Need some advice - Dad diagnosed with stage iv

Ckat
Ckat Member Posts: 17
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all - been following this board for awhile now reading everyone's stories and have been finding it a great sense of positivity seeing how many ppl have stage iv and are doing well and even NED. My dad is 63 and up until this summer has always been very healthy. Started with what we thought was IBS, then they said rectal cancer and would just do surgery in 2 weeks and would be done. Then it turned to possibly chemo then surgery. Then after the scans etc we found out it was stage iv with numerous mets to the liver. Very very hard to take in. He starts Folfiri and Bevacizumab next week, every 2 weeks and will check again to see if it's working after 2 rounds. In the meantime i am trying to keep his nutrition up and even start integrating some new foods for him to help the colon. I sometimes feel there is a link b/w food/digestion and colon cancer. Has anyone really found that this is the case? I'm wondering if you can suggest a book to start from/food ideas that can start me in the right direction. I've read a lot about 'superfoods' 'juicing'. I figure anything to assist in the long term survival/recovery and pray the chemo works. It's so overwhelming to be dealing with this as many of you understand. Thanks for any help and/or positive stories!!

Comments

  • jen2012
    jen2012 Member Posts: 1,607 Member
    #2
    Hi Ckat - sorry about your
    Hi Ckat - sorry about your dad. I'm still new to this too, but there are many long time survivors here that can answer your nutrition questions better than I can. You should probably discuss things with his oncologist first. We've been considering seeing a naturopathic that will deal with my husband's oncologist.

    Good luck - I hope he does well with treatment!
  • Chelsea71
    Chelsea71 Member Posts: 1,169 Member
    #3
    Welcome. Sorry about your
    Welcome. Sorry about your Dad. It's very hard to watch a loved one go through cancer. I recently read "Foods That Fight Cancer". By Richard Beliveau and found it to be very informative. Good luck to you and your Dad.

    Chelsea
  • annalexandria
    annalexandria Member Posts: 2,571 Member
    #4
    I'm very sorry to hear about your dad.
    I know it's a terrible shock to the family when a loved one is facing a difficult diagnosis. I personally haven't read any books on the subject, but I've been told that "Foods That Fight Cancer" is supposed to be good. I will say that during chemo, eating anything was a struggle for me, so I just focused on whatever sounded good to me, whether healthy or not. Now that I'm no longer in treatment, I just try to add some of the foods that may help keep cancer at bay, like shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, kale, etc. I also still eat the occasional burger, slice of pizza or drink a cocktail. My approach has been all things in moderation. Others on this board have done some juicing and hopefully will chime in with some ideas about that. Good luck, and keep us posted on how your dad is doing. There's a lot of experience on this board, and we'll help out as best we can. Hugs and strength coming your way~Ann Alexandria
  • thingy45
    thingy45 Member Posts: 632 Member
    #5
    annalexandria said:

    I'm very sorry to hear about your dad.
    I know it's a terrible shock to the family when a loved one is facing a difficult diagnosis. I personally haven't read any books on the subject, but I've been told that "Foods That Fight Cancer" is supposed to be good. I will say that during chemo, eating anything was a struggle for me, so I just focused on whatever sounded good to me, whether healthy or not. Now that I'm no longer in treatment, I just try to add some of the foods that may help keep cancer at bay, like shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, kale, etc. I also still eat the occasional burger, slice of pizza or drink a cocktail. My approach has been all things in moderation. Others on this board have done some juicing and hopefully will chime in with some ideas about that. Good luck, and keep us posted on how your dad is doing. There's a lot of experience on this board, and we'll help out as best we can. Hugs and strength coming your way~Ann Alexandria

    Naturopath
    So sorry about your Dad, but welcome to the board, you will find very helpfull people here.
    Personally I am stage III and I saw a Naturopath who adviced met to take in lots of fibre, and juicing twice a day. There are recipes online, myself I normally used carrots, celery, a green apple and then I add whatever else I see, like spinach, cabbage kale, asperagus.
    I also eat a half cup of yoghurt a day. I eat fish,chicken and Turkey and twice a month red meat or pork. Lots of water and tea with lemon. So far I am NED.
    Ask your Onc to be on the safe side.
    Hugs and positive thinking and stregth,

    Marjan
  • tachilders
    tachilders Member Posts: 313
    #6
    While I have no doubt that
    While I have no doubt that diet plays a role in cancer, my philosophy is that I will try to eat better, but I won't completely cut out things I love to eat. I'm also stage 4 (mets to liver, lungs and peritoneum), so I'm not sure how much diet can help me at this point. I want to live, but I also want to enjoy the life I have left. In summary, I agree with the "all things in moderation" approach to my eating. I also find that eating things I like helps me recover from the chemo and keep weight on. I initially lost 45 pounds within 2 months of diagnosis and surgery to put in a colostomy, but have now gained about 18 pounds back. Most of that I attribute to getting a stent put into my bile duct to replace the biliary drain I had to get in July (due to a tumor pressing on the bile duct and occluding it).

    Tedd
  • Ckat
    Ckat Member Posts: 17
    #7
    annalexandria said:

    I'm very sorry to hear about your dad.
    I know it's a terrible shock to the family when a loved one is facing a difficult diagnosis. I personally haven't read any books on the subject, but I've been told that "Foods That Fight Cancer" is supposed to be good. I will say that during chemo, eating anything was a struggle for me, so I just focused on whatever sounded good to me, whether healthy or not. Now that I'm no longer in treatment, I just try to add some of the foods that may help keep cancer at bay, like shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, kale, etc. I also still eat the occasional burger, slice of pizza or drink a cocktail. My approach has been all things in moderation. Others on this board have done some juicing and hopefully will chime in with some ideas about that. Good luck, and keep us posted on how your dad is doing. There's a lot of experience on this board, and we'll help out as best we can. Hugs and strength coming your way~Ann Alexandria

    thanks for all the thoughts.
    thanks for all the thoughts. good point about whatever sounded good, you ate. i'll focus on just keeping his nutrition up period and then try to get some better foods at a later time. xo

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