7 years NED (stage IV mets to liver and left lung)

maglets said:

dearest lisa
i am so bursting with pride and love for you

you appear to be ahead of the beast.....whatever you are doing is great.....

annnnndddd you are so humble....thank you for not starting another fire-storm...

with all best love

mags

Thank you Mags
Yes things do seem to be working for me so I am not changing, just tweaking. I don't know how anyone that has been on this site for any length of time can be anything but humble. This disease is diabolical with many known causes or no known cures so I have never understood what causes the firestorms.

Oh, I was watching a show on TV last week and there was a boyfriend and girlfriend wanting to get married but had to find and get her ex-husband to sign divorce papers. They had hired a private detective who had found the ex and was reporting in and asking for direction. The guy says "Point your gun at his head and force him to sign the papers" and the woman says "No, just explain the situation and ask him nicely to sign the papers and he will". The guy looks at the woman and ask "What are you, Canadian?". I laughed knowing that it totally described all my Canadian friends; you are gentle, understanding and kind people.

My best love back at cha,
Lisa P.

sasjourney said:

Lisa
I could not be more happier for you! I can't even imagine how you must feel. You were so courageous to take a different path and have been so kind to share what you did with us in hopes that it could help us as well. You are amazing!!!

I would love to know about your conversation with your onc. Anyway you could share that?

Celebrate, my friend!!!!

Hugs,
Sara

Hey Sara
I'm very lucky and grateful. I'll share some of our discussions.

I was a little disappointed that the white blood cell counts I watch (WBC, platelets, and absolute neuts) were a little lower than they have been the last several years. He remarked that they were perfectly normal and when I mentioned where I like to see them he said that he would suspect an infection if they were that high. I said he never mentioned infections in the years before and he said they were never that high. He looked them up on the computer and grunted his "I don't understand" sound and just said well it seems to have worked for you.

After I quit smoking and had my "instant menopause" surgery I had gained about 45 pounds (I needed to gain some but not that much) and he fussed at me for the weight gain a few years ago. He noticed that I had lost some and asked how. When I told him that I don't diet well so I just changed the way I ate (avoiding added sugars and high glycemic pastas and starches as much as possible). As it turns out he and his wife are following the same regime so we talked a lot about that and how much better we felt. He said the infusion center had recently changed their contract to exclude sugary sodas and juices.

One thing he talked about that I had never heard of was how much more detrimental abdominal adiposity (belly fat) was to colorectal patients, especially men. When I asked why men more than women, he said it was because men tend to put most of their weight gain on their tummies and that women will put in on the hips and legs as well as tummies. He did mention that the mortality rates for obese men and women has been rising just as the obesity rates have.

On the subject of how young some getting CRC are, he agreed with me that there are probably genetic tendencies "we haven't found yet". Then we talked about how much better it would be if all the different tumor markers (including CEA) were checked whenever anyone has a physical. He loved the idea and really couldn't explain why it isn't done.

On Vit D, he worries that people will take too much since the body stores it as opposed to so many other vitamins.

Lastly we talked about how much more info is out there today then 7 years ago when I was making my decision. I asked about a man I met while on chemo that had lymphoma who had been juicing for years and had like 250 of his lymph nodes removed already. Rusty died in 2008 but outlived every other patient they had ever had with his type of lymphoma by several years. He laughed that there just isn't any data for him to recommend anyone doing "what we had done" but he would never tell anyone not to.

Thanks again for your kind words and I hope you are doing great. You know it's not too late to come to Chicago!!!

Love, Lisa P.

fedester said:

wow
great news lisa.
wishing you all the best in the future.
you rock girl !!!!!!
be well
never,ever give up !!
bruce

Hey Bruce!
Good to see you buddy and thank you.

Lisa

Erinb said:

Lisa,
That's great news.
Lisa,
That's great news. Thanks for your continued support on this board. I know how easy it would be for many people to forget this site after such a feat! Good luck with the 5k. Long distance runners are crazy! (just kidding)
Erin

Long distance????
I don't think of myself as a long distance runner at all. But I agree that my friends in the running club that run half marathons and marathons are very crazy. I mean getting up at 5AM and running 10 miles!!!

Hope hubby is doing good and thanks Erin,
Lisa

2bhealed said:

Oh honey!
Hey y'all! That is the best news a gal could hear today! I am beyond happy for you.

Your inspiration for all on these boards knows no bounds, and like the other Lisa, I tell your story all the time to anyone who will listen. Your willingness to share your knowledge continuously over the years is so appreciated.

I am proud to call you friend.

October, baby. You and me. WOOOHOOO!

peace, emily

How bout dear friend!!!
See you soon honey.

Love, Lisa

chrissy83 said:

Wow scouty,
Thank you soo
Wow scouty,

Thank you soo much for the good news:) I was diagnosed with stage 3c and now it has popped up in my lymph node in my neck so chemo obviously didn't work too well for me even tho it seemed to kick my butt!!!
So thanks to you you have inspired me to start looking at my diet so I have had my blood chemistry done and on tue I find out what my diet consists of ..All i know is no sugar and carbs ..
So thank you !!! You have given me hope Iam 28 years old and I need to hear stories like yours I have 2 babies under 2 so anything I can do to stay alive even a month longer is worth it!!
You are my inspiration!!!!!

Chrissy

28 Chrissy
It breaks my heart to see people as young as you are have to join us. Keep me posted on what you learn since I am always learning and tweaking.

And thanks Smokeyjoe, your posts to me have always been so sweet!

Lisa

idlehunters said:

Hey Lisa....
Congrats! That is really inspiration for us all..... Thank you for "paying it forward" ... YOU ROCK!

Jennie

Thanks Mark
And Jennie I am still keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to toast 1 or 11 @ CP9.

Lisa