Wednesday, September 8, 2010

#18 A Big Step Forward

The 7Th of September marked a big step forward for Becky. With something akin to the exuberance of a child at Christmas she happily returned to work. She had prepped for the day with a minor shopping expedition to acquire some new pants to compensate for the 70+ pounds she has lost. She also got a new bag to tote all her essentials in..... her work "life support system" if you will.

Physically the weight loss has done her some good. Still a minor amount of pain in her hip now and then but overall both her hips and knees are giving her a lot fewer problems. She looks more healthy and also hasn't needed her "walking stick" for over a month now. All good news indeed!

While that is all wonderful there is still a huge reality check out there that has to be cashed. Point blank she still has breast cancer and will for some time yet. On the other hand we've had some wonderful success at shrinking the size of the tumor. It's not happening at break neck speed.... but then again it didn't just suddenly appear in her breast the size of a softball either. Took time to develop and it will take time to eliminate too.

While I never thought the pill the oncologist prescribed was going to be a "magic bullet" it was common sense that it couldn't hurt anything either. Since her cancer is estrogen receptive then it's only logical that if you reduce her estrogen level you hamper the growth of the cancer. To that estrogen inhibitor we're augmenting with DCA (see a previous post for the particulars on that product) and also with Oleander extract. Both have been shown to be effective against cancer but each works differently. Thus we are attacking the cancer on three fronts and with three weapons which each exploit a specific weakness of the tumor and it's growth mechanism. As long as those three seem to be working then we'll keep pressing forward.

We've still got a good supply of the MMS product too. That's the one which proved to be somewhat too effective at killing abnormal cells. Since it is so strong and so effective we're holding it in reserve in case we hit some sort of impasse in our progress and need a stronger weapon.

In case there is worry out there about the weight Becky has lost..... it's not from lack of appetite as is often the case with cancer patients. To the contrary she has a very healthy appetite indeed! At many meals she sitting there with a clean plate sipping her water and waiting on me to finish. I think it is a by product of changes to her basic diet in general and in eating things which are more healthy for her. Those changes are also a part of the overall cancer fighting plan so we're not concerned that some weight has come off.

We're not sure what is ahead of us but it does appear that we have turned a corner of sorts. The tumor mass seems to be on the wane..... Becky is healthy and happy otherwise.... and thrilled to be back at work with all her wonderful friends. Our course is ,however, dictated by what the cancer does.

At this point she's a candidate for surgery IF she thinks removal of the breast is her best option. Since the tumor IS shrinking then we see no harm in simply continuing what we're doing and monitoring the progress of this therapy. If, at some future date, we need to consider surgery then the mass will be that much smaller and the surgery far less radical. We see no downside at this point in time. Our outlook remains positive and hopeful.

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