Author Archives: Ren

About Ren

I have been diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic colorectal cancer in October 2012, 3 days after my 44th birthday. There is no cure, but I am determined to go down the road less travelled to find one. I have setup this blog to document my journey and hopefully help others in the process. My view is that if there is a cure, it does not lie with traditional chemo, but with the immune system. Time will tell.

MRI May 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Ren

I always wondered just how aggressive my cancer is. Did it take years to grow, or just months? Until I stopped chemo, I had no way of knowing and no oncologist was able to provide an answer. They said that … Continue reading →

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Desperate Times

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Ren

As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures and I have reached that point in the fight to save my infected chemo port. But I get ahead of myself again. Lets pick things up 10 minutes after my … Continue reading →

Posted in Dendritic Cell Vaccine, My Journey, Newcastle Disease Virus, Treatments | 5 Comments

8.6M Dendritic Cells

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Ren

Today was a very busy day in Duderstadt. Its the day when the past week’s immunotherapies all came together. The day started with an IL-2 (Interleukin 2) injection. IL-2 is a cytokine signalling molecule, and its purpose is to further … Continue reading →

Posted in Dendritic Cell Vaccine, My Journey, Treatments | 2 Comments

Gamma Delta T Cells

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Ren

Gamma Delta T cells are one of the most potent of all the Leukocytes, but they only make up a very small percentage of the white blood cell population. Gamma Delta cells are much more primitive than other white cells, … Continue reading →

Posted in Gamma-Delta T-Cells, My Journey, Treatments | 2 Comments

Ozone Therapy, Hardcore Style

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Ren

Today was a beautiful spring day in Duderstadt. It was warm, sunny and the picturesque streets were bustling with activity. It seemed like the entire town turned out to stroll along the cobbled streets of the historic city centre. I … Continue reading →

Posted in My Journey, Ozone, Treatments | Leave a comment

Newcastle Disease Virus

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Ren

I arrived in Duderstadt on Monday to begin treatment with the NDV oncovirus. It got off to a rocky start. First problem was that the clinic booked three patients for the same time which meant a lot of waiting. I … Continue reading →

Posted in My Journey, Newcastle Disease Virus, Treatments | 1 Comment

Port Infection

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Ren

On my last day at Hallwang (for this round of treatment at least), I had my port de-accessed. I already knew there was going to be a problem as the port felt tender to the touch. Sure enough, when the … Continue reading →

Posted in My Journey | 4 Comments

Removab Aftermath

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Ren

The next day after my first Removab treatment I woke feeling on top of the world. I was feeling and looking great. That bothered me. I saw several patients at Hallwang go through the Removab experience, and the morning after … Continue reading →

Posted in My Journey, Removab, Treatments | 3 Comments

Removab

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Ren

Tedd, a fellow patient at Hallwang arrived several weeks before me. A likeable and chatty type of guy, he described how easy, simple and painless the Vogl Chemoembolization procedure was. Well, if you read my blog, you know how that … Continue reading →

Posted in My Journey, Removab, Treatments | 6 Comments

Hyperthermia

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Ren

On Thursday, 2 days following my chemoembolization procedure, I got my first whole body hyperthermia treatment at Hallwang. It was not as bad or difficult as I assumed, though it had a few awkward moments. Hallwang do not offer high … Continue reading →

Posted in Hyperthermia, My Journey, Treatments | 2 Comments