Strange results and Doing well!

I just finished my third infusion which completes my first "round" or cycle of this Abraxane treatment. I am pleased to say that I am doing very well on it. The first week was difficult. I felt like I was moving through molasses. Everything was foggy and I could barely walk my usual 2 mile loop around the neighborhood. As I walked I felt like a zombie, lunging side to side as I took each step. David was trying to have a conversation with me and I could barely form sentences and responses. I was so tired. I'm thinking that was the fasting and the port recovery not just the chemotherapy. I've adjusted since that first week and am tolerating this drug well.

Infusion two last week was when I was back to eating my normal Life Over Cancer and then some diet and the chemo wasn't as hard. They had talked about cutting the steroids from ten to five but had already hung the bag before I knew it...I still had the shakes but it wasn't as bad as when I was fasting the week before. At this third infusion we opted for NO steroids and I feel fine. I don't know what it is but I really feel like this fasting is working. This last fast, the second, was much harder. Dr. Longo was concerned about my BMI being too close to 18 so he opted for me to switch from the ChemoLieve fast (a four day fast with 1200, 300x3 calorie plan) to the ProLon diet (a five day 1050, 500x4 calorie plan).  I thought, what?!? More fasting days but more calories is still one more fasting day AND fasting the day after chemo. Alright, but I'm a team player so I did it. I sure am glad I did.

I feel great after this last round of chemo and fasting. Saturday I napped for a good amount of the day and then felt better by the evening. I broke my fast that night since David and I had the ballet (Giselle, which was amazing and I cried at the end it was so beautiful) and we made it a date night with dinner. I broke the fast with two miso soups, sauteed veggies in ponzu and steamed mushrooms with two bites of sashimi. Everything tasted so amazing and I have NO nausea. In fact I am eating everything in site. There's nothing I won't eat (that's still part of my healthy diet).

I found the original 2009 case studies for fasting with cancer that Dr. Valter Longo and his colleagues published. It explains A LOT. I am so thrilled that I am doing the fasting...

This blog provides an wonderful explanation in layman's terms:
Mark's Daily Apple - Fasting and Cancer

For the actual 2009 study, please visit the following link:
Fasting and cancer treatment in humans: A case series report 2009

This is my chemo off week so I'm just cruising along and feeling great. Working out. I have good energy. Bulking back up (a joke since I only lost two pounds and I've already added that back on). I'm actually not feeling the neuropathy like I was last week (during the non-fasting week) which is nice. The top of my right foot and a couple of toes on each foot felt very tingly all last week.

We do have some confusing results however and Philomena is very perplexed. It's her job to remain skeptical though, right? By all indications my blood chemistry shows that two important tests the LDH (a lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme, a test that determines levels of possible tissue and organ damage/disease - LDH 5 tests for liver disease) and the AST (Aspartate aminotransferase, a test that determines liver diseases) have come down significantly so we assumed that the tumor markers would also be coming down. My LDH (normal range is 313-618) was 1306 before I started chemo and is now 620. My AST (normal range is 15-46) was 77 before I started and is now 52. My tumor markers were analyzed for the first time since I started the Abraxane chemotherapy as well. They take longer so I didn't have the results until Philomena called me that night. She said that one of the tumor markers jumped up considerably but the other went down. She said has never seen that before except on two occasions 1) in people in kidney failure (which is not the case) and 2) in people who have never been in treatment for breast cancer but take tamoxifen preventatively. Their numbers will jump up before they go back down.  She said that she would send the blood over to Cedars' lab to double check but that since she's never had a patient who has been fasting she thinks that the marker tests may be unreliable for me. We'll just have to see what does or doesn't light up in the scans in another 5-6 weeks. She said she's not sure what to make of it.

We'll retry tumor markers on the 14th when I start my next cycle again. However, since I'll be fasting that week again, I'm going to see if we should just wait until the following week when I am NOT fasting to see if it makes a difference. What I feel deep down is that this is working, I am making my body a hostile environment for the cancer cells and I'm also making the cancer "stick out" to the chemotherapy drugs so that they can work more efficiently. Time will tell!!

I feel like I am engaging in Guerilla warfare. It's exciting. I'm a guinea pig or a laboratory rat which is a mixed bag but all in all I'm excited at the prospect that I am doing everything I can to kill cancer.

I met with Dr. Kenneth Conklin at UCLA. He's an M.D./Ph.D. that specializes in Integrative Oncology and helps patients find the right combination of supplements that helps the body strengthen the innate immune system while undergoing cancer treatment. It was a two hour long session that was incredibly fascinating and informative. He is a brilliant doctor. I left with a new diet regime - the only thing different from what I have been doing is now NO GLUTEN, NO SOY and adding back in CHICKEN and TURKEY sparingly. He advocates proteins, lots of whole fruits and veggies (diet should consist of primarily complex carbohydrates) and minimal grains. I also left with a huge bag of supplements after visiting the UCLA pharmacy. I am working on how to divide and conquer this regime. It's a lot to take. I mean a whole lot all day long. I'm working on a spreadsheet and pill organizer system that will make it easier to manage. I will do this on my non-fasting weeks and only some during my fasting weeks.

Oh, and I still have my hair. I've passed the 20 day mark where I lost all mine before. The cold cap therapy is working. There's been more shedding than normal but no huge clumps like I experienced in the past. But now I have to figure out if I want to continue since there are cases where patients are on Abraxane for a year...if I do that it will cost a small fortune...   Next Tuesday starts another fasting week for the infusion on the 14th.  Fight on!!!