violarob

Dear Jeff: Ahah! I suspected you were doing your own home-made hyperthermia treatment from a post you wrote for “Cancercompass”.

For some real “cooking” I hope to become eligible for radiofrequency ablation this summer. I am getting off-topic, but have you tried any ablation therapies?

Violarob in Texas

Dear Kristin:

I really like the care I am receiving at MD Anderson cancer center in Houston. They are on the cutting edge of all treatments and clinical trials. They are very “fast track” for visitors out of state. Also, they are very comfortable with recommending a treatement plan and then having it implemented by the onco doc of your choice at home.

Good luck to you! I hope you find a doc who you trust, and gives you a good result.

Violarob in Texas

I did some research on the CAAT protocol as developed by the A.P. John Institute, when I was first diagnosed. I adopted many of the dietary suggestions and recommended supplements without paying the $1,000/month for the amino acids and personal consultations.

The CAAT protocol is actually very similar to the diet and supplement program recommended by Patrick Quillan in his book, “Beating Cancer with Nutrition”. This book is a classic in cancer treatment, dealing with diet, supplements, vitamins, minerals, alternative treatments, etc. I highly recommend it as a starting point. It is also loaded with references to articles in standard scientific/medical journals for those who want to verify facts and claims made for various supplements and treatments.

I feel I have benefitted from the information I got from the A.P. John web site and from the Quillan book. I don’t think it is necessary to fork over the $1,000/month, but that is a personal judgement call. Some people really appreciate having a personal coach to guide them, and believe in the extra benefit they get from the amino acid formula obtained from A.P John.

Good luck to those trying a dietary regimen to fight their cancer!

Violarob in Texas

hyperthermia treatment: I did a whole bunch of research on this 2 months ago. The options in the US are paltry. There is one clinic in California which is doing work in hyperthermia. Cancer Treatment Centers of America has two locations which do some hyperthermia treatments (Tulsa and Philadelphia). There is a phase II study in Houston, at the University of Texas Medical School, being administered by Joan Bull, M.D.

There are two basic types of hyperthermia: One is regional or local, which is administered by radio wave diathermy directly to the affected area. This is effective only if the tumor(s) are less than 4 cm from the surface. The second type is called whole body hyperthermia, where the temperature of the entire body is raised to fever range (103-105 degrees) for a long period of time, up to 6 hours. There is a clinic in Germany (the Klinik St. Georges?) which offers hyperthermia. Don’t know anything about them.

I have adopted my own hyperthermia method which I implement at home. 24 hours after I receive my chemo infusion, I spend an hour in the jacuzzi, until my body temperature raises to 102 degrees. I then dry off and rest on the couch wrapped in blankets, with a heating pad on my abdomen. It takes about an hour for my core body temperature to return to normal. Please do not try this on your own until you have done LOTS of research online about the different methods used and precautions needed.

The basic concept: Raising the core body temperature has been shown to stress the tumors, making them more susceptible to the chemo. Results vary widely from person to person. I know of others who spend 15-20 minutes per day in a dry or wet sauna to raise their core temperature each day to stress the tumors and to sweat out toxins.

There is lots of info on the internet on hyperthermia. Good luck to those who are interested in this subject!

Violarob in Texas

Hi, Jeff. I am new to this forum. Platelet count of 42 is not too bad. I have very wide swings in my platelet count after chemo. I go down to about 50-60, then back up to 105-123 ten days later. I was told it doesn’t get really dangerous until you fall below 35k. I don’t know of any drugs that help with platelet formation, but I started having better “bounce back” after I started taking Milk Thistle (sylimarin) supplements. (BTW, are you also “JeffGer” on the CancerCompass forum sponsored by CTCA? I think I corresponded with you a couple of months ago on that forum.)

Violarob in Texas

Question on this thread: Is direct infusion the same as chemoembolization?

They are similar, but not the same. They are both done through the femoral artery, with the chemotherapeutic agent injected directly into the liver through the hepatic artery. With direct infusion or HAI (hepatic artery infusion) the chemo is injected over a period of hours or even days. With transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), the chemo is injected as a single shot, which is followed by a small globule of “fat” to lock the chemo in place inside the tumor. You can read more details about these two procedures at the MD Anderson website. There are benefits and drawbacks to either procedure.