Breast Cancer

**gela923** · 10-19-2007, 10:07 PM

Hi
I don't often post; sorry to say I'm more of a lurker but I do read the forum a lot. My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer last week after a breasty biopsy came back positive. PET Scan/CT scan showed the lymph nodes are involved and will have to come out. We were also told the cancer is not ER positive and it has not spread beyond the breast. They are suggesting chemo and surgery, and may be able to preserve the breast. That's pretty much all we know right now and I'm going to do a ton of reading this weekend to learn all I can about this and the suggested chemotherapy.

I know there are some threads about breast cancer on this forum and I will start researching and reading today. I just wanted to put this out there in case anyone had any suggested sites or info I should definitely look at. I've found breastcancer.org and have started reading that as well as breastchancerchoices.org.

Thank in advance.

**trcg** · 10-19-2007, 10:19 PM

Here is a very interesting website. Not saying anything about any type of treatment. Lots of cancer in our family and the best outcome was my grandfather who used a non-conventional treatment for cancer of the pancereas and lived 16 year cancer free- died an old man of almost 90...this after he was told he would die in 6 months or sooner.

Anyway here is a very interesting site with a lot of information:
http://www.cancerfightingstrategies.com/?engine=adwords!800&keyword=%28cancer+treatments%2 9&match_type=

Renee

**ebonykawai** · 10-19-2007, 10:19 PM

Best site ever:

http://breastcancerchoices.org

I emailed you with some info, hon. I'm so sorry to hear about this, but there are TONS of good, healthy therapies out there. Research, research, research!!

I completely agree with Renee. As far as cancer goes, PLEASE don't jump into conventional treatment until you at least look at alternative medicine. There is some excellent research and studies out there. Right off the bat, I'd say start taking vitamin D and vitamin C, selenium, and coQ10. Start on a vegetarian diet or get as close as possible, juice a LOT, especially with veggies, eat tons of fresh produce, get lots of sleep, work on stress levels, start a meditation practice...goodness, I could go on and on! Just research. Here's more great links:

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/breastcancer.htm

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T040300.asp

http://www.cancure.org/budwig_diet.htm

Good luck, feel free to email me any time. Just click on my screen name.

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"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.")

http://www.myspace.com/prydwen

**LilDeb** · 10-19-2007, 11:47 PM

gela923: I am so sorry about your sister. But there is hope!

ebonykawai: Thanks for sharing your information. I agree about doing some research before jumping into chemo.

A friend of mine has breast cancer and had the surgery and is undergoing chemo right now. Not fun. Her teenage daughter found this web-site for her mother. It is www.caringbridge.org and is a free, nonprofit web service that connects family and friends to share information, love and support during a health crisis, treatment and recovery. It is pretty neat.

Hang in there! Your a wonderful and caring sister!

Deborah Etter
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
T-Tapp Trainer - Total Workout and MORE certified
Middletown, PA

**gela923** · 10-20-2007, 02:27 AM

Thank you all for your input. I have some great links to look at.
There's so much to learn and I agree about looking at natural alternatives. Thanks so much.

**Granny2** · 10-20-2007, 05:36 PM

You would be a good candidate for the Sister Study being done by Northwestern University, to try to find the genetic connection in generations, which would explain why one sister gets cancer, the other doesn't.

All you have to do is go to www.SisterStudy.com and tell them you want to join. They do the rest. I encourage you to do this. There is no cost or inconvenience to you except filling out some questionaires. Thanks!!

**RoseTapper** · 10-20-2007, 06:21 PM

I am so sorry to hear of your sister's breast cancer diagnosis! If you've been reading the forum for a while, you probably know that I've just finished going through the surgeries and chemo. However, I stopped my chemo treatment after reading, "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer," by Dr. Lee. Besides reading this book, the next best advice I can give your sister is to contact Michael Broffman at The Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, California. His work with supplements to help women with the effects of chemo is renowned and respected. He is always involved with cancer studies. Right now, he's involved in studies having to do with the ability of dogs to identify breast cancer in women better than conventional mammograms can. Michael helped me tremendously throughout my cancer treatment. I had horrible side-effects that were not listed for the chemos I took, and he immediately prescribed supplements that helped alleviate the symptoms. Also, if there's a Wellness Community near your sister, I would strongly recommend that she attend the workshops there on breast cancer and join a "recently diagnosed" breast cancer support group. She will gain enormous information from support group members who are having to make the same decisions that she is. That said, please feel free to have your sister contact me by e-mail (just click on my "handle") if she has any specific questions. I've done a lot of research, and I've been through quite a lot of treatment in the past year and would be happy to provide her with information and support.

Laura H. (RoseTapper)

**schoonma** · 10-21-2007, 10:00 PM

Eek,

My first post didn't work!

RENEE - I was wondering if you could tell us what your grandfather's unconventional treatment for pancreatic cancer was. I lost my uncle last December from pancreatic cancer. He found a lump one morning on his throat while shaving. His doctor told him (in July) that he wouldn't see Christmas and he didn't[V][V]

He worked his whole life in law enforcement and the last few years doing security, he was 6 months away from retiring with full benefits

If you do not want to post about his treatment, could you please e:mail me? I would like to have this information, I would have given anything to help my Uncle - I miss him so.....

Mary Ann

**gela923** · 10-22-2007, 07:31 PM

Granny2, I will definitely check out that link about the sister study. There's 3 of us and the one who was diagnosed is the youngest so I'll tell my other sister about it too.

RoseTapper, I have read many of your posts although I'm embarrased to say not as carefully as I should have. I have always shied away from things like cancer because it made me feel sad for the person going thru that

And yet, here I am trying to learn all I can about this and I appreciate so much that you are willing to help with questions. I will definitely take you up on that before long. I am going to order the book you mentioned from Dr. Lee. Also, I wonder about the Pine Clinic...did you have to actually go there to meet with him or did you contact him thru phone or email? I would really like to have her consult with an alternative doctor but traveling might be difficult.

I have already learned a bit about this and I'm so conflicted about the differing approaches. The alternative view of chemo and radiation is super scary. And yet, I am scared to NOT do the conventional route. Can I ask...did you learn of the alternative approaches before chemo and still went ahead with it? Or did you learn about it later as the need came up? This is probably discussed in your other posts but I'm sorry to say I haven't been able to read them carefully yet.

We have an appointment with the surgeon today. We're supposed to decide whether chemo first and then surgery or to proceed with surgery and then chemo. Neither sounds like a great option to me but according to the oncologist, she shouldn't wait long to decide.

Thanks again.

**RoseTapper** · 10-23-2007, 04:06 AM

I understand your conflicting feelings on this subject--these really are personal decisions that have to be made. There is no way to know which decision is the correct one. That's one of the scariest things about cancer. I didn't read about alternative ways to treat cancer until after I'd had the surgery and part of the chemo. However, I'm really not totally sorry that I had the particular chemo that I did. I did learn after the fact that only one-third of the women who undergo treatment with the chemo combination I was treated with actually see any benefit from it--the other two-thirds get no benefit at all, and there's no way to know which women will benefit. So.....I have a little over a 30% chance that the chemo helped me. I'm just hoping that I am one of the few that the chemo helped. As for radiation, thank goodness that I didn't have to consider it (since I had a bilateral mastectomy instead). If the cancer is in the left breast, the radiation can cause damage to the heart and arteries that feed into it--in the end, it is oftentimes the heart damage that will eventually kill a woman...not the breast cancer.

As for The Pine Street Clinic, I was lucky enough to live close enough to drive there (it took one and half hours by car), but it may be possible to e-mail Michael Broffman for his assistance. He takes the time to put together supplements that help each woman as an individual. Because I have celiac disease, he had to be very precise about the supplements he prescribed, and he continues to help me even now.

Studies show that integrated medicine (a combination of allopathic and holistic medicine) increase one's chance of surviving cancer by 50%, so my strongest advice would be to research both and to find a physician who combines these two philosophies.

Laura H. (RoseTapper)