Pancreatic Cancer
Barbara
Barbara was doing so well, the posts will explain, then her doctor wanted her to do more chemo. From what we understand, as soon as she started the higher strength chemo again she started to decline and passed away on December 28, 2002. We were devastated by this because everything looked so wonderful, we do not understand why the doctors insisted to restart or increase the chemo. Barbara and her family will always be in our hearts. Kristin worked so hard to get her mom well. We have seen that those who stay on chemo, even when done as a precaution, their condition declines and they die, but they have "No Evidence" of cancer. Doctors need to review these facts more intensely. Kristin and Sarah are the two strongest daughters I know of who dedicated themselves to helping their moms.
From: Kristin Incredible Changes !! written 2/3/02 9:50;16 PM EST
Fred: We hardly recognize my mom anymore. She used to be a sick woman, hardly able to get out of bed... no life in her eyes. She's been on Dose 3 for about 10 days now and went shopping at Macy's for 2 hours today! She is bright and lively, has wonderful color in her cheeks, doesn't take naps during the day (!!!), and says she feels relatively normal. It's unbelievable. She's had the one chemo treatment (last week) and goes in for another on Tuesday this week. Then she's off for 2 weeks. She's afraid to think that she's on her way to recovery, but I can't help but believe it could be anything but that! Do some people do well and then take a nosedive, even when sticking to the program? We're all afraid to be so encouraged. Thanks Fred... Kristin
Kristin - Mom update Sat Mar 16 21:25:44 2002 I wrote nearly 2 months ago about my mom, who was diagnosed on her surgery day of 12/31/01 with stage 4 pancreatic cancer (tumor in pancreatic head with mets to several periaortic nodes) and said I'd post updates. Since that time, she started on a nutritional program designed by Fred, getting up to dose 3, which Fred said was okay (for awhile), because she's so small. She also started on chemo (gemzar and cisplatin) at that time. Her CA 19-9 count was 2400. Since then, her CA 19-9 has steadily dropped... as of her last test on 3/11/02, her count is 896. She had a CT scan done on 3/12, and prelim. reports show nothing in her lymph nodes. Her stomach used to be large and hard; for a month now it has been normal. She generally feels good (I think what makes her sick at all is that chemo), though she still has back discomfort if she is upright for a long period of time. It took some time, undoubtedly, for that cancer to grow and spread... we don't expect it to go away overnight. We are thrilled with her progress. By the way, she finally committed to taking dose 4 about 3 weeks ago.... she agreed that if she's going to do this, she'd better go all the way; there's no time to play with pc.
vitamins experience was posted 04/18/2002 01:15 am by Kristin There IS no down side! My mom (stage 4 pc) has been taking her nutritional program since late January, and she's a different woman now. I don't mean to sound like an infomercial, but I've watched my mother transform from a woman who seemed to be close to the end of her life into a woman who seems back to normal! This wouldn't have been possible without Fred's assistance. She was in bed most of the time, she'd lost weight, she had no life in her eyes at all, she was in constant pain, she had a hard and distended abdomen, and no appetite. It was painful to watch, and I knew I was watching her get worse by the day. I thank God every day for Fred and for his dedication to helping others with cancer. My mom is now a busy woman... she is out doing normal things, her weight is back to normal, as is her appetite (we just got back from going out to dinner), she looks terrific, her abdomen is back to normal, and she has NO PAIN!! She adjusted to the pills easily... mainly because she was committed to taking them, and thankfully she had no ill-effects getting used to the pills. It's risky stepping out and doing something like this.... but Fred is the real deal, as is his program.
Freddie: Just faxed you Mom's latest blood results with her CA19-9 count, which dropped another 300+ in the last two weeks! I forgot to mention her high glucose number in my earlier e-mail and hope it's one of those things that will settle down over time. Kristin
UPDATE: We received notice that Barbara passed away on December 28, 2002. We do not have information to forward at this time. Our hearts go out to the family, Barbara and family are always in our hearts, Sarah and Kristen are daughters to be so proud of. Everyone tried their best for Barbara. Barbara and her family are exceptionally wonderful people, they are very special to us and Barbara will be special for all of us.
CA 19-9 = 2199.8 on Feb 10, 2002
CA 19-9 = 896 on March 11, 2002
CA 19-9 = 570.4 on April 29, 2002
