Pushing The Envelope

Had an appointment today with my oncologist at Peter Mac. He’s not too bad, in fact the best of all the traditional oncologists I saw or consulted with to date, though he still tends to suffer from the same problem as most other traditional oncologists in that anything outside of the box is not something he is willing to explore or consider. I must say however that today he managed to surprise me and I think there may be hope for him yet. 🙂

I discussed Metformin to get my blood glucose as low as possible, to starve my little mutants. I discussed Celebrex as a COX-2 inhibitor, in light of my over expressed COX-2 as reported on my recent RGCC CTC tests. I discussed Cimetidine, a histamine receptor antagonist, which has received a lot of attention in relation to its anti-cancer properties. And lastly, I mentioned Naltrexone which my integrative clinic doctor prescribed together with Alpha Lipoic Acid.

He rolled his eyes at Naltrexone, and did not understand why I was prescribed this. He did however ask for more information on the studies I mentioned which were the reason for the prescription. Wow finally an oncologist willing to learn something new and from a patient no less.

He shot down Metformin, saying that there is no evidence that blood glucose plays any part in cancer growth, and he felt that the danger of hypoglycemia that can even result in death was too great. I disagreed and he said that he will request the drug’s safety profile and get back to me. Again impressed that he is willing to look into things further.

Cimetidine and Celebrex he had no issues with and after we discussed these, he wrote a prescription for both. I expected a fight to get these prescribed, but all I had to do is ask and explain my reasons. He just informed me of the possible risks of cimetidine with avastin and the increased chance of bowel bleeding and perforation the combination can cause.

Lastly I mentioned the week before, a comprehensive molecular test offered by Foundation One in the US. Again a surprise as he had the paperwork and request form for the test ready and filled out. In comparison, the last oncologist I asked for a non standard test just told me to organise it myself.

Overall a good feeling afterward, which is the way things should be.