What do ya think?

tesa
tesa Member Posts: 123
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Well mom had erbitux only to treat her recurred(they really did not get it all the first time last year) paranasal cancer. Last year she had surgery and radiation, but doctor said she did not need chemo. Chemo tends not to be very effective with this cancer, but who really knows because its so rare. 2,000 cases a year. Last year surgery and radiation were in Charleston. They did not know what the heckers they were doin. This time for erbitux it was MD Anderson. i found out they don't like to clean up other's mess.erbitux tends to be very effective when combined with radiation or with another chemo. Its not very effective when given alone as in mom's case. She had 6 weeks of erbitux and then scan. The scan showed the tumor grew about half an inch to an inch in all dimensions over the past 9 weeks. The doctor said it is a moderately growing tumor, but there was no more chemo he could offer, cause is not very effective with this cancer. Doctor said if she were younger they would do more. She's 83, birthday is Monday. (what a nice birthday present...yeah)
Anyway, she's in excellent health otherwise and very strong. Everyone at the hospital were shocked by her strong and young looking she is.

So...what do you guys think in terms of what to do next? We aren't ready to give up..any good treatment places for difficult head and neck cases? One doctor told us this is by far not the worst he has seen. He said he has seen a lot worse. Oh, by the way another patient was offered Tarceva after the Erbitux did not work for her. She's 90 years old. They did not give that to mom because they said that's for lung cancer, but this 90 year old had cancer behind the eye like mom. What route have others gone for other opinions? A respected doctor in california told us he sees this all the time, and he'll look at her scans and consult over the phone.

Could you guys give me some cancer fighting foods, herbs. What about the drinking water. Does anyone have water filters. Do any of you do the organic coffee enemas?

Comments

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #2
    Hi Tesa
    Sorry to hear this but I would keep looking and keep trying anything I can to get Mom what is needed to get rid of this stuff. If she is 83 and doing that well she might live to be well over 100 if you can get the C out. There are alternative treatments but only as a last resort, and remember alternative treatment is just like anything else it works on some people and not on others.

    Keep Mom in prayer
    Hondo
  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103
    #3
    Are you in California? A
    Are you in California? A former teacher from the school district I work in goes to UCSF in San Francisco. He wasn't given much time in early 2010. He has had a variety of treatments and clinical trials. He will be having cyberknife surgery again soon. They seem to keep coming up with more ideas for treatments. I will not be home today, need to go through mother-in-law's last things, husband's family is getting together today. I will try to get ahold of him later in the weekend, he is always ready to share what is going on. He is the one that let me know about this site!
    Happy not, 3 year old grandson's have been visiting other grandparents for a month, home againg today so I will try to go over and get hugs this evening. God Bless you and mom.
  • jim and i
    jim and i Member Posts: 1,788 Member
    #4
    never give up
    Tesa,

    83 is young so keep the fsith. I do not know if you are a believer but I am and know first hand how prayer and laying on of hands can bring miracles. Even if you are not a believer others can have faith for you. One of those mysterious workings of God. I was just reading about coffee enemas on a website called Raw Food Rehab and was planning on trying for my cholesterol and husbands recovery from tongue cancer treatment. Good book to read (I checked it out of the library then bought my own copy) is "The Complete Cancer Cleanse" by Cherie Calbom, John Calbom and Michael Mahaffey. Gives a lot of information on foods to eat {fruits, veggies, etc.} and what not to eat {processed and sugar etc} and how they effect our bodies organs.

    Praying for a miracle.
    Debbie
  • tesa
    tesa Member Posts: 123
    #5
    jim and i said:

    never give up
    Tesa,

    83 is young so keep the fsith. I do not know if you are a believer but I am and know first hand how prayer and laying on of hands can bring miracles. Even if you are not a believer others can have faith for you. One of those mysterious workings of God. I was just reading about coffee enemas on a website called Raw Food Rehab and was planning on trying for my cholesterol and husbands recovery from tongue cancer treatment. Good book to read (I checked it out of the library then bought my own copy) is "The Complete Cancer Cleanse" by Cherie Calbom, John Calbom and Michael Mahaffey. Gives a lot of information on foods to eat {fruits, veggies, etc.} and what not to eat {processed and sugar etc} and how they effect our bodies organs.

    Praying for a miracle.
    Debbie

    Kteacher, I would love to
    Kteacher, I would love to find out more info. about your friend's treatment in California. My brother lives in San Francisco so that would be great. My email is gcooper242@yahoo.com. Please let me know more about this.

    Debbie, I so do believe in prayers and reading healing scriptures out loud during the day. My church and friends have been praying fervently for my mother. I also believe in the laying on of hands. I've been reading about Jodie Osteen and her cancer battle, and how she completely trusted in God to heal her. I also saw a young man on Fox News who had NP cancer stage 4 that had spread to the skull, and he used the power of prayer for healing 10 years ago.

    Hondo, thank you for always being there. What you said has already made us feel stronger.

    We've definitely got to check into the nutritional aspect of fighting this cancer.
  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103
    #6
    tesa said:

    Kteacher, I would love to
    Kteacher, I would love to find out more info. about your friend's treatment in California. My brother lives in San Francisco so that would be great. My email is gcooper242@yahoo.com. Please let me know more about this.

    Debbie, I so do believe in prayers and reading healing scriptures out loud during the day. My church and friends have been praying fervently for my mother. I also believe in the laying on of hands. I've been reading about Jodie Osteen and her cancer battle, and how she completely trusted in God to heal her. I also saw a young man on Fox News who had NP cancer stage 4 that had spread to the skull, and he used the power of prayer for healing 10 years ago.

    Hondo, thank you for always being there. What you said has already made us feel stronger.

    We've definitely got to check into the nutritional aspect of fighting this cancer.

    I will contact Keith today.
    I will contact Keith today. My name is Beverly Olaver, I am a Kindergarten teacher (on medical leave). If you end up in S.F. let me know, I am about 2 1/2 hours away, we might be able to meet. I may end up in S.F. also. Stanford and Anthem Blue Cross are not playing nice at the moment, can't use Stanford right now. My radiation is local, doctor trained at Stanford.
  • tesa
    tesa Member Posts: 123
    #7
    KTeacher said:

    I will contact Keith today.
    I will contact Keith today. My name is Beverly Olaver, I am a Kindergarten teacher (on medical leave). If you end up in S.F. let me know, I am about 2 1/2 hours away, we might be able to meet. I may end up in S.F. also. Stanford and Anthem Blue Cross are not playing nice at the moment, can't use Stanford right now. My radiation is local, doctor trained at Stanford.

    Hey Beverly,
    We have
    Hey Beverly,
    We have something in common! I teach first grade in Georgia, about 15 miles from Savannah. It's been hard trying to be cheerful with my little ones at work. It takes every bit of effort I can muster.

    Thanks so much for the help. I'll do anything possible to help my mother.
  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103
    #8
    tesa said:

    Hey Beverly,
    We have
    Hey Beverly,
    We have something in common! I teach first grade in Georgia, about 15 miles from Savannah. It's been hard trying to be cheerful with my little ones at work. It takes every bit of effort I can muster.

    Thanks so much for the help. I'll do anything possible to help my mother.

    Kindred spirits. Wow,
    Kindred spirits. Wow, helping with mom and teaching. When my mom was sick, I worked all week and went to S.F. on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend with her. I let the children know that my mother was sick and I didn't want to get sick, I wouldn't be able to visit my mother. We went through a lot of Kleenex and hand sanitizer that year! My sister was able to be with her 24/7. I tried to get my sister to do a few other things on the weekend. When it was close to the end, I was exhausted from the drive, I took a week off and the next week was Easter vacation. My moms case was different, she was too weak to even think about treatment when we found out that she had cancer and she didn't want treatment anyway. We thought that we would have six months, we had from the end of February to April. I was glad to be able to be with her as much as I could (my husband had surgery a week after mom) and I tried to give my sister some relief. The last day, even though she was not coherent, my sister could not even leave the room, mom would start thrashing about.
  • KTeacher
    KTeacher Member Posts: 1,103
    #9
    tesa said:

    Hey Beverly,
    We have
    Hey Beverly,
    We have something in common! I teach first grade in Georgia, about 15 miles from Savannah. It's been hard trying to be cheerful with my little ones at work. It takes every bit of effort I can muster.

    Thanks so much for the help. I'll do anything possible to help my mother.

    By the way, there is still
    By the way, there is still prayer in public schools, they can't stop us from silent prayer. I have so often just stood by a student as they were working, or crying in my arms because they had witnessed their gang banger uncle shot and killed, pray silently for the child and ourselves.

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