Anyone starting Chemo in August 07?

DeAnn

Wow!  I guess there are alot of things we'll be learning, that chemo has changed us forever....

Enjoy the beer!! 

Harley

Hey Ladies,

Well, the company has all departed....the decorations are down & stored for another year....and me and 'Teddy Bear' (DH) are settling in for a couple of days of sitting in front of the fire and getting over-dosed on football!  LOL  Frankly, this is the best part of the holidays to me.  Don't get me wrong,  I love the time and the family and all the craziness, but it's nice to sit back when it's over and savor another wonderful holiday put to bed in our memories. 

Tonight we're doing fondue on the coffee table in front of the fireplace and tomorrow will be our typical southern New Years menu of Hoppin' John and of course collard greens with pot liquor /cornbread and a few other things thrown in for good measure!     Can you tell I like to cook girls?  What are you all having? 

Nash, I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the tea.  I so wish that I could 'magically' wave you all here and I would feed you until you popped!  Nice to also hear that you and Kaye and Harley have met some new friends.....it isn't always easy as we get older I think. 

DeAnn....I'm with Kaye......"slowly remove your hands from my bread please!"  You are such a role model and have such determination and will power that I'm amazed sometimes when I read your posts. 

The only good thing this ole gal is doing is signing up for a Tai Chi class for seniors in January.  I badly need to work on my balance and muscle strength and with the neuropathy in my feet it has gotten progressively worse.  I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up in a regular class so decided that I would fare better in a senior class.  Besides, I'll probably be the 'youngest' one in the class and believe me that doesn't happen to me very often!!  LOL 

To all the rest of you...lillith, Harley, Jackie (where are you dear?) , Penney, and all of our wonderful sisters....here's wishing each of you the brightest and healthiest year ever.

love to all of you,

June

Happy New Year, darlings!

I can't believe it is already 2010!!! life is gallopping, isn't it? 

I've been up the Swiss alps, skiing and snow-shoeing - and it was awesome, but I really need to kick my butt back in shape. My skiing has never been fab, but now, after everything, it looks like each movement is a pain... and I came back from snow-shoeing with black toenails as after chemo (I assume I need new snow-boots. I don't know why, but chemo or hormone therapy has made my feet grow both in width and lentgh, suckers). 

Well I also came back with a flu. drats.  

Once I have all taken care of, I will post a couple of scenary pics on FB. 

Hi All! I got in early to see the MD at the natural medicine clinic and it was such a good experience. I learned a lot in a very short time, and he is much more knowledegable than the nurse practitioner I saw the first time, so I'm really glad she referred me to him. The big news is that he thinks I should stay on Tamoxifen. Even though I don't carry the gene to metabolize it properly, he assured me that it doesn't mean I can't use it. It just means the drug stays in my system longer, so, theoretically, I could even take a lower dose.  He said that one of the reasons why I probably am not having side effects is because of my very good diet. 

Oh, and he would like me to reduce grains to no more than 20% of my total intake.  I think I can manage that so long as I don't have to give them up completely!

Oh, and he advises me to start jumping rope for my osteopenia! Never saw that one coming! 

I've got much more info to share but it is kind of technical so I will try to gather my thoughts and make some sense of it. If I just forward you the papers your eyes might glaze over. I know mine kind of did when he was trying to explain things to me in terms I could understand, but I'm sorry, methylation and glutathione are not normal vocabulary words for me!

DeAnn 

DeAnn, glad the appointment was a success. I'm actually glad to hear he was pro-Tamox. That makes me feel better.

20% grains sounds reasonable. 

Too bad we don't all live closer--we could start a jump rope club. It would be way more fun to do the traditional playground approach of two girls swinging the rope, with the jumper jumping in, and all of us chanting catchy rhymes, than what I'm sure the doc has in mind for you. And who knew it would build strong bones? Interesting.

Hi All!

So, jumping rope, it turns out, is super-duper hard! I can only manage about 30-45 seconds at a time and then I have to stop for a minute. If I seriously do this every day, I will be in AWESOME shape by summer! You know what was the most sore after the first day (when I only did 5 minutes, by the way)? My stomach!! The next morning it felt like I had done about 100 abdominal crunches. Seriously!  But it was kind of fun, so I'm going to try to keep at it. 

OK, so I'm going to try and summarize what I learned from my doc.  Basically, he helped me to understand how they think cancer can happen, and it is largely based on our genetics and the enzymes that our bodies produce. It boils down to our bodies ability to detoxify itself. Most of what a cell does is detoxification. Getting rid of metabolic wastes, etc. Getting rid of excess hormones is another example.  However, If we happen to be deficient in the enzymes that metabolize estrogen, it can result in a chain reaction of events that eventually cause cancer. OK, let's see if I can make sense of this chart he drew for me.

There are 2 main estrogens (estradiol and estrone). They get converted into 2 hydroxyestrogen (2OH), 4 hydroxyestrogen (4OH), and 16 hydroxyestrogen (16OH).  2OH are good estrogens. These do not cause cancer.  However, 4OH, and 16OH, if not properly eliminated through our metabolic process, can cause genetic mutations that result in cancer. They get converted to something called quinones. The quinones react with DNA to form adducts. These are the start of cancer. 

Some of us, especially those of us who are hormone positive, probably are missing certain enzymes that metabolize estrogen.  In my case, both my parents have had hormone based cancers (mom had uterine cancer and dad has prostrate). So, it is likely I ended up with some faulty genes as well.  Adding fuel to the fire was many years on birth control pills. It seems that birth control pills are loaded with 4OH and 16OH forms of estrogen.  My body was overwhelmed by the bad forms over time, and well, here I am.  

The good news is that, although I can't change my genes, he told me I can overcome my genes with supplementation.  One thing that helps convert or eliminate those bad 4OH and 16OH forms is iodine and vitamin D. All cruciferous vegetables also help to eliminate them. This is where taking DIM and IC3 come in.  DIM is, essentially, all the good stuff in broccoli and especially is a great supplement for anyone who is ER+.  But, even if your body puts it into the waste stream to be eliminated, sometimes, if you don't have the sufficient flora in your intestinal tract, your body will reabsorb them.  That's where the calcium d-glucarate comes in.  It prevents that from happening so that your body will eliminate the bad guys. 

So, he pretty much recommends that everyone with hormone based cancer supplement with DIM, Calcium D-glucarate, Vitamin D, and iodine (though not too much or you can have thyroid issues). Oh, and 1.5 grams per day of EPA/DHA. 

In three months, he wants me to do a 24 hour urine comprehensive profile, a red blood cell element profile, vitamin D3, fasting vitamin K and homocysteine levels, TSH, free T 3, and a bone resorption assay. I have no idea what most of those things are, but the tests take about 3 weeks, and then I see him again in May to get the results and we can measure how I'm doing. 

So! That's the deal mostly! Sorry if I made anybody's eyes glaze over! I'm off to go jump some rope!

DeAnn 

DeAnn, very interesting. I like to understand things and you made a great job of making it clear. 

I have no idea what DIM is - nor IC3? and I don't think I have your extra documentation? it sounds like a good read.

Jumping rope uh? I've tried some time ago.. and can't manage more than a few SECONDS (admittedly vastly out of shape). Maybe once spring sets in and I can bear getting up in the morning, I'll try again...  

I have discovered it is also very tiring on the arms to jump rope.  This is one tough full body workout. Though I'll bet not as hard as figure skating! Sounds like you are really working your body over, Nash! Good luck with the competition!!

Lilith - DIM is a phytonutrient in cruciferous veggies. Here's a website that explains it far better than I can! http://www.dimfaq.com  

It seems there is pretty much no negative side effect to taking it, and all the major research centers are looking into this as an adjunct or even alternative to some of the conventional approaches. Pretty exciting stuff!

DeAnn

Hello, girls. Wanted to let you know I skated in my competition yesterday and had a total blast. I'll put FB pic up shortly.

There was a printed program for the event, included in which was a list of "Fun Facts" about the competition. Number 11 was "Best excuse for forgetting the entry check: 'Chemo brain' (We're glad you're still with us)." Yeah, that was me!

Hey Nash,

What an accomplishment.  I hope you had an absolute ball doing it....aches and pains aside though. 

Was there a good turn out for the performances?  I would think that it being an Olympic year, folks would be geared up. 

I'm starting my 30 day count down to the 6 month checks with surgeon/radiologist/oncologist.  As usual I find myself having trouble focusing and some disturbed sleep.  Do you all experience this too?  Do you think it's something we'll just live with best as possible the rest of our lives? 

hugs to all...

June

Nash. Big hugs to you today. I know you are missing your mom a lot.  

Oh, Lilith. I'm so sorry. I saw your FB post about 2010 sucking, and logged on over here to see if you'd posted what was up. I was afraid it had to do with your mom. Crap. I'm so, so sorry.

DeAnn, thank you. The days leading up to the 15th were tough. The day itself wasn't quite as bad. Sort of like the reality had been. 

I wish we could stop the ride and get off. 

Thank you girls. 

Mom passed away very peacefully saturday, at 5pm. Bless the doctors, she had morphine-induced sleep, was calm - and simply stopped breathing. Both me and my sister were there, holding her hands. It makes me sad, and fills me with regrets of so many things not done - but I am also grateful that it happened so, rather than months or years of pain. I hope that, wherever she is now, she understand and knows.

The monster won again... but at least it was on mom's terms.