[Tom]

Dear Sherry,

The information you just received from all of these people that love you and worry about you, is right on the money. I think the first thing you must do, is to stop the weight loss. It would appear that your particular weight loss is genuine cachexia. This can be halted by drinking "milk" shakes of whey protein isolate. You can mix the two scoops of powder with water, milk, soy milk, Ensure, or any liquid. This will do two things for you. The first is to block the catabolic wasting process that is causing your weight loss, and enable you to maintain your current weight at the very least. The other benefit is that you will begin a process of selectively starving the malignant cells of glutathione, via a process known as feedback inhibition. The malignant cells MUST have glutathione to thrive, but they will not get what they need if you take the whey protein each day. There is a prescription version of the whey protein available, known as Immunocal. As your oncologist to write for it.

Your immediate goal is to survive until you can receive the Tykerb. Increase your Omega-3 intake as much as you can tolerate. Drink as much decaffeinated green tea as you can stomach, and take green tea supplements that contain EGCG. The best ones can be found at www.LEF.org. I know I must always sound like I am a representative of that company, but I quickly tired of searching for good, powerful, and pure supplements, and realized that the easiest way to get the best ones was to buy theirs. The product is called MEGA Green Tea Extract.
You should also try taking 900MG of curcumin each day. Not turmeric, or curry, but CURCUMIN. It may also be found at LEF. It is called SuperCurcumin w/bioperene. The bioperine helps your body absorb it. The advice given about CoQ-10 was great. Take 400MG of it daily, spread out over the day.

Stay away from ANY Tylenol. It is just about the worst thing for one's liver that anyone could ingest. Use ibuprofen for breakthrough pain if the Fentynl patch doesn't stop it completely. Just make sure you keep something in your stomach so as not to cause undue upset. You MUST manage your pain to maintain your willpower to fight.

Ask a family member to massage your neck gently each night. This will reduce your stress and strengthen your immune system as well. It also lets the family know that they are doing something positive that directly helps you.

Finally, light a bonfire under your onc's sphincter, and let him know that you don't want to throw in the towel until it needs a good washing. Tell him to get his butt into third gear and get that Tykerb for you post haste. Remind him that he is there for treatment advice, but that all decisions will be made by YOU. Be gentle with him though, as I suspect that even hardened oncologists have stressful days as well.

Please let us know how things are proceding, and come back here often for lots more love, support, and cheap advice. We are all pulling for you.

Sincerely,
Tom