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Posted

My name is Lori, i found your web site last year, posted once didnt do it right so i am trying again because i need your help & advise. im not quite sure how to do the profile so ill just say whats happened to me. On may 24th 2007 i was diag. with stage 1-A nsclc adnocarcinoma. Had my upper & middle right lung removed, all went well healled fairly quickly. no chemo or radiation afterwards my Doc said i didnt need it. then on may 11th 2008 almost a year later i coughed & thought i brike a rib, went to ER. found out my cancer was back in my 6th rib bone a 4.5cm tumor in my right hiler area & in the musscle in my left back. I did 16 radiation treatments & 3 treatments of carbo/taxol, Avastin & zometa. I have 3 more treatments left. My last cat scan 9-5-08 showed "no change" scince my prior cat scan. The 1st treatment wasnt too bad, the 2nd one i was sick for three weeks inbetween treatments. & this 3d treatment i was sick fir 6 days, so sick i couldnt even get out of bed vometing, chills, massive hot sweats, headache,week ,just plain awfull...My neighbor told me about this stuff called colloidal silver ive been taking it scince the third treatment & i feel soooo much better, my DR however said absoulety not dont take it because it hasnt been proven to help & she didnt want it to interfer with my treatment. Has anybody else tried this stuff??? is there any sucess stories out there in my same position??? If so i woulod like to hear from you. I hope i did this right if not you can respond to lorisherley@yahoo.com

Posted

Hi Lori. Sorry to hear of your need to be back here but there are many kind supportive people here who can answer your questions. I have asked the doc about several other supplements and the answer generally seems to be go ahead if you want but you really don't want to risk with it interfering with what the chemo is supposed to do. I hope you have great success with your treatments. And please keep posting and telling us how you are doing. Take care

Sandra

Posted

Hi, Lori, welcome (or welcome back). I'm very sorry to hear that your cancer returned after what had seemed to be a successful surgery, and that you've had such a difficult time with your recent treatments.

You didn't mention if you had a follow-up scan and exam during the year between your 2007 surgery and the 2008 ER visit. I would think that a new tumor that had grown to 4.5 cm within a year would have been visible on a 6-month CT scan, and possibly even on a 6-month chest x-ray.

Fatigue is quite common during chemo, especially when combined with radiation. But you've had a rougher time than most, with the vomiting and chills and sweats. Be sure your oncologist knows that whatever medications he gave you to control nausea haven't been working. Sometimes the chemo nurses are in the best position to serve as a go-between, connecting a suffering patient with a busy doctor.

If your September CT scan showed no change from the May scan even after 3 cycles of Taxol/Carbo/Avastin/Zometa, it could be that this particular combination is not working and a change is in order. That might help your side effects as well.

I believe your oncologist is right about the colloidal silver. I'd never heard of it until today, but a quick Google check brought up a long list of references, some praising it as a cancer cure, others warning against it. So I went to the best source I know of for that sort of information, the "Integrative Medicine > About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products" section of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center website:

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69189.cfm

Sloan-Kettering is NOT against ALL supplements. Some they say are helpful for certain side effects, others they say are of no proven value but at least are not known to be harmful, while others they definitely warn against. Colloidal silver is in this last category, as you can read in the link.

If I misinterpreted anything you said about the scans, my apologies. Best wishes and Aloha,

Ned

Posted

Hello Lori,

I am sorry to hear about your recent news, and glad you came back to this site. I am new to this site as of last week, but have been a daily visitor since. I hope that your nurse can help communicate with the doctor that the medication you are being given to help with the nausea is not working for you. The oncologist my Dad and I recently met with stated that there is really no reason to be nauseous during treatment anymore, as there are so many excellent medications that they can give.

Like Ned, I turned to what I consider to be a reliable website, the National Institute of Health's. I have some familiarity with them; a friend of mine was in studies with them for a very rare lung disease that she had. I haven't found them to be terribly open toward alternative treatments, but noticed that they were especially against Colloidal Silver. One of the things it mentioned - in addition to some scary side effects, including some that can cause permanent damage to organs - was that it can affect absorption of various drugs. I wonder if that could include chemo drugs. Here's their site: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/alerts/silver/ That said,

I have NO personal experience, nor am I a doctor, so that's just what I came up with trying to help. :)

I hope you began feeling better through your treatment, and will keep you in my thoughts.

Amy

Posted

Hello Lori and welcome back

So sorry to hear about this set back but glad you've come and joined us

I can't really add to what you have been offered here already but wanted to suggest that you tell the doctor about how severe the nausea/vomiting issues are. There are a wide range of anti nausea medications available that can be prescribed. I would be very careful in taking ANYTHING supplemental as there is no way of knowing from individual to individual what kind, if any, effect they can have on your treatments. You're best bet is to discuss with your own doctors about what you consider adding and let them be your guide. In my own experience, it is best to err on the side of caution.

As far as your signature/profile, click on Profile at the top of the page and fill in the information fields. No rush on doing that but it is very helpful for us to see what treatments you have had, are currently having etc in order to offer you the best advice.

Please keep posting and let us know how you are doing.

Warmly

Christine

Posted

Welcome Lori. I am sorry you have cancer again. I remember when my cancer came back in early 2005 about a year after my upper left lobe was removed and it was harder on me than my original diagnosis. But I got over the depression and went on for more treatment. As others have said, your oncologist should be able to come up with anti nausea meds that work.

don m

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