Made my decision.....

scouty said:

MJay,

I too made that very difficult decision to stop chemo. I did after 8 months just this past November. I found a local Naturopathic Doctor that I trusted and let her tell me how to fight this beast without the chemo side effects. I juice twice a day and am eating really good foods (amazingly enough, alot of the foods that I love are the exact same ones that my body needs). I take about 20 pills daily (mostly with meals). Some are to rid my body of toxins, others to built up my immune system, and others to help my blood (chemo gave me high blood pressure). The first month was really interesting. I was real tired and smelled worse then my dog. I was detoxing big time. I still smell bad but not as bad as before. Everyday, I feel a little better and the chemo side effects are waning.

I go back in for test January 14th and will be a basket case by then. I am really scared. If this approach is not working, I don't know what I will do next but I do know that I will not go back on chemo like I was before.

Find someone to help you come up with your regime. That is key. What I do is for my particular situation (Stage IV with mets to liver and lungs and very high blood pressure).

The most amazing thing about my decision was about a month after I stopped the chemo, my 80 year old Dad had a mild stroke and we found out the week before Christmas he needed assisted living. My older sister and I flew into action and found a great place, fixed up his suite so it was almost like his house with all his toys, and got him moved in 4 days. We are still going through the transition phases with him but he is doing remarkably well. I would never have been able to do what I did for him had I still been on chemo. It was the best Christmas I have ever had!!!!!! We have a date tomorrow to watch North Carolina play in a football bowl game and he is very excited.

Continue to listen to your body, heart and soul. I think the thing I am enjoying the most now that I have been off chemo almost 2 months is getting my brain back. It is attached to my soul and I missed it terribly.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to help anyway I can. Emily helped me immensely (and still does). She is my hero!!!!!

Lisa P.

Hey MJay. Sometimes I wish that oncologists could be a bit more informative. As I said in my last post to you, I was told that 5fu/leuc. would have very few side effects and if any they would be mild. I guess one wonders that we are not told the full story to begin with because if told we would probably not do chemo at all. My onc. eventually fessed up and said that 5fu/leuc. can really affect "some" patients--it is all determined by many factors--our general health, weight, fitness, type of surgery had/having and a whole lot of other factors.
I guess their answer should be that they really don't know how it will effect anyone or at what extremity.
Recently I read an article on a cancer website that it was "discovered that drinking milk greatly reduces the possibility of bowel cancer"
Well, here's food for thought---I was a milk "addict", have been since I was a kid--regularly drank up to 2 litres a day all my life! Sure as hell didn't stop me getting bowel cancer!
There are so many variables with everything we eat/drink/do that effect our health I think in some ways there is never a right answer--well, at least not yet.
You have my support MJay. The main thing is that you have had the strength to decide your future and the determination to try anything that you feel will improve your health. Our Emily knows full well the ability to overcome this crappy disease!
luv n huggs, kanga n Jen