Flalady Update

Dear FlaLady,

 I am heartened that you like this doctor. That always is important in developing trust. It seems reasonable to do the worst areas with rads, doesn't it? To hopefully shrink the tumor burden and give you some relief, and allow the subsequent therapy to then hit the rest of the lesions?

 Sorry to hear you have a new cough and will keep myself all twisted in a knot of hope that it is just a cough. Good to get it checked anyway if you're having chest wall rads as that can elicit a cough if lung tissue is affected.

My understanding of FCP is it stands for Fellow, American College of Clinical Pharmacology based in Philadelphia, PA. That makes sense then that he also works with the FDA in Maryland with that title. Sounds like you found yourself a knowledgeable person.

I wish you success and please know that each night I say a special word for you. Your strength and progressiveness constantly amaze me.

My best to you,

Tender 

FlaLady,

You are an amazing strong woman. You will be in my thoughts during your treatment. I am glad that you found a doctor that you like and trust.

FlaLady - you will be in my throughts and prayers for good results with these treatments.  I like the way your describe your new doctor - -  I sense a positive vibe with him.  Since Spring is in the air lots of allergies starting to kick up cough symptoms in many of us. Best wishes, Joann

The feeling is mutual, Flalady!

 Tender 

My prayers are with you!  I hope the cough is just from all our wonderful pollen!  It is great to have an supportive Dr. 

Sue

Hello Flalady,

You are in my thoughts and prayers for a successful treatment.  I follow your posts, but don't post much myself.  I am one of the few who has not gone with the traditional treatment, except for surgery, so I am interested in all that has been posted!  Best wishes.  You are an inspiration to so many of us to keep searching for answers.

FlaLady-I just found this thread and am happy you have updated us. I was worried about you. It is great that you were able to get into this trial and have a doctor who you seem to like. I will be saying a prayer that all goes well. Please continue to keep us informed. You know how much we appreciate your tireless efforts to help others in the face of all you are going through.

MrIBC-I am relieved that you have chimed in too and that Cam seems to be doing well also. You both have been in my prayers. I sure do miss your wonderful sense of humor and I hope we can get our little banter going again as soon as you all get well. All my best to you and the lovely Camille. Please keep us up to date.

Flalady, I always say prayers for you but especially now.  You are an inspiration to all of us, your research is awesome, you are always helping us on this journey, we are all so grateful.

Love

Lorraine ox

Flalady, I am so glad to hear you've found a doctor you're comfortable with.  I wonder if you went to medical school if you'd learn anything new.  lol  Any doctor of yours will need to read a lot to keep ahead of you.  I am so hopeful that this treatment will kick those skin mets to the curb. 

 As for the coughing, I'm right there with you.  I've been sneezing and coughing a lot this year.  I suppose I always do in the spring.  This year though I've been doing a lot of deep breathing exercises, plus my new air system installed 3 months ago has a uv light that's supposed to kill off germs and various airborne nasties.  I guess I'm disappointed that I dont see improvement.  It's been especially windy also, but I sneeze and cough before I even step outside, so go figure.  

Good luck with your new treatments.  Keep us posted.

Fla Lady

You are incredible!  You have helped me so much to understand (truly understand) the studies that I use to gloss over.. and still, with all you are going through you take the time to talk to those of us who might now or in the near future need your incredible mind!  Thanks so much for all you do and please yes pick the brain of this FDA guy - if you like him that tells me there is hope for the FDA yet!!!  <huge warm hug>

Deirdre

Flalady,

Please look into "moxibustion" from an accupuncturist for pleural effusion. I have heard of it working several times.

Also, you will probably get used to the cough meds and will be kicking butt around here in no time.

We are rooting for you, sweetie

Anom 

Flalady,

I was just reading about copper, also known as Cu. It seems to deflect cancer cell death or apoptosis. So, maybe you wish to check your vitamin and see if it has any, and if so, think about that. Some cancer researchers are working on a copper chelate compound to counter act multiple chemotherapy resistence, particularly in adriamycin, one of the most effective breast cancer drugs as you know. I don't see this is on the market as yet, just in study.

 Thought you might like to know this so you can research it if desired. 

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is still a major threat to successful clinical application of cancer chemotherapy. Copper plays an important role in biological systems, and copper is also involved in carcinogenesis. In the present investigation, we addressed the question whether metal copper might be involved in drug resistance of murine and human tumors. By means of atomic absorption spectroscopy, we determined serum copper concentrations. We found that the blood serum of tumor-bearing mice contained higher amounts of copper than healthy mice with tumors. Secondly, mice bearing doxorubicin-resistant Ehrlich ascites carcinoma- or cyclophosphamide-resistant Lewis lung carcinoma contained more copper in their serum than mice bearing the corresponding drug-sensitive parental tumors. Furthermore, the analysis of patients with breast cancer, colon carcinoma or lung cancer showed that the serum copper contents were higher in patients not responding to chemotherapy when compared to patients whose tumors responded to treatment. The copper levels in serum of healthy volunteers were lower than in cancer patients irrespective of their response to chemotherapy. Our results imply that the level of serum copper may be considered as a biomarker for treatment response. 

and: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=17107616 for more.