PET results-- suggestions for diet while on chemo?

neeliec
neeliec Member Posts: 106
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I had my first PET before starting chemo soon. My diagnosis was 3 weeks ago-- after surgery-to remove part of my transverse colon showed stage 3 and 21 lymph nodes positive! The good news of the PET is that the cancer is not in the liver or anywhere else. Praise God!!! With that many lymph nodes I sure was worried. However, there still is a tumor in the colon that they had not seen previously with colonoscopy, CT scan or barium enema. We will start chemo anyway and in 3 mos do another colonoscopy-- maybe more surgery. . Any suggestions??? What is a good plan for when in chemo? Suggested diets or exercise plan? I will be on 5FU, leucovorin and oxaliplatin.

Comments

  • BusterBrown
    BusterBrown Member Posts: 221 Member
    #2
    Neeliec,
    I have crc w/ liver mets and I've been the same regiment you described for 6 cycles now, starting my 7th tomorrow. Anyways, we all react to chemo a little differently, I'm having little to no problems with chemo, the biggest complaints I have is the neuropathy, numbness of fingers and mouth area, and I really can't taste anything. Here's the good news, it hasn't slowed me down at all, I haven't missed a day of work in 3.5month. I look and feel good all things considered, and I still have my hair, although it's thinning a little bit.
    Hang in there and I wish you well.
    Buster
  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #3
    file:///C:/MY%20DOCUMENTS/CANCER/Diet/Chemo%20diet.htm
  • grandma047
    grandma047 Member Posts: 381
    #4
    I had the same chemo regimen. Everyone is different. I got very nauseous and vomiting with first round. Second, round they put me on zofran, decadron and reglan, and no problems. Then the next round I was to take, the chemo doctor said it was not shrinking the tumor and he was taking me off the oxiplatin and putting me on something else-I can't remember the name-think camptosar. Anyhow, it's the FOLFIRI, instead of FOLFOX like you're taking. Anyhow, like I said, everyone is different. I wish you luck. I also had the neuropathy. Don't drink anything cold on this. My throat closed off and scared me to death. Don't breath cold air. Don't touch anything cold. Make sure you wear socks. Don't walk on cold floor. Hope these suggestion help. I'll pray for you.
    Love and prayers, Judy(grandma047)
  • madu
    madu Member Posts: 53
    #5
    It seems like everyone responds to treatment differently - my onc told me some people are missing a gene - no way to test for it - but those without it had the side effects - the others would breeze throuth. I only took 5FU and leucovorin (oxaplatin was in trials during my treatment)- they are considered mild for chemo drugs. I was told to anticipate but not expect: mouth sores, mild hair loss, diarrhea, nasal dryness, nausea - chemo affects fast growing cells which also happen to be hair and mouth cells. My biggest mistake after my first week of treatment was not wanting to "bother" the onc or nurses over the weekend and by Monday my mouth sores had progressed enough to make it hard to open my mouth fully. I found my side effects came at the end of the week (I was one week on and three weeks off) and progressed over the weekend but dissipated early in the week. Once I knew that, I anticipated them - i.e. taking "Magic Mouthwash"-before every meal starting Weds. of treatment or keeping anit-diarrheals on hand, etc. After the first treatment I found the side effects decreased and were pretty easily tolerated. Just keep on top of them (for example, you can end up in the hospital on IVs if you let diarrhea go on too long) and keep your onc. aware so they can help you. As to diet, I was told to eat WHATEVER I wanted (now there's something a girl likes to hear!) and by all means to keep my weight up.

    Heidi

    P.S. I was stage IV with met to liver, dx'd in 8/98 at 31 - shooting for year 7 and continued total remission.
  • 2bhealed
    2bhealed Member Posts: 2,064 Member
    #6
    hi there,

    I was stage 3 lymph pos too but did not do any chemo--opted not to do it. So I cannot help you in the diet during chemo question. But I can advise about diet in general for cancer healing......

    First and foremost--cancer feeds on sugar! As you know since you had a PET since they inject you with radioactive sugar to get the cancer moving to create a "hot spot". So obviously you do NOT want to feed the cancer in any way shape or form. Many folks are told to drink Ensure to keep up their calories. Read the label. I sure wouldn't drink it. Instead I would focus on organic veggie juice that are full of enzymes that feed the body at a cellular level.

    Colon cancers are 80% dietary related therefore making sure you have a healthy diet, in my opinion, is foundational to healing cancer. And I am not talking about the kind of diet that a dietician from the hospital would put you on since we all know about the kind of food they serve us in the hospital---jello, pudding, meat, mashed potatoes, etc....

    There a few different dietary approaches that are encouraged in alternative cancer healing one being a macrobiotic diet (The Cancer Prevention Diet by Michio Kushi) which encourages eating whole grains and veggies and fermented soy products with a little fish. The other is raw foods and juicing.

    I chose to combine the two approaches and for me it worked grreat. I have been 3 years 8 months cancer free having done NO chemo.

    No chemo for me has meant greater health than I have ever experienced before because it forced me to really purify my diet, detox my body of junk--emotionally and physically, de-stress my life (learned to say no and simplify), exercise became a priority, (added yoga to my already regime of walking/running/biking/skiing etc).

    and guess what? I never was hospitilized for dehydration due to severe diarrhea, I never had neuropathy in my hands or feet, I did not lose my hair, I do not fear secondary cancers from the chemo, I have not had a recurrence, I never had mouth sores, have my skin peel off, have heart problems (nor the fear of them in the future), etc etc etc.

    So when you ask about diet you are asking the right question. A good place to go to find an answer (not your onc as they are not really educated in nutrition) is Prescription For Nutritional Healing by Balch and Balch.

    I hope this helps. Another must read for the cancer survivor no matter what approach you use is Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Patrick Quillin. EXCELLENT reference!

    FYI my oncologist was dx'ed with colon cancer 2 years ago and I gave him part of my reading list (he read all 4) and is now JUICING!! At our last chat he said and I QUOTE:

    "There is not enough scientific evidence to prove that juicing works, but I KNOW it works!!"

    That is from my oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

    So there you go.

    www.discountjuicers.com (Champion Juicer)

    peace, emily who says remember: NO SUGAR and get juicing!!! :-)

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