Thinking of surgery + B17 + CoQ10, but no chemo/radiation

It sounds like your pathology report is still pending these surgical procedures.  When you get this additional information it may help you think clearer with all the facts.  The diet changes and supplements are reasonable but maybe you have to consider more ammunition  - - again pending getting all the facts and determining the aggressiveness of your cancer.  Waiting is the hardest part IMO..... best wishes, Joann

I had a large mass appear rather quickly too--scary.  I got more info from the pathology and from doctors, and did chemo, surgery, and radiation.  When I made the decision that this is what I had to do, It got a little easier.  A plan really helps.  If you decide to do chemo and rads, then know that you can do it. You need to get more info and then make the decision that is best for you, that you can live with.  I am four years out, and well.  

This is a great place for muddled thoughts.  Checking in with others can help you clarify your own decisions.  

Take care,

--Hattie 

Dear Julie,



This is a hard time indeed. I still remember how anxious I felt during my diagnosis. A couple of things:



1. The surgeons are, it sounds like, recommending the right thing. They need to biopsy it first and then determine the treatment plan and then operate or chemo first.



2. Read up and educate yourself in the next few weeks. Wait for full results before you draw lines thru' chemo and radiation. They are nowhere as bad as they used to be a few years back.



3. See a reputed oncologist at a teaching hospital. The oncologist helps you draw up the overall treatment plan. Select one who isn't related to the surgeons you are seeing.

Julia:

I totally understand why you are feeling superscared. Nevertheless, I think it is time for you to face this situation. I know it is impossible to perform surgery on a tumor without a biopsy: I also tried to do it that way, but was told it cannot be done; my surgeon said: "...We need to know how to approach this tumor before removing it..."

You need to see your doctor as soon as possible, then you can make treatment decisions. Perhaps, yours is one of the tumors that chemotherapy can help. Perhaps you'll go another route, after doing your own research. But for now, you need to set up an appointment and start a dialogue with your doctor.

Dear Julia,

Asking the doctors is a GREAT thing but you also need to educate yourself. In this day and age, there is not much that is not available online. You should not have to wait six months for a doctor who could answer a question when the answer is available here, or nccn.org or even through google.

If as another poster has said you knew of your lump back in May '09 and have not gotten it completely diagnosed, I am afraid you could be letting the disease spread thru' your system. I strongly recommend you proceed with utmost urgency and get this diagnosed fully. If it turns out to be malignant, start treatment immediately. Complimentary medicine works but no one really knows exactly how much. Some of it depends on your faith, in your case is obviously strong! There are enough doctors who practice holistic medicine now so you don't have to listen to doctors who have had the "pharma koolaid". Traditional medicine improves your odds by certain known percentage points. I suggest you not discard any possible treatment option at this time until the full picture of your condition is known.

please see my posts about diet.  i think if you are gonna go this way you HAVE to be on the right diet.  i would consult your chinese doctor about this and get some chinese herbs as well.  some have strong anti cancer properties.  correct diet from my research and which my chinese doctor agrees with is:

No red meat, no dairy, no alcohol, no processed or fast food, no sugar (tiny bit of maple syrup/honey very occasionally okay), no caffeine (coffee or black tea), no soft drinks or cakes etc. no lollies etc.

 Correct foods to eat: vegetables of all types, raw, juiced as well, and steamed; focus on brocolli, kale, bok choy, leeks, oninon, garlic, green leafy vegetables first, then coloured vegies as well; then some fruit (dried or berries or what you like.  berries have anti oxs) less fruit than vegeis; must be a lot of GREEN vegies; drink wheatgrass juice as a boost of green as well, eat nuts (ALMONDS are v. good and brazil nuts), SEEDS - of all kinds; beans, lentils, chickpeas, corn, WHOLEGRAINS (brown rice, basmati etc).  make sure you arent allergic to wheat - if you get bloating after a meal you may be.  if so , switch to corn/rice.

drink: vegetable juice, wheatgrass, green tea, herbal teas, WATER (no flouride and dont shower in flouride either), and some fruit juice ok, but minimize.

and thats pretty much it.

anti cancer foods: apricot seeds, apple seeds, bitter almonds, cats claw herb (boosts immune system), green vegies, certain chinese mushrooms, SEAWEED.  you should eat sushi or seaweed quite often as iodine deficiency is linked to breast cancer; i wud drink soy milk to (non gmo) as if you have hormone positive cancer its said to sit on the oestrogen receptors and occupy them, similar to tamoxifen. 

if you're going it alone, i would seek help of a chinese doctor so you have some extra assistance.  and guidance on diet.  also dont eat hormone filled chickens (bad for you if breast cancer).  i wud steer clear of chicken and only eat fish - if any meat.  eggs are okay tho.  i still eat eggs.  (and fish occasionally)

If you read the history of the laetril study that took place at Sloan Kettering from 1974 to 1977, you would see that it was abruptly halted because it was showing some promise as a nontoxic agent.  It was a very interesting event.  Even if it is ineffective, the doubt of how this was handled makes one wonder. 

SuperScared,

I would totally delete that horrible responce from your memory banks.  Before your biopsy, no one can tell you the status of your health.  How rediculous for anyone to predict how fast your lump is growing.  It takes a lab to do that.  There are so many types of breast cancer that before it is removed, they still don't have all the information.  I see women on this site who have 8 cmm tumors that have not advanced to the lymph system.  Panic and fear are not what you need right now. 

I agree that if you are planning to do alternative only treatment, you need to be well educated and put a healing team together.  I chose to do a combination.  My tumor had not spread to my lymph nodes but my oncotypedx test ranked it intermediate.  I chose not to have chemo, but I had the tumor removed and had radiation.  I have totally changed my lifestyle.  I eat no red meat, buy organic, excersize, cut out alcohol, take supplements, meditate, etc.  I feel terrific.  I have my first post surgery mammo on Nov. 30th and I know it will be fine. 

Please pick up some guided meditation tapes.  They really helped to calm my nerves.  Try to stay in the present rather than worry about what may not happen. Whenever I was overtaken by fear, I would say "Thank you for my healing."  I would visualize my white blood cells surrounding my tumor and lovingly destroying the cancer cells.  I found that very comforting.

I'm sorry someone felt the need to express her concern so insensitively.  I'm sure her motives were good but please dismiss her predictions.  Even a doctor would not stage your cancer at this point.

Keep the faith.  Healings happen every day to those who believe it is possible.

Roseann

SuperScared - I take amygdalin too. I have been taking it intravenously with vitamin C since last May. The center where I take these treatments has many success stories. I also take amygdalin (laetrile) in pill form daily. There has been good research behind it and I believe that it can help to kill cancer cells.

I agree with you about doctors not knowing enough about nutrition. My surgeon admitted that research has shown that breast and prostate cancers (both hormonally driven) have been linked to nutrition. When I told her I changed my diet and lifestyle, she looked at me like I had two heads. I didn't get it. She herself was finding in research that diet does play a role, yet refused to recommend any changes to the diet. VERY frustrating!

I had surgery and no chemo or radiation. They didn't feel right for various reasons. But, I am glad that you are going for a biopsy so that you can find out what you are dealing with. Surgery gives you the best chance of preventing a recurrence. In terms of cancer a few months does NOT make a difference. The lump you have, if it is cancerous has been growing for years. But, you shouldn't delay any longer. Get yourself on the road to recovery! We are here to help.

Some great books have been mentioned here for reading. In particular, I found The China Study and AntiCancer extremely helpful - plus so many others.

Dear SuperScared,

My tumor was 5cm.  Yes, I was super scared too, but without a proper and complete diagnosis, you don't have enough information to even start to make decisions!  My tumor was huge and invasive, but there was no lymph node involvement found (except for a suspicious IM node that lit up on a pet scan but disappeared after treatment!), and as of yet I have no mets identified.  So the fact that your tumor may be large doesn't necessarily mean you're doomed. 

You said in your post, " One thing that was dismaying about all three cancer specialists I've seen is that not ONE of them believes nutrition and lifestyle have any bearing whatsoever on cancer."  I think you may have misunderstood.  I'll bet dollars to donuts that they said something along the lines of "....nutrition and lifestyle are important factors in overall health, but alone are not a CURE" for cancer.  

Of course we all make our own treatment choices, but please do a lot of research so you can make informed choices.  Play devil's advocate and research the different treatment options, keeping an open mind.  Then make your choices based on facts rather than fear.  In my experience, my entire treatment team is very supportive of complementary medicine, and they're quick to recommend nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, yoga, acupuncture, supplements, etc., but they also advise to use caution and common sense.  

Best of luck during this super scary time!  Let us know how you're doing!

Superscared - I have AntiCancer on CD too. It was great to listen to it while I was walking, etc. Great book with great info - you will love it.

Where do you live? There may be a good Naturopathic center near you as well.

Superscared...

I know EXACTLY what you are going through.  I looked into the B17 also...even got some apricot seeds to supplement with..I also have started taking D vitamins and lost 50 lbs with exersize and watching what I ate along with cutting out pop in my diet and started stearing clear of MSG and High Fructose Corn Syrup.

I also realized that while I was doing these things, that I did need to look to traditional medicine to help hit hard what was in my body so that I would never have to go through this horror again.  My sister-in-law is a nurse and she saw a woman that they were treating with breast cancer.  She left for a short time to go and be treated in Mexico doing the alternative treatments.  A few months later she was back where my sister-in-law worked, but this time it was because her cancer progressed too far, and the hospital was not able to do anything else but keep her comfortable.  My sister-in-law was there when she died leaving her family and the small girls with their Dad.

I am not telling you what to do...all I am saying is that I understand and I know the fear you have (your name even shows how scared you are)...but don't cross off everything just because you are afraid of LIVING through what they may do to you.  You say that you want a family.  I understand that.  I was nursing my 7 month old when I found the lump and I had to immediately wean (I nursed her bothers until they were 2 1/2)..but it was what I had to do to stay alive.

My story...I wasn't afraid of chemo..which I did have...BUT I swore I would not do radiation.  Well, after 6 treatments of chemo, when I had my surgery I found that I still had a 10 cm Ductal Carcinoma In Situ left and it was .01 mm close to my chest wall.  With that information, I decided that I obviously needed radiation because it was 5 1/2 months from when I was diagnosed to when I had the surgery and everything that I did was not enough.  It is so bad that I need to take a xanax every time I go for rads..The dr. know this and understand.

I have also been seeing a Natropath Dr. and she says that I need to do what I can to get rid of this cancer and then we will deal with everything later...she is giving me what she can to help deal with the side affects from treatments..but even she says that wait until AFTER my treatments to really deal with getting better.

My heart goes out to you because the worst part of all of this (apart from having to deal with the reality of what is going on and the affects of what it will have on you and your family) is the waiting game.

With all this being said, you ultimately are the boss of what will happen to you.  You need to make the choices that are right for YOU.  Get the information.  I am glad that you found a Dr. that will talk to you like a human and answer your questions and not be rude while doing it.  Based on the information that I got from the path report and the information that my husband and I find out is choosing what my actions are.

If you explain to your Doctors what your fears are, they can give you information so you aren't so afraid and you can make the choices.  Dr. can work WITH you to protect your fertility.  If there is nothing that they can do to protect it, there are other ways you can have a child.  I have a friend who had lymphoma and they needed to radiate her abdomen.  The gave her an operation which moved all of her female organs to one side to protect from the radiation.  Since then she has had 3 healthy kids..so there ARE ways that are out there.

PM me if you ever want to talk.  I know it is scary, and it is even worse since you sound like you are so young.

Superscared,

I stopped reading this thread where you were scared because you found your cancer in May and now think it's spread everywhere.  I want to tell you my story.

In early April, I turned 51.  I was getting undressed and I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "Hey, I'm holding up well for my age".  In May, I looked in the mirror and noticed a dimple in my right breast, and felt a lump.  I ignored it because I have a history of lumps.  In August it still had not gone away, so I got tested.

It was cancer.  I had a mastectomy two weeks ago.  And, no spread to lymph nodes or any evidence of vascular invasion.  So, just because you haven't treated it yet, doesn't mean you have a death sentence.

Untill the lump is removed, there is no accurate way of estimating how big it is.  Ultrasound said 2.4 cm.  MRI said the same.  In reality, the main tumor was 3.5 cm and I had 10 cm all together that never showed up anywhere else.

I have a very aggressive form of cancer too - HER2+++, multifocal, grade 3 type.  I had numerous cancers in my breast and yet, no evidence of spread throught my body. So, if you do your medical care now, you may end up perfectly fine.

Now, I have every intention of doing chemotherapy and getting herceptin and radiation if necessary.  These are things that have saved the lives of countless women.  It will be harder for you since I was done with childbearing and you are not, but if you want to live you have no choice but to do these things.  But, the fact is, until you have your tests, you won't know what you need to do.  Not everybody needs chemo, but the longer you wait, the more chance it has to grow and the more likely it is you will need it

My best friends mother was like you.  She lived a natural lifestyle.  She ate organic, she didn't believe in modern medicine - she thought the chemicals were toxic.  When she got breast cancer, she treated it as you want to. She wrapped herself in heat wraps, she ate apricot seeds and took natural aids, including the enzymes you mention.

She died a very horrible death.  In agony.  Her entire right side had rotted by the end, and it smelled bad.  Cancer was everywhere by then.  Her daughter had to watch it happen, knowing that if she had done chemo she would have lived. 

Her cancer was milder than mine at the start, but it was invasive and invasive cancers grow if not stopped.

She was a lovely woman.  She had long, beautiful silver hair down to her waist.  She was forward thinking - married a black man in the south in the 1960s.  That made her brave for the times. She was only in her 60s when she died, and had a lot to give, for her and her family and society. She never saw her grandchildren.

I hope you will change your mind about modern medicine and use your supplements as they were meant to be used - as supplements to medicine.

Good luck to you.