The Importance of Testing Your Sugar Level

I had been rather blase about my sugar level. In fact, I had never even considered testing myself. That it is until this past summer when I feared that I had developed hypoglycemia. I found my way into an unnamed 'Big Box Department store'. I bought a small, testing kit which was kept in a small, keather.handheld, zipper bag;

I took the testing device into Medicor Clinc  Toronto with me to explain why I had bought it. Dr. Kahn looked at the readout and said, "That  reading is a high one."  I developed an instant curiousity.

"Is that bad", I asked.

He looked at me and replied: "Look at it this way. The higher your blood sugar reading the more glucose you are feeding your tumours.

Three or so months drifted by and I did another test yesterday and had two readings of 9.4/ 9.5.

This stopped me in my tracks. I stopped and worked my way through my diet and came to the conclusion that I had just been eating glycemic foods or at least food that allowed for such a fast release of energy that it drove my sugar levels over the top.

I had just finished a small desert of fruit: a piece of chopped green pear, a small handful of blackberries and raspberries. I arrived at the conclusion that it was a dietary matter and that being so, then I could easily avoid punching out higher then reasonable scores.'

I have since decided to engage in daily blood testing and to take time to reflect on what may be giving me high sugar readings, and I now had in my hand a device which could prove invaluable in self management and strengthening the power of my choices.

Feeling Free When You Are Terminally Ill

I vividly recall visiting what seemed to me to be an elderly lady, in a hospital when I was in my mid twenties.

The dear lady's face was a mask of fear.  It marked my memory for life. I had never even considered that anyone who claimed Christ as her saviour would be so unhappy.  But, I was young, inexperienced in life and naive.

Years went by before I fell from cancer and I have had about 6 years to work things through. I have, I think, grown a lot and learned a lot.

I will be 'front up'. I am most certainly not unhappy and nor do I despair or fear. But that being said - there are some real issues which the terminally ill face.

1. I don't want to hurt my beautiful family and my daughters and granddaughters that I love if and when I should pack my life bags and check out. I worry for them because I love them and don't want them to unduly grieve. That is called parental love.

2. I occasionally wrestle with unfulfilled dreams.  I want to experience life. I want to be able to go into the forest to paint with my dear granddaughter Marley, who is on the road to becoming a good, lifetime artist. I want to see her develop.

3. Then there is the victim element which I had to move through and surrender. My life was marked by  a deep and in some cases unresolved components of personal pain which I believe underscored my illness. I lived for instance through the post traumatic stress syndrome and was hospitalized with terrible depression.

But, the good news is - I have travelled through all this and am free of its pain now. But a nurse who keeps my personal file told my wife and I that these experiences made my about 40% more likely to fall from cancer.

Do I feel free? Yes
Am I happy? Yes

There is freedom in all of this. I won't take this posting any further. I don't mean it to be a 'poor suffering me posting'. Not for a nano second.  Some people may not understand how I could feel freedom from what seems to be a suffering journey. I will spool it out later. But yes it is very possible.

If you are interested I will steer you towards two books. You can take it from there.
1. The bible *it has great messages of delivery from pain in the Book of Psalms
2 Victor Frank's great book, "Man's Search for Meaning' which tells the story of his Auschwitz experience and release at war's end and how he turned his great pain into a life work of helping others in psychotherapy.

Grapefruit has been waging it out now for a year or so, it seems.

“Drinking grapefruit juice can dramatically boost the effectiveness of cancer drugs,” the Daily Express today reported.This headline is based on an early clinical trial investigating the effect of grapefruit juice on the ability to treat terminally ill cancer patients successfully with a drug called sirolimus.

Sirolimus is widely used in transplant patients in order to prevent their immune system from rejecting transplanted organs. It is also believed to have the potential to treat certain types of cancers. A drawback is that if it is given in doses high enough to be useful in treating cancer, it can cause unpleasant side effects.

Grapefruit juice is known to make certain drugs break down more slowly within the body. Researchers hoped that if grapefruit juice was given alongside sirolimus, it would be possible to maintain higher levels of the drug circulating in the body with fewer side effects.
The findings of the research do suggest that combining sirolimus with grapefruit juice may achieve a successful “trade-off” between effectiveness and reduced side effects. However, the researchers are clear that further research must be done to develop these preliminary findings.
Therefore, headlines claiming that grapefruit juice "boosts cancer drugs" are both misleading and irresponsible. This was a carefully controlled trial, looking at a single medication, that employed rigorous safety protocols.
Encouraging people to mix grapefruit juice with both prescription and non-prescription drugs could lead to overdoses, which could be dangerous. Cancer patients should not alter their current medication dosages or start drinking grapefruit juice based on this research.

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Chicago and University of Texas Medical School. It was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the William F. O’Connor Foundation.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Cancer Research.
The media reports failed to give clear warnings about the potential dangers of anyone drinking grapefruit juice while taking certain medications, due to its ability to strengthen the drug’s dose.
The Express’s headline was particularly misleading as it implied that all cancer drugs would benefit from being combined with grapefruit juice. In fact, the researchers were only looking at a single drug, and even then, this medication is not widely used to treat cancer.

The reports may lead some cancer patients to think that reaching for the juice is a good or at least harmless idea. However, drinking grapefruit juice while taking medication is potentially dangerous. NHS Choices specifically states that if you are taking immunosuppressant medications such as sirolimus, you should never drink grapefruit juice without consulting your doctor.

What kind of research was this?

This research was a phase I clinical trial, a dose-finding study testing the effect of pharmacokinetic modulators, including grapefruit juice, on the action of the drug sirolimus in patients with advanced cancer.

Sirolimus is currently used to suppress the immune system to aid acceptance of a donor organ during organ transplantation, but its potential for use as cancer drug was explored in this research.
Currently, oral sirolimus is not an approved cancer treatment, but a similar drug, temsirolimus, is licensed to be given intravenously for some rare types of cancer.

The aim of the study was to find out what the dose was of oral sirolimus alone (taken weekly), or in combination with either ketoconazole or grapefruit juice, that achieved similar blood concentrations to temsirolimus.

What did the research involve?
Adult patients with incurable cancer were given one of three treatments:
weekly sirolimus alone
weekly sirolimus plus ketoconazole
weekly sirolimus plus grapefruit juice

Sirolimus was administered once a week at 1mg/ml oral solution when given alone or with grapefruit juice. It was given weekly as a 1mg tablet when used with ketoconazole. Participants in the grapefruit group received 240ml of juice, once a day.

The dose of sirolimus was then periodically increased in each patient with the aim of achieving the same drug exposure as that achieved by giving the intravenous drug temsirolimus at its recommended dosage. Drug exposure was measured by taking blood samples from the patients to analyse circulating levels of the drug.

This type of approach is known as an “adaptive escalation design” and is often used to find the acceptable dose of new drugs in development. Drug exposure was measured by taking blood samples from the patients to analyse circulating levels of the drug.

Once blood levels of sirolimus were equivalent to the standard treatment (temsirolimus), the oral dose of sirolimus was not escalated further. The researchers then assessed whether the use of ketoconazole or grapefruit juice meant that patients who took a lower oral dose of sirolimus still had high enough levels of the drug in their blood (total drug circulation) for it to still be clinically effective.

They also looked at whether the addition of ketoconazole and grapefruit juice improved the side effects known to be associated with sirolimus.
The study defined clear criteria for limiting the dose of sirolimus if it caused serious side effects likely to be due to the effect of the drug.

What were the basic results?

A total of 138 terminally ill cancer patients were enrolled in the study, of which 101 were included in the final analysis.

The results showed that both ketoconazole and grapefruit juice significantly increased the levels of circulating sirolimus in the blood. When given alone, an oral dose of 90mg of sirolimus a week was needed to achieve the same circulating level as achieved using the standard treatment. This dose was much lower when the drug was supplemented with ketoconazole (16mg) or grapefruit juice (25mg).

When sirolimus was given alone at 90mg a week there were significant gastrointestinal side effects (such as diarrhoea and loss of appetite) that meant the dose had to be split into two equal doses. This was not necessary for the ketoconazole and grapefruit juice groups, where the same circulating levels of the drug were achieved at much lower oral doses leading to fewer side effects.
Across all participants, the most commonly observed side effects occurring in their bloodstream were:

too much glucose, known as hyperglycemia (52%)
abnormally high concentration of fats, known as hyperlipidemia (43%)
too few white lymphocytes (a subset of white blood cells), known as lymphopenia (41%)
Stable disease (cancer that doesn’t get significantly worse) was observed in:
16 patients in the sirolimus alone group (40%)
16 patients in the sirolimus plus ketoconazole group (28%)
11 patients in the sirolimus plus grapefruit juice group (27%)

No participants were cured of their cancers, although one patient was categorised as having a partial response and remained on sirolimus with grapefruit juice for more than three years after their enrolment.

How did the researchers interpret the results?

The authors concluded that giving oral sirolimus is feasible for patients with cancer and that weekly sirolimus by mouth can achieve drug levels similar to that of the approved way of giving temsirolimus intravenously. They highlighted that the target drug levels were achieved at significantly lower sirolimus doses with the addition of ketoconazole or grapefruit juice than through giving sirolimus alone. Furthermore, they stated that “sirolimus represents a viable cancer drug whose development would offer several advantages […particularly] by combining the drug with agents that inhibit its metabolism,” such as grapefruit juice.

Conclusion
This early phase clinical trial showed that grapefruit juice can lower the dose of oral sirolimus necessary to achieve a target drug level equivalent to a currently approved treatment (temsirolimus) in adult patients with terminal cancer. The drug did not cure the cancer patients but appeared to halt progression of their disease in some cases. This finding suggests that it may be useful to carry out further studies to develop sirolimus as a cancer drug in combination with pharmacokinetic modulators such as grapefruit juice or ketoconazole.
It is important to note that this research only tested the effect of grapefruit juice on one drug (sirolimus) that was being tested for, but isn’t yet approved for, use in cancer treatment. Therefore, the effect grapefruit juice might have on other cancer drugs is not studied here. This would need to be investigated in future research.

The researchers also noted that grapefruit juice can range in potency depending on its source, so it would be necessary to ensure any patients were getting a standardised dose before grapefruit juice could be used safely in this way.

Grapefruit juice is known to inhibit enzymes that break down certain prescription and non-prescription drugs and this interaction can be dangerous. Most drugs that interact with grapefruit juice are found at higher concentrations when the juice is drunk and this leads to more side effects as effectively the person receives a higher-than-intended dose of the drug. Therefore it is alarming that the risks of consuming grapefruit juice while on medication were absent from the media reporting of this study.

NHS Choices specifically states that if you are taking immun suppressant medications such as sirolimus, you should not drink grapefruit juice without first consulting your doctor.

Similarly, the statement from the Express that “patients might be able to lower their dose of medication while still getting the same benefits as if from a higher one” is potentially hazardous. Patients should not be tempted to lower their medication and drink more juice based on this study. People on medications should not change their normal dose without consulting their doctor first.
Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices.

Two reference articles:
‘Grapefruit juice gives cancer drugs a boost’. Daily Express, August 8 2012
‘Grapefruit juice can give cancer drugs dramatic boost’. Daily Mail, August 8 2012

or click here to link to the top article in NHS health choices

Doctor, How long will I live with cancer?

I have a great story of human strength in tough times.

My sister in law, Wilma came down with a terrible form of cancer. She was around 40 years old. when the floor of their family home and her life collapsed into a basement of torn rubble, pain and intensely personal family distress.

What was so bad about it, was that Wilma can trace her cancerous journey back into her childhood.
She was the daughter of Dutch immigrants to Canada. And, as little girl of about 9 or ten she would help her mother with family chores. The family pitched in to survive. Her dad, Tony found work, and her uncle moved in with them to contribute. It was teamwork all the way.

Wilma helped her mother with the family laundry a lot. They would pull the bedding off beds and take it to the laundry room. They took soiled work clothes and washed them. They washed her uncles work outfits, bedsheets, towels and all that sort of thing.

Wilma was innocently drawn into a situation which was cruel and tragic beyond all imagination.

Nobody knew, then that her uncle had a life threatening job.  He worked for an asbestos manufacturing plant on the eastern edge of Toronto, and he was unwittingly carrying home deadly asbestos fibres on his clothing. No one understood such a danger back then.

Wilma got hit with an  asbestos cancer in mid life. Her mother didn't.  Was it because Wilma was a little girl and she would pick up his bedding and sheets and because she was a little girl she held it closer to her face then her mother would have?

When Wilma approached her 40th birthday, her health began to fail and she was hospitalized and she learned that she had asbestos cancer (mesothelioma) all over her body and in particular in her intestinal lining.

Wilma had her first medical protocol.  They took samples, studied and CT scans and all the good things  the medical profession does. When the results were given, Wilma was given an "end of Life message".

Her response. "How much time?"
The doctor shifted on his feet. There was a lot of discomfort. There was some hemming and hawing and clearing of throats.

"Wilma, you have 2, months, 6 months, I don't know"Wilma dead eyed her doctor and said.,"2 months..6 months, a year.....I don't know?" Good.

I will take the "I don't know."

Wilma received the bulk of her treatment from Dr.Lorne Chabot in New York's Sloan Kittering Hospital.She came in as part of a team of patients, each of whom had mesothelioma.  He was their presiding specialist and caregiver.

I am unsure of how many patients were part of that mesothelioma team. A dozen..15 more?  I have no idea.

Are you ready?

Wilma grabbed her "I don't know and ran with it.   The entire mesothelioma team of patients is dead today. Wilma is the longest surviving female mesothelioma patient in the  world.

She is our family winner.,

I learned a great lesson from Wilma. My life is my life. I decided early in my journey to grab the "I don't know and run with it."

Talking to God when you have Cancer

Someone recently told me that the hospital he was in when he was having cancer surgery, had a chapel which had daily communion services.  He said that - it was very well attended by people from the cancer ward.

The point was well made. When you near the point of no return to the life you once knew - you feel acutely isolated in time and space you feel your "oneness or unique aloneness" as never before.
Reaching out for support is therapeutic.  Its also very natural.

If you are not a spiritually attuned person - there is no shame in acknowledging your frailty.

I won't preach or tell you how to live your life, but I will tell you what I have done and what I do.

I have a friend who is not too far away and I call him and we talk.

On the surface its easy to see me reaching out for the phone. But there is more to it then just that.
My friend doesn't have a phone. He can be reached by thought. It sounds a little mystical doesn't it? It is.

My friend loves me and is willing to reach for me, when I call.  My friends' name is God.
I talk to him all the time. Its sort of a mental stream of communication. I thank Him for little things. I thanked him each time a nurse dropped by to see me in the hospital.  I thank him for good days and for my grandchildren's laughter.

But, when I hurt, I also talk to him.  Some people call this prayer. I simply call it - connectiveness to The Power.

I don't necessarily ask for life shaking miracles but that has its time and place too.  But I do thank him for the inner strength he is giving me, and for the right words to say to encourage others.

My friend is particularly there when I am totally alienated from the stream of life.

Personal notes and blog entries and are included in the Letters Welcome, contact us page beneath the blog heading picture.

Dumb Things People Say to you When you have Cancer

You can beat cancer if you have the right attitude.  This one is almost a mantra.  Everyone with

cancer hears it.  One question...does it mean that, if you die of it, you failed to make a character or personality adjustment. That being so..if you die of cancer...are you responsible fory our own death because of some sort of flaw in your character? What a guilt trip if you buy into it.

 But, its not a comment entirely without foundation.  It is most important not to despair.
 For me, this is where my deep faith in God enters the equation. I submit to God's loving protection
and for him to shield me within the strength of his big loving arms.

 I commit myself to not sinking into depression and the big black pit.  That is a really dangerous               place to go. This is where my attitude really swings into play.  I don't walk around with a happy smile on my face when I don't feel  happy......but I sure don't chose to crawl into the black pit of depression or engage in pity parties. I hope that you, dear reader, don't see my blog as an exercise in self pity.
Its not about "look how I have suffered". The purpose of the blog is to teach, instruct, guide and help others who are walking in my footsteps.

That being said, whenever I find my mental outlook slipping down the wet muddy hill I reach out and grab anything I can to stop the slide.  Each one of the encouraging videos on the page above this posting and below the heading picture has given me encouragement.

Develop your strategies to keep yourself from sinking into despair. Prayer, meditation, good music, inspirational readings or messages, or the repitition of certain habits or pleasing actions are good.
Take a slow, morning walk and take your camera with you. Record what you see.  Find a cancer chatroom - my experience has been that there are always people on there who enjoy helping and encouraging fellow journeyers who are the pit.

Yes - attitude is important, and it may mean simply - chosing to maintain a healthy mental balance or interpreting your life in such a way that despair won't take you down.

Comments welcome.

Do Cancer Cells Play Possum when under attack

The Toronto Star ran a story which I found on their online website today. It is important to understanding why some cancers don't respond to treatment. The article reports a study that suggests that some cancer cells, become dormant when they are attacked.

To read the article, please click here.

photo from: the Toronto Star, via Becky Shenk, Associated Press

My body's resistence to copper reduction therapy - and what I did about it.

If you're serious about fighting your tumours, I have a story to tell you.

About 4 months ago, I learned of the drug tetrathiomolybdate, which is popularly nicknamed TM.
And since learning about it, I learned that copper plays a significant role in the life of tumours.

It has to do with something called angiogenesis.  Tumours take on a life of their own and they like to grow.

I have focused in the past on the importance of maintaining your body as an alkyline host.
The thinking goes that cancer can't live in an alkyline environment.

I've also focused on the glucose appetite of tumours. Its important - not to feed your tumours, sugar.  That means being a stingy host and  avoiding feeding them glucose as found in  such things as sugar in coffee,  deserts, and alcohol.

I followed those strategies, not knowing that copper was also another concern.

Look at it like this. Copper plays an important role in angiogenesis - facilitating the development of veins within and surrounding  tumours, to deliver their bloody meals.

Now, if you are a serious about implementing a control strategy to keep tumour growth in check,
then I want you to read about something I did that was risky and I didn't realize it.

I have been eating millet because its alkaline. I was having it as a breakfast cereal and I was eating it as a rice substitute. And I have been eating lots of nuts - almonds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, because as a vegan determined to avoid meats - I was eating these as a source of protein.

Check this out.

Copper content of some significant items in my diet.
Millet,                                     cooked  14%
Quinoa                                    cooked    18%

wild rice, cooked,                      10%
sweet potato, steamed 1%, baked without salt 16%

almonds, blanched                    85% unblanched and raw 112%

sunflower seeds unsalted,          123%
macadamia nuts raw and unsalted 51%
Walnuts black. dried                   85%


source. nutrtional value.self. Please click here.

I found myself eating a lot of nuts, to increase my protein level, since I was not eating meat. But, I was, unwittingly increasing my supply of copper, which was fasciltating the growth of my tumours and is supporting blood vascular (blood vessel) networks.

I have tried a variety of effective natural responses to overcome cancer but was not only unsuccessful, but my tumours kept growing - allbeit slowly. I noticed that my urea count in blood tests was low, and a doctor in training told me that it reflected my protein level.  So, I turned to nuts and ate a handful or two each day.

It stands to reason that I was increasing my body copper level - and copper has a tendency to gather in tumours. I was taking naturopathic treatments and the practioner told me that he didn't understand why my tumours weren't shrinking.  He has lots of clients whose tumours do shrink and they are not vegans.  The pieces weren't fitting together.

I believe that as my copper level increased so did my degree of angiogenesis. My tumours began creating an extended system of blood vessels to support their existence. And, as they expanded their network of food bearing blood vessels - they began growing a lot faster.  So I was caught in a vicious circle.

It's important for you to know that I have no medical training or education. . I am not a doctor. I have not taken a single science course at a graduate level.  So what you are reading is sheer speculation.

When I was taking TM, I had a couple of weeks with  predictable drops in my ceruloplasim (copper) reading. Following that, the decline slowed.  Dr. Kahn said, "In some people, their copper in tumours, hangs on".  So, he increased my dosage to 8 per day. (40 mg. ea.)  Fortunately, the decline continued - but it wasn't as dramatic as it was at first.

My ceruloplasim readings were 314,209, 198, 147 and finally 96. (American readers divide those numbers by ten).

My decline from 198 came after my dosage was increased to 8, from 6.

Dr Kahn, in his literature wrote that Ceruplasim counts do not drop for 1/3 of those who take tm.

Another item of interest if you should be considering the tm treatment and are into naturopathic treatment.  My body and tumours were stubbornly hanging onto their copper levels.  I told Dr. Kahn about me taking bee pollen and he suggested that I lay ofif it for a while.  My cerulplasim count has dropped to about the mid 80's. A suitable level for treatment.  He told me that another patient had trouble with her copper levels falling so he asked her specifically if she was on bee pollen and she reported affirmatively.."yes!"...and Royal Jelly too.  But, in her case, her ceruoplasim count didn't take an effective drop until she also stopped taking bee products.


My suspicion is, that my tumours grew when I increased my copper levels through consuming a lot more more almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts and sunflower seeds.

The hesitation of my body in releasing copper was not good .Dr. Kahn has been looking for a reading of about 100. So, when he increased my dosage about 3 weeks went by before I discovered that I was taking in a lot of copper by eating copper rich nuts. Needless to say that, once I discovered this, I took serious control of the amount of copper I was consuming.  And, to my delight - my ceruloplasim number didn't stop in its decline...it continued. Not by massive drops but significant enough to provide me with great encouragement.

I write all this - for anyone going down the same road as I have been taking and in particular, anyone with showing a ceruloplasim resistance to TM copper reduction therapy.

Six Important Points for me in my Personal Cancer Journey

1. To face my illness with bravery and self respect
2. To treat my illness with a detached sense of intellectual curiousity - and this means studying with care each and every blood test and to take notes in every doctor's appointment and to understand as fully as possible given my lack of medical education.
3. To turn my struggle into a positive  experience to help others on their journeys
4. To keep my eyes wide open and take whatever route possible to help me defeat the enemy within
5. Not to be a burden to others - and this means being a contributing member to my family, as much as possible given my strength, and liberating my wife, as much as possible from her burden of care.  This meant me changing my ostomy bag in the middle of the night, when I was deep in the grips of post operative surgical pain...and it meant me being responsible for giving my own injections and keeping notes and dates of medical appointments. Then when I became a vegetarian, I found recipes and cooked my own meals. All of this was important to me, for I became responsible for my own care..and not a victimized by it. Besides that nobody was going to  knock on my door and hand me a silver bullet.
6. And number 6 grew out of point 5. It seemed most important to me to be responsible for my own cancer research. That meant, for the most part sloughing off the banal comments of others and charting my own course and setting my own sails.  I absorbed everything I could to strengthen my own ability to fight the illness.I prowled my way through cancer websites, and whatever academic studies of cancer I could find.  That was what led me into Dr. Kahns office at the Medicor Alternative Cancer Care clinic in Toronto. Nobody pointed me in that direction, save for his website. But, I should add that also grew out of me writing to two universities asking if I could be put on a test team of patients in their cancer research.

I will add more to this list as I go along.

Dr. Mehmet Oz's Cancer Fighting Diet

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a nationally renowned cardiac surgeon who is also an Emmy-award winning daytime television personality. Although his specialty is not oncology, people trust what he has to say about healthy living regarding cancer prevention. "Forbes" magazine named him the third most influential celebrity of 2010 and "Time" magazine included him in its top 100 Most Influential People of 2008. Oz has a way of making medical issues interesting and accessible -- even using quizzes and games to make his point on his TV show. One of his most popular recommendations is a cancer-fighting diet.


GROCERY SHOPPING
You can't go wrong in the produce aisle when selecting foods for Oz's cancer-fighting diet. Choose cantaloupe, which contains carotenoids that help prevent lung cancer. He also suggests cabbage and kale to help prevent prostate cancer. Eat soybeans, or edamame, advises Oz, to help prevent estrogen-driven cancers and prostate cancer. Whole grain oats is the cereal of choice because of the soluble fiber it contains to help prevent colon cancer. Also, look for cereal high in flaxseed and folate. Drink orange juice to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancer. Oz recommends substituting green tea for coffee to help prevent bladder and prostate cancer. Caffeinated coffee, however, can lower colon, breast, uterine and brain cancers, he notes. Pomegranate juice reduces the risk of colon and prostate cancers. Beer in moderation might protect against stomach cancer, but drinking too much of any alcoholic beverage can increase breast, throat and liver cancers, he cautions.

BREAKFAST
Oz recommends specific anti-cancer recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Blueberries, yogurt and green tea make up a cancer-fighting breakfast. Blueberries are an antioxidant, which help protect your cells and repels carcinogens. The lactobacilli in yogurt keep healthy cells from turning cancerous. The antioxidant properties of green tea rounds out a cancer-prevention morning meal.

LUNCH
Eat as the Indonesians do, and have tempeh with rainbow chard, flaxseed and tomatoes, says Oz. Tempeh is a soybean product that has been an Indonesian staple for hundreds of years. This versatile food picks up the flavors of other foods. People typically cut it into cubes and fry it until it turns golden brown. Tempeh is especially useful for post-menopausal women because it is a plant-based estrogen. Tempeh and flaxseed help prevent breast and ovarian cancers. Chard is an immune booster. Tomatoes contain lycopene, which helps prevent cancer cells from growing.

DINNER
For dinner, have the whole grain quinoa, an antioxidant with fiber that helps prevent colon cancer. Also, Oz recommends roasted onions and garlic -- vegetables that stop stomach, colon, lung, prostate, brain and breast cancers from growing. Mix carrots, squash and sweet potatoes in the roasting pan with them for their antioxidants. Have curried beans for the fiber in the beans and the tumor-suppression quality of the curry.

Source: Livestrong.com
           please click here
Picture from Wikipedia
          please click here

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Is the Common Grapefruit my Cancer Enemy?

A recent article, published in the Toronto Star, (see link below) pointed to the potential risk for some people with cancer, consuming the common grapefruit on a daily basis. This article hit me between the eyes. I had some serious blood issues when I had chemotherapy about 6 years ago.

When I read this comment in the Toronto Star article, I was stunned. People who consume grapefruit on a daily basis, as I have for my morning breakfast run a serious risk. A quote from the article reads:

"Others health impacts include acute kidney failure, respiratory failure, gastrointestinal bleeding, bone marrow suppression in people with damaged immune systems and renal toxicity."

 This study appeared in the Canadian medical journal and was conducted by the Lawson Health Research Institute of London, Ont.

I keep very close track of my blood test results - and I have a lot of tests done. Right now, on a weekly basis.  My lymphocyte number has been consistently below normal.  Lymphocytes produce T cells which I call tiger cells for they have an avaracious appetite for attacking cancer cells.

Could it be that I have been unwittingly suppressing my own natural ability to fight this illness?  The word "suppress" is loaded with hope. Suppress does not mean, permanent damage.

To visit the Lawson Institute's Heatlh Research Site's cancer page , please click here

Enterade r - Where Were You When I Needed You?

Five years ago, when I was taking chemotherapy, I was warned -" be sure to keep hydrated".  But, even though I had been warned, nobody explained to me what the process of dehydration would be like so I didn't know what to expect when it happened.

My wife was in British Columbia, and I was alone in the house.  Day by day by day, I became progressively weaker.   And I began having a symptom that was common to many people  having chemo.  Food began to taste like a blend of excrement and chemical.  I knew that it was important to eat - so I would prepare a meal for myself (albeit a very small one), and would try to eat it.

Forgive me for being graphic, but there is no false modesty when you have cancer.

Each time I would try to eat, I would be overcome with enormous revulsion for food. I would feel physically ill.  I would try to eat and would feel - nauseous. My stomach would churn.  I would think of my loved ones...my wife and daughters sitting beside me saying..."Come on dad. Take this for me." Then I would gag and swallow.  

Needless to say...I wasn't eating much.

But here's where information comes into the story.  I had never been  told, that there is a correlation  between solid food and hydration. Because I was having little solid food in my body - liquids weren't being retained in my intestines. Liquids were just giving me the high five as they passed through.  There was no gradual absorption into my system.

My wife became concerned for as time passed, I became progressively weaker.  I hardly had the strength to talk.  She would phone and I could hardly muster the energy to whisper.

She called friends, and my brother.  After my brother came, I collapsed and broke a small table on my descent to the floor.  I crawled across the room and pulled myself onto the futon. The public health nurse came and an ambulance was called.

Within hours, I felt like a new person. I was given a saline solution and renewed energy and vitality flowed back into my body.

The point of this article, is that it was all this suffering was so needless. If I had of had, Enterade r which is produced by Enterade USA LLC., there would have been no family worry, or fear and I wouldn't have been hung out to dry, holding on to life by my fingertips.

In conclusion, I suggest that if you are going through radiation or chemotherapy you click on this link and check out Enterade.  It appears to hold a lot of promise to those who risk going through what I experienced.

To visit the Enterade site, please click here.

Treating Cancer with Honokiol

After a month of taking Honokiol which is marketed under the trade name of Honopure, my CEA count dropped by 50%. I am fighting colon cancer which has mestastiszed. Its in my lungs now.

I have never, in 6 years, experienced such a dramatic and fast drop in my CEA numbers. Never.
You be the judge. 

Honokiol and How It Works

Dr. Kahn, of Toronto's Medicor Clinic, put me on a regimen of TM and Honokiol a month ago. The TM attacks tumours by removing copper from the body.

An average body copper reading, as seen in a ceruloplasim blood test is between 215 and 540. (British Columbia lab level)  My reading was over 300.  The removal of copper allows for the death of the blood cells which develop around tumours. (for US readings, divide by 10)

Dr.Kahn also put me on Honopure (see the top video)

The Cancer Fighting Strategies website quotes Michelle Cagan who writes:

"When it comes to cancer, there’s more than one way to beat it, so honokiol doesn’t stop at one. Instead, it attacks cancer on multiple fronts, fighting tumors head-on.

It starts by making sure the tumors can’t supply themselves with the nutrients they need to thrive. You see, like all other cells, cancer cells need food and oxygen (among other things) to stay alive. They get their supplies by creating their own blood vessel networks, a process called angiogenesis.


But honokiol simply doesn’t let that happen. An early in vitro study found that honokiol could prevent that angiogenesis, 1 and more. This research also uncovered another anti-cancer power in honokiol’s arsenal: the ability to prevent tumor growth (formally known as antiproliferative activity) in mice with angiosarcoma, an extremely malignant and aggressive cancer that usually grows and spreads alarmingly fast.

Another in vitro study 2 discovered one of the key ways that honokiol helps conquer many types of cancer. It prevents a cancer-sustaining enzyme called PLD (phospholipase D) from doing its job. Left unchecked, PLD keeps cancer cells from dying off (a process known as apoptosis). So when honokiol blocks it, cancer cells die.

Increased PLD activity has been linked to several cancers (breast, kidney and colon, for example) and cancer cell lines (lung, pancreatic, and prostate, to name a few). So honokiol’s ability to rein in this disease-promoting enzyme can have a remarkable effect on any cancer that relies on PLD to survive.

Fight colon cancer without making yourself sicker

Colorectal cancer strikes hundreds of thousands of people every year—often affecting people over 60 years old. And while this form of cancer can be treated successfully using mainstream methods (like surgery and chemotherapy), the treatments themselves can be painful and debilitating.

Honokiol fights and kills many forms of cancer—but studies have shown that it does this without harming healthy cells (unlike many forms of chemotherapy). So researchers investigated honokiol’s effect on one of the most common cancers—colorectal cancer.

One group of researchers studied mice with human colon cancer. They injected the mice with honokiol every other day, and the results were stunning. The honokiol blocked tumor growth without a toxic effect on the mice. In fact, this powerful natural treatment prolonged their lives. 3

Prostate cancer can be complicated, but the real solution is very simple

Prostate cancer takes more than one form, but most mainstream treatments only work on a single, specific form. Honokiol, it turns out, just may be able to treat prostate cancer regardless of the form: androgen status, for example, or p53 status. (Androgen status refers to hormone levels, and p53 is a gene that is sometimes altered in men with prostate cancer.)

An in vitro study found that honokiol effectively caused apoptosis in several kinds of prostate cancer cells, both androgen dependent and independent, as well as cells with varying p53 status.

Bolstered by that success, they progressed their research to an animal study. There, the scientists found that treating mice with honokiol three times a week halted prostate tumor growth. The researchers also found a higher rate of cancer cell death. And more prostate cancer cell death combined with less tumor growth is exactly what you want when fighting this disease.

And unlike the mainstream options—surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy—honokiol did not cause weight loss or any other side effects. 4

Honokiol takes on even ‘incurable’ cancers

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is one of the toughest cancers to treat and beat. According to the mainstream medical community, it remains incurable.

But some very insightful researchers refused to accept that. And based on honokiol’s success against other cancer cell lines, they decided to see how well it would work fighting B-CLL cells. Their intuition paid off.

Their in vitro study 5 found that honokiol sets off the death cycle of these cancer cells, and that the extract was more toxic toward the B-CLL cells than healthy cells. On top of that, honokiol also improved the anti-cancer effects of chemotherapy drugs (fludarabine, cladribine, and chlorambucil).

And that’s not the only difficult cancer that honokiol helps conquer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, “For most patients with non-small cell lung cancer, current treatments do not cure the cancer.” And squamous lung cancer fits right into that category. While current mainstream therapies remain largely ineffective, honokiol (at least in lab tests) appears to have a very deadly impact on these cancer cells.

When researchers tested honokiol against squamous lung cancer cells in an in vitro study, their work paid off. The honokiol treatment set off a chain reaction that led to apoptosis, cancer cell death. 6"

Citations:
1 Bai, X., et al. Honokiol, a small molecular weight natural product, inhibits angiogenesis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. J Biol Chem. 2003.
2 Garcia, A., et. al. Honokiol suppresses survival signals mediated by Ras-dependent phospholipase D activity in human cancer cells. Clin Cancer Res. 2008; 14(13)
3 Chen, F., et al. Honokiol: a potent chemotherapy candidate for human colorectal carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol. 10(23):3459-3463, 2004.
4 Hahm, E., et. al. Honokiol, a constituent of oriental medicinal herb magnolia officinalis, inhibits growth of PC-3 xenografts in vivo in association with apoptosis induction. Clin Cancer Res. 14(4), 2008.
5 Battle, T. E., et al. The natural product Honokiol induces caspase-dependent apoptosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells. Blood. 2005.
6 Yang, S. E., et al. Down-modulation of Bcl-XL, release of cytochrome c and sequential activation of caspases during honokiol-induced apoptosis in human squamous lung cancer CH27 cells. Biochem Pharmacol. 63(9):1641-1651, 2002.

To view this article at the Cancer Fighting Strategies website, please click here.

One Step Forward - One Step Back - Two Steps Forward

As many of you dear readers and friends know, I have been taking treatment for colo-rectal cancer which metamorphosised and took on its own, unpredictable life after that.  It popped up on the surface of my liver and a wedge was cut out, and a follow up CT scan revealed that it immediately took on a new life in my lungs.

I will be upfront.  I have tried a number of  hopeful  "potentially" good,  natural cures - from dandelion root, to diet, to taking a half dozen reishi capsules a day for about 8 months, to maple syrup and baking soda, and to muscadine grapeseed.  I am sure they are wonderful healing agents - for some people.  But, in the end none have been successful.  I eventually found my way into Dr. Akbar Khan's office in North York's (north of Toronto), Medicor Cancer Clinic.

I often think of the passing of Jack Layton, the former leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, (Canada's Official Opposition party) who died of cancer.  Jack had been treated for prostate cancer and in the end before he died, refused to publicly reveal what his cause of death was.  Why?  He didn't want to discourage anyone on their trip. Jack took the high road.

I began taking DCA treatment, and was incrementally increasing my dosage when I experienced problems with side effects.  It happens with some people.  I got a tingling sensation in one leg and in my feet.
Dr. Kahn moved me from DCA to taking TM, a new drug out of the University of Michigan.

I experienced leg cramps for about a week, and these eventually went away.  I've now been on TM for 10 days.  To my surprise, my most recent CEA blood test revealled a decline by 50% - in less then a month.
I have never had such a sizeable shift even when taking chemotherapy.

Is it working? I will take it for what its worth. Something is happening. Time will tell.

But the point is this - I expect that anyone who has lived with long term cancer knows what its like to take one step forward, and one step back. Two steps forward, one step back. Two steps back and one step forward.  Speaking personally, its been a slow slog through a muddy battlefield. But the battle is worth it. Pass me up the bullets mamma.

Reiki Healing..music by Mind, Body and Soul series

Song of Life, sung by Libera

There’s a whisper in the dark
As a new life comes to be.
Then a song begins to form
As it finds the harmony
With a chorus of sound
Of the world all around
Now it blends in the tune
Joining the endless song of life.

We shall never be alone
As we link our hearts in one
Joining voices from above,
All in the miracle of life.
Through the ages we will grow
Only time will ever know,
As our voices magnify,
All in the miracle of life.

Love plays along in our lives yet to come
As we join the song of life.

Now the music starts to build
As the words begin to rhyme
Then another lends a tune
As their voices now combine
With the chorus of sound
Of the world all around
Now they blend their tune
Sharing the endless song of life.

We shall never be alone
As we link our hearts in one
Joining voices from above,
All the miracle of life,
Through the ages we will grow
Only time will ever know,
As our voices magnify,
All in the miracle of life.

Love plays along in our lives yet to come
As we join in the song of life.

I Lost my Friend to Cancer on Saturday

Guenter and I walked together through this terrible illness. We were like two old soldiers, leaning on one another supported by crutches, as we made our way along the muddy road,  coming back from the battlefront.  We would encourage one another and share advice on how we might recover from our injuries. He had a bloodied cloth wrapped around his head from where he had been operated on, in the makeshift battlefield hospital tent and I coughed a lot.  We were a bloodied sight to see.

I knew he was going, but yet I didn't know.  The disturbing dream came two weeks ago around the time he began to lose his grip on life. I felt psychologically stripped down after it..  My wife looked at me one day and said...."You're giving up aren't you?" I felt like it. I felt terribly alone.

The phone call came a few hours ago.

Strange how it goes.  While I felt an immediate sense of loss, I also felt a sense of relief, for Guenter's suffering was over.

I thought of Jack Layton, writing these words, as he felt his life force slipping away.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Guenter changed my world.

Thank you Guenter for letting me lean on you, as we hobbled  along together on our journey.

My DCA Journey

Here is the latest update on my DCA journey.

Nobody said it would be easy.

I have been struggling lately with  a sense of despair and anxiety.  I contacted Dr. Khan at the DCA clinic and he recommended that I suspend treatment for 2 weeks.

It has to be said that every body has its own unique characteristics and responses to its environment.

So, I want it to be known that if you are considering DCA treatment - that my response is my response. Don't be deterred from taking DCA based on my experiences.

I posted a response to this problem in the DCA website forum.  This is a splendid information resource for anyone taking DCA.  Please click here to go to the DCA site.

Cancer and Ripe Bananas

The bananas entry on Chris's facebook page, generated some response so Chris posted this link to the original study. Please click here.

source:
Chris Cured Cancer Facebook mirror

Fighting Cancer - Its Worth the Fight. Don't Give Up sung by Josh Groban

Cancer's Answer to Prayer

I have been visiting a DCA cancer site, and reading email testimonials and surveys conducted on the site.  If you have cancer, and have some serious concerns about overcoming this terrible disease, I cannot recommend more highly you checking this website out.

They have a forum where people write in and express their concerns.  Read it. You won't be disappointed.

To visit this site, please click here.  I don't want to exaggerate, but it could save your life.

Cancer Motivation Song You`ll Never Walk Alone - Live

Medicor Clinic: Second Visit

Medicor Visit, part two.

We arrived about a half hour early for our second appointment. We left lots of time, because of the shortage of parking around the building and the possibility of a traffic back up on Highway 401.  The clinic is just a block or so, north of 401, on the corner of Franklin and Yonge Streets.  Keep your eye peeled for a curb side parking space along Franklin, beside the clinic. You have an hour of free parking there.  There is an underground parking garage beneath the building but it is for permit holders and not for the public. Parking can be problematic.

We met with Dr. Doug Andrews (N.D). Doug is a well spoken youthful man, with a good insight into diet and supplements. He suggested that I tweak my protocol a bit. (See the right side column).

He is a good listener, empathetic and most encouraging.  When I told him that my diet was joyless and dull he told me that its ok to step outside its perimeters and cheat occasionally - just don't make it a daily practice.

He went on to explain how DCA turns off the energy switch in tumours.  It literally starves them to the point that they eventually shut down.  He suggested that I stop taking maple syrup with my baking soda.  The muscadine grape supplements I was taking looked fine to him. And, for those with an interest in my personal protocol, the muscadine grapeseed supplement attacks and reduces the network of small feeding blood veins that provide tumours with their life support. And, it alters the DNA identity of the cells it produces.  So...when I combine that with the DNA which deprives the tumours of their glycemic needs - its a double strangle hold, effect.

Doug said that from his experience, people who attack cancer with a vegetarian diet and juicing and keeping an alkyline host body travel through the healing process faster. But - its important to note that some people, are healed by DCA - while not following a natural health protocol such as I do. And, some people who follow it carefully and take DCA, are not successful and they still succumb to the disease.

Doug asked me to open my mouth so he could look inside. I puzzled over why he should make such a request, and it later occurred to me that he was likely looking to see if I had mercury dental fillings. Doug also suggested that I select copper free calcium and liquid vitamin D and to take 1 ml daily.

The total cost of my visit to see Doug and to buy the fermented wheat germ was a little over $400.

If you are interested in attending the Medicor clinic and  have questions which you would like to have answered from a patients perspective you may write me by clicking here. But, from my experience, don't hesitate to call the clinic to speak to Silvana, their receptionist.  They're there to help.

Ruth Used Every Resource at her Fingertips and she Beat Death

Do you remember the you tube video of Ruthie?  Ruth was fighting for her life against both her disease and the medical establishment, to take her plea for help seriously.  So, in the midst of her frustration she created her own You Tube video.

I checked the video and discovered that it only had a little over 400 viewers.  But, listen. There is always hope.  One of the viewers was John Monson, an English doctor who was working in the States.  He saw the video and he offered his services to operate on Ruth.
It is highly unlikely that either Dr. Monson or Ruth will ever read these words. But, Ruth...you explored all your options, and came out a winner. You are alive. And, Dr. John Monson, you are a caring and a compassionate man - a credit to your profession. Blessed are the patients who count you as their doctor.


To read Ruth's amazing story, please click here.