Starting treatment on Monday

JohnnyP · Jun 18, 2019

Also, get Jane McClellan's book. The kindle edition is less than $5.

I don't usually watch the "chrisbeatcancer" youtube channel, but I decided to click on the episode with her as a guest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qReudtklq9Y

Here's another one, haven't watched it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEiDe4cfE4I

She wasn't satisfied with the "standard of care" so she did a lot of research and found old, off patent drugs and supplements that showed mild anti cancer properties. You've got to hit it from every direction.

Make sure you have a notepad handy.

Michael Andros · Jun 18, 2019

JohnnyP said:
Also, get Jane McClellan's book. The kindle edition is less than $5.

I don't usually watch the "chrisbeatcancer" youtube channel, but I decided to click on the episode with her as a guest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qReudtklq9Y

Here's another one, haven't watched it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEiDe4cfE4I

She wasn't satisfied with the "standard of care" so she did a lot of research and found old, off patent drugs and supplements that showed mild anti cancer properties. You've got to hit it from every direction.

Make sure you have a notepad handy.

You both ( but especially your wife ) have my very best wishes for a positive outcome. Cancer is something to be taken, on every level, deadly ( pun fully intended ) serious. There are few, if any, shortcuts. And level of expertise in vital care needed can always be left wanting. I happen to be being treated at one of the top-rated cancer hospitals in the world and am vastly fortunate to have it within driving distance on a daily basis. So, overwhelmingly, I feel I can accept at face value most everything, if not everything, I am told. And I am vastly grateful for it.

Again, my very best wishes for you both. I cannot tell you all will be fine but I can certainly say the chances are there.

Dead Money · Jun 18, 2019

Michael Andros said:
First, I am so very sorry for your loss. In some way, and this, as a child caring for one's mother ( or father, but I think it really is different with one's mother ), is particularly painful, but she almost certainly had some sense of relief at the end ( while her awareness was still in tact ) at the cessation of the feeling you were being "burdened" with having to care for her. That, truly, is a mother's largest nightmare, of having the tables turned and the *child* being now the caregiver and not the mother. I cannot tell you how many times, as my mother slipped into her 60s, that we had that conversation. She was adamant that she never become a "burden" to either myself or my older sister. And as it turned out, at least from her point of view, that is precisely what happened. Of course WE never, ever took that stance. We simply were just beginning to pay her back for lifetimes of care, worry, stress and unselfish giving. Not once did we ever consider any of it as "burden". But she did. It was a conundrum never really solved for her or, for that matter knowing how she felt, for us as well.

At the end, I brought her home, to my house, from the care facility. She passed away 3 days later, although the doctors told us she could very well have lasted months if not longer. We all wish it could've been so. She, we suspect, had very different ideas about that. It was February 18th, 1991. Not a week goes by I do not think of her. So many times I've wished I had her to speak with... but every time I think of her, she lives. Her life is once again vital, meaningful, dynamic, if only for that too-short a time. But it is something. It certainly is something. And for that I am grateful.

Again Phil, so sorry for your loss...

M

I appreciate it. It has been tough. The burden thing rings very true with me. I think ever mother feels this way. I was told that she didn't want to be a burden to me many many times. I always told her she was not a burden. I was happy to be there and help her in anyway I could. She was at the hospital when she passed on. I pretty much lived there for those two, almost three weeks and was holding her hand when she passed away in her sleep that morning. I would have liked to have brought her back home but she was to unstable and needed key meds to be given by IV.(anti-seizure meds mostly) They actually let her do hospice at the hospital because of that which I hear is pretty rare. Sure do miss her.

Dead Money · Jun 18, 2019

Michael Andros so what is next with your treatment plan?

Dead Money · Jun 18, 2019

JohnnyP said:
My wife has stage 4 breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy about six years ago. The surgeon told us he got it all, so she opted out of post op radiation and chemo.

She started having trouble walking about two years ago, so a year ago she finally went in for a checkup. The doc ordered an MRI and they told us she has at least a hundred lesions on her spine and ribs. They almost ate through to the spinal column.

Her doc told me she had four to six months. I put us both on a very low carb diet, and she has been doing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Insurance doesn't pay for it, but a local place is cheap enough. Twenty treatments for $90 each. Three days a week, one hour at three atmospheres 100% oxygen. Total time in the chamber is ninety minutes.

Prior to starting HBOT, her cancer marker CA15-3 was rising. We'l get another blood test next week when she finishes the 20th session, then sign up for twenty more, but this time go for 90 minutes at depth, 120 minutes total.

I am also exploring high dose intravenous vitamin C. It's expensive, probably $200 each, three days a week. I know it can be done at home, looking into how to do that.

Oral vitamin c is not good enough. It's an anti-oxidant, which helps the cancer. High dose IVC is actually a pro-oxidant. It combines with iron and forms hydrogen peroxide (free radicals). Normal cells can deal with it, but not cancer.

Watch anything by Dr. Dominic D'Agostino and Thomas Seyfried. Also, listen to a podcast Dr. Dom was on with Peter Attia. It's two hours and forty minutes, but very interesting.

Ketogenic Diet & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy | Full Lecture by Dominic D'Agostino PhD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGN_DV9UVSU

Peter Attia/D'Agastino podcast (scroll down just a bit on the page to get to the podcast link):
https://peterattiamd.com/domdagostino/

Vitamin C:
https://riordanclinic.org/what-we-do/high-dose-iv-vitamin-c/

Oh wow. Sorry you and your wife are having to go thru this. Cancer is a mother****er but plenty of people beat it.

Michael Andros · Jun 18, 2019

Dead Money said:
I appreciate it. It has been tough. The burden thing rings very true with me. I think ever mother feels this way. I was told that she didn't want to be a burden to me many many times. I always told her she was not a burden. I was happy to be there and help her in anyway I could. She was at the hospital when she passed on. I pretty much lived there for those two, almost three weeks and was holding her hand when she passed away in her sleep that morning. I would have liked to have brought her back home but she was to unstable and needed key meds to be given by IV.(anti-seizure meds mostly) They actually let her do hospice at the hospital because of that which I hear is pretty rare. Sure do miss her.

I know the feeling well, Phil... I'd like to say it passes with time but it doesn't. And it shouldn't. As I said, each time I think of her, she is vital and alive and there. Even after nearly 30 years...

Michael Andros · Jun 18, 2019

Dead Money said:
Michael Andros so what is next with your treatment plan?

4 months of R & R.

JohnnyP · Jun 19, 2019

Here she is last week, getting into the HBOT chamber. I started the video in portrait mode, my mistake, so it came out sideways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtC-QEbUq88&feature=youtu.be

She had a broken back a year ago. One of the doctors in the hospital told me at some point, before all twenty radiation treatments were completed, I would have to set up a bed downstairs because she wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs to our bedroom. It was tough, but she proved him wrong.

It took several months after radiation treatments ended before we saw any signs of healing. That was only to kill the tumors attacking her spine. Once it's stage 4, they can't kill it all. That's why we are doing HBOT, keto diet, and a few other things.

Is she looking good or what, for being 78 with terminal cancer. She was in bad shape a year ago.

jrctherake · Jun 19, 2019

Michael, I know I've not been a member here very long but, just like in the rooms I remember from the old days with no internet/social media:

Your at your local room just hitting balls and shooting the breeze with other regulars. Well, in walks a stranger and immediately he lets everyone know that he's looking for action, any action, any game and he's not trying to hide the fact that he's a "world beater".

Well, most (good local players) that on a normal day, have a hard time getting even cheap action are now the ones being targeted in their own homeroom.

In those situations, almost never, very rarely does even the best local players stand up and say "yeah, I'll play, what's it worth and what's the game?". Instead, the usually loud and "full of themselves" players, all of a sudden, well, now they are quiet as a church mouse. Yep, scared to see not just what the stranger has but, moreso what "their made of". Times like can and WILL bring out exactly what's inside.

Well, you Sir, have stepped up, stepped out and challenged the world beater and it seems to me that you've sent him back to where he came with less kick in him than he came with but, you Sir, you now know what you have inside you. Hell, we all know now.

Ive heard the phrase "he's got gamble". Thats not you Sir. You have HEART and have shown that you are no stranger to the GRIND on and off the table.

A man like yourself, well, you have my respect.

Jeff

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

JohnnyP said:
Here she is last week, getting into the HBOT chamber. I started the video in portrait mode, my mistake, so it came out sideways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtC-QEbUq88&feature=youtu.be

She had a broken back a year ago. One of the doctors in the hospital told me at some point, before all twenty radiation treatments were completed, I would have to set up a bed downstairs because she wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs to our bedroom. It was tough, but she proved him wrong.

It took several months after radiation treatments ended before we saw any signs of healing. That was only to kill the tumors attacking her spine. Once it's stage 4, they can't kill it all. That's why we are doing HBOT, keto diet, and a few other things.

Is she looking good or what, for being 78 with terminal cancer. She was in bad shape a year ago.

Determination goes a long way in these situations...

She looks wonderful and good for you both. Small victories take on a life of their own and prove more valuable than anyone could have ever suspected. Once again, my best hopes and wishes for you both.

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

jrctherake said:
Michael, I know I've not been a member here very long but, just like in the rooms I remember from the old days with no internet/social media:

Your at your local room just hitting balls and shooting the breeze with other regulars. Well, in walks a stranger and immediately he lets everyone know that he's looking for action, any action, any game and he's not trying to hide the fact that he's a "world beater".

Well, most (good local players) that on a normal day, have a hard time getting even cheap action are now the ones being targeted in their own homeroom.

In those situations, almost never, very rarely does even the best local players stand up and say "yeah, I'll play, what's it worth and what's the game?". Instead, the usually loud and "full of themselves" players, all of a sudden, well, now they are quiet as a church mouse. Yep, scared to see not just what the stranger has but, moreso what "their made of". Times like can and WILL bring out exactly what's inside.

Well, you Sir, have stepped up, stepped out and challenged the world beater and it seems to me that you've sent him back to where he came with less kick in him than he came with but, you Sir, you now know what you have inside you. Hell, we all know now.

Ive heard the phrase "he's got gamble". Thats not you Sir. You have HEART and have shown that you are no stranger to the GRIND on and off the table.

A man like yourself, well, you have my respect.

Jeff

Jeff - You know, a lot of this stuff I read here is not terribly difficult for me to reply to. I basically respond with some version of "Thank you so much, I appreciate the thoughts and wishes." And I do. Deeply. And, frankly, the idea that SO MANY people, most of whom I do not know, will never speak with or meet in person, care enough about me to spend even a nanosecond wishing me *anything* is, many times, beyond my comprehension. Then, there are certain posts here that actually make me stop and say to myself... "How do I respond to this?" And, yeah, this is one of them.

So here goes...

The analogy of the road runner walking in the door and all the home town heroes all suddenly becoming shrinking violets is one most old-time ( for us, anyway ) players are very familiar with... ad there was a damn good reason for it. When you spend your time in action with people you know, day in, day out, no matter HOW much action you get, how much you win, it's very much akin to breeding within the family. And we all know what happens when you pork only your first cousins over a long period of time. Your kids end up with "issues": club feet, learning disabilities, warped senses of humor... those road-runners were all out there "spreading the genes around." New action every day. New challenges. Tougher challenges. And tougher because, as anyone who's ever been out scuffling will tell you, road runners don't *have* to win. That DON'T *always* have the "nuts". So they end up sharp. As a knife.
And smart. They don't make bad games often cause they can't AFFORD to make bad games. And making *good* games with players you don't know, in their own rooms is, yeah.. a challenge.

That's what I'm doing. But **I** am the roadrunner, playing the best player in the house. I'm in action with the strongest player I've ever faced, in his own room, on his own table and he hits 'em realllllyyy well. He don't miss often. And he's rock solid in his fundamentals cause he's been playing, nonstop, for thousands of years. But? I couldn't care less... because **I** play like God on Acid. And he has NO OUT. Simple as that. He has no out... I'm gonna beat his brains in, then I'm gonna walk out the door, get in my car, cue in the back seat, and I'm gonna drive back home to my wife and my kid and I'm gonna go on about my business, living... cause that's what I do. It's all I've ever known.

So thanks Jeff. All this not only makes me feel really good but it helps me more than you can imagine.

CuesDirectly · Jun 19, 2019

Michael, I have kept up with this entire thread every morning while I enjoy my coffee. I enjoy studying human nature and the things we humans do.

One thing stands out with you. You're in a tough situation and every day you compliment people or say things designed to make them feel good.

That's why I said a while back that the world needs more people like you, this thread proved my point.

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

CuesDirectly said:
Michael, I have kept up with this entire thread every morning while I enjoy my coffee. I enjoy studying human nature and the things we humans do.

One thing stands out with you. You're in a tough situation and every day you compliment people or say things designed to make them feel good.

That's why I said a while back that the world needs more people like you, this thread proved my point.

I learned a long time ago, Dave, the world is about much more than any one person and what they think they need or want or deserve. Life is, truly, a perfect example of the old saying that "The whole is always more than the sum of its parts". People make up the world as individuals but they mean more, have more value, when considered as parts of the whole. Life is what counts. Living... and life is hard enough without accenting all the things that make it hard like meanness or selfishness or dishonesty or ingratitude, etc, etc, ad nauseum... and really? It's easy being nice. And showing gratitude. It takes no energy, it actually ADDS to it. I don't think that's a co-incidence.

So? Being honestly grateful for all this is not only easy but it helps me immeasurably. More than I probably ever could have imagined...

Thanks Dave, You're a good guy. And one HELL of a cuemaker!

jay helfert · Jun 19, 2019

Michael Andros said:
I learned a long time ago, Dave, the world is about much more than any one person and what they think they need or want or deserve. Life is, truly, a perfect example of the old saying that "The whole is always more than the sum of its parts". People make up the world as individuals but they mean more, have more value, when considered as parts of the whole. Life is what counts. Living... and life is hard enough without accenting all the things that make it hard like meanness or selfishness or dishonesty or ingratitude, etc, etc, ad nauseum... and really? It's easy being nice. And showing gratitude. It takes no energy, it actually ADDS to it. I don't think that's a co-incidence.

So? Being honestly grateful for all this is not only easy but it helps me immeasurably. More than I probably ever could have imagined...

Thanks Dave, You're a good guy. And one HELL of a cuemaker!

First of all I applaud you Michael! You are one helluva man in my book. I'm so glad that you have graced us all at AZB.

Your comments above made me think about two lessons I learned long ago.
1. It doesn't cost anything to be nice!
2. Just because someone is being an asshole doesn't mean you have to be one too.
If you can remember these two things then your life will be vastly improved.

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

jay helfert said:
First of all I applaud you Michael! You are one helluva man in my book. I'm so glad that you have graced us all at AZB.

Your comments above made me think about two lessons I learned long ago.
1. It doesn't cost anything to be nice!
2. Just because someone is being an asshole doesn't mean you have to be one too.
If you can remember these two things then your life will be vastly improved.

Well, thank you, Mr. Helfert, sir, coming from someone who is at the very apex of my "respect totem-pole", that means more than I can express.

Something you said reminds me of something I heard long ago that makes more and more sense as time goes by:

During the course of your day, if you call one person an a55hole, well... welcome to life. If you call 2 people an a55hole, it sure isn't your lucky day. But if you call *3* people an a55hole, guess what... go look in a mirror. YOU'RE the a55hole! :grin:

Thanks again, Jay.

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

Radiation was up and running today for the first time this week. So now I have 3 radiation sessions left and I'm done. So Monday is it. 4 months of recuperation, coming right up...

:woot::dance::yeah:

fab944 · Jun 19, 2019

Congratulations! Can't wait to hear about that sweet-hitting JW you got.....

ALL THE BEST ROLLS TO YOU!

Frank

Michael Andros said:
Radiation was up and running today for the first time this week. So now I have 3 radiation sessions left and I'm done. So Monday is it. 4 months of recuperation, coing right up...

:woot::dance::yeah:

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

fab944 said:
Congratulations! Can't wait to hear about that sweet-hitting JW you got.....

ALL THE BEST ROLLS TO YOU!

Frank

Thanks, Frank. It actually ( of course it does... it's a JW ) hit's 'em phenomenally. I just was at the room hitting balls with it 2 hours ago. The thing I can't get over is how incredibly *tight* the shafts-to-pin are. It's exactly as if Bill just made this thing a week ago. And it's 45 years old. Wow...

jrctherake · Jun 19, 2019

Michael Andros said:
Thanks, Frank. It actually ( of course it does... it's a JW ) hit's 'em phenomenally. I just was at the room hitting balls with it 2 hours ago. The thing I can't get over is how incredibly *tight* the shafts-to-pin are. It's exactly as if Bill just made this thing a week ago. And it's 45 years old. Wow...

Just like "a good man", it's hard to keep "quality from showing"....regardless of the age, etc...etc...

Jeff

Michael Andros · Jun 19, 2019

jrctherake said:
Just like "a good man", it's hard to keep "quality from showing"....regardless of the age, etc...etc...

Jeff

Amen, brother... amen.

Starting treatment on Monday

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