Here’s the latest with my dad. Upon speaking with the oncologist, we’ve firmly established that surgical resection is off the table. The remaining options traditionally are radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or some combo of the two. The upside of these “traditional” modalities is that there is a 20-25% 5-year survival rate (not that much of an upside). The downside is that chemo and radiation therapy messes you up and you feel like crap. So, in light of this, he has decided to explore other options.
As a physician, I have initial reservations about such plans, but let’s think outside the box and assume that we in the medical field don’t have all the answers. Many new medications have come from analyzing what other cultures have used as their traditional or native cures. Two recognizable examples are Gensing (used in traditional Chinese medicine for years) and Taxol, a naturally derived medicine (Yew tree) that has action against lung, breast, and ovarian cancer. So who’s to say that the cures my dad is looking at might not be all that strange?
Currently looking at a couple of different potential medications. The first is some kind of Venezuelan mushroom and the other is a compound derived from the bark of the Pawpaw tree. I’ve only begun to research these, but am hopeful that some positive results will come of it, and with fewer side effects. Not giving up, just looking for a different way.
MixonItUp 