As the holiday season advances, I realise I have two other reasons to celebrate. Firstly, it’s now almost a year and a half since diagnosis and secondly my blog seems to be growing in momentum – more readers from more exotic places.
It’s exciting to see someone has clicked in from Chile– or from places as improbable as Papua New Guinea or thePhilippines. And that people have shown interest from Indonesia to Italy. So be it. I have no idea who they are, but assuming they are interested in treatment for pancreatic cancer I thought it might just be time to give some sort of interim report.
Chemotherapy:
I’m now on my new chemotherapy regime of Gemcitobene and Abraxane. Tomorrow will be the third treatment, then I get a week’s break. This will hopefully be the pattern for the foreseeable future, especially as the side effects have fortunately been minimal thus far. The threat of hair loss and worsening neuropathy still hang heavily over my head.
This latest regime replaced my short tangle with Tarceva. I survived six weeks of Gemcitobene with a daily dose of one Tarceva pill. Although the treatment seemed to be working, I simply couldn’t stand the side effects.
The change to Tarceva followed almost a year on “5FU” – a cocktail of Folfirinox, Oxalyplatine and Irinotecan. How user-friendly it now seems to have been on a regime that my treatment was every other week – interspersed with a week’s break here and there.
Diet:
I’m still clinging religiously to my ketogenic diet. To remind you, it’s a diet of no carbohydrates (pasta, potato, rice, etc for the uninitiated), no fruit, nothing containing sugar – nor cakes or biscuits! If you’re having trouble not eating bread this week, bread is something that hasn’t passed my lips since January last year! (For the reader who enquired about courgettes – yes! They’re allowed.)
Daily Medication & Food Supplements:
Everything listed I take daily with meals – with the exception of Ompradex, which I take an hour before breakfast and dinner:
Omepradex Caplets (Omeprazole 1 x 20mg before breakfast & dinner)
– Manufacturer: Dexcel Pharma Ltd, OrAkiva,Israel
– Purpose: Inhibiting acid secretion in the gastrointestinal tract.
Metformin Hydrochloride (Glucomin 2 x 850mg; 1 morning/1 evening)
– Manufacturer: Dexcel Pharma Ltd, OrAkiva,Israel
– Purpose: Antidiabetic to reduce sugar levels
Pankreoflat (Pancreatin [Amylase, Lipase, Proteases & Simethicone] 3 x daily
– Manufacturer: Solvay-Faes Farma SA,Spain
– Purpose: Relief of abdominal distension due to cumulative gas & foam.
Curcumin (3 x 500mg with every meal)
– Manufacturer: VRP Brand, LLC,Carson City,NV89706,USA
Omega 3 (1 x 300mg with every meal)
– Manufacturer: Ocean Nutrition,Bedford,Nova Scotia,Canada
Pro-biotic (1 x 450mg with every meal)
– Manufacturer: Supherb, UpperNazereth,Israel
Calcium & Magnesium – ratio 2:1(1 x 300mg at breakfast and dinner)
– Manufacturer: Solgar,Leonia,NJ07605,USA
Multi-vitamin (1 x 150mg at breakfast and dinner)
– Manufacturer:Contrex Pharmaceutical,New York,USA
Hopefully I’m still helpful to fellow sufferers out there…
fightingpancreaticcancer 