I am making a stand.

Morning glory

I am not a doctor. My husband has cancer. He was diagnosed in October 2005. When I learned that John had cancer and that it was Stage IV lung cancer, I was devastated. I felt utterly powerless. I had no control over what was happening.

But I am not a wallower. I am constitutionally unable to stay sad. I prefer action. So, when I learned of the cancer, I began to look for ways to take control of the situation and make a difference. I make no claim that anything I am about to tell you will save your life or the life of someone you love. What I will tell you, however, is how you can take control of something; how you can make a difference.

For some scientific reasons that I don’t claim to understand, cancer kills people in a lot of different ways. The most obvious way is that the cancer invades a vital organ (like the lung, liver or pancreas) and stops it from functioning. What I did not realize, and what I learned from sifting through a mountain of information over the Internet, is that most people who die of cancer, die before that stage.

According to the American Journal of Medicine (1980), nearly half of all cancer patients die because they cannot maintain their weight. Either the cancer killing drugs or secretions from the cancer itself causes a patient to lose all their fat and a significant amount of muscle mass. Then their immune system crashes and they die of malnutrition or some secondary infection, illness or medical condition (like pneumonia, stroke or heart attack). In short, they die because:

– they cannot or do not eat (injury, depression, lack of taste, anorexia) or

– they cannot absorb the nutrients in what they eat (malnutrition) or

– their body burns through fat and consumes its own muscle (Cachexia).

All of these things are interrelated. I believe that loss of weight, physical strength and emotional vigor will, ultimately, inhibit my husband’s ability to take on new protocols of cancer treatment. Once treatment options shrink, tumor growth increases. With tumor growth comes the production of cytokines (bad proteins) and when cytokines are present, Cachexia - the cancer wasting disease - surely follows. Once Cachexia starts, the only cure may be to cure (or at least temporarily beat back) the cancer.

I know I cannot cure cancer. My goal is to keep my husband as strong as I can for as long as I can so that he can continue treatment for as long as he can. I can take steps to help my husband survive cancer treatment. I can help his body be strong enough to fight both the cancer and the onslaught of cancer killing drugs. And I can do it without a degree in biochemistry.

I can arouse his appetite and I can cook. I can cook food that he can taste and that will taste good to him. I can make foods that elevate mood and make him want to eat, and I can use ingredients that are high in nutrients and calories. Most importantly, I can prepare food in combinations designed to promote absorption of nutrients into the body and maintain his weight.

You can, too. And so can all those people who want to help but don’t know what to do.

If what you want is a magic pill (and rest assured there are plenty of snake oil salesmen ready to take your money), this blog is not for you. This blog is for those of us who want to make bodies equal to the task of surviving cancer treatment.

My information comes from reading and scouring the Internet. Remember, I am not a doctor. My purpose here is to describe what I have done and why. But before you take my word for it, I really want you to talk to your oncologist and nutritionist. And if you do not have a nutritionist ask you oncologist for a name. Most HMO’s and some PPO’s have nutritionists on tap. Some (and sometimes all) appointments are covered by insurance with a referral from you oncologist.

John in Hawaii

This is John 9 months after his diagnosis of Stage IV Lung Cancer. We were on vacation in Hawaii. I cannot promise he will always look this healthy or be this healthy, or that you or your loved-one will be this healthy if you join me on this page, but we can try. Right?

Tagged as: appetite, cachexia, food, health, hope, lung cancer, malnutrition, Nutrition and Diet, nutritionist, stage four, stage IV, weight loss