The Colon Club

2 days ago I had my 3rd PET Scan. It showed the largest tumor in my lung had decreased to the point you can’t see it. The scan probably doesn’t declare all clear- according to my medical oncologist. I still need directly to see the radiologists’ report. My Onc prefers that I stay on Maintenence chemo. I want to take a long break.

Onc pointed out “good news” that the uptake of the Radioactive Sugar was much less than my previous scan in August. 2 vs 9.

What do you all know about UPTAKE as an indicator of active cancer?

The Standard Uptake Value (SUV) is kind of a complex topic. Assuming you had your scan at the same place and there were no other physical changes (your weight, etc) a lower uptake value is definitely a good sign. Nonetheless, I would suggest you discuss it with your Radiologist. (FYI: there are no universal tables of SUV, say like height/weight scales).

Re "Maintenance Chemo": I am on "Maintenance Chemo" for the last 4 years, and it seems to control the disease. I am a great fan of doing it non-stop -and will do it for as long as it works (hopefully the rest of my life)

Regards

E

We used supplement enhanced immunochemo as a maintenance therapy to keep the side effects down and the cell kill up for 8 years "maintenance". Vacations can be dangerous things.

Maybe what you need is a better maintenance formula rather than a chemo vacation. More cancer kill and less side effects. For years, a little less chemistry, not even a chemo "vacation," meant marker rises. Finally after years, we bottomed and stabilized CEA and some other markers, for a long while. An honest vacation, so far.

Also, IV vitamin C probably can reduce cancer sugar metabolism and the PET SUV, as well as reduce cancer cells' survival as an addon adjuvant.