News, News...

I'm leaving this post here, since Roberta already kindly posted comments - but it was intended for my other blog, so I've now also posted it there, as well. If you want more of the history on this issue in my life, you can find it all at my Rose Colored Cancer blog. If you don't, you can skip this post and go on to the next one. Thank you for your patience. We will soon bring you back to our Regularly Scheduled Program.

So, it's time to tell you about what happened after taking the LDN.

You can get good info on LDN here and here.

Well, first of all, I stopped feeling like death warmed over. I could get in and out of the car, walk to wherever I wanted to walk without more than the usual arthritic discomfort, run errands, sleep, shop for groceries. I had enough energy to pay attention to what was happening around me, and enough energy to care what was happening around me. Believe me, this is a HUGE blessing - my quality of life is so much better that I almost feel normal!*

When I reported my increased well-being to my doctors, my oncologist was encouraged and my integrative specialist was very excited. When I ran into my integrative specialist a couple weeks later and he saw how easily I was moving and how much better I looked, he was almost bouncing off the wall with excitement. Enough that I was taken a little aback, actually, but it's nice to have a doctor who really cares - and I was happy, too.

Is LDN a miracle cure?

Well, no, not really. I still have many of the side effects from the Aromasin. And I still have some of the symptoms of the arthritis, etc. But some is a whole lot better than it was before! I don't know how long I have to live - but anything that makes the quality of that time better is a blessing.

LDN seems to control some types of cancers for at least a certain period of time. Aromasin can control breast cancer for a temporary period of time (different periods for different folks). I know for a fact that the LDN improved my quality of life. And although I don't know how much is due to the Aromasin, and how much is due to the LDN, here are the results of my latest PET/CT scan:

New activity in jaw, possibly due to cancer and possibly due to infection/inflammation.
Activity in spine, liver and spleen either stable or slightly less.
Liver shrunk, quite likely due to tumor shrinkage.
Tumor in neck nearly gone/inactive.
Tumors in chest completely inactive.
Tumors in hips smaller, uptake/activity gone from 12.9 to 9.5

So although the results are not spectacular enough to make anyone sit up and take notice, they are reasonably positive.

Because of the massive doses of radiation involved in regular PET/CT scans and the large number of scans I've had done in the last year, we won't be scanning me again until there is evidence that things are heading in the wrong direction again (increased pain, tumor growth in the chest wall or lymph nodes)... so I won't be able to measure accurately what my progress is, or exactly what the time line is on the improvement end of things. But there is hope for a good few months for me.

Which is nice, because my wonderful mom and I are going to be traveling to California in April - I'm very excited to be going, and to feel confident that I will be able to enjoy this wonderful treat! I long to see the ocean again, for the first time in about 30 years. And I have hopes of seeing the lovely Roberta and her delightful husband, since we'll be in the Monterey area. Joy!!!

And more good news to come. In the next post.

I can't wait, can you?


* I've never been normal, even before the cancer; we can't expect LDN to do everything!