An Alternative approach to Stage IV Health and choices

I have my app't with my BS late today to discuss my dx and get additional information on my receptors, etc.  I have studies in hand that strongly suggest that for women my age with early stage bc, that anything beyond surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy is really not needed.  The targeted radiation is strictly optional.  I have a list of questions that center around those studies.

I feel I will get a pretty good idea of where he is coming from regarding treatment, and if I don't like his approach, particularly about doing only the sentinel lymph node biopsy, I can consider other options and second opinions.  I am also going to make an app't with our doctor that deals in Integrative medicine and who treats my boyfriend's MS.  He does complementary treatments like vitamin infusions, heavy metal detox and so on.

Good news:  after about two months on our alkaline type diet, we tested yesterday, and I was in the high range for having an alkaline body...whoo hoo!  Cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment, so this is working and worth the committment.  Wonder what my conventional BS will say about that:) 

Have a great day everyone...I'll update tomorrow. 

Erick and Lynda:   So sorry you are going through this terrible challenge.  There is no "cure" as yet for bc, but there are treatments that can keep it under control and keep it from growing and spreading.  You just have to find the one that works best for you.

Diet and supplementation are a very important part of treating bc.  Cancer cannot grow in an alkaline environment.  I read good things about the Budwig protocol but don't have first hand experience.  I'm just beginning my journey and am looking at all the options, both conventional and alternative, perhaps a combination of both.  You will find very informative people on this site who can share all kind of information regarding alternative treatments and where to find them.

I wish you success in your quest for the answers. 

Sending you prayers and positive healing energy that's-life!  I hate the MRI machines too...never been in one all the way because I am very panicky in close spaces myself.  I would have to be sedated I'm sure.  Sometimes it is the only way to dx a condition.  Praying for the best for you.

Yes, Erick, there are lots of options for your wife - anti-hormonals, different types of chemo, plus the various alternative treatments.  

Marybe, altho I've read many of your posts, I just now read your 'biography' as I hadn't realized you were dealing with stage iv for 14 years.  Of course, it has given me great hope!  I appreciate how you've explained your medical history with bc in your biography, as well as updating it from time to time.  

I'd like to ask you what you think/feel is the reason you've done so well with your dx for so many years.  I'm sure it's a combination of things, but would you mind sharing?  As well as conventional treatment, have you made lifestyle changes, i.e., diet, exercise, reducing stress?  As for the conventional treatment, have you stayed with the same doctors for the length of your dx, or has that changed? 

i do like D3 and fish oil... molasses too.

I can relate!! I indulged too.  I woke up Friday morning and looked at the arm and hand that my picc line is in.  It was swollen!  I thought uh-oh...then I realized I also felt like I had been hit by a mac truck and knew it was the food.  Also, my headaches from the treatment have subsided but I had a glass of wine while everyone was arriving and it returned with a vengence.  It's wierd how you can go back to your old ways and see the effects it has but for years we lived with them thinking it was normal.

I have a harder time than you ladies getting back on track when I fall off the wagon! lol

lulubee:  That soup sounds fantastic...would love to have the recipe.  I have some butternut squash right now that I want to cook up into something.  I never heard of heirloom cranberry beans.  I try to make a pot of soup once or twice a week.

I hate to disappoint everyone, but my diet is not exactly what you would call healthy nor is my lifestyle.  I seldom get enough sleep and I drink caffeine and ate almost an entire bag of Smarties around Halloween and those are nothing but pure sugar. I use artificial sweetener all the time and drink diet soda, but when it comes to cooking I use real sugar and also like real butter, not the lowfat substitutes.  My grandmother was a good German cook so I make a lot of her recipes like German potato salad....nothing low fat about that for sure, but Ummm, good.  I think I just must have a good immune system....unfortunately, I also think I am immune to quite a few chemos since I have done so many that did not work, but my onco says there is no such thing that we just have not found the right one.  The one that did work was the abraxane and I chose to quit that when the  SEs got too bad and I was worried they might become permanent.  The only time I actually eat healthy is when I am on a diet and that is normally WW, which I think is a very balanced plan.   I love fruits and vegetable, but I also love carbs and butter and pastries and things that are not necessarily considered healthy.  I often eat to the point where I feel so stuffed that I might pop, but as I was telling a friend one day, I love to feel stuffed.  The one thing I do not really partake of is alcohol, but that is only because I lost my taste for it after chemo.....used to love wine, but now it burns going down.  When I was young I used to get really blasted and went through a phase of drinking Long Island Iced Tea, a drink with about four different types of alcohol and sugar...way back it was Tequila Sunrises.....and I started out on rotgut beer like Schlitz and Stroh's and Blatz.    I always had a cast iron stomach and love hot spicy things....hot tamales are one of my favorite candies.....I still eat things like that, but now take nexium and I think that is all do to chemo since I developed the acid reflux symptoms after chemo.

I still have my old mercury, amalgam fillings that were put in when I was a child.

Exercise....I hate it. The last time I really exercised was when I was getting ready for a class reunion and I will say it did work and I was happy with the results, but it was not enough to make me keep up with it. I have a knee replacement and when it flares up I do the exercises that I am supposed to be doing anyway and also when I have back aches or pains I then go to PT and will do the home exercises until the problem is gone. However, I get a lot of exercise just doing things around the house.....both my home and my Dad's have lots of steps and I am constantly redecorating and painting so spend a lot of time on a ladder.  Also I love digging and working in the yard. When I do painting or yard work or am lifting things, I always wear my sleeve and I have never gotten lymphedema, but I do have this sort of pouch like thing under my armpit since they removed 19 lymph nodes and I guess that is where it all goes to. I am a pretty active person and people are always telling me I do too much, but I cannot stand to just sit around and do nothing and I love projects and being active.

The reason I think I have a good immune system is the fact that my boss and the other people in the office are always getting colds and I have not had a cold for a long time.....If I feel like I am getting a cold I take vitamin C, a lot of it, every few hours.  That is really the only time I take any vitamins at all except for when I was doing one of the chemos and was worried about neuropathy and then I took L-caratin something and Vitamin B which someone on the threads told me to take.....discontinued that when I went off that chemo.   I do wash my hands a LOT and try to avoid being exposed to germs......if I know someone has something, I try to steer clean of them. After hearing all the talk about Vitamin D levels and low levels being associated with BC, I asked to have mine checked and it was 68...or maybe 69, I forget.   The other hygienist who is a very healthy eater, slim and trim and advocate of vitamins was very impressed, told me she takes so many mgs of it per day and hers is only in the 30s . Other than the fact I have breast cancer, I think I am healthy as a horse. 

    So I am really sorry I cannot give you any reason for why I have been able to live with Stage lV breast cancer for so long or why I still feel good and have never missed out on anything because of it.  They say attitude has a lot to do with it and many people tell me I have a good one and that they are impressed by the way I deal with breast cancer, but I don't feel like I have done anything special.  I do know that I have never wanted the cancer to take control of my life and that I do not want treatments to affect my quality of life so I just keep on going the way I always have.  We have it and we have to deal with it, each in our own way, and I do not want to be a victim so I just keep plugging along, stay busy and always try to have something to look forward to.  That keeps me going.  There are still a lot of things I want to do so I am not ready to allow cancer to keep me from doing them.  Sometimes I think, I am sick of this crap, but then I think What's going to happen to the dogs ?(my husband loves them, but he is pretty useless when it comes to taking care of anything, even himself) and I honestly do not think my 89 yr old dad could handle me going before him. 

So that about sums it up.  I am sorry I can't pass any secret to my success on to others.  I just feel I have been extremely fortunate and blessed even though I do have breast cancer.  My CA 27.29 was 6,444.3 at last count so I am thinking it is probably 7,000 right now since I have not been on any treatment for over a month now and I know the tumor in my liver is BIG and that I also have progression in the bones, but I still feel fine.  Once I get through the Holidays, I am going to do whatever they recommend within reason.  

I hope you all do well with whatever route your choose to go.....we all know what works for one does not necessarily work for another so you should really explore every avenue available and hopefully will find one that works for you.   I wish you all healthy and happy holidays.  Marybe

Oh and thankyou for all your kind words.  Maybe that is my purpose in doing so well.....to give the rest of you encouragement and hope.  That is my advice for you....hang on to Hope. 

Marybe.. you are awesome.. we could be sisters in our habits.  Best wishes