Metformin - My 78 year old mother's journey

In the beginning of January 2016 my mother was diagnosed with high grade Serous, endometrial uterine cancer. No metastases were found by scans at this time. Surgery for a full Hysterectomy was scheduled for the middle of March 2016. A bone and CT scan just prior to surgery, revealed the cancer had metastasized to 2 vertebrae. A needle bone biopsy confirmed the scan results. Unfortunately she went from Stage 1 to stage 4, within two and a half months. Her oncologist said this was the first case of uterine cancer moving directly to the bone, without going through a soft tissue first.

 April 2016, 5 weeks after surgery, which is the time needed to heal before starting chemotherapy, new scans showed additional lesions in another vertebra, rib and femur.

Aug 2016, after 18 weeks and 6 rounds of chemotherapy, scans indicated the 5 bone lesions were stable and no soft tissue involvement. A second opinion from an endometrial oncologist at Fox Chase in Philadelphia, said if chemotherapy had been administered directly after diagnosis in Jan 2016 and prior to any surgery, most likely the cancer would have been contained to the uterus. The oncologist questioned why the 4 month delay in starting chemotherapy? Anyone newly diagnosed with Stage 1 high grade Serous uterine cancer should ask their oncologist about chemotherapy prior to surgery.

Feb 2017, after 6 months and 6 additional low doses of maintenance chemotherapy, my mother’s most recent scans indicate only one, barely visible, lesion in her vertebrae. This lesion was the largest of the first 2 lesions identified by the March 2016 scans. The other 4 lesions are now completely resolved (gone). Her orthopedic oncologist told us that the remaining lesion appears to be dead but due to the bone healing process from the Xgeva, the lesion area would still show up on the scan. He said that it's really rare, a miracle and a blessing to have these results.

It’s my opinion, besides the use of chemotherapy, her results were also from to the use of multiple things. Since “Takingcontrol58” has written about Metformin and the positive results she’s received from its use, I believe it’s important to share this information.

From the first day my mother started chemotherapy, she also started taking 1,500 mg of Metformin, the drug Xgeva, many vitamins (especially Vitamin D, B6 and B12), many supplements (most importantly Turmeric-Curcumin with Ginger and Turmerones), went on a strict cancer diet (absolutely no sugar..only Stevia), she also makes smoothies with specific organic vegetables and fruits blended with green tea daily. It’s my opinion that the Metformin, Vitamins, Supplements and diet helped tremendously. I recommend that anyone fighting cancer read the following books; “Beyond The Magic Bullet, The Anti-Cancer Cocktail”, by Raymond Chang, MD (contains information on Off Label Drugs and Supplements that are scientifically known to fight cancer) and “Beating Cancer With Nutrition” by Patrick Quillin, PHD, RD, CNS.

At this point, she is finished with maintenance chemotherapy and her oncologists are not recommending anything additional. They will be monitoring her every 3 months, with a CT and full bone scans to see if her cancer reoccurs. Knowing Serous cancer can be very aggressive, rather than waiting for reoccurrence, my mother is taking a proactive approach and will be adding additional agents to her maintenance regimen.

Takingcontrol58, is there any chance that you could please share the complete list of Supplements, Vitamins, etc. and dosages that you are currently using as a maintenance regimen? It would be really helpful to see what you are using, that may be missing from her regimen. My mother’s “Foundation One” results identified seven mutations, two in which you have mentioned having yourself. Sadly there’s only a short list of drugs approved for treating Endometrial Cancer. Out of seven mutations, only one drug is available and that’s Herceptin. Herceptin for the HER2 mutation is only available through clinical trials. I believe your experience and knowledge could benefit my mother and many others as well. If it wasn’t for reading your very first post on this Forum site in Jan 2016, we may have never discovered Metformin. So thankful that we found this site.