wife gone alternative

Welcome to the board Darryl, you came to the right place.  I'm sure others here can give you better advice than I can, all I can say is "wow".  I'm so sorry you and your wife are going through this, especially during what should be such a joyful time.  I've never heard of the Budwig protocol but am concerned as are you that rejected proven therapies (chemo/radiation) in exchange for unproven ones is not a good treatment plan.

It sounds as if your wife's first experience with her first chemo may have caused the upset that led her to reject the rest of the doctor's recommendations.  Has she always had an interest in less known alternative therapies (ie. not what I would consider "standard" alternative therapies such as acupuncture, which are often recommended by mainstream doctors)?  Or is this an "out of the blue" sort of thing?

My experience with Taxol and radiation is that they were much less debilitating than AC (the chemo your wife had), although I have to say that the overall cumulative effect at the end was not fun.  Although there some risk of nerve damage with Taxol, it usually reverses itself after treatment.  (My brother had very extensive treatment w/Taxol and other drugs that did cause temporary but very debilitating nerve damage, two years later he has almost completely recovered).  My understanding is that heart disease can be a concern with AC chemo but not with Taxol or radiation.  And while you should certainly consult an expert about fertility issues, my understanding is that further treatment will not affect any effects that have already accumulated.

One thing that may help is to look at adjunctive.com (I think that's the right website) which gives statistics on the effectiveness of different forms of treatment in different situations.  I think it will show that completing chemo. and radiation will give your wife a substantial boost in her survival.

Speaking with others she respects - family, a religious figure, even another psychic or healer who has had success with traditional medicine. 

In the end you could even suggest to her that she HAS to finish treatment for the sake of your daughter, if nothing else.

I wish I could be more helpful but I think it is vitally important for your wife to continue chemo/radiation in addition to, if she wants, alternative therapies.  It sounds as if she has a very good prognosis and you want to keep it that way!  I'm sure that others will weigh in her as well.

All the best,

Kerry 

Hi Darryl,

Sorry your family is going through this.  Cancer is a lousy thing to happen to anyone.  I was wondering if your wife knows what type of tumor she has  -- I mean what grade.. and whether it is estrogen/progesterone positive or HER 2 positive.  I'm betting from the type of treatment the doc is recommending that it might be HER 2 positive.  That type of tumor is more aggressive and is associated with a poorer prognosis.  It tends to hit younger women.  You can Google HER 2 and learn all about it.  I'm in my 30s too and my tumor is HER 2 positive.  Mine was small (1.5 cm) and lymph node negative. But I am doing 8 rounds of chemo (4 AC, 4 Taxol) and 21 rounds of radiation followed by a year of Herceptin.  My oncologist recommended all this due to the aggressive nature of my type of tumor and my age.  Chemo is no picnic, but I have 2 young children and I want to do everything to make sure I attack this cancer so it NEVER comes back.

Re: Budwig Protocol - I have never heard of it, but I have to say a treatment based on flax and cottage cheese seems inadequate to beat cancer.  My two cents.

Best of luck at this difficult time. 

sorry to hear about your situation. I don't know about the BP however I can tell you that my naturalpathic doctor, who I started seeing after treatment,told me to stop taking Flaxseed oil capsules because they have an  affect your hormones.

Jackie 

HI.  You sound like such a wonderful husband.  I'm blessed with a great husband too.  I can feel your pain in your words.  My husband was ( and is ) afraid of losing me.  I don't really know anything about that protocol.  I think good nutrition is key to our continued good health.  I personally had  similar treatment as your wife with AC (and then taxol -- I had radiation too.  And double mastectomy. )

 I'm a mom with young children and I had to weigh out what to do through much time, reseach, prayer, advice and coming on the boards here.  But, I had four positive nodes so that is different from your wife's case.   I didn't have much side effects from taxol or rads.  ( so far)

I personally think that alternative medicine has things to offer us too.  I now try to eat organic, exercise religiously, and take some supplements.  Hopefully someone here with have more answers for ya.  I just wanted to let you know I'll be thinking of you all and hoping for peace with all these tough decisions.

Blessings,

Wendy 

Did your wife have the oncotype dx test?  why the recommendation for more chemo?  and has she rec'd a 2nd opinion? 

With that dx, I too would question the need for more chemo.  

I didn't think rads were indicated if you had NO nodes positive and had done chemo....   But I'm not a doc, if it were my life, I would go look it up on the NCCN decision making tree, and on adjuvant online.  And figure out what the standard of care recommendations were, and what the stats were, and go from there.

Also, I'm one who receives naturopathic care, and my naturopath was the one who convinced me to do chemo. 

Darryl, my wife chose the naturopathic route, and I chose to support her 100% as it is her choice, not mine, to make. My wife did her research, and came up with a treatment that has been succesful for 1.5 years and counting. She had a mastectomy, and chose the "natural" route. We have our website, where she has a write up of what happened to her, and how she made her decision, along with what she is currently doing.

http://www.unwraptheribbon.com/

Erick and Lynda Carpenter