Refusing Chemotherapy

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Comments

  • Empedocles
    Empedocles Member Posts: 2
    John23 said:

    Annie53
    Re:
    "The chemo just does not feel like the right way to go this time
    around. I did it 4 years ago, and the way I look at it the cancer
    came back. The way my oncologist looks at it, it worked and I had
    4 years cancer free. "


    When we consider that it takes a cancer cell about 1-1/2 to 2 years
    to grow big enough to identify, it's a bit disingenuous for a physician to
    claim that a patient was "cancer free" for that period of time.

    Cancer doesn't really "come back"; it is a normal cell that's been
    damaged and no longer can respond to our body's directions.

    When the cell is removed, it can't "come back", but the condition
    that had allowed it to remain, will allow more damaged cells to exist
    in the future, unless we fix that condition.

    Damage to normal cells occurs often, and our immune system
    usually removes the damaged/dying cells. When our immune
    system neglects to do that job, the defective cell tries to stay alive
    by using the fermentation process. Once again, it lives and grows,
    but it's isolated from our body's orders, so it grows in any direction
    it can, displacing the cells that need that area.

    Isn't it odd....... that a problem so simple, avoids any organized
    industry that claims it's trying to solve that problem?

    Curiously odd.

    Chinese medicine
    Thank you for all the info. I have refused chemo and would like to try Chinese medicine. I'd appreciate any details you might be willing to share. Regarding Herbs and choosing someone skilled in this area. I live in San Diego.
    thank you. Nancy
  • Lovekitties
    Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member

    Chinese medicine
    Thank you for all the info. I have refused chemo and would like to try Chinese medicine. I'd appreciate any details you might be willing to share. Regarding Herbs and choosing someone skilled in this area. I live in San Diego.
    thank you. Nancy

    Dear Nancy
    This is a very old thread. If you click on John23's avitar and go to his pages you might find more info.

    You might get more info and responses if you start a new discussion topic.

    Marie who loves kitties
  • Lifeisajourney
    Lifeisajourney Member Posts: 216
    MY DECISON/MY CHOICE
    what i did; colon cancer 12/12/08 surgery 3t 3/30 positive nodes. very strong at 6 weeks after surgery. started folfox,,,nearly killed me, 7 sessions/hospital 10 days. 5/09 told to go home and recuperate. I was never the same. 3/10 recur mets to liver. 6/1/10 surgery at one of our 2 cancer hospital.,onc on staff. could not do, liver a mess, lots of liver damage from chemo.refused chemo. I have been referred to hospice 10/12, haven't decided yet..bedridden from chemo/cancer. what i wish i had done. after inital surgery, refused chemo. when it met to my liver I probaby would have tried folfox then...i do believe chemo is not the answer and can kill you...but that is my decision and belief..only a fyi on my life. i do not think i would have survived another chemo, my body would not have endured, pat
  • Patteee
    Patteee Member Posts: 945
    johnsfo said:

    Dear Annie,

    I wouldn't say that I have refused chemotherapy, but in conversation with my partner and my oncologist, we all agreed that ending chemo would be the best decision for me. Following a metastasis to the sacrum, among other treatments I was having infusions of irinotecan that, like your treatments, made me terribly sick -- nauseated, tired, and depressed 8 and 10 days after each infusion and unable to get out of bed for much of that time. We tried reducing the dosage but the effects remained the same. Since my goal for treatments and in general is to provide for myself the best quality of life possible, none of us could see how such symptoms offered that even if the chemo slowed tumor growth.

    I am convinced we made the right decision. Survival isn't the goal; living well is. Being desperately sick half the time wasn't a good way to live.

    It sounds like there is a debate about whether chemo will eliminate the disease for you, though. That wasn't the case for me -- the expectation was that it might slow tumor growth. So you may have other considerations too.

    John

    Oh John, when you just
    Oh John, when you just popped up like that, it brought a smile to my face. Can't believe it has been 2 years. Miss you - think about Adrian and hope he is well.
  • thingy45
    thingy45 Member Posts: 632 Member

    MY DECISON/MY CHOICE
    what i did; colon cancer 12/12/08 surgery 3t 3/30 positive nodes. very strong at 6 weeks after surgery. started folfox,,,nearly killed me, 7 sessions/hospital 10 days. 5/09 told to go home and recuperate. I was never the same. 3/10 recur mets to liver. 6/1/10 surgery at one of our 2 cancer hospital.,onc on staff. could not do, liver a mess, lots of liver damage from chemo.refused chemo. I have been referred to hospice 10/12, haven't decided yet..bedridden from chemo/cancer. what i wish i had done. after inital surgery, refused chemo. when it met to my liver I probaby would have tried folfox then...i do believe chemo is not the answer and can kill you...but that is my decision and belief..only a fyi on my life. i do not think i would have survived another chemo, my body would not have endured, pat

    I too refused chemo and I am NED, cleaner then ever is what my onc said after my latest colonoscopy and endoscopy. CEA is rising a little, but still very low.
    I do my own health routine, try to eat right but do cheat, drink some wine and most of all I LIVE and so far it works for me, BUT again this was MY decision and mine alone.
    Positive thinking, meditation and I stress again, lots of laughter and happy thoughts.
    not always easy with my daughter so very very ill on heavy pain killers etc. (MS and needs a brain surgery). I live day by day, new man in my life who makes me laugh and makes me enjoy every moment, music and the grandkids. I am a very lucky woman.
    Marjan
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    thingy45 said:

    I too refused chemo and I am NED, cleaner then ever is what my onc said after my latest colonoscopy and endoscopy. CEA is rising a little, but still very low.
    I do my own health routine, try to eat right but do cheat, drink some wine and most of all I LIVE and so far it works for me, BUT again this was MY decision and mine alone.
    Positive thinking, meditation and I stress again, lots of laughter and happy thoughts.
    not always easy with my daughter so very very ill on heavy pain killers etc. (MS and needs a brain surgery). I live day by day, new man in my life who makes me laugh and makes me enjoy every moment, music and the grandkids. I am a very lucky woman.
    Marjan

    TWO year old thread
    And some are no longer with us, perhaps a new thread on this please.
    Winter Marie