CancerCompass message board discussion started by PA girl on 7/7/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,25789,0.htm Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ After 8 stressful months, a successful bile duct surgery and reconstruction of intestine/liver, and chemo with Gemzar, my husbands cancer has returned now to the right lobe of the liver and in the area of liver where intestine was attached.  Surgeon told us that no additional surgery is possible which we fully understand.  Obviously, the Gemzar did nothing to arrest further growth.Has anyone had Cyberknife radiation?  We are concerned that it will do more damage to the area of surgery and further complicate the digestive process, which for the moment, seems to be functioning quite well. CA markers are  now elevated and liver function blood work showed reasons for concern. Thank you all and to Cancer Compass for this website that provides assistance and counsel to so many.Bernie (PA Girl)  PA girl Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 7/7/2008 PA girl wrote:After 8 stressful months, a successful bile duct surgery and reconstruction of intestine/liver, and chemo with Gemzar, my husbands cancer has returned now to the right lobe of the liver and in the area of liver where intestine was attached.  Surgeon told us that no additional surgery is possible which we fully understand.  Obviously, the Gemzar did nothing to arrest further growth.Has anyone had Cyberknife radiation?  We are concerned that it will do more damage to the area of surgery and further complicate the digestive process, which for the moment, seems to be functioning quite well. CA markers are  now elevated and liver function blood work showed reasons for concern. Thank you all and to Cancer Compass for this website that provides assistance and counsel to so many.Bernie (PA Girl) Hello Bernie,I am very sorry to hear that, after all you went through, the cancer is back. One allways hopes that there will be a person who survives, but this cancer is a tough one to beat.I do have a little comfort, I hope. My husband Peter was diagnosed last year May, stage IV, with a life-prediction of 2-3 months. It is more than a year later now, and he is still doing very well. Sometimes a high fever attack, and last month we heard that the lungs probably are infected.We went, however, on a very healthy diet. The idea comes from the book Anticancer, written by Dr. David Servan Schreiber. He has had brain tumors twice and started investigating the Western eating pattern very deeply. Peter (and I) are following a lot of his advices on eating now since about a month. Peter is feeling extremely well and he looks that way and the nasty little, persistent cough he had, disappeared.I am not saying that Peter can be cured, but we do have the hope that with this healthy way of eating, he will live longer with a good quality of life. The good thing is, it has nothing to do with adding all kinds of supplements, just eat the good stuff as described in the book. The only thing Peter is taking as a supplement (advice from his specialist) is Omega-3.If you cannot lay your hands on the book, mail me back and I will try to tell you more about this eating pattern. But reading the book yourself would be the best thing.I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you will keep me informed about how you are doing.Kind regards,Iris (the Netherlands) Flower1 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 7/7/2008 PA girl wrote:After 8 stressful months, a successful bile duct surgery and reconstruction of intestine/liver, and chemo with Gemzar, my husbands cancer has returned now to the right lobe of the liver and in the area of liver where intestine was attached.  Surgeon told us that no additional surgery is possible which we fully understand.  Obviously, the Gemzar did nothing to arrest further growth.Has anyone had Cyberknife radiation?  We are concerned that it will do more damage to the area of surgery and further complicate the digestive process, which for the moment, seems to be functioning quite well. CA markers are  now elevated and liver function blood work showed reasons for concern. Thank you all and to Cancer Compass for this website that provides assistance and counsel to so many.Bernie (PA Girl) Bernie, My short answer is YES...my wife had 5 session of CyberKnife after 25 sessions of 3d/Conformal Radiation treatments.  YES...it was very successful...but the CyberKnife treatments were targetted at one (1) lymph node...not the liver.  My wife had 100% of the right lobe removed and 1/2 of the left lobe removed during surgery in 2003, so when a tumor showed up in 2006 it was in a very small location (a lymph node)...the CyberKnife treatment did the job. If CyberKnife is the treatment of choice...plan to battle with your insurance carrier...If you live in California I can help...it was a real night-mare but I fought it and we won.Talk to you later...Leonard form Alamo, CA    Solutions Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hello Iris, I would appreciate if you can tell me the diet pattern as described in the book, alternatively you can also tell where we can find the book.Thanks for the encouraging message.RegardsAmit Hello Bernie,I am very sorry to hear that, after all you went through, the cancer is back. One allways hopes that there will be a person who survives, but this cancer is a tough one to beat.I do have a little comfort, I hope. My husband Peter was diagnosed last year May, stage IV, with a life-prediction of 2-3 months. It is more than a year later now, and he is still doing very well. Sometimes a high fever attack, and last month we heard that the lungs probably are infected.We went, however, on a very healthy diet. The idea comes from the book Anticancer, written by Dr. David Servan Schreiber. He has had brain tumors twice and started investigating the Western eating pattern very deeply. Peter (and I) are following a lot of his advices on eating now since about a month. Peter is feeling extremely well and he looks that way and the nasty little, persistent cough he had, disappeared.I am not saying that Peter can be cured, but we do have the hope that with this healthy way of eating, he will live longer with a good quality of life. The good thing is, it has nothing to do with adding all kinds of supplements, just eat the good stuff as described in the book. The only thing Peter is taking as a supplement (advice from his specialist) is Omega-3.If you cannot lay your hands on the book, mail me back and I will try to tell you more about this eating pattern. But reading the book yourself would be the best thing.I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you will keep me informed about how you are doing.Kind regards,Iris (the Netherlands) Amit.M Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 7/8/2008 Flower1 wrote: On 7/7/2008 PA girl wrote:After 8 stressful months, a successful bile duct surgery and reconstruction of intestine/liver, and chemo with Gemzar, my husbands cancer has returned now to the right lobe of the liver and in the area of liver where intestine was attached.  Surgeon told us that no additional surgery is possible which we fully understand.  Obviously, the Gemzar did nothing to arrest further growth.Has anyone had Cyberknife radiation?  We are concerned that it will do more damage to the area of surgery and further complicate the digestive process, which for the moment, seems to be functioning quite well. CA markers are  now elevated and liver function blood work showed reasons for concern. Thank you all and to Cancer Compass for this website that provides assistance and counsel to so many.Bernie (PA Girl) Hello Bernie,I am very sorry to hear that, after all you went through, the cancer is back. One allways hopes that there will be a person who survives, but this cancer is a tough one to beat.I do have a little comfort, I hope. My husband Peter was diagnosed last year May, stage IV, with a life-prediction of 2-3 months. It is more than a year later now, and he is still doing very well. Sometimes a high fever attack, and last month we heard that the lungs probably are infected.We went, however, on a very healthy diet. The idea comes from the book Anticancer, written by Dr. David Servan Schreiber. He has had brain tumors twice and started investigating the Western eating pattern very deeply. Peter (and I) are following a lot of his advices on eating now since about a month. Peter is feeling extremely well and he looks that way and the nasty little, persistent cough he had, disappeared.I am not saying that Peter can be cured, but we do have the hope that with this healthy way of eating, he will live longer with a good quality of life. The good thing is, it has nothing to do with adding all kinds of supplements, just eat the good stuff as described in the book. The only thing Peter is taking as a supplement (advice from his specialist) is Omega-3.If you cannot lay your hands on the book, mail me back and I will try to tell you more about this eating pattern. But reading the book yourself would be the best thing.I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you will keep me informed about how you are doing.Kind regards,Iris (the Netherlands)hi! i would like to know what the diet consists of! i know someone who read the book but i don't remember her mention any special eatin patternharriet  Harrietg. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi Arnie,The first thing is absolutely no sugar, no sirup, no honey. The only sweetener that is safe, is agave syrup. Then lots of vegetables and fruit. Brown rice, preferably Basmati. Only green teas. Bread that is made of a variety of wheats. Lots of beans. Tomatoes, especially when they are heated or fried. Hardly any meat, instead 3 times a week fat fish like salmon and tuna. Once a day a small piece of dark chocolate and one glass of red wine at dinner. No sauces and soups from a package, everything homemade without additives or colouring.That is in great lines what we are doing now. And though we know that the cancer won't go away with it, in 3 weeks time Peters "liver-values" went down quite a few points.And, what is very important: keep moving. If you can't run, take walks. Try do do some biking. Peter even plays squash and believe me, he does it full speed.Wishing you all the best and please keep me informed,Iris. Flower1 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi Harriet,In fact it is not a diet, but a whole new way of eating. In short: the first thing is absolutely no sugar, no sirup, no honey. The only sweetener that is safe, is agave syrup. Then lots of vegetables and fruit. Brown rice, preferably Basmati. Only green teas. Bread that is made of a variety of wheats. Lots of beans. Tomatoes, especially when they are heated or fried. Onions and garlic. Hardly any meat, instead 3 times a week fat fish like salmon and tuna. Once a day a small piece of dark chocolate and one glass of red wine at dinner. No sauces and soups from a package, everything homemade without additives or colouring.That is in great lines what we are doing now. And though we know that the cancer won't go away with it, in 3 weeks time Peters "liver-values" went down quite a few points. So we very much hope it will give us some more time.All the best to you,Iris. Flower1 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT I agree. We used something similar to this diet.(Though I was not aware of this book). NO SUGAR, but my mom did take at least one cookie with her regular tea, though she did include fruits, orange juice, wheat grass juice, home cooked food.Basically, vegetables and food cooked at home, including sprouts. She could not consume dairy products and non vegetarian food, as it was restricted in her Ayurvedic medicines.She lived 8 months after her diagnosis, but she did not suffer at all, just the pain(which was helped by the pain killer). She remained active through out with a very good appetite, and enjoyed her food.For me this is my peace of mind, and I thank God for not letting her waste away as is the norm of this disease.  Sometimes I think, of the dietary restrictions we imposed on her. Maybe we should have let her eat what ever she wanted. But then, maybe it was due to these very restrictions that she didn't suffer.      my moms memory Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT