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LUNG CANCER


victor
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I have read the messages from Norman and others regarding their cancer treatments. Unfortunately, I now have the ALD as it appears that I have a lung problem.

What I do not understand, having read all the messages, is how the people who have been diagnosed with cancer seem to accept doing what the doctors have prescribed without question.

Since being in France, I have seen several friends die after taking chemo and radiation and surgery and spending the last few months of their lives sick.

In two weeks I will have a pet scan and if the results

show what the pulmonary specialist thinks, I will not take any treatment. Yes, I am scared, and I regard Norman as a truely heroric person for being so brave. I am not. I only know him from the forum; however, he is so brave and has such an inner strength.

There must be a better way then cut, poison, burn.
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Victor, firstly I hope your news is better than you fear but I can only say from my own point that your life goes into turmoil and you certainly don't reason that well as the emotions take over. Eventually you accept what the diagnosis is and begin to look around.

I didn't accept what the doctors prescribed without question far from it, baring in mind that bowel cancer is very different, the cut part I did get and accepted that this thing had to be removed before it could possibly spread anywhere else. The bowel is easy, it's a cut and shut in my case but a lung is a very different thing.  The poison part I researched over and over and had many Q&A sessions with, in some cases top Professors at St Thomas's. It got to a point where I had to make the choice and finally went with the poison, I think everyone knows it's not great but in my case it's also not as bad as I had read. There were some patients that had not had chemo and they were back with worse problems as there was with those who had chemo and also had further problems. In short, like life it's gamble, those people last night out to watch fireworks took a gamble with the lowest odds of a truck driving maniac appearing but even with low odds there is sometimes not the outcome you expect.

My wife's breast cancer went incredibly well, it wouldn't have if she had not had this ground breaking cancer DNA test from California which identified the type of cancer and that chemo was pointless in her case. The hospital still wanted to burn as a normal follow up but this was refused on the basis that chemo wasn't used because the type of tumour didn't warrant it and with a greater than 50% chance of the reconstructive surgery being damaged by radiotherapy.  Only time will tell if that was the right decision.

There is stacks of quackery information out there on the web, mainly from the US, there is also some good stuff worth a read

www.canceractive.com  read about vitamin B17, My wife took, and it raised eyebrows from the MD team huge doses of vitamin C, some say it will poison you!  No it won't! but it gives a big chance that your body can begin to fight back and what's wrong with giving these things a chance?  The biggest issue is doctors only have knowledge on what is trialed and tow the line (rather than get sued) Drug companies only want to sell their own new drugs which are often an active ingredient from nature as in the case of vitamin B17, sometimes the natural version contains a complete solution not found in synthesised versions. Turmeric is a fine one to show, it's a great root with medicinal powers used by many a drug company but they don't write turmeric on the ingredients list they give it some UN-pronounceable tongue twister of a name but it's still turmeric.

Back to your point, look at the stats and focus on the success's the strategies have produced, there are much better outcomes for some types if caught early enough. 

I wish you the best outcome.

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Thank you for the compliment victor. I am very sorry to hear what might be bad news, but remember often cancer is only finally confirmed after   some sort of biopsy. There are other things that can imitate it.

I can only say that my first positive diagnosis was 9 years ago, and a parallel cancer was found 2 years later.

I accepted treatment for both (a bit of each of cut, burn and poison) and nowadays each of those have been so  developed and are so much more precise than even a few years ago.

An example is the DNA test mentioned by Théière that can target a cancer with great accuracy.

Another is the introduction of robots to help precision surgery

A third is the newest forms of radiotherapy which gives many tiny doses of radiation from multiple angles to avoid burning the skin as might happen by a larger dose from just one angle.

AND the introduction of multiple treatlments...a little chemo to reduce the tumour allowing a much smaller operation followed by just a few sessions of radio therapy to clean up being an example I came across earlier this year.

As already mentioned nutrition is something you can look at immediately and helps you to feel that you are doing something active and positive.

I have heard of people picturing their tumour mentally and targetting it with negative vibes.

But basically you are in shock.

DON'T give up, but do find out as much as you can about all the various options

I am still here enjoying the sunshine and  a nice breakfast of apple muesli and yoghurt 9 years after my first bad news.

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Théière,

I found and followed your messages on the forum. It is hard for me to even comprehend all the twists and turns you went through.

Your message to me was very helpful and I have been reading the Canceractive site you sent. I especially focused on the alternative sections.

I was not aware that your spouse is also dealing with cancer issues. The strong bond between the two of you is truely wonderful.

I have only met the pumonologist once and have no idea of her philosophy regarding alternatives. My generalist is totally on my side and will support my

decisions. I definitely will ask him about natural B 17. Unfortunately he is not fluent in English but I will give him the site you sent in any case.

Needless to say, I am counting the days until August 1st when I have the Pet scan.

Interesting, I have two caniche royal and for the last month or so they have never left my side. They say that animals know when something is wrong.

My first Poodle came with us from Washington, DC and loved France. He lived 14 years and I still miss

him.

Take care and thank you for your message.

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Norman,

Even though we have never met, you living in Bezier until recently and me in Poussan since we moved from Sete, I feel like we are old friends due to the forum.

You are absolutely correct that until the Pet scan, I will not know just what is wrong; however, the Cat scan did show a tumor in the lungs.

Since being in France, I have been focusing on healthy eating and only fresh foods that are prepared from scratch. Even my dogs get a natural diet composed of all raw meats, fish, and organic chicken and eggs.

Strange almost three years ago, I had trouble breathing and a doctor in Poussan gave me a shot and an ordanonce for an inhaler saying I was asmatic. Used the inhaler a few days and decided I did not need it.

Then about 5 weeks ago early in the morning, I had to call SAMU because I could not breathe. They are really super people. They removed me to the hospital in Sete and it was a horrible experience. I left after three days. Last weekend I needed to call SAMU again and they wanted to remove me back to the hospital. I refused.

Then I went to my own general doctor who set me up with a pumonologist who scheduled the Pet scan.

I saw the specialist and then my doctor the next day who took care of getting me on ALD.

Now, yes, I guess that I am in shock. My spouse and doctor will abide by my decisions once I have the facts. I am very firm that I will not agree to cut, poison, and burn if it comes to that.

Funny, but I am only worried about what will happen to my wonderful dogs and how and when I break any negative news to my son who is in Paris.

Norman did you ever use any of the hospitals in Monpellier. If so, what is your impression of them?

It is wonderful to hear that you are enjoying the sunshine and eating a nice breakfast.

Well in a little over two weeks, I will let you know what

the results are.
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Gosh Victor so sorry to hear of your situation, nobody can know how they will react when given such news. I can cast my mind back to October 2014 when I was first diagnosed with bowel cancer, my head just started to spin, you think it is only other people who get that sort of thing, but gradually you try to get your head around it. At the moment you are in limbo, easy to say but until being diagnosed try and keep an open mind, I literally just took one day at a time. Lots of lovely people on this forum really helped me through my own situation, and I am sure that the same people will be along to support you.

Regarding you options on whether you accept the treatment offered if your fears are confirmed, then that really is only a decision that you can make yourself. When offered my treatment plan I did not hesitate to proceed with what the doctors were proposing, I have a disabled wife to care for, and my first thoughts when diagnosed were, Christ I can't leave her here alone in France, so I went along with everything that they proposed.

My own treatment plan was 30 sessions of radiotherapy, accompanied by chemotherapy tablets on the days that I was to have the radiotherapy treatment. I cannot lie that it totally took over my life for nearly 7 weeks, as my treatment fell over the Christmas period, and the hospital seemed to have an obsession with performing maintenance of the radiotherapy machine, so some weeks I only had 2 or 3 sessions. But I got through that part of my treatment, and then moved on to the next phase, being an operation.

Before any of my treatment started my wife researched the possibility of taking various supplements to try and help with the diagnosis. Like Thiere I started taking turmeric tablets and also AHCC tablets, although being very expensive I really am convinced that these tablets help my body fight the tumour. AHCC tablets are derived from some sort of mushroom, and used extensively in Japan along side their cancer treatment. I was passing a lot of mucus before any of my treatment started, but 2 weeks prior to starting my radiotherapy treatment I took the AHCC tablets, I stopped passing any mucus before my radiotherapy treatment started, so I am putting it down to the AHCC tablets. I asked my oncologist if it was OK to take the tablets whilst having my radiotherapy treatment, and he said that he did not know, I made the decision to take both the turmeric and AHCC tablets whilst having radiotherapy and I think it helped my own situation. I am certainly not saying that the two supplements combined would have cured the cancer on their own, but I feel together with the conventional treatment it produced a positive result.

In my own situation I really feel that the treatment offered and carried out was effective. My tumour was shrunk from 4.5 cms to only 1.5 cms before it was removed in my operation. I would be lying to say that everything is now perfect. My initial operation to remove the tumour was deemed a success, but I had a lot of complications after the first operation, within 3 weeks I had two further emergency operations, and back in January had a massive hernia repair performed. Basically all of my stomach now has a gauss stretched over it, and a gauss over my old stoma site. My bowel has not fully recovered to an acceptable level, and I now carry out a daily enema, which works brilliantly, and I only go to the toilet once a day now. So yes, the treatment can be harsh and a major struggle but it has extended my life, although has left me with problems that I will probably never recover from, but I am still here and able to care for my wife.

The choice is yours, and yours alone if you proceed with treatment if any is required, but personally I have no regrets in going through what I have been through, and I am glad that I accepted the treatment.

Wishing you all best.

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All my treatments for Cancer have been at

http://www.icm.unicancer.fr/en

I owe my life to them and have been treated by two Internationally-known Professors who research and give conferences as well as treating Patients

They have people interested by nutrition in cancer patients.

http://www.icm.unicancer.fr/fr/search/results/nutrition

A controversial Doctor who used to be there but has recently been struck off (in retirement) because of his views on inoculation has written a lot about the role of diet in cancer treatment. This is n French but you may be able to do a google translate

http://www.alternativesante.fr/manger-sain/alimentation-les-conseils-du-pr-joyeux

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What a pleasure to read such a positive post with such help when needed - now THIS is what this forum is best at.

I cannot help with advice on treatment, as happily I have not yet been touched personally by this dreadful disease, but I have friends and family who have, and they have all approached it with a positivity which amazed me ... so my only piece of advice would be to stay positive, and keep smiling.

Good luck.

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Hello Norman,

Interesting to note that my Pet scan is at icm. If you have the time could you tell me about your initial experiences there?

I did ask my general doctor about natural remedies and

was shocked to hear him say that basically they are rubbish.

Second question: what is icm's nutritional approach?

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The PET scanner at the ICM is basically a privately financed one on the ICM site, and serving various of the Montpellier hospitals which work all together, and are known as the CHRU.

It's useful to have a PET scanner there because before I had to go to Guy De Chauillac a different hospital

In fact I think that lung cancer is more frequently treated at Arnaud de Villeneuve

http://www.chu-montpellier.fr/fr/a-propos-du-chru/decouvrir-le-chu/etablissements/arnaud-de-villeneuve/

On the Nutrition front I doubt you will find any mainstream Doctors who recommend alternative treatments.

There is the link I gave above to Henri Joyeux

The ICM 's approach is shown in this

http://www.cancer-environnement.fr/Portals/0/Documents%20PDF/Rapport/Autre/2013_Synthese_recommandations_nutriton_oncologie_SFNEP_2012.pdf

If you wish to consult someone at the ICM about this I have found Dr Nicolas Flori very humane 04 67 61 37 39 for appointments.

  I am not sure if you need to do the following as I think you are American http://www.chu-montpellier.fr/fr/english-site/patients-and-visitors/foreign-patients/

I have always found the ICM highly professional, but there are so many people needing treatment that at first it can seem intimidating and confusing

The medical staff however are miracles of humanity :)

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Théière,

Where can you get B 17?

I always use tumeric when I cook and use lots of lemon judice and herbs. Also D3.

As the date for my Pet scan comes closer, the more catatonic, I become.

I am so happy about your wife's outcome!

Historically, Grand Pharma has managed to bury any cures that have been found. Money rules!
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Normon,

I came here in 2001, and now I am resident de longue duree. Therefore, I do not believe that I am so different than others. We pay 8% to cpam every year. We are not

considerent different. Basically, the only thing we cannot do is vote.
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It is a difficult decision always, and I am sure that you are in the thoughts of all the Forum members who have been through this.

In my case the PET scan was to see if I had any other cancer elsewhere in the body as well as the primary one. The primary  is usually diagnosed by a biopsy in which a small specimen of the tumour is examined under the microscope to see if it is malignant and if so what type it is.

I am not sure if you have had a biopsy yet.

I hope that you get a good result and you have nothing to worry about.

If it is cancer it is up to you to decide whether to accept treatment.

I did and went down the highly technical path that I have given you a brief idea of.  You will find that conventional Doctors in France will advise you to go down this route and will not accept 'alternative' treatments as worthwhile.

I cannot give any advice on these but in any case it can do no harm to take care of yourself by a few simple steps that are good for anyone.

In addition to the treatment I received

1) I stopped drinking alcohol (I have never smoked)

2) I took some vitamin supplements particularly vitamin C

3) I tried to do more exercise, and did breathing exercises before the first major operation of the series.

The google translation of Dr Joyeux's advice is

Essential tips for Henri Joyeux to avoid cancer and chronic diseases

Here

are 12 tips to follow (by persevering!) To not only prevent cancers and

their recurrences but also civilization diseases: diabetes, obesity,

autoimmune diseases, rheumatism in Alzheimer's ... The food there holds a

necessarily central ...

1. Exercise regularly sweating to eliminate pollution of pesticides, insecticides ...: at least 30 minutes twice a week. You'll melt your excess fat, lose weight and will strengthen muscle mass.

2. Avoid excessive overweight: not more than 5 kg over your ideal weight. Do not follow any diet, but eat better and better and you will lose 1 kg per month.

3. If you have children, it is best before age 30 and if you have kids, breastfeed them at least 6 months. Attention to "Parlodel" for cutting lactation. Breastfeeding is ideal for the baby's health (no need for vaccinations during this time) and for breast health of the mother. For men are fathers of modern, attentive, able to cook and do housework!

4. If you want to smoke, keep one or two cigarettes a day, no more, and avoid passive smoking. The risk of cancer in the respiratory tract, bladder, brain .., vascular, cardiac, brain, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Cannabis and hard drugs, in addition to damage to the brain

(schizophrenia, neurosis, psychosis, depression), reduce the immune

system and can make the bed extremely serious cancers of rapid

evolution.

5.

Drink a total of 3 large bowls per day: morning tea herbal tea, thyme,

rosemary, sage ... and evening verbena, chamomile, linden, yarrow ... + 3

glasses of water and a meal
glass (ball) good organic wine at the end of each meal. Neither

Coke nor soda, nor Nutella ... they bring too much sugar, fat sources

(in the liver and under the skin), and never consume artificial

sweeteners and light products even if you have diabetes.
A 2 steps per day cafes, with a square Omegachoco flavors for your palate.

6. Eat more calcium plant an animal. And for the animal calcium, choose primarily dairy products for small animals, goats and sheep (only 1 serving per day). No liquid or semi-liquid dairy products, they contain too much sugar in the form of lactose you will fat. Chew to salivate and taste, you will delight your palate of flavors.

7.

Increase salad consumption and other raw vegetables + 4-6 fruits a day,

if possible organic and seasonal, with fresh fruit every playground for

children of school age.
No compotes, they contain too much sugar and you do not chew. The

best sugar is fructose present in fresh fruit, but also in unheated

honeys nearby (mainly chestnut and acacia that can consume diabetics in

small quantities).
Water your organic olive oil to salads, virgin, first cold pressed and lemon juice.

8.

Eat dry and nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts) and pulses

cooked with sweet steam of short duration, a few minutes to be al dente.

Legumes are chewable, retain their tastes, plant hormones and all

their fiber, useful for your intestinal flora and clean the settlers for

waste disposal, preventing constipation and intestinal overgrowth

source of putrefaction.

9.

Eat fish and seafood, 2 to 3 times per week, for iodine to your

thyroid, Omega 3, minerals and trace elements to nourish your brain.
Work up your neurons and neural connections avoiding many morons on television, read, grow back, relax cleverly family.

10. Avoid too dishes. Cook ALL the gentle steam, leave the microwave, pressure cooker, frying? that damage the nutritional qualities of food.

11. Eat less gluten, because if you have any intolerance, it is responsible for intestinal porosity. It is present in breads, pizzas, pasta, pastries, cookies that behave as sugars. Replace them with bread flowers, seeds and buckwheat flour, millet, quinoa, chestnut.

12. Avoid prolonged hormonal maximum consumption, ideally less than 5 years for contraception and better not. Do men take their responsibilities with the condom that is safe for anyone. No hormone therapy at menopause outside phytohormones on demand. These great tips in hand, you can feed yourself calmly by your own kitchen. By the way, one last tip :singing, it will be even better!

These are intended for prevention but in any case most of them would do no harm.

I don't  know of any cures

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Dear Norman,

If I may ask, when you left Beziers because it was no longer possible to walk to places nearby, you found another village. However, I do not remember the name of your new village. It is?

I will have the Pet scan only and have not had a biopsy yet.In my opinion, a biopsy helps the cancer to spread.

BTW, my son is 31 and my 2 caniche royal are now 11 and 12 so I must somehow keep going until they go to rainbow bridge. My son and spouse will manage without me.

I read your prior email including all the sites you sent to me. Thank you. I am so sorry that Dr. Joyeux is no longer at the ICM. I strongly believe that he was 99% correct in that most all cancers can be cured by nuitrition. In many ways, he is similiar to an American site: Mercola.com. Dr. Mercola is always exploring healthy foods, herbs and other alternative treatments. Just look at history and all the natural cures that have been successfully used and how either the people who promoted them died suddenly, were bought out, or ruined. Big Pharma rules!

My spouse was at la Peyronie (sp) for a heart issue and tells me that the food was delivered in plastic covered by plastic wrap and heated in a microwave. Sounds really heathly. If I ended up at the Montpellier hospital for cancer problems, I would not touch such "food" and tell them it was not even fit for pigs. When I got taken by SAMU to the Hospital of Sete, I did not eat for three days and finally signed out.

When we moved from Sete to Poussan, a horrible village, I weighed around 53 kilo, and I now weigh 39-40 kilo. Never eat prepared foods, junk foods or any sugar drinks. Have since being in France only eaten healthy foods and never even felt like needing a snack. Yes, I do like red wine with dinner.

Norman, of course, I am afraid of what the scan will show, but at this time, I am not prepared to go through what you and others on here have endured.

I think of all the people that you have helped on this site and am just amazed. Please enjoy the sunshine and live a long life. I salute you! my friend.

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Victor, we all do what we think is right for ourselves. I had 3 lumpectomies plus radiotherapy 7 years ago, and a mastectomy 2 years ago. None of it pleasant.

But I weighed up the odds and decided that I wanted the best possible chance to stay as long as possible with my husband, sons and grandchildren.

I wish you all the very best for whatever lies ahead for you.

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Dear Gardengirl,

Thank you for your kind thoughts!

I could not go through what you went through. However, if I had children and grand children, and a spouse that I loved and respected, maybe I might make a different choice.

My spouse and I have no family other than our grown son and my two dogs.

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PaulT,

I worry about my son, but I love my two caniche royal, my spouse is a nice person, but both my son and spouse have made my life full of stress.

My major concern is to stick around until the two boys go to Rainbow bridge. Sad but true.
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When you had scans at ICM, did you speak with the radiologist

immediately after or did you have to wait for your specialist to see

them first?

Usually you see the radiologist if you haven't got a consultation at the ICM itself. I usually have one later the same day with my specialist , so I don't usually get to discuss it. On the other hand the last time as I had a liver metastasis and it was possible that there might be others the radiologist did just pop his head round the door  to say that the only thing he could see was the liver one that was already known about.

I am not sure what would happen if there were bad news to break.

That might be left to the consultant who would be in charge of whatever treatment plan is going to be followed.

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