new mother recently diagnosed ....where to begin?

my husband was diagnosed at 43, he will be 51 in a few weeks. He started out in 2010 stage 3 went to stage 4 in 2014. he had a liver resection in 2014. It came back in his liver again last year right about this time. He started chemo in October, it took a while to be sure it was really back. On May 1st he will be having a second liver resection and they will be putting in the HAI pump you asked about. He is having this done at MSK in NYC. 

You will find many people here that are stage 4 some to the liver, some to the lungs or both. Most do chemo there are some that do alternative therapies also. Some things are compatible with the chemo. Your wife needs time to heal before she can start chemo so waiting a little bit and finding the right dr won’t hurt and is a good idea. Good luck! This board is a great place, you will find caring people with lots of experience. 

sounds like you are seeking out the best doctors you can find.  Just remember, you will be going to the dr. A Lot! you will have CT scans, treatment every two weeks, follow ups, further CT scans....etc... I travel about two hours to the best hospital I could find (Dana Farber), and I’m pretty sick of the travel.  Once chemo starts, you Probably won’t want to be jumping on planes all the time.  

While traditional MDs want to go the traditional route first (and primarily) many excellent cancer centers have affiliated Integrative Medicine providers who can advise on complementary therapies.  I know that Sloan Kettering in NYC has an Integrative Med division, and their drs put me on a mushroom supplement (that is actually part of the chemo used in Japan.) They also have acupuncture and other mind-body therapies. It was not part of the therapy recommended by the standard oncologists.  In addition, the integrative med mds know what you should avoid during chemo and radiation.  For example, you don't want to overdo anti-oxidants as green tea, blueberries, acai, etc. can diminish the efficacy of many chemos and radiation, which work by oxidizing the tumors.  Thus a reminder to look into options to enhance the efficacy of treatment while minimizing side effects.  

As of today, it is 11 years since I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Appedix cancer.

Alice

I was dx'd w/ stage IV, over half my liver cancerous, in 2010.  Here I am NED (knock on wood) 8 years later.  In addition to a little luck / divine grace, I firmly believe that HAI at Sloan Kettering saved my life.  It delivers concentrated chemo directly to the liver, and you can still do systemic chemo while you are on it.  One important point - be very aware that the VAST majority of oncologists who do not have experience will poo-poo it's effectiveness.  Please do not let this alone deter you.  Search this and other boards for testimonials on HAI from Stage IV people that have actually had the treatment.  I am aware of a HUGE number of folks who have received unbelievable results after being told basically to put their affairs in order.  It's not for everyone, but if you are a good/lucky candidate it may well be an excellent option.  (On the other hand, IMHO unfortunately I think that, despite good intentions, "Chris beat cancer" probably does more harm than good to folks newly diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. However it is probably worth looking into "integrated medicine" approaches... and EXERCISE as much as possible.)

Sorry your wife had to join the club, but hopefully she will receive some good advice.  I'm sure you are still both a bit in shock, and overwhelmed with questions.  I would be very happy to help out and answer questions, but I very rarely check back into this board lately...so please feel free to send me a PM.

Best wishes, 

Chip

Prof. Seyfried is known to some here for his work (as a researcher) with brain cancer patients in applying strategies to suppress glucose uptake in cancer cells

Here is a link to his 2017 talk on an updated metabolic strategy, which he calls  Press-Pulse.  He explains it starting about 13 minutes in.. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TZnjC7SR_w&t=309s

The paper is here:

https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12986-017-0178-2?site=nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com

 The idea is to lower glucose by diet (plus modest calorie restriction) as  a baseline then administer glucose and glutamine inhibitors periodically along with hyperbaric oxygen.  Stress management is also part of the foundation.

NOTE:  This metabolic therapy is not a proven majic bullet.   There are many unanswered questions in the area of metabolic therapies. The same is true of high cost standard toxic therapies. Optimizing one's metabolism to minimize tumor growth makes sense and is non-toxic, but should be done under physician care in order to monitor how the body reacts and to tweak the process if needed. Physician care lacking in standard therapy - not enough monitoring and treatment of side effects, and not enough monitoring of what's going on with the body (insulin, glucose, liver function, kidney function, stress, etc.). A physician or PA, other than the oncologist, should be involved to monitor overall health.    

I’m sorry to hear what you’re going through.  I think the answer to when to start the chemo depends on how aggressive your onc thinks the tumors are.  The more aggressive the tumors are, the sooner I personally would start treatment.  In fact, my onc told me if I waited 2 more weeks my liver metabolism would have been so messed up I wouldn’t have been able to take the Folfoxfiri + Avastn.  I did and the results are great.

Just one person’s experience, everyone is n=1.

Best of luck,

-Doug

Well my surgery went great an I no longer hAVE RECTAL CANCER.  Yayyy!! HOWEVER this one hit me hard. The rectal cancer had spread to my lungs.

I understand the outome is not good.  Anybody here have Rectal cancer now stage 4 met to lungs?