Nutritional / Holistic Care

Hello Everyone,

To get you all on the same page:

My father was dx with stomach cancer last year. He beat it by taking a pill form of chemo called Gleevec. The cancer went away.

Fastforward to now. The cancer is back. He took another pill form of chemo known as Sutent. This pill put him in the hospital with a failing liver. The reason they put him on Sutent was because when the stomach cancer came back, it came back with a vengeance. Since Gleevec didn't work this time around, they tried this. I guess it's a much more powerful chemo.

They couldn't operate because the tumors were large and everywhere. Why they didn't remove his stomach, I don't know, I guess because it had maybe spread elsewhere (I'm going to ask him why they didn't do that)

Clinical Trials are a no go due to multiple problems caused by the Sutent. Doctors best advice at this point is to update the will / 5 wishes.

Thanks for hanging in there, now the REAL QUESTION.

What types of holistic care could my dad explore and do to help maintain his quality of life. He's a very positive man, lots of hope. I just want to make sure that he eats well and explores all his options to live or maybe even still beat this cancer. I know there isn't much hope for him surviving for a long time, but I wanna know that at least there's something that he can actively do.

What types of foods can help slow or maintain a healthy stomach. Are these any drinks out there? Any types of treatments he can explore to keep him healthy and happy.

Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated. Thanks for all your time (sorry this was so long)

-Jeff

Comments

  • sasquacho
    sasquacho Member Posts: 2
    BTW
    He lives in Colorado. If any of you know of any treatment centers / doctors he might want to look into, please let us know.
  • strongformom
    strongformom Member Posts: 17
    sasquacho said:

    BTW
    He lives in Colorado. If any of you know of any treatment centers / doctors he might want to look into, please let us know.

    Some ideas
    Hello Sasquacho,

    So sorry to hear about your father. I'm here on the board because of my mom who has Stage 4B uterine cancer and is doing pretty well given her age (73) according to her oncologist. She is using modified versions of these therapies (below) with her chemo treatments.

    Below is my short list of possible recommendations. For each of these, of course please consult with your doctor, keeping in mind that he/she may not know about some of these as my mom's oncologist wasn't aware of some. These treatments have mild or no side effects to the best of my knowledge. You may want to visit the uterine cancer section as there are other folks who have shared what they do to with complementary therapies.

    IP6 (Vitamin B-8) supplements have been proven to help with tumor control - (also found in food like legumes and rice bran) - empirical research article is here and there is a lot more if you Google it:
    http://www.ip6gold.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IP6-in-Cancer-Therapy-Past-Present-Future.pdf
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/490985-foods-high-in-ip6/

    Gerson therapy (juicing)
    Green tea
    Garlic
    Acupuncture

    I'm also researching glutathione (supplement) to find out how it can help and as well as vitamin C IV therapy which has received good press. Vitamin C IV has some videos on YouTube about it (local and worldwide news coverage) and is being used in treatment. As you can see from the first story, doctors had "given up" on the first patient because his lung cancer was so advanced, but he didn't give up! It can be tricky finding a place to give this vitamin C IV as they are somehow dismissed by many oncologists, (my mom's included...no comment).

    Here's a place in Colorado - you may have to go out of pocket for treatments.
    http://www.naturemedclinic.com/intravenous-vitamin-c.php

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_g5-6DCVQ&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clb-aXjEW7M
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSp4VS2wY70

    If your treatment center has a CAM (Complementary/Alternative Medicine) center, you can research on your own. Here's an example from my mom's treatment center in San Diego:
    http://cancer.ucsd.edu/treatments/cam/therapies/Pages/default.aspx

    As you can see, there is alot out there.

    MD Anderson in Houston is something you might consider if he has the ability to travel as they are world-renowned.

    Best wishes to your father. I'm sending big, big positive vibes your way.
    :)

    Take care,
    Jen
  • have2believe
    have2believe Member Posts: 134

    Some ideas
    Hello Sasquacho,

    So sorry to hear about your father. I'm here on the board because of my mom who has Stage 4B uterine cancer and is doing pretty well given her age (73) according to her oncologist. She is using modified versions of these therapies (below) with her chemo treatments.

    Below is my short list of possible recommendations. For each of these, of course please consult with your doctor, keeping in mind that he/she may not know about some of these as my mom's oncologist wasn't aware of some. These treatments have mild or no side effects to the best of my knowledge. You may want to visit the uterine cancer section as there are other folks who have shared what they do to with complementary therapies.

    IP6 (Vitamin B-8) supplements have been proven to help with tumor control - (also found in food like legumes and rice bran) - empirical research article is here and there is a lot more if you Google it:
    http://www.ip6gold.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IP6-in-Cancer-Therapy-Past-Present-Future.pdf
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/490985-foods-high-in-ip6/

    Gerson therapy (juicing)
    Green tea
    Garlic
    Acupuncture

    I'm also researching glutathione (supplement) to find out how it can help and as well as vitamin C IV therapy which has received good press. Vitamin C IV has some videos on YouTube about it (local and worldwide news coverage) and is being used in treatment. As you can see from the first story, doctors had "given up" on the first patient because his lung cancer was so advanced, but he didn't give up! It can be tricky finding a place to give this vitamin C IV as they are somehow dismissed by many oncologists, (my mom's included...no comment).

    Here's a place in Colorado - you may have to go out of pocket for treatments.
    http://www.naturemedclinic.com/intravenous-vitamin-c.php

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_g5-6DCVQ&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clb-aXjEW7M
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSp4VS2wY70

    If your treatment center has a CAM (Complementary/Alternative Medicine) center, you can research on your own. Here's an example from my mom's treatment center in San Diego:
    http://cancer.ucsd.edu/treatments/cam/therapies/Pages/default.aspx

    As you can see, there is alot out there.

    MD Anderson in Houston is something you might consider if he has the ability to travel as they are world-renowned.

    Best wishes to your father. I'm sending big, big positive vibes your way.
    :)

    Take care,
    Jen

    You should research PSK turkey tail mushroom.
    Right now my mom's supplements are based on blood tests, so since she has slightly low calcium count, my mom takes 600mg of calcium, 1 tablet of Vitamin D3 (2000), flaxseed oil, and PSK. You should look into it, it's one of the most published supplements with regards to colorectal and gastric cancer. In fact, in Japan, it is used alongside chemo as well as in China (they use PSP) and they have the highest rate of gastric cancer there. (PSP has also shown to respond to lung cancer as well).
    Other than than, we try to take in our vitamins as naturally as possible so we juice everyday and try to maintain a balance healthy diet.