Hey Gwynne, your inbox is full so I'll say it here, "You're welcome!".
:hugs:

Cream should be fine. peanut butter, anything with fat in it really.

I think 10k is fine too. I think if she wants to raise her D3 in a hurry she can go even higher for a short while. But long term I wouldn't go over 10k a day, because there have been long term studies with people taking 10k daily and being just fine.

Update:

So far so good. She tolerated the first round of chemo and the first round of herceptin well. Her hair finally started falling out a bit at about the 2.5 week mark, but she'd already found a wig she really likes, so she's bearing up with it better than I expected.

She says she can feel that the tumor is getting smaller (it's pretty close to the surface).

I said earlier in this thread that I wasn't going to nag her about what she ate while on chemo, but the more I read the more concerned I became, and I did in fact nag her and send her the Mayo clinic studies and whatnot, and she says she is reading the carb count on everything now and completely avoiding sugar.

She's still on the 10k IU of D a day, not sure when they will test again.

I would encourage you to continue harassing her about eating LC, even though she may not want to hear it. I do believe that eating LC is very important best case scenario, could save her life. Worst case scenario, no harm done and other aspects of her health benefit.

I'd also keep her on the 10K IU of vitamin D, and ask them to test her levels again to see if it is being absorbed.

My prayers are with you :hugs:

http://www.time.com/time/health/art...1662484,00.html

sybil, thank you for taking the time to post. I believe that Time article is one I sent her. I should mention that Mom has never cared that much for sugar to begin with, and understands lowcarb...but they stressed to her at the chemo clinic to just eat whatever she could keep down, and then she ended up (first few days) doing stuff like hot cocoa. I had to get really blunt: "Sugar feeds tumors". She's promised no more sugar. Says she's reading the carb count on everything--it's all I can ask for this week. I visited on Saturday and dropped off a nice big organic roaster chicken for them; I know she'll make broth out of the leftovers.

Next week I'm going to try "...and this could really help guarantee a positive outcome from the chemo". I don't want to tell her it could potentially avoid the need for a mastectomy, since I'm not a doctor (aside from Wikipedia U, of course), but from the articles I've read you could almost start to convince yourself there's a chance.

It seems like they do full labs before each of the 'main' chemo, and she can get into her records online, so hopefully we can check her OHD again in about a week.

[QUOTE=gwynne2]

I don't want to tell her it could potentially avoid the need for a mastectomy, since I'm not a doctor (aside from Wikipedia U, of course), but from the articles I've read you could almost start to convince yourself there's a chance.
[QUOTE=gwynne2]


I'm the same as far as the Wikipedia U goes The more I read though the more I'm convinced that low carb can virtually halt many diseases. I also feel that bread, pasta, rice is virtually sugar as far as the body is concerned so I hope you encourage her to eat mostly meat. Chicken broth might be a good subsitute for the hot coco, but it's not many calories. I think you're doing the right thing taking food over as well. There are some great recipes on here. My recent favorite is pulled pork ... probably would be relatively easy for your mom to get something like that down.

I cannot find the link to a site where the lady running the site talks about her mother dying from cancer. In it she makes the statement that most people starve because the cancer eats so much glucose the body is forced to catabolize (break down) protein to make glucose, rather than dying directly from the cancer. So you will have to accept my word that there is a site saying such. However, it is logical, since we know cancer feeds on glucose ravenously, that would lower the blood glucose level causing the body to attempt to raise it to keep it within the acceptable range. Unless there is carbohydrate stores in the digestive tract that can be drawn upon, the body will catabolize protein (muscles) to make glucose and when much of the muscle tissue has been used up - death. So being sure to provide lots of protein to save the muscles (heart is a muscle) from being "eaten" is important.

Here is one site I did find that you might read.
Cancer Cells Preferentially use Sugars.
Cancer's Sweet Tooth
http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/cansweettoot.html
[Excerpts from the above web site, out of the book "Beating Cancer with
Nutrition" by Patrick Quillin, PHD, RD, CNS. ]

During the last 10 years I have worked with more than 500 cancer patients as
director of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Okla.
It puzzles me why the simple concept "sugar feeds cancer" can be so dramatically
overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan.

The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered
that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to
healthy cells.

In Europe, the "sugar feeds cancer" concept is so well accepted that oncologists,
or cancer doctors, use the Systemic Cancer Multistep Therapy (SCMT) protocol.

There was an episode of Mystery Diagnosis where a guy had a tumor that ate enormous amounts of glucose. So much so, his body couldn't keep up and he nearly died several times of low blood sugar. So yeah, they can be really piggy.

I was just talking to my Mom earlier about how the nice chemo clinic has a drinks station for the patients with...sugary fruit juices and 2-liter bottles of soda.

I want to thank you all for continuing to post. It motivates me to keep trying to make sure my Mom understands. She's got chemo on Friday and I'm probably going to spend a few hours with her at the clinic, so that'll be a good time to go over it again.

She had her checkup before the 'big chemo' on Friday...tumor has measurably shrunk already (after 1 chemo + 1 herceptin)...the nurse practitioner (who works with the chemotherapy doctor) gave the thumbs-up on the amount of vitamin D she is taking and said they will continue to retest. Unfortunately I wasn't there for this appointment and my Mom didn't completely remember what was said, but she thought the NP had said it was fine to just take 50k or so once a week (which jibes with what I have read here). If the next test comes back low I'm thinking of buying those 50k caps, having her take one a week and then take 5-10k/day the rest of the week.

I am so glad you Moms tumor has shrunk with one Chemo treatment.
I hope & Pray it all goes away...
Please continue to update us about her.

I hope your doing good to, keep your spirits up

Thanks again, hismouse.

Just another update...we should have her new Vit D test soon, not yet though. She says she can barely feel the lump anymore. She is tolerating the chemo really well; her hair has finally started going but even now it's just very thin. 2 more 'big' chemos to go, though. But no nausea at all--in fact the steroids they give her before each chemo round has caused her to gain weight, probably 10lbs. The only other major side-effect she is having is mouth problems. (Sores, taste issues, irritation). Apparently this is common with chemo because of the kind of cells it affects. Oh, and fingertips are easily hurt. (I never had a friend or family member with cancer, so this is all new information to me.)

She is 100% avoiding sugar and mostly avoiding carbs. Occasionally, mostly on the immediate post-chemo days, she may eat something like mashed potatoes (she said she was craving it and her mouth hurt).

I was very happy to hear that the Duke oncology folks apparently are supportive of the "high" vitamin D dosing I'm having her do. Thanks for keying me onto this very early in the process, everyone who posted about it.

I'm not sure what your mom's on, but one of the chemo-chemicals I'm taking causes mouth sores too (5-FU). I suck on ice chips while they do the infusion and I haven't gotten any yet. Maybe she could try that next time? I had to ask for them specifically which surprised me, but they really seem to help. I'm happy for you that she's doing so well!

They've got her on so many, I've lost track. 5-FU does not ring a bell. (They also tend to tell us both the trade name and the chemical name at the same time to make things even more confusing.) I've followed your thread and as I recall you two have very different 'types'. Her cancer is not hormone positive but it is HER2 positive so she gets Herceptin once a week (for the next year). Unfortunately I found out today--I'm sure they mentioned this but it was all a blur--the combo of herceptin and one of the chemo drugs (andra something? anthra comsething?) can really raise the risk of permanent heart damage.

Thanks for posting with the ice chip thing--I've watched your thread and am following your progress, but I haven't wanted to presume and jump in too much. You also seem to be very well-informed about your situation, so (other than good wishes) I don't have too much to contribute. I hope you will keep updating, though. I'm going to tell Mom about the ice chip thing. So far she's been doing 'after the fact' damage control with Biotene mouthwash.

Would that be Adriamycin? It's a common one that can cause heart damage. That's terrible that they didn't warn you beforehand! I hate to ask, but did she get a second opinion before starting treatment? I thought cancer was pretty straightforward but discovered there are actually many different ways to treat it depending on who you talk to. I saw two very good doctors and got completely opposite suggestions! It may be worth researching her followup treatments if she's not entirely comfortable with the current plan as there still might be choices.

I am much better informed now than when I started all this 2 months ago and some very knowledgeable people have contributed in my thread, but the good wishes have meant quite a lot too and helped keep me sane, so thanks!.

HURRAY for you!!!