No News Is Good News, Some of the Changes I've Made

Hi Friends and Family,

It's been 5 weeks since my last update, but as mentioned before, no news is good news!  The last few rounds of chemo and bloodwork have been going well aside from some hand and foot sensitivity that have prevented me from going to the gym and have prompted a dose reduction in my Xeloda.  My liver, lungs, and blood work all seem to be normal, and my Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) has remained around 1.35 (1-5 is normal).  I have a colonoscopy scheduled for mid May and a CT scan in June, so those are the next milestones.  Hopefully we can continue doing what we're currently doing for a long time without any changes.

Lifestyle Changes: I also said before that I made a few changes to my lifestyle and wanted to share.  Many of these have not been deeply studied, as there isn't much money to be made by the healthcare industry on some items below, but I'm doing all that I can to stack the deck in my favor, and as long as it's not doing any harm, it doesn't hurt to try in case there are benefits associated with it that we may not know about.  Some of these may be controversial, or have conflicting evidence, so for this update, I'll disable comments.  =)  The internet hosts all opinions and facts, and may have contradictory points to what I have below, so take this information with a grain of salt:

1. No alcoholic beverages of any kind, soda, and sugary juices.  I only drink water, carbonated water, lemon water, coffee, fresh juice (cucumber, green peppers, celery, apples, carrots, kale, baby spinach), aloe+honey, green tea, and the occasional bubble tea.
2. Minimal red meat consumption (2 meals per week on average), reduced meat consumption including white meat.  Minimal processed meat consumption including sausages, deli meat, hot dogs (<1 meal per week).  
3. Reduced grains and increased fruits and vegetables.
4. Increased organic foods when available (note that organic does not mean 100% natural, and I'm not a fan of the organic certification process).  
5. Reduced sun exposure (prevention and sensitivity from my chemo).
6. Morning supplements: Multivitamin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, generic Claratin, tumeric, probiotic, fish oil, folic acid, selenium.  Nightly consumption of melatonin.
7. Morning cleanse: water + apple cider vinegar + goji berry extract.
8. Exercise when my hands and feet cooperate.
9. Rosary every night and prayers to St. Anthony, St. Peregrine, Healing Prayer.

I think that covers most of it.  Again, there is conflicting evidence on most of the items above and further research is needed.  Thanks for reading and enjoy the Seattle sun; I'll talk to you in the next one!

- Jerome