Brain Tumor Advice

Hi C. -

Sorry to hear of your mom's challenges. I have a friend who has had several cancers, including brain. She did the Gamma knife surgery and the tumors did shrink. However, she has had the cancer re-appear in her lungs. I suggest that you blend modern medicine with non-traditional methods. Cancer is very curable, but you have to get the right things in your body to detox and regenerate. If you want to know more, you can email me back. Good luck and prayers for your mom.

M.

When Greg's lung cancer spread to his brain (adenocarcinoma) we were told our only option was to radiate (Kaiser, obviously). Has your doctor mentioned any of the side effects of radiating the brain? It can have some pretty serious side effects. In our case, when the lung cancer was found it was already advanced stage 4, in the lining of the lung, so non operable. We were told the average life expectancy for this type/ stage of cancer was 6 months. He made it 18 months, but, if I could do it all over again I would not have done the radiation to the brain. His last days were filled with a lot of pain, and confusion. In my opinion, with the limited time that we knew we had, the side effects of the radiation weren't worth the benefits (in our case 3 weeks from finding brain tumors to death.)

Good luck and I hope your story is more successful than ours!

Hi C.,

I'm sorry to hear about your mother's battle. My mom was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and her doctors felt the best approach was surgery. Unfortunately, during the surgery her heart stopped and they had to abort the surgery before they removed her tumor. The doctors were not expecting her to survive, but she pulled through!! Since surgery is no longer an option for her, the next step is pinpoint radiation (Cyber Knife). My mom was very nervous about it, but she met with the radiologist the other day and her put her mind at ease. He told her that they are seeing success rates equal to surgery in many cases. I don't know if this would apply in your mom's case because it's in her brain, but all you can do at this point is gather information about her options. She's lucky to have you.

A.

I have a tenant that has been diagnosed with lung cancer, he did a few rounds of chemo and radiation and hated how sick it made him so he decided to stop. His family visits and stays with him daily as the cancer has spread throughout his body and the docs have given him till Christmas to live. I would agree with your other poster that said take a lot of pictures and do the things you can do now to make some memories... Maybe take some vids of her to show your children who their grandmother was. I'm so sorry you are going through this, I lost a sister to a brain tumor about 30 years ago, she was only 18, and I know that with what I saw her going through with chemo and radiation, if I were to get cancer I'm pretty sure I would opt out. Prayers, T.

I'm really sorry to hear about your mom's cancer. Unfortunately lung cancer does tend to metastasize to the brain, which as you know is a very serious problem and generally incurable. Gamma knife or cyberknife radiation, which is available at UCSF among other places, can be a good way to treat some tumors, but it's only offered in certain cases. Your mom might actually have too many metastatic tumors to be a candidate for that type of radiation. Whole brain irradiation is also done, and can slow the cancer's growth, but there can be some pretty severe side effects. The best people to talk to for the pros and cons of these treatments are radiation oncologists. Go with your mom to her appointments, especially her consultation with the radiation oncologist, and get your questions about her best options answered there. Best wishes.

My sister recently had surgery, radiation and chemo for a primary aggressive brain tumor. The surgery didn't get all of it, but the radiation and chemo worked and it has shrunk dramatically (what's left just looks like scar tissue). I don't know enough to tell you about the pros and cons, just to offer some hope. I am sure you have done this already, but google brain tumor survivors. There are some amazing stories out there.

Hi C., Im so sorry to hear of your mom's ill health. My mom battled cancer, but she was too far gone by the time they found it. I've done a lot of research on it. Here are some things you can do some research on:

Talk to your doctor about saturating her thyroid with IODINE before any RADIATION treatments. Make sure her neck is covered with a radiation bib similar to what dentists use-the front of the neck is where your thyroid is located.

Astralagus is an immune enhancer that is said to be good for cancer. VIT A/Raw Liver Juice is said to work for terminal cancer.

Breast cancer is said to be caused by excess estrogen and chlorine amongst other things. Chlorine interferes with cell growth and suppresses immune sytem against cancer cells.It stops vit A from leaving the liver.
Breast cancer drugs reduce estrogen! Chlorine is estrogenic and so is soy. I would try to get both out of her diet completely, along with CORN- in all forms, even corn syrup.That will reduce alot of what she eats because corn syrup is in 90% of products. Corn products carry aflatoxins, fungus. Fungus causes cancer also. Use reverse osmosis filters on tap water for chlorine. These filters also take out minerals, so I would take fulvic acids to replace the minerals. Use magnesium oil on the skin for magnesium replacement. Soak feed in epsom salts to detox, and help with sleep.

Samento is said to stimulate the immune system and fight infection. It decreases tumor size in two weeks.It lowers tumor markers (PSA). Drops c reactive protiens to zero.

Ibuprophen several times daily is said to help stop or decrease cachexia (wasting/weight loss).

God bless,
Gail

My thoughts and prayers are with your family....
~N. :O)

My mum passed away from liver, bone, and brain tumor mets from breast cancer. I found a great resource while we were taking care of her here:

http://www.braintrust.org/braintmrlist.htm

It's an email list for people dealing with brain tumors. It can be a little sad sometimes, but there are also many stories of hope.

One thing we struggled with is that my mum's doctor was used to treating breast cancer more than brain cancer, and I think that had she seen a brain tumor specialist her treatment might have been a little bit different and we could have helped her be a little more comfortable in her last few months. She had difficulty verbalizing what she was going through in her last month or so, and I suspect she had a _lot_ of nausea due to the tumors that she wasn't able to explain to us. If we'd got a bit more information we could have upped her dose of anti nausea meds and I think that could have helped.

Good luck to you and your mom - keep the positive attitude going. It kept my mum alive for eleven years after a pretty bleak initial diagnosis.

H.

Hi C.,
I'm sorry you guys are having to face this. My sister had some friends with a family member sent home after inoperable brain cancer. They went to the Gerson Clinic in Mexico, where they learned to juice and do all kinds of natural therapy. The son lived 12 years cancer free. It came back after that and he died. As a side note, the father who had owned a gas station for many years and lived on an oxygen tank (taking it everywhere) went through much of the same therapy as part of the training caregivers received so they could help their loved one, and was healed completely and is completely free from the oxygen tank.
I have other stories of family cancers and the different treatments and results, but you are facing brain cancer. I would ask the doctor what the cure rates are. Keep in mind that the statistics are not really honest, because people often die from the results of things that the doctors do to them. I think the family above went to Mexico because they had no hope here in the states,but they got 12 cancer free years which is HUGE!
Sending prayers for your mom and your family.
D.

Dear C.,

At this point you are going to have to trust in God and the doctors. Be strong for your mom and enjoy every moment with her and the baby. Take lots of pictures and stay positive while remaining realistic. We are never ready to lose the ones we love no matter how old they are.

I lost my Grandmother (who raised me) when she was 90 and the dumbest thing people would say,(even though they were trying to comfort) was well she had a good, long life. It’s been almost 10 years; I still miss her, but cherish all the good and loving things and the wonderful, strong person she was.

I will keep your mom and family in my prayers.

Blessings….

You might want to seriously consider a little internet research about alternative options. There are many out there and are MUCH more effective. Suzanne Somers book Knock Out gives a glimpse into the other ways to treat cancer. I wish the best for you and your mother. God bless!

Hi, my brother-in-law had the cyber/gamma knife radiation treatment at UCSF for an inoperable tumor in his neck. He just went for his one-year check-up and is doing great - the tumor is very small as they wanted and they will monitor annually. UCSF is on the cutting edge for this treatment, we have an oncologist doctor in our family and he said he wouldn't go anywhere but UCSF for this, so your Mom will be in very good hands!! Good luck and God bless!!!

I believe the 'zap' her doctor is talking about may be the same as gamma knife, or perhaps they are talking about generalized brain radiation. Frequently they start first with whole brain radiation depending upon where the tumors are. your mother does not have brain cancer, she has lung cancer which has metastasized to her brain. They do the gamma knife at Stanford, but the whole brain or partial brain radiation may work as well depending upon the size of the tumors and the exact location of the tumors. The focus of the radiation is to shrink the tumors, as she will start having symptoms of pressure in the brain if she has not already. I would have a frank talk with the oncology radiologist and ask these questions: what is the goal of the radiation? To help control symptoms, or to get rid of the tumors completely? Do they expect the tumors to return? What is the prognosis with and without the radiation. What would the schedule be, and how sick would she get from the radiation itself. I would go for quality of life here, depending upon the goal and expected outcome of the radiation. Some wonderful things are happening in cancer treatment, with chemical and biological therapies, , and radiation. Good luck to her, and to your family. Just be sure that you have all the info available. PS I am a nurse, and my specialty area is Hospice, so not to discourage you from getting all the help you can get, but it is rare that these alternative treatments, juices, etc., help, but there is a lot of non scientific tales about them. After reading all the responses, I can tell you that I am extremely doubtful that ibuprofen would help with cachexia, just the opposite, the most common side affect of ibuprofen (advil, motrin) is nausea, GI upset, and possibly bleeding sores in the GI tract. there are many other things that are better. Again, I am sorry about your mother and Good luck. Let us all know how it goes. mama t

A friend of ours did the zap radiation in San Francisco. Tumor is still there, but stopped its growth. Good luck:)