Whipple Surgery

My husband had a Whipple done following diagnosis of bile duct cancer. After resection of his pancreas his blood sugars can be high in the evenings. They are always fine in the mornings. Our doctor says he is not worried as long as they are OK in the morning. But I am concerned about them being over 200 in the evenings. It still seems that would be hard on his body. Does anyone have any experience with Whipple surgery? Or blood sugar monitoring? He also has to take pancreatic enzymes with meals or he has malabsorption problems. They did not give us any dietary guidelines but it seems he should be following a low fat diet.

Dear Lisa,

Please keep in mind that blood sugars may be elevated at night because of a
postprandial (after meal) rise in blood glucose. This is a normal response to
food. There would be cause for concern if the fasting (upon waking) blood
sugar levels were elevated. While there is no doubt that the function of the
pancreas and bile duct are compromised, unless your husband has blatant
malabsorption, i.e. excessive dumping, diarrhea, greasy, fatty stools, leading
to continued weight loss, it would seem that digestive enzymes and a lower fat
diet (25% of total calories) are in order. It is important to make sure that
malnutrition doesn't threaten his recovery or that the foods he consumes help,
not hinder his immunity. Digestive tract cancers can be difficult to manage,
especially when it comes to absorbing and utilizing food nutrients, so be sure
to consult with a nutritionist for individualized care and nutritional therapy
options.

Best,

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD
Director, Holistic Nutrition Services
Author, Challenge Cancer and Win!
www.challengecancer.com

This is Ed Lumbert, Sandy's husband. My wife has just been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in the "Tail" with Mets in her Omentum. We have been searching for nutritional information on the Internet. Here are a couple of places to go for information. Try NutriQuest @ http://www.challengecancer.com/. You will be able to leave an e-mail to Kim Dalzell Author: Challenge Cancer and Win. Also: A 25 year survivor of Islet Cell - Pancreatic Cancer - Fred Eichhorn - is the President at the National Cancer Research Foundation in New York. You can send them and e-mail from their site as well. Here is their web address. www.ncrf.org/. You may have to copy and paste these web addresses into your browser address window, as they do not appear to be active. Both sites responded to our questions within 24 hours. The NCRF has a "Toll Free" number. I personally spoke with Fred Eichhorn on the telephone tonight. He had 90% of his Pancreas removed in 1976 and is alive to tell about "how you can be cancer free". That's nothing short of a miracle when it comes to Cancer of the Pancreas, as you probably already know, especially 25 years ago.
Good Luck to both you and your husband. We will keep you in our PRAYERS. I know how difficult it is searching for HELP i.e., someone with knowledge that is willing to talk to you. Fred Eichhorn is the only one that I have found that even had the same kind of Cancer that Sandy has and it took roughly 2 weeks of searching before I came across their site. May God Bless You and May the Healing Powers of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your husband.
Ed

Kim, my best friend of 35 years has Pancreatic Cancer in it's 2nd stage. The Doctors are recommending Whipple surgery NOW. He has a Royal Rife machine that he aquired several years ago & we would like some thoughts on if you would recommend using it (at the right frequency). Would this do any good at all? Please let me know. Also, what WOULD you recommend to slow down or stop the spread any farther w/o the surgery? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Jack Walls

Dear Jack,

Thank you for writing to me about your dear friend. How fortunate that your friend has you for support!

Cancer is a very complicated disease and multi-factorial in nature. To be honest, I had not heard of Dr. Rife before (I just love learning about new therapies!) so I spent a bit of time researching his life's work and the machine he used that he claimed cured cancer and other ailments. For the purpose of this public message, I would like to explain the mechanism by which the machine works: once cancer cells are identified, the Rife machine uses altered frequencies (energy levels)to destroy them. Despite very impressive case studies (which don't hold water in the scientific mind) I was not able to locate a single peer-reviewed, independent study to show that the Rife machine could do anything, let alone cure cancer. These machines can be expensive, costing from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. And, there is no guarantee although some irresponsible web sites suggest otherwise. In the case of your friend, who has already purchased a machine, I'm curious as to why if they have already made this investment in the machine, why have they not used the machine? Based on what I have read, the machine does not appear to cause any harm so there is most like very little risk (outside of an empty pocket). Quite frankly, I think the websites that support the machines are what might cause the harm, especially if they are falsing claiming health information and charging lots of money for a machine that may, nor may not, do anything.

As I said, cancer is multi-factorial. And because it is, many researchers and health care professionals believe that the treatment of cancer should be multi-factorial as well. At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, traditional treatment (surgery, chemo and radiation) is used along with adjuvant alternative therapies such as nutrition, naturopathy, spiritual support and psychoneuroimmunology to treat the whole person, not just the cancer. You asked me what I thought would be helpful, so here goes: 1) seek a second opinion about the surgery and cancer diagnosis (this is just good sense when it comes to health situations); 2) find a practitioner who works with traditional and complementary medicine providers to treat the whole person (why try to piecemeal things together yourself and risk the confusion and frustration of opposing beliefs?); 3) get nutritional guidance to prevent malnutrition (a huge risk with pancreatic cancer) and promote wellness during and after cancer treatment; and 4) obtain dietary supplementation to specifically assist in health promotion and decrease of treatment side-effects.

My bottom line: Cancer has many enemies, some have proven effectiveness and others have not. It just makes sense to start off strong in the fight and chose those that will have the most impact NOW. Perhaps CTCA can help you!

Best,

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD
Director, Holistic Nutrition Services
Cancer Resource Center
Author, Challenge Cancer and Win!