mCRC Stage IV mets to LV and LN - what can we do more?

[IM64]

I have a recipe to make your own tea from the roots of Astragulus from my ND at Mederi Center if you want it.

It would be great. Thanks in advance for your help

[beach sunrise]

I agree, info can be so much to absorb. It is always a good thing to record all medical appts to review later.
Mederi Center Astragulus tea recipe
Cheap/easy way to get the most out of this very safe, nourishing, adaptogen
Once you have your Bulk Raw sliced Astragalus
 Take 1 handful (about 15-30g) and rinse (in a colander)
 In a pot, (ideally ceramic, but stainless steel is ok), add as much water** as you like.
 Bring to boil, then simmer for 45min.
 Strain the astragalus, collect and save that water, set aside.
 Put the astragalus back in the pot, and then add more clean water to the pot. Boil, then
simmer a second time for 30min or so.
 Collect that water and mix it into the 1st brew (water saved from first boil) you set aside.
o Highly recommended to add 3-10 slices of fresh ginger to the final boil (30
minutes)
 Consume the entirety of the brew in 1 day.
o You can use the brew in lieu of water to make rice, soup, bone broth, pasta, grits,
lemonade, gelatin, ice cubes, etc. etc.
 Note: You can double the recipe and make enough for 2 days, or triple and make enough
for 3 days’ worth of brew.
o I don't recommend brewing more than 3-days’ worth at a time.
o Can be stored in fridge.
Astragalus (aka Huang Qi) is a very safe herb in the bean family and dosing range is very
large. Minimum effects start at about 12grams per day and we sometimes dose up to 60grams
per day for patients undergoing chemo to help maintain their WBC's and RBC's and many, many
other benefits.
Note: Because Huang Qi is a high dose medicinal, a decoction like this is a way better (and more
traditional) way to take it vs. a tincture or capsule. Those are fine, but would require really large
doses to be effective. Decoction is the better and more cost-effective way to dose this particular
medicinal.
**ideally use reverse osmosis water, or at least filtered water. The amount of water doesn't
really matter; it will just affect how diluted the brew will be. The important part is how much
astragalus is in the decoction.

[IM64]

Perfect, thanks! Just bought sliced root online, will try that tea tomorrow.

[claudine]

Nothing to add to all the good advice posted above, IM64 - your wife is lucky to have you on her side, it is like a second full time job dealing with this disease. I noticed that she's KRAS G12A, like my husband; it's not a very common mutation.
Wishing you the best XXXXX

[beach sunrise]

You can make up to three batches of tea with the same roots. So, don't throw them away after first use. Lay them on a towel to air dry and reuse up to three times.

[rp1954]

bleeding

We included 1 - 5 grams per day for mucosal / GI lining with buffered vitamin C, K2, glucosamine and some zinc carnosine for stomatitis. Direct application on wounds, hold for 5 min, swished swallowed.

Our ND doctor advice to try off-label Testosterone to raise Hemoglobin.

I have no idea about that

problem is no one is ready to do it. For liver surgery problem is lung mets, for lung

Often a decline is for putative futility rather than risk. Both can be addrssed.

You have to find surgeons with the autonomy, specific skill and experience levels, and entice them by having addressed problems. This may be thez biggest fish in the hospital or national system or some foreign clinic.

FIY, the Japanese dose for osteoporosis and cancer with K2 (MK4) was 45 mg/day with lower average. BSA.

Thanks for K2 dosage info. Will add to 45 mg/m2 daily.

Their total dose was 45 mg/day for cancer or osteoporosis. IIRC, one osteoporosis - Glau protein paper showed decreasing incremental benefit over a range, like 15 - 60 mg/day, very slight on the last 15 mg. Definite no added benefit over 60 for us (done before finding the paper) and nausea at too high a single dose ca 90 mg.

What was her initial and peak MCV on chemo?
What was the initial or earliest LDH?

Mean corpuscular volume (ref. 80-95 fL) is mostly within reference range all the time. On Dx it was 92.7 fL, now is 87.7 fL. The highest peakwas 98.6 in October (I believe it was before chemo), and the lowest was 85 early Jan.

Too much scatter. Need to tighten events assigned to values to try to establish baselines

Lactate Dehydrogenase (<320 U/L)
Oct. 22 - 1002
Nov 22 - 556
Dec 22 - 446
Jan 23 - 273
Jun 23 - 221
Feb 23 - 240

Hopefully that's a reduction of LDH4 and LDH5 from reduced HIF-1a activity, after chemo and IVC,

Labs can often use 2-3 different units. Pls identify units of CRP, fibrinogen and ceruloplasmin

C-reactive protein - 114 mg/L (Ref <5.0) High
Fibrinogen - 9.35 g/L (Ref 2.00-3.90) High
Ceruloplasmin - - 0.80 g/L (Ref 0.16 - 0.45) High
That's a lot of inflammation
ESR and d-dimer?

Any idea how to target/lower ALP? It mostly going down (from 1390 in Oct to 318 now) but it is not straight line.

More reduction of disease.

[IM64]

it is like a second full time job dealing with this disease. I noticed that she's KRAS G12A, like my husband; it's not a very common mutation.
Wishing you the best XXXXX

Agree. For me it is a first full time job, because everything else doesn't matter now. Good luck for you and your husband too - everything should be good!

[IM64]

Lay them on a towel to air dry and reuse up to three times.

I will! Thanks

[IM64]

We included 1 - 5 grams per day for mucosal / GI lining with buffered vitamin C, K2, glucosamine and some zinc carnosine for stomatitis. Direct application on wounds, hold for 5 min, swished swallowed.

Thanks, will try. Now she don't have bleeding, but I'm going to use your mix for prevention.

Often a decline is for putative futility rather than risk. Both can be addrssed.

You have to find surgeons with the autonomy, specific skill and experience levels, and entice them by having addressed problems. This may be thez biggest fish in the hospital or national system or some foreign clinic.

Both the surgeon and the radiologist said the liver damage is very large (they say about 70% of liver) and surgery or radiation will kill her. We need to shrink it, and after that return to surgery question again. Because HAI doesn't work for us at this stage, we are going to try radio/chemoembolization if they agree. That is our plan. Well see if oncs agree with it.

ESR and d-dimer?

ESR is also high - 72 mm/hr (Ref. 2-30)
D-Dimer was failed - "Unable to process as specimen was clotted and we didn't before."
Last blood work was close to GI problems and bleeding time - so inflammation markers were high. Now it fixed (I hope!) and we expect better results next time.

[rp1954]

We included 1 - 5 grams per day for mucosal / GI lining with buffered vitamin C, K2, glucosamine and some zinc carnosine for stomatitis. Direct application ....

My bad.
It should read "1 - 5 grams glutamine per day for mucosal/GI lining" with all the rest.

FYI. A year or two later, there were mainstream oncology papers using 15 - 30 grams per day of glutamine for Folfiri.

[IM64]

Thank you. I read about low dose glutamine (and cabbage juice) for GI health in your old posts.
15-30 g/day? I also read somewhere glutamine can be used to produce glutathione and we don't want glutathione when we treat cancer, is it right?

[beach sunrise]

Going back through my notes. Back last summer RBC's (hemocrit, hemoglobin) were suffering so acuppuncturist asked me to try HemoHim (TCM powder or extract).
Research it and ralk it over with your ND. I only took it for a few months. It claims to raise WBC's and lymphocytes too but not with me. Mine are probably forever fried due to radiation damage.
Ya kniw. I also found in my notes from 2 years ago about liver wurst and B12. Hopefully Rp will see this and weigh in.

[IM64]

Thanks a lot for your valuable advices!
Hemoglobin is our first to-do list. Yesterday my wife has GI bleeding again, fortunately, not very heavy. That is already third time, and it always started on 3rd days after chemo infusion and always only one day long. I have no doubts that it is folfox result (especially oxaliplatin). We will meet oncologist at Friday and ask him to switch to Xeloda mono.

Our "protocol" to improve Hgb is - 5mg B12 + liver food (I usually cook chicken liver) + pomegranate. Will ask ND about HemoHim, thanks!

Have you tried Fucoidan? If yes what dosage do you use? From what I found it is 1-5g daily - fairly large spread.

[beach sunrise]

You are probably on the right track with the protocol. I would definitely try that first before hemohim.
I have not taken fociodin, So, no experience there.

[rp1954]

Thank you. I read about low dose glutamine (and cabbage juice) for GI health in your old posts.
15-30 g/day? I also read somewhere glutamine can be used to produce glutathione and we don't want glutaonalthione when we treat cancer, is it right?

Glutamine metabolism, and cancer nutritition, are complex subjects. Glutamine can have can have growth inhibition or growth promotion properties.

Things that I noticed amongst all the papers and patents, were that small chemical/nutritional changes or additions could separate growth, inhibition, (massive) apoptosis or necrosis. This included precursors of glutathione.