Hugs and love,

Kim

Thanks for sharing, feel free to send a picture if you want to add it to your description.

Meanwhile keep an eye on yourself and your loved ones involved and take care.

Hugs,

Kim

I would just like to add one other thing to my last post. Christian is buried in a beautiful cemetery which has rustic charm; it is council owned. There is an abundance of wildlife and trees, there are birds so tame they will come and sit on your arm or on the back of the seat we have provided. There are Lorrikeets and even Kangaroos that we see occasionally. This makes it easier for us; we even bought the plot next to his so we have it for ourselves when needed.

All this really does help with the healing.

Jim

Today marks the first anniversary of the passing of my son Christian. The year has been long and hard, but we are now at the ‘physchological
milestone’ of the journey.

Today we released 12 doves at his grave in his memory; it was very touching. On his birthday in February we released Monarch butterflies in the hope that they would breed.

Thank you all for your support over the years. I hope all goes well for everyone. Life some times takes you in directions you hadn’t intended but stay strong, WHATEVER HAPPENS.

We as a family have managed to stay strong, but some days aren’t as good as others but you have to do your best and I think we have done that.

Jim

Thanks for sharing: your husband sounds like my father in the sense that he doesn’t feel like communicating what’s going on in his mind after hearing the news.

If a doctor say he can’t do anything, it’s only his opinion. Try to find another doctor who is more specialized in this matter.

From a medical point of view, I notice you don’t describe the exact diagnose of the cancer: is the cancer in his liver a prostate cancer or a colon cancer (I assume no liver biopsy has been done to find out?). I am not a doctor, but I assume one fights a colon cancer differently than a prostate cancer, hence the importance of knowing which cancer has spread to the liver.

As for a diet, you need to change to a lifestyle that boosts the immune system, as that’s a person’s ‘line of defense’. A vairiation of organic food but also lots of love, little or only positive stress (hard to do when you hear bad news, yet do find things to relax or any other stress outlet) and move the body (it is not meant to sit down the whole day).

Try to get a second opinion from a hospital that’s experienced in these kind of matters, talk to your GP and ask him to make some calls (“normal people” have difficulties to get in touch with specialists, GP’s are one step closer on the ladder).

Lots of hugs and do ask more questions or just drop by: all of us have walked or are walking a similar path as the one you are on now.

Hugs,

Kim

Please make an appointment with your doctor and let him explain what kind of chemo he is giving and more importantly why:
-to get rid of the cancer completely or
-to reduce the cancer spreading faster.

Chemo kills cancer cells as well as good cells, so yes, the stronger the chemo, the more sick you will feel.

If you boost your immune system, you need less chemotherapy than when you have a weak immune system.

If your mum’s doctor hasn’t time for you, then go to your GP, let him contact the doctor and explain you what they are doing.

Hugs and prayers for you, your mum and your dad,

Kim

My mum feels fine now. im scared that chemo will make her worse.

What I’m thinking is that it might have started in his head since he’s been suffering from extremely bad headaches for years but the doctors never looked into it, just told him to take some tylenol. And thinking back, the headaches always originated around his right eye area. After I posted my question yesterday I found a site that confirmed that it could possibly be metastatic since he has the one in his liver as well, so I sasked his doctor about it and he said it is one of many possibility’s. So now I’m waiting for a phone call to schedule an MRI.

In 2007 we had a guest writer talking about her tumor in her brain at : http://www.metastaticlivercancer.org/tumor-in-the-brain/

Is your question: can the tumor from the liver move to the brain?

Unfortunately I am not a doctor, so I cannot answer that question. Normally a biopsy needs to be done (taking a tissue-sample from the tumor) to determine what kind of cancer/tumor the patient has.

In the experiences on this website: we talk about metastatic liver cancer: a cancer that originated somewhere and has spread to the liver.

A primary liver cancer is a cancer that has originated in the liver.

To detect the type of cancer in the liver: again a biopsy is needed. And in my father’s case: the biopsy still couldn’t determine the origin of the cancer, so it is called: secondary liver cancer with unknown primary.

Please update us with further questions, or try to call any doctor for a more professional explanation.

Hugs and prayers to you and your husband,

Kim

He is doing ok and the oncologist has said he is stable. His CEA’s are at about 295 which is quite low. He is also still on Erbitux, and has been every week since January, he must have had about 22 infusions and I think it is this that is having such a profound effect on his survival considering how sick he was in December. He has gained weight and his blood picture is excellent. He eats well, whatever he likes and is never sick with the Erbitux and accompanying chemo that he is taking. If you can get onto Erbitux (you need to be a candidate); I know it is difficult for many people, but try because I know that is what is making the difference to his life. Also, I can only reiterate that you must try to get the immune system healthy before chemo with some alternative medicines; it definitely makes a difference to the overall health.

Best wishes to you all.

Regards,

Jim

Please read our answer at: How to beat metastatic liver cancer and feel free to ask more questions anytime or simply drop by and say hi.

Hugs!

We have been in a similar situation. When doctors say: consult hospice they say: “with normal efforts and with our limited experience we won’t be able to cure the disease”.

If you would have a doctor in front of you that has a cancer survivor patient with a similar cancer as your husband, he would say: “we can cure this disease although the statistics are against you.”

What our cancer survivors say is: you need to 100% believe you cn cure the cancer and then you need to do everything right. If you have that mindset and energy, then you need to step to an oncologist who believes as well and do everything right.

If you don’t believe there is a cure, what we happened to believe when our father was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer, you need to contact hospice asap and organise your life knowing that tomorrow will be more difficult than today.

Hugs and please ask more questions, which I will answer faster than I did now.

Update on Jim’s son.

Tomorrow will the the first anniversary of my son’s diagnosis of colorectal cancer with liver mets, and today he has just had his 15th round of chemo. His is still on Oxalyplatin and Xeloda; therefore he is still with us, and in good spirits even though he has his ‘down’ days about one week after the intravenous.

We found out the other day that he is still in stage IV but the cancer is not advancing and the oncologist said on Monday that he is surprised at his condition considering the severity of the illness. His blood pictures are good and he is retaining weight and his cancer counts are quite low; my wife forgot to ask what they were, but low, and not as low as the lowest they have been.

I would love to tell you what is keeping him alive and I think it is all the alternative remedies supplied by his aunt which compliments the chemo; she changes them on a regular basis so I can’t keep up. But the main one is Grifola and also liver support and immune system support drops (nothing on the bottle so I don’t know). I think you have to find an alternative practitioner who prescribes for you what you need and I don’t think there is a one for all solution. We are just very lucky his aunt is so well qualified in cancer nursing and alternative therapy and understands what is required.

One thing I think that helps is that we eat quality food (not organic) and a huge variation from steak to salad to roasts and lots of Asian style and heaps of veggies; his main love is hot curry with spicy papadoms (maybe good for cancer sufferers, who knows!).

I don’t know what else to tell you; but lots of love and care help. My son doesn’t have to do anything but try to get better.

Best wishes to you all. I hope success is with you too.

Jim.

Update on Jim’s son.

It has been 10 months since my son was diagnosed with liver mets and colon cancer and he is still with us thank God.

He is on his 10th round of chemo and has had is oral chemo increased to 1500mg/day. He is doing ok and is in good spirits even though some days he is down.

His cancer counters have stabilised at about 300 from a low of 80 and a high of 2300 which is good. The oncologist has said he wants to make sure the colon cancer is ‘dead’ and then they can make some decisions as what to do and has said there are quite a few opitons open to them. His liver mets have calcified and as far as I know they are no longer a threat at this moment; which is good.

He is still taking all the alternative remedies prescibed by his aunt and is looking good. No hair loss no sickness. etc.

That’s about all at the moment. I will keep you informed. Good luck to you all, and if you can find a good alternative practitioner which I a sure in our case has helped immensely.

Jim

Update on Jim’s’ son. He is doing ok and is now back on the Oxalyplatin and oral Xeloda. He is looking well and in good spirits and enjoys a joke most of the time. He has also gained 25 pounds in weight!

When he recently went for his PET scan we had time to spare before the appointment and we went to see his ‘old boss’. He nearly fell over when he saw him walk through the door and said afterwards “I never thought I would see him walk through that door again”.

Yesterday he took his car for a spin when he took his mother to get her car from being serviced.

All is good at the moment. His aunt is still treating him with all sorts of stuff; but has said he must always take the Grifola mushroom compound even if he has nothing else. One of her patients who had to make economies stopped the mushroom extract and her cancers started to come back. I know we are lucky and not paying the A$140/bottle for it but if you can afford it try it.

I don’t have much more information at the moment as things as I said earlier are as good as can be expected, we are hoping for a good outcome; we are going for the minimum of the 5 year target at this stage.

This is afar cry from the 6 weeks to 3 months last September. His cancer counts have also gone from 2300 to 100 a slight rise in the lowest of 35.

Remember cancer patients need relaxation and no stress and have no worries about anything else but getting well. I know it is stressful on the carers but it is worth it. My wife and I both have jobs to keep a hold of and we share the care between us. She works shifts and finishes early weekdays by 9 am and then works all day Sat and Sun when I look out for him.

Best wishes to you all, and I hope your outcomes are all good too.

Jim