 0" and that he could be in the watch and wait stage for many years.

I would like to know if there is anything I could do to help.

Is there anything he should/should not eat? 

Is there a way to change this count by what he eats?

Is it the white cell count that matters?

Should he take supplements? Iron maybe? He already takes " one a day" daily, has been doing that for many years actually...

I also read about grapeseed oil in your diet, is it true that it helps????

 

He looks, feels and is very healthy. No nodes, no fatigue, nothing. He jogs every other day, he is 45. He eats OK but we both decided we should improve his diet, we just don't know how.

Please help by answering all my questions if you can, thanks immensely.

Take care, my best to you all.

Claudia

 

 

 

Hi

I'm a 50 year old female with CLL , rhumatoid arthritis, copd and diabetes. I was diagnosed about a year ago. I'm sure this has come as quite a shock to both of you. Cll can smolder along for many years<watch and wait> and its the absolute lymp counts that count, so to speak. Until they finish all the testing, you really won't know what you're dealing with.Some forms of Cll with particular deletions such as 11q, can be a little more aggressive than say one with a normal karyotype. I have whats called trisomy 12, a middle of the road form of Cll.

 The most important thing you can do as his partner, is listen when he needs to talk. It's a very scary thing to live with. I think its the uncertainty that shook me the most.

One of the things I've heard have helped others , is Green Tea.

One site you'll want to check out is CLL Topics. Its a wealth of info , by Chaya Venkat. It's easily read and understood, and she has a lot of experience with this awful disease.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of you. I hope it turns out he has the indolent form.

Best Wishes

Linda

 

On 3/19/2009 hoffweston wrote:

Regarding diet, you might want to learn more about the "ph" (acid/alkaline) balance in your bodies.  My son, age 33, has carcinoid cancer and has been seeing a nutritional counselor as well as doing a lot of reading on his own.  Info from a couple books we are reading--"Green for Life" and "Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life" -- indicates that cancer survives in a body where the ph level is too low or "acid".  His body was very acid when he first started testing it, so he is eating a lot of alkaline foods -- vegetables, especially greens, are very alkaline. He makes "green smoothies" in order to get several servings of greens at once--plenty of recipes in these books.  Since I am not a medical professional, it's hard to say what would help your husband but, after reading these books, I wish we would all hear more about this.

Hang in there!

 

Julie

Regarding diet....  I think you will find that there are some people in the health care industry that know a lot more about what we should do to fight cancer but they can't say because the FDA does not have the stats to legally make the information public.  This comment, "you might want to learn more about the "ph" (acid/alkaline) balance in your bodies" is the case in point.  I don't know how much I can tell you here and I know I can't give you my email address.  I want to stay with-in the rules of this message board, because they are for our protection. 

At the top of this page, it says:  CancerCompass - Empowering cancer patients to make informed decisions.  You can purchase machines that can separate water into more acidic water or more alkaline water.  As you can see from what this person is saying, the more alkaline your body, the better, as opposed to being too acidic.  The "ph" is so very important here.  I drink alkaline water.  I started out with 8.5, then moved to 9.0, and now, I'm drinking water that is 9.5.  That's as high as you would want to go.  In fact, that may be as high as you can go.  I have had cancer, so I know my body was too acidic.  Then, I found a list of foods on the Internet that were more alkaline.  The list also contained foods that were more acidic.  Then, I found out about Kangan Water (Alkaline Water) through research.  The Japanese have found some very interesting pieces of information in regards to human health that includes cancer, but there is not enough evidence to support their findings.  The research data that I found included only 600 patients in Japan, and that is clearly not near enough to make declarations of cancer cures or any other benefits that seem to be at least on the horizon.  My boyfriend has had leukemia.  He had to have a bone marrow transplant.  He nearly died twice.  I have been able to get his attention about his diet and the water he drinks and the fact that his body is too acidic and he plans to try this out as long as it doesn't cost him any cash.  I have another friend that has ovarian cancer and is going through her third round of chemo.  She just had her third treatment this past Tuesday.  If this chemo does not work, then her chances of making it are pretty slim.  I am giving her Alkaline Water in hopes of giving her body a fighting chance against this horrible disease.( I am using the alkaline water because it is so high in antioxydents.) I wish I knew of some cases in particular where there was truly evidence that Alkaline Water was a major factor in curing cancer, but I don't have any.  I am hoping to find people that can attest to the value of Alkaline Water. 

I have taken pills for detox, but they haven't worked.  This water is working for me.

Good luck in your research.

Charann

Dear Claudia, You are going to get a lot of well-meaning advice so I will keep mine brief. In terms of what your husband should eat: As you probably already know, mainstream medicine does not have much to offer in this regard. In my own healing journey with breast cancer, I encountered four "main streams" of alternative medicine, all of which address the issue of diet:: 1. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine 1. Aryuvedic medicine 3. Native American herbal medicine 4. Naturopathic medicine I would suggest you reseearch these a bit on the Internet in terms of their approach to your husband's diagnosis, and see if one of them resonates for you...it is confusing to try to take more than one approach at a time, although of course you want to do everything possible to help your husband recover. All these approaches aim at strengthening the immue system to enhance our bodies' natural ability to fight cancer. Then see if you can find someone who practices that type of medicine in your area and consult with them. I would say naturopathic medicine is probably the most accessible to most Americans. Best of luck to you and your husband as you commence this healing journey together. Elizabeth

Claudia,

I just read your message.  My best advice to you, until you have a better handle on on the exact diagnosis your husband will receive, is to just listen to his hematologist and your own best judgment.  For sure, take with a grain of salt anything written by Sueli T. from N.C.  A person who believes 'anybody can be completely cured of cancer' is either full of it or completely crazy and you don't want to take advice from that sort of person.

Good luck to you and your husband.

Joan L