Anticancer Book

[Fictional]

OK, I would have thought we would have been the last people to get into the alternative medicine stuff - but Andreas got me thinking, and I can't deny that when we stopped green tea (and Celebrex) and fish oil to go on metronomic, it was the fastest we had seen nodules grow since almost the first year... though still a lot slower than when the mets first appeared.

So to make a long story short - we have (somewhat reluctantly) drifted into caring about 'K''s diet and exercise (embarassing to say - but lots of medical people are like this) - but found that our switch coincided with 'K' feeling a lot healthier, with more energy and exercise endurance. She just made middle school volleyball team and is doing all those things (like 'suicide drills' running back and forth between lines touching them etc.), running a mile almost every day, etc.

I was happy to find a book written by an MD PhD (long term survivor of brain cancer, almost unheard of) - called Anticancer, and it had facts that I could relate to - real scientific studies support diet, lifestyle changes, and herb supplements. Some of the diet issues seemed especially relevant now because R1507 attacks IGFR2 receptor (insulin) - and the problem with these drugs in general is that they don't block enough...so if a patient loads up on sugars - it could be working against the drug.

'K' is back on green tea, fish oil, and Flora-essence, and eating more fruits and veggies. We will also add curcumin as it has some mTOR activities - and there is a rationale to blocking both IGFR and mTOR for greater efficacy. This may not work - but as always, happy to document whether there is or isn't any effect. Yes we do tell the trials people that we are taking 'herbal teas', but there is no problem with this - and they don't seem to care.

Already the first scan after first 6 wks of R1507 seemed to slow growth compared to metronomic chemo - don't know whether it's that even the 'low dose chemo' is a bad idea or whether the IGFR2 inhibition is a good one - especially as 'K' has been growing so much and IGF levels peak with growth spurts. Since she began R1507, 'K' hasn't grown anymore. We are not worried about this - she is already 5 feet 4.5 inches, taller than me.

So the books I liked: Anticancer (read the reviews on Amazon.com - others like it too) and Foods that fight cancer.