Cancer Survivors Network

Someone from CSN asked me recently regarding my treatment that has kept me going to this day and I would like to share my journey with you.

A little brief background information is as follows which applies to me only and I do not wish to influence anyone with their treatment. This information is provided purely for your information and comparison purposes only.

After I was diagnosed with near total bowel obstruction Stage 4 Liver/Lung Mets in April 2009, I immediately took early retirement to treat the CRC and recover from the colon resection which was undertaken on 01 May 2009, (due to metastasis no other surgery was contemplated). During the period from May 2009 to Feb 2011 - received Oxilplatin and Xeloda ( 8 tabs per day) for 7 months, followed by Avastin and Xeloda (6 tabs per day) for a further 3 months and Erbitux on its own for 3 months. Had regular CT scans every 3 months from Apr 2009 up to May 2012. I want to believe I had the best Medical Oncologist in this state, therefore seeking a second opinion was never entertained.

My CEA levels which were tested every month, have always slowly increased over 41 months (initial was 7 now 247) but still had very little other symptoms dealing with CRC. I stopped my conventional treatment in June 2010 when the disease was stable and liver tumour had nearly disappeared, multiple lung nodules had shrunk to around 10 mm sizes Why did I stop treatment? well I was experiencing cardiac issues which was partly attributed to the Avastin. This issue has now (Jun 12) been finally resolved thank goodness, it's bad enough dealing with the disease without having heart problems.

In April 2011, I had secondary liver,lung and pancreas disease progression and I decided to have 'quality time' rather than experiencing chemo effects up to my passing. I am 57 and I do believe being relatively fit & active and mentally strong has played an important part in my survival to this date. Now I am under early Hospice Care because I wanted to have these arrangements in place now to assist my wife (my carer) deal with pain and other 'end of life' issues. I feel really good and still doing low physical jobs around the house. Some days I have left collarbone pain & swelling, fatigued and nauseous, night (cancer) sweats but still wake up feeling pretty good.

I eat what I like, especially fresh FRUIT and smoothies (2-3 times per day), I have strong tea with 1 sugar, eat very dark chocolate every night, take 1 aspirin per day, no other special diet requirements except limit meat intake, no vitamins or supplements.

My goals are now to make it to the 5 year mark.

Best regards to everyone with your plans, health and happiness. Thank you for your information posted here on CSN Forum, it has helped me dealing with "the Beast".

Andrew