Is there hope?

eastender · New User Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 7

Hello,my dad has esophageal cancer with liver mets..He's just about hanging on there, he's painfully thin, he's had his first chemo, which nearly blew him away,but praise God he coped..doc said he should wait 2 weeks and perhaps undertake a less aggressive form of chemo. Dad is so thin,and he is making an effort to eat, he's having Ensure drink supplements, and the doc has prescribed steroids to enhance his appetite and maybe encourage weight gain, has anybody tried these steroids?He also had great trouble going to the toilet, and has to take enemas and laxatives, is this part of the disease too? sorry, but my mum and I dont know everything about this awful disease.I take hope though from the many fantastic people who have this, and seem to be cheerful and positive about the future on this website. We love daddy and want to do the best for him..my prayers for all fellow sufferers all over the world, that their pain may be lessened today..best wishes, Gabby. London..[/i]

mousa · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:58 am Post subject: Re: Is there hope?

Dear Gabby,

First let me say that Dad and Mum and you are all in my thoughts and prayers. I have a good idea what you are all going through because my husband (64 years old) was diagnosed in July 2004 with inoperable adenocarcinoma of the stomach with mets and was given just a few months. Like your Dad, my husband opted for chemotherapy, and had all the side effects like diarrhea, constipation , rashes, paralytic ileus, dropped from 73 kg to 54 kg,, had to be fed by IV and jejunostomy feeding tube, and so on and so forth. And we cried!

My husband was given Megace tablets to stimulate his appetite. He could not tolerate Ensure, but was OK on soya milk to which I would add honey or chocolate, olive oil, bananas, a little bit of anything to get some calories into him. I always cooked fruit and veg before adding to the drink.

My husband is well now – the cancer disappeared!! Doctors don’t understand how or why.

My husband’s oncologist is not against herbal supplements and my husband takes a Chinese herbal supplement called TIAN XIAN. He also takes LIN TZEU every day and has a daily injection of ZADAXIN (Thymalfasin). This is in addition to Folic acid, an iron supplement, selenium, zinc, calcium, VitB6, Royal Jelly, Fish oil. There’s another supplement now called Prosure made by Abbott Laboratories and our oncologist is recommending it. Google Tian Xian and Lin Tzeu.

Other ‘alternative’ treatments are to ask all your family and friends to pray for you all -prayer is very powerful. Hands on healing treatments such as Reiki are also powerful – am sure there will be a Reiki practitioner near you. It was our GP who recommended Reiki! We also were introduced to the books by Grace Cooke who was the channel for White Eagle and we were greatly comforted.

I do hope what I have written will be of help to you. Please keep in touch. Love and hugs to you all, Val

rlee · Site Admin Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 245

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Regarding steroids to increase appetite, this is a common medication used to help cancer patients. You may also notice an increase in energy level, although it can cause insomnia for some patients. In regards to the constipation, there could be many causes. One of the most common is due to pain medication such as morphine or similar. All opioid types medications have a side effect of constipation. Usually this can be controlled to some extent with laxatives and GI stimulants. Ask your medical team about this.

RLee, MD
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RLee, MD

Any information provided is NOT intended to provide specific medical advice to users but rather to provide users with information to help them better understand their health condition and related care. All readers are strongly encouraged to consult with a qualified physician for answers to their personal medical questions.

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