Surgery #2 with cimetidine, details, details, UPDATED

tanstaafl
tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
edited October 2015 in Colorectal Cancer #1

Wife's 2nd surgery starts shortly. There have been hassles, trying to arrange extra testing at long distance, Admissions is contract staff preoccupied by marketing games, and double checking the pre-op preparations. I had easily gotten the surgeon's agreement to use cimetidine instead of their regular proton pump inhibitor for prophylaxis of surgical pulmonary aspiration. Small problem, night before a pre-op check with the surgical resident revealed no IV cimetidine in the hospital pharmacies or around town. So about 8pm, main surgeon finally volunteered that oral CIM was acceptable. Batter up. Trying to do above and beyond has many pratfalls. Occasionally some prats (Admissions this time), too.

Comments

  • MrsJP
    MrsJP Member Posts: 157
    Praying
    Hope all is well, I"ll be praying for you and your wife.
    JP
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    Wishing for you and your wife......
    success and an easy recovery.
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    Praying
    Praying for wonderful results.

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    just keep pushing
    the road less travelled is tougher but in the end should lead to a better place.
    be really nice to the surgeon.

    hugs,
    peter
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    no visible disease beyond the PALN
    Thanks everybody.

    Surgery went well. Laproscopy did convert to open surgery and pulled out a big looking thing (to me), about 1.5" x 2.5". Honestly, it was shocking to actually face the beast, before its split for pathology labs. For one, it was unitary, instead of two distinct bodies, and bigger than I expected.

    No evidence of previous mesenteric spread, to the peritoneum (whew!), or other parts. Doctor's orders for now, 1600 mg oral CIM, twice daily. Chemo resumes tomorrow.
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    tanstaafl said:

    no visible disease beyond the PALN
    Thanks everybody.

    Surgery went well. Laproscopy did convert to open surgery and pulled out a big looking thing (to me), about 1.5" x 2.5". Honestly, it was shocking to actually face the beast, before its split for pathology labs. For one, it was unitary, instead of two distinct bodies, and bigger than I expected.

    No evidence of previous mesenteric spread, to the peritoneum (whew!), or other parts. Doctor's orders for now, 1600 mg oral CIM, twice daily. Chemo resumes tomorrow.

    thats good news
    starting chemo so soon after op ?
    i guess its ok, i was made to wait a month

    hugs
    pete
  • AnneCan
    AnneCan Member Posts: 3,673 Member
    tanstaafl said:

    no visible disease beyond the PALN
    Thanks everybody.

    Surgery went well. Laproscopy did convert to open surgery and pulled out a big looking thing (to me), about 1.5" x 2.5". Honestly, it was shocking to actually face the beast, before its split for pathology labs. For one, it was unitary, instead of two distinct bodies, and bigger than I expected.

    No evidence of previous mesenteric spread, to the peritoneum (whew!), or other parts. Doctor's orders for now, 1600 mg oral CIM, twice daily. Chemo resumes tomorrow.

    Sounds like a success!
    I am the surgery went so well!
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member

    thats good news
    starting chemo so soon after op ?
    i guess its ok, i was made to wait a month

    hugs
    pete

    different
    We use a nicer fluorouracil based chemo formula with generic immunomodulators added instead of cumulative poisons. We also use wound healing nutrients, that require a pretty open minded doctor, but allow us confidence and peace of mind with the early chemo.

    It's the (low dose) leucovorin level that we have to watch. Wife's chemo was originally dosed for a curative resection and so had some difficulty with the misreported, unresected PALN (it was still pretty necrotic). However, the entire package appears to have stopped metastasis and I am very hopeful that this is the curative resection we thought we paid for last year. The FDA in its infinite wisdom doesn't agree with the rest of the world, and our generic 5FU chemo is not for sale in the US, nor highly advertised.
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    tanstaafl said:

    different
    We use a nicer fluorouracil based chemo formula with generic immunomodulators added instead of cumulative poisons. We also use wound healing nutrients, that require a pretty open minded doctor, but allow us confidence and peace of mind with the early chemo.

    It's the (low dose) leucovorin level that we have to watch. Wife's chemo was originally dosed for a curative resection and so had some difficulty with the misreported, unresected PALN (it was still pretty necrotic). However, the entire package appears to have stopped metastasis and I am very hopeful that this is the curative resection we thought we paid for last year. The FDA in its infinite wisdom doesn't agree with the rest of the world, and our generic 5FU chemo is not for sale in the US, nor highly advertised.

    i knew you have a very well considered answer
    really interested in the healing nutrients
    may i ask about the biomarker profiling of the removed node.
    and am interested myself but have not seen onc yet, did email her but no answer.
    are you doing a tcm herbal as well as chemo?
    hope all goes well.

    hugs,
    pete
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member

    i knew you have a very well considered answer
    really interested in the healing nutrients
    may i ask about the biomarker profiling of the removed node.
    and am interested myself but have not seen onc yet, did email her but no answer.
    are you doing a tcm herbal as well as chemo?
    hope all goes well.

    hugs,
    pete

    tissue biomarkers; trad/natural medicine
    We will not have tissue data for a while, we're going to try to get COX2, CSLEX and maybe CA19-9, perhaps some others. Last blood markers showed CA19-9 had declined almost 2/3rd from the peak but that CEA merely stopped at a plateau with increased chemo. Biomarkers from blood will not be as meaningful for a week or two and we will assess the situation over the next 2-3 months.

    Polysaccharide K is a scientifically developed extract from a selected strain of a traditional C/J mushroom and for many years was the leading anticancer prescription in Japan. We use a US clone bought as a supplement, JHS' Coriolus extract.

    We are fairly "pure"/purified nutrient oriented, although some nutrients are natural extracts like EGCG green tea, grapeseed and other fruit extracts, high gamma tocopherols, curcumin, boswellia, astragalus, silymarin and fish oil. I've been so busy trying to locate, absorb and combine the high dose nutrient information with various chemo and cancer, that herbals seemed more daunting from my perspective.
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    tanstaafl said:

    tissue biomarkers; trad/natural medicine
    We will not have tissue data for a while, we're going to try to get COX2, CSLEX and maybe CA19-9, perhaps some others. Last blood markers showed CA19-9 had declined almost 2/3rd from the peak but that CEA merely stopped at a plateau with increased chemo. Biomarkers from blood will not be as meaningful for a week or two and we will assess the situation over the next 2-3 months.

    Polysaccharide K is a scientifically developed extract from a selected strain of a traditional C/J mushroom and for many years was the leading anticancer prescription in Japan. We use a US clone bought as a supplement, JHS' Coriolus extract.

    We are fairly "pure"/purified nutrient oriented, although some nutrients are natural extracts like EGCG green tea, grapeseed and other fruit extracts, high gamma tocopherols, curcumin, boswellia, astragalus, silymarin and fish oil. I've been so busy trying to locate, absorb and combine the high dose nutrient information with various chemo and cancer, that herbals seemed more daunting from my perspective.

    a simple thankyou
    as i said before once somewhere i read and was happy to repeat the best chemo and herbs in the world which i suspect you are getting close to using is one thing.

    its not exactly scientifically accepted, but i still prefer to believe in the power of love and hope in our treatments and for me i put them at the top of this as priorities. based on petria king quest for life, anticancer and biology of belief.

    in other words don't forget your daily kiss and hug. taken with each meal.
    goodluck and keep us updated.

    hugs,

    pete
  • AnneCan said:

    Sounds like a success!
    I am the surgery went so well!

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • tanstaafl
    tanstaafl Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    CIM; C
    Thanks, graci. A lot of my abbreviations are biomarkers. Positive COX2 is said to correspond to celebrex; CSLEX rarely used in the US plus CA19-9 corresponds with cimetidine. LEF tends to recommend them as the default option w/o the tests but it does appear to make a survival difference to get it right.

    IV cimetidine was only meant for surgery like in the hospital, and may not be available now in some/many locations as a cheap (no advertising, support), obsolete antiacid agent. When forced to choose, our surgeons said to take the oral cimetidine despite the NPO (nothing by mouth) restriction in the run up to surgery. $10 for "3 months supply" (at dose???), sounds great to me. I've seen Chinese wholesale for 400 mg CIM, for below $2 per 100.

    I don't think IV cimetidine is better, just an expensive way of getting cimetidine when oral isn't available, like NPO for surgery. Life Extension Foundation backs an American dosage range of 1000-1600 mg, since Americans today are somewhat bigger than aged Japanese of 20 years ago.

    Vitamin C: Step 1 is oral vtamin C, with proponents advocating between 12 grams a day and "bowel tolerance" (even over 100 grams per day). We use vitamin C largely for indirect benefits (prevent/heal sores from stomatitis, wound healing like surgery, and histamine control to reduce allergies and VEGF stimulating cancer). IV may have direct cancer action in a few people.
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
    tanstaafl said:

    CIM; C
    Thanks, graci. A lot of my abbreviations are biomarkers. Positive COX2 is said to correspond to celebrex; CSLEX rarely used in the US plus CA19-9 corresponds with cimetidine. LEF tends to recommend them as the default option w/o the tests but it does appear to make a survival difference to get it right.

    IV cimetidine was only meant for surgery like in the hospital, and may not be available now in some/many locations as a cheap (no advertising, support), obsolete antiacid agent. When forced to choose, our surgeons said to take the oral cimetidine despite the NPO (nothing by mouth) restriction in the run up to surgery. $10 for "3 months supply" (at dose???), sounds great to me. I've seen Chinese wholesale for 400 mg CIM, for below $2 per 100.

    I don't think IV cimetidine is better, just an expensive way of getting cimetidine when oral isn't available, like NPO for surgery. Life Extension Foundation backs an American dosage range of 1000-1600 mg, since Americans today are somewhat bigger than aged Japanese of 20 years ago.

    Vitamin C: Step 1 is oral vtamin C, with proponents advocating between 12 grams a day and "bowel tolerance" (even over 100 grams per day). We use vitamin C largely for indirect benefits (prevent/heal sores from stomatitis, wound healing like surgery, and histamine control to reduce allergies and VEGF stimulating cancer). IV may have direct cancer action in a few people.

    Where was this mass that was
    Where was this mass that was removed?? Sorry :/
  • plh4gail
    plh4gail Member Posts: 1,238 Member
    smokeyjoe said:

    Where was this mass that was
    Where was this mass that was removed?? Sorry :/

    Glad the surgery went well
    Glad the surgery went well and your wife is on the road to recovery.

    Gail