I am torn between flaunting and sharing my success

There is nothing wrong with you being exuberant about your successful treatment. While it's true that for most of us that the financial obligations are not within our reach, there are new members joining all the time. Who's to say that your treatments may not help someone else. I applaud you for your research and cutting edge treatments and wish only the best for you.

Remember to get some rest in there somewhere.

Luv,

Wolfen

although it might be more diplomatic to not suggest treatment that costs 120 k to someone who has mentioned that they are on Medicaid!  Otherwise, I would say keep up what you're doing.  Even if none of us ever try your approach (although I just read that someone was thinking about trying it, can't remember who it was...typical), it's still interesting to read about it.  And personally, I'm just happy to see someone doing well in the cancer fight, whatever means they might use to get there.  You aren't out there trying to convince newbies not to do chemo, as far as I've seen, so it's all good.  Hugs~AA

Pete,

No apologies necessary here. In my book you are a pioneer, you're going out on a limb and trying something few have tried. Continued success and keep up the good work. Please continue to let us know how you are progressing...

Buster

The medicinal strength imported herbs I used cost around $5 per pound, with a pound providing a month and a half of broth treatments. I used 7 different herbs, so the cost for a month and a half of treatment was still –well- under $100.

Stage four colon cancer in 2006…. 6 months of herbs, with a 6 month break between….two years worth? And I’m still typing Pete! No side effects, and I haven’t taken any of the herbs in the past three years!

I guess if one has $120k to burn, it’s worth it to try “German holistic medicine” instead of inexpensive TCM?

(Personally, I think I liked my path better…..)

Best wishes for you, man! I do hope it works well.

John

Dear Pete,

I too applaud your determination to find a cure for yourself, and it's wonderful that your CEA has dropped, but as some others have mentioned, you simply need to show a little more decorum in regard to your wealth.  My guess is that 99% of cancer patients don't have a spare $120k to spend on a few weeks of trial therapies in Germany, therefore you are truly fortunate to be in that 1% category.  I wish you many more years of being NED and for a very happy and healthy future for you and your family.

All my best,

Cynthia

tanstaafl said:

early life insurance settlements?

One possible source of funds is a viatical settlement on life insurance.  Pete's process sounded almost too easy, figure it will probably be more difficult and expensive in the US. 

But you've done SO many therapies, to what can you give credit too? Many alternative ones with mixed results and many scares.
Now you've added chemo (irinotecan and mytomycin and avastin) and things are looking better.

Was it Chemo?
Was it Ocean Enemas? (I still won't go back in - and I just got over seeing Jaws 5 years ago!!!)
Was it Sea Cucumbers on Whole Wheat?

I'm VERY happy you're doing well but it seems (to me at least) that it would be hard to give "The Credit" to any one therapy and like I always say, Cancer is not one size fits all...
-phil

tachilders said:

It was me who said that I

It was me who said that I might try and go to Germany like Pete, but only if I can get an advanced pay-ouy on my life insurance, as tans mentions.  My criteria for that is <12 months to live diagnosis, and not sure if I can get my oncs to officially state that (haven't asked yet).  It would be a HUGE financial and personal sacrifice to go to Germany for 3 months or so for initial treatment, especially for a 1 in 40 chance of success.  My odds would need to be closer to 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 to spend the time and money, so we will see what Hallwang says after reviewing my medical records.  As I have stated before, one anecdotal case does not provide enough info to make any kind of statement about what works, especially for other people with vastly different disease states.  Stage 4 describes a HUGE range of metatastic conditions, and the progonosis may not even be close to the same for 2 different stage 4 patients.  MY particular prognosis was not good at all, but I am here 8 months later, taking standard chemo, having almost zero side effects, working full-time, and feeling normal 99% of the time.  My blood counts have been pretty much normal all the way through chemo.  However, most people do not do as well with chemo as I have, so I would never tell someone else to expect my results.  In my opinion, the most important things that determine our final prognosis are the genetics of our particular cancers (does it respond well to chemo/avastin/erbitux), our health going into treatment, and the extent of spread of the disease (is surgery an option).  These factors likely have more to do with who does well and who does not than TCM or German experimental therapies, but that is my opinion, and I can't discount John or Pete's successes with their treatment plans.  I am only considering going to Germany because quite frankly, my long-term outlook is not good just relying on chemo (surgery not an option for me), but I think the dendritic cell vaccine might help me.

Tedd 

Re:

“These factors likely have more to do with who does well and who does not than TCM or German experimental therapies, but that is my opinion, and I can't discount John or Pete's successes with their treatment plans.  I am only considering going to Germany because quite frankly, my long-term outlook is not good just relying on chemo (surgery not an option for me), but I think the dendritic cell vaccine might help me.”

Just to quickly note: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is not an “experimental therapy”, it’s been practiced for nearly four thousand years with billions upon billions of humans, and continues to be used to this day in many of the finest Asian hospitals.

The TCM practitioner we use has treated “late term” cancer victims that western medicine had given up with; the victims oncologists had referred them to our TCM doc. As far as I know, each one remains alive today, years after being told there was little if any time left for them. But no TCM practitioner will ever claim to be able to “cure cancer”, in spite of the success rate!

The herbs I had used (I haven’t taken any in years now, although I should as a precaution), cost an amount that can be afforded by nearly anyone. I strongly suggest having a qualified TCM practitioner or herbalist on hand, to insure no problems arise that can’t be quickly resolved, if one attempts “self medicating”; the herbs are  all medicinal strength and not the types one would find “on the shelf”. It’s not simple over-the-counter turmeric or cinnamon……..

My “blog” here at CSN explains more. There are many options and alternative to be used, but none should be costing anyone their life savings. If it is or does, it should be a cause to be suspicious and wary.

Best wishes for better health,

John

I see it as leaving a legacy, your life after diagnosis. Your legacy, as well as the others on this site, maybe to show someone else a way to live, work, love, be happy and leave a legacy after a diagnosis of CRC.

My wife chose to leave a part of herself with everyone she knew. Her hands numb and stiff from Oxy she made about 100 handmade blankets, each one tailored to the receiver. She would talk to their friends and family to find out what their favorite sports team, or colors, or cartoon characters, what height they were so she knew how much fabric to buy. She set-up two tables in our family room and slowly cut and tied each knot to hold the two pieces together. When she got tired she would let me help her but when she recovered enough strength she moved me out of the way and continued. Then she sewed into each one a modest tag, Handmade with Love. She refused to put her name on it, just Love. Then we travelled, and the last thing she did as we were leaving was to hand a blanket to the receiver. 

She wrote and delivered her own eulogy, one hand-tied knot at a time.

Best