A colo-rectal cancer story

This is an email dated 17 November 2008.

Hi Jim,

Here's the story ...

In June of 2003 my husband, George, was diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer and in August he had surgery. They had to give him a permanent colostomy. After the surgery, he had radiation and chemo beginning in October through December of 2003. He was taking all kinds of supplements at that time, like AHCC, and more and he was gaining weight while getting radiation.

He was feeling good. His cancer marker blood tests were good and we thought he had the cancer beat. In December of last year - while we were out of town - he began urinating blood - more like blood was gushing out. He went to the hospital and the urologist determined he had an infection and gave him some strong antibiotics.

When we got home, he went to see a local urologist. He, too, said George had a severe bladder infection and continued with antibiotics. But, he felt something else was going on and suggested George get a CT-Scan. On December 21st (right before Christmas) we found out that the cancer had spread to his lungs, pelivs, and liver. Needless to say we were devastated and the holidays were not very merry.

In January 2008, he saw the oncologist who started him on chemo. At the time his CEA (cancer marker) was 555 - the high normal is 4. After 3 chemo treatments, his CEA dropped to 225. The doctor and his staff were thrilled to see those kinds of results after just 3 treatments.

At the end of March, we found out we had a problem with our insurance company (Medicare Supplemental from United American) and they were not going to pay their portion of the bills since January. When George arrived for his treatment, the doctor's staff said they would not treat him because of the insurance problem. Nice, huh? After seeing this doctor since October of 2003, and now we ran into an insurance problem so he refuses to treat my husband? If anyone is in the South Florida area and is seeing ***, MD I suggest they find another doctor.

Garcia's office referred my husband to a hospital that would accept assignment from Medicare. He had the remaining 4 treatments there. Of course, he wasn't feeling so good since January and started losing weight, lost his appetite, and was very tired.

The urologist referred us to another onocologist who began treating George after the chemo at the hospital was finished. At that point George's CEA was 59 and we were glad to see that improvement. The new oncologist started giving George Avastin every two weeks to try to shrink the tumors.

Then, in July, George's blood pressure dropped dramatically and the doctor admitted him to the hospital right from his office. He was there about a week - his heart wasn't pumping right. They gave him medication and he started to feel better, so they sent him home. Then 10 days later, he became jaundiced and when we saw the doctor, he admitted George to the hospital again. This time there was a problem with the liver bile duct. It looked like the tumor in the lymph nodes next to the liver was pushing the duct closed. They put a stent in the bile duct and the jaundice cleared up.

After he left the hospital the second time, the oncologist started George on more chemo - different chemo than the 5 FU he had before - because he CEA was back up to 93.3. Without the stronger chemo, the CEA started climbing back up.

That's when George really started to deterioriate. He couldn't eat anything - would only have homemade chicken broth or beef broth with rice, one Ensure a day, and very little else. He became a zombie - he just laid in bed - no reading, no TV, no nothing. It was heartbreaking to see him waste away like that. He lost all his hair and went down to 177 pounds. (He was 255 in January - he's 6'2"
tall.) His legs became very weak and he was unable to walk.

The doctor said he wasn't going to run the CEA anymore because the chemo was just too toxic for George. And it didn't matter what the numbers were, the treatment (meaning no chemo) wasn't going to change. Basically, the doctor sent George home to die.

A neighbor put us in touch with a doctor in Miami, FL, who said to research DCA on the Internet. I bless the day I talked to this doctor and found your site. George started taking the DCA twice a day.

Gradually the effects of the chemo wore off. He got his appetite back and, so far, has put on 20 pounds. Even his hair has started to grow back.

On October 23rd George had an appointment with the oncologist. At that time he asked the doctor to run the CEA but didn't tell him why. Of course, we wanted to see how the DCA was working. The doctor didn't call us with the results, so we just waited until his next visit.

On November 17th George saw the doctor again. Before the doctor came into the room, George asked the nurse what the CEA was from the previous month. She told him it was 12.3! I could hardly believe what I heard. It was all I could do not to scream out in joy. When the doctor came in, he looked at the CEA and said to George, "Your CEA is 12.3? What's up with that?" I told him about DCA and he said he was going to research it. By the way, his liver function tests are now perfectly normal - no problems.

Jim, thank you for your efforts to help people on whom the doctors have given up. Now it's the government's turn to make sure it's easy for people to get this treatment. Too bad for the drug companies if they can't make millions of dollars. The FDA makes it very difficult for doctors because they can lose their license if the recommend any cancer treatment except surgery, radiation and chemo. People lives are more important than the drug companies' stock prices!

You and DCA have saved my husband's life. If he continued with the chemo I don't think he would be alive today. I do have to give credit to God as well - not only our prayers, but the prayers of our family, friends, and business associates. It all works together.

Thank you doesn't come near to expressing our gratitude. You will be in our prayers every day.

Arlene Paukert
West Palm Beach, Florida

P.S. The doctor is going to redo the CEA at the next appointment on December 4th. I'll let you know the results. I'm sure the doctor will order CT-Scans in January - I'll be sure to let you know those results as well.

P.P.S. He has been drinking a cup of black tea a day and has just increased it to 2 cups a day. And he has also started taking fish oil capsules.